Marked

Chapter 3

        Mornings at Jen's house are particularly hollow yet noisy; you wake up to the sound of her analogic alarm clock, followed by the resistance towards rising up to face the bleakness of a school day. Today you could hear the racket the help at Jen's house made Every.Single.Morning. It was an agglomeration of clattering dishes, vacuums and lawn mowers that signaled the start of a new day.

        "Shut UP!!!!" Jen muttered against her pillow and gave up seconds later facing the ceiling, her lively red hair was a tangled mess sticking out in every other direction and her usually bright green eyes were red rimmed with splotches from the mascara and eyeliner from the day before, yet still I bet that whoever were near here would be begging on his knees for a sliver of her attention.

        Behold the Jennifer O'Connell paradox.

        I nudged her shoulder, as if she were a rare animal that would bite at the slightest provocation, this I learned the hard way she actually has bitten me before, long story.

        "Wake up little Miss Sunshine!" I said in a chipper tone, she scoffed and the next thing I know is I am lying on the floor with a head first landing.

        "Shine a light on that missy!" she screamed as she threw a pillow at me missing only by half an inch.

        "You should really check that arm of yours, age is wearing you off" I sneered playfully at her, but she just rolled her eyes and broke on a run towards the bathroom door. I had fallen for it again.

        "Good luck with that morning smell of yours, I predict this to be quite a long shower" she shot back. And I just stood there staring at the door thinking about how much would miss her when she left.

 -

        The smell of pancakes filled the air as I walked to the kitchen, twisting my wet hair getting the last drops of moist out, I was surprised, there actually was a bit of kindness left in Jen's heart after all.

        Miss Elsa was flipping todays breakfast at the stove as Jen and I sat down on the bar stools just across from her, the delightful smell made my mouth water and my stomach lurch with anticipation, Miss Elsa was an amazing cook, everything she ever made for us tasted like heaven and every time we would ask for the recipe, she would tell us that the key ingredient was love.

        "Oh good morning my darlings, breakfast is almost ready" she said in her usual sweet voice, Miss Elsa was cute and sweet all over, with her completely gray hair and round figure, she was the sweetest person I knew, and she was also the closest thing to a mother Jen had after her own left.

        Miss Elsa was an angel brought down from heaven, with her flushed cheeks and overdose of sweetness it was hard not to love her.

        "Oh Jenny, sweetheart" Miss Elsa said interrupting my train of thought "you father, Mr. O'Connell, told me to let you know that he had to leave again with Erica, business matters" her voice fell at the naming of Jen's father as if trying to soften the blow, Jen's birthday was coming up and she was expecting his father to actually remember it this year.

        "Did he say for how long?" Jen asked, her eyes shining with a random flicker of hope, but her face fell and as fast as that hope came, it faded away. "He'll be coming back in three months honey, I'm sorry" the old lady answered; suddenly the air grew from bright and chipper to somber and cold.

        Why do our loved ones have so much power upon us?

        The rest of our breakfast was quiet, the usually delicious meal felt tasteless and empty, it hurt me so much to see Jen like this, and god dam his oblivious father.