“The door really was locked. I don’t know why it opened for me now. Sorry for calling you away,” were the only words that would present themselves for my aunt to digest.
“It’s okay. I never should’ve left you. It’s my fault,” my aunt said, hugging me as we walked over to the car.
“No, it’s not. I guess I’m more messed up than I thought,” I whispered, climbing into the front seat.
“I hate to ask this,” my aunt began, “but is there a reason you have rose petals and green leaves smashed all over your skin?”
“It’s a long story.”
“I’d like to hear it,” she said, gently probing.
“I think I’m losing my mind.”
“Doubtful.”
“Something locked me in the cooler. When you came to the door, it left. Did you not see anything?”
The car was filled with silence. I wasn’t sure if it was the good kind of contemplative silence or the ‘how do I approach this one’ type of silence.
With our car sitting at the last stoplight, we were only minutes away from my home. I turned to look at my aunt, hoping for some kind of affirmation.
She reached over and grabbed my hand.
“I think we have a lot to talk about after everyone leaves, but I think it’s best for now if we proceed as if everything’s fine and normal.” She grinned slightly.
“So you believe me?” I asked.
“Well, I don’t think most people would look the way you do, with your hair on end, and botanicals smeared all over your skin without a cause. I just think it’s best if we discuss the cause of it later.”
“I look that freaky, huh?” I flipped down the car mirror, shocking myself to reality. My hair looked as if it hadn’t been brushed in days with knots and tangles all over. Not to mention that it was filled with crushed petals, leaves, and bits and pieces of things I couldn’t even identify.
“I’d wrap that around your head,” she said, pointing at the backseat where I saw a scarf belonging to my mom.
“Yeah, probably a good idea.” I said, whipping it off the backseat and attempting to hide as much of my incident as I could with a few tugs and twists of the material.
My aunt pulled into our driveway, and I looked down the street and saw the lineup of parked cars. I couldn’t even guess how many people were here. Our little brick house was glowing from all the windows, including my bedroom. I hoped I would be able to make it through this last round.
I jumped out of the car, taking in a big breath, trying to let the fresh air bring a new vitality to my system. I could tell by the seagulls flying around and the moist air hitting my lungs that a rainstorm was going to be rolling in, and if for once I got what I wanted, our mass amount of visitors would leave before the first raindrop hit. Tightening the scarf around my head, I grimaced at my aunt and nodded. It was time to greet the gawkers and come up with another excuse for my already established odd behavior.
Chapter 4
“Triss,” I heard a faintly familiar voice call out. “Triss, hold on.”
I was about to make my way to the kitchen to wash off the mess I had spread all over myself at the shop, but I stopped and turned around to see who could possibly be calling. All the flower arrangements and oversized photographs that had been at the memorial were now covering every vacant corner of my house, and I wasn’t sure that was a good thing.
I was scanning the crowd of people, who were mostly people I didn’t know, when I finally landed on a guy who was waving at me. I strained to see who it might be, but I couldn’t place him. He was holding a bottle of seltzer water and looked really uncomfortable. He was about my age, maybe a little older, but he was too far away to know for certain. He began walking toward me and my insides tightened. His dark hair and brilliant, azure eyes provided an amazingly haunting contrast. In normal circumstances, he might even be intriguing. And then I remembered. It was those eyes, those brilliant blue eyes. It was Logan. My mom’s best friend made it, and she brought her son.
“Logan?”
A smile spread across his lips, and he moved quickly between everyone, with his arms wide open. Before I knew what was happening, I was picked up into his arms, and I began hugging him tightly.
“I was afraid you wouldn’t recognize me,” he murmured, squeezing me.
“I can’t believe I did either.” Suddenly feeling foolish, I backed away from him, bumping into a side table someone had moved out of the family room.
The awkwardness couldn’t be missed. I hadn’t seen him for years, but he really changed. In a way I never would have imagined, kind of change.
“So you stopped responding to my letters a few years back. Not such a hot pen-pal partner,” he said smiling, doing his best to make things as normal as possible in a horrifying situation.
He had a really nice smile. I couldn’t believe how much taller Logan was than me.
“Sorry about that,” I said, finally looking at him. “I didn’t really think you were into it.”
“Even though I kept writing?” he chuckled softly.
“Yeah, I guess, even then,” I returned a smile. This was not the moment to let my mind wander. I was far too mentally unstable, in more ways than one.
I saw his mom, Ellsy Greene, waving at me as she began moving toward us. Relief began flooding over me. Besides my aunt, she was the one who knew my mom, truly knew her. Logan moved to the side as his mom wrapped her arms around me, hugging me as the tears finally began to pour down my face. I sensed the crowd moving behind her, so they could get a look, but I didn’t care.
“It’s okay, honey. Let it out,” she told me. “I’ve heard you’ve kept it all inside, and I don’t think I’ve heard wrong, judging by the look of things.”
Not wanting to let go, I breathed in and felt Logan’s hand rest on my shoulder. He had a strong grip, and if I didn’t know better, he was glaring at the onlookers, or at least I was hoping he was. Logan and Ellsy understood, even if nobody else did. The guilt, grief, anger, and confusion were all trying to make a home inside my mind. I felt horrible for not believing that my mom was really gone. I felt horrible for allowing my mind to trick me earlier. I even felt guilty for not writing Logan back all those years. Everything seemed so distorted, like I couldn’t prioritize the importance of anything. I truly seemed to be losing a grasp on reality.
Ellsy let go and looked at me, her eyes kind and filled with grief to match mine.
“How about we get you all cleaned up. Let’s go upstairs, shall we?” she asked, winking at me.
“Probably a good idea,” I said, touching the remnants of crushed leaves and flowers on my skin.
We started heading up the stairs, and I noticed Logan was still lingering behind unsure of what he should be doing. His eyes were following us up the stairs and he looked so, well—cute.
“I’d like it if you came up with us. I’d be too worried about you down here all alone with the piranhas, especially as uncomfortable as you look.” I tried my best at humor.
“Thanks!” He followed immediately.
Getting up to my room, a huge sigh escaped. I didn’t even know where to begin.
“I’m guessing my aunt filled you in on what happened earlier?”
“Yeah. She went over it lightly. I kept an eye on things here while she went to pick you up.” Ellsy’s smile showed genuine concern.
“Does she believe me?” I asked.
“I think she’s concerned for you.” Ellsy paused, her brow furrowed. “I think we all are.”
“There was something else in that shop with me, and it wasn’t natural or normal or anything I’d ever be able to dream up,” I said looking at Ellsy for confirmation. “I haven’t told her all of it yet because she wanted to wait until everyone was gone, but I swear I felt a touch of black magic.”
Logan’s eyes caught mine, and concern washed over his face. He had been my best friend all through grade school and junior high until they moved away, and here he was supporting me. It wa
s as if we were in junior high all over again, him trying to protect me from anyone who dared to cross me. I wanted to laugh, but instead the tears came again.
“Listen, we’re both going to be right out here waiting for you. Go get cleaned up, and we’ll talk about it after everyone leaves. Our suitcases are in the car. We aren’t going anywhere, and we’ll have plenty of time to figure things out,” Ellsy said.
Whether or not Ellsy, Logan, or Aunt Vieta believed me didn’t matter anymore. What mattered was there were people who would listen, and that’s all I needed for now because I wasn’t sure if I believed myself either.
Nodding at Ellsy, I grabbed my robe and went out into the hall, hearing the voices from below.
“Can you believe she came back looking like that?” I heard a woman’s voice.
“Her poor mother would be so disappointed,” came another unfamiliar voice.
“Not everyone makes it through an event like this,” a male’s voice interjected. “My hunch is she might not make it.”
The anger began stirring inside of me as the comments seemed to get louder and louder. My house was packed with people. However, my mother and I were probably only friends with about thirty of them, at the most, and they all wanted to pretend they knew what was going on. I did my best to stay calm by reminding myself that this was not their fault. Witches or not, we are all still human and curiosity can be very difficult for some to control. A laugh finally escaped as I thought about how often my mom used the familiar ‘curiosity killed the cat’ saying and how very fitting it seemed to be now.
Turning on the shower, I waited for the water to get warm and looked in the mirror, startled at the face I saw. Between the mascara that ran down my face, mixed with red, pink, white, and orange rose pieces squashed on my cheeks and forehead, I couldn’t believe that Logan didn’t run the other direction when he saw me.
Stepping into the shower, I suddenly remembered my bag that I had set down right before hugging Logan.
“Ellsy! Ellsy!” I hollered.
She came running into the bathroom, panicked.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“My mom’s planner is in my bag downstairs. I don’t want anyone to get it. I think that’s what the thing might have been searching for.”
“No problem, hun. I’ll have Logan go get it.”
I don’t think she believed there was a thing.
“Thank you,” I whispered. “Thank you for being here. I think I’m in worse shape than I know.”
“I think we all are, Triss. That’s what family and friends are for.” She gently shut the bathroom door as I continued to let the conditioner do its job of detangling the mess I created earlier. The water running down my body created a clarity that I had attempted to obtain in the cooler before the horrible being popped up. I always prided myself on my imagination and so did my mom, but I don’t think this was anything my mind could have made up. The longer I stood in the shower the surer of the events in the flower shop I became.
If I wanted to be taken seriously, I was going to have to start changing the way I went about things. I could no longer look like the disheveled teen that I had become. I needed to feel dynamic and powerful—well, maybe that was overstepping it a little. I needed to play their games, however. If everyone here thought my mom was dead, then I should behave as such even if I didn’t believe it. Regardless, I needed to raise it up a notch. The first step was going to be my dress and hair. The guests would have to wait.
***
Dressed in my robe and a towel around my hair, I went into my mom’s closet. She had everything color coordinated. She may have been disorganized in quite a few areas of her life, but her closet was never one of them. It seemed like black would be the best thing to wear at a function like this. People would approve. Scooting the hangers around, I finally landed on my outfit of choice—a black silk tunic and black leggings. I grabbed it and scurried back into the bathroom quietly. Staying in my robe, I pulled the scissors out of the vanity drawer and began giving myself bangs. There! My hair looked much better, more daring maybe. I only needed one last thing before I faced the events waiting for me below.
After hearing the running, ill-favored commentary about my behavior and possible outcome in life, I decided I needed a little something on my side to get me through the events. Opening the vanity-length mirror, that also acted as one of our great hiding places for herbs, ointments, and all things that made a person feel better, I scanned quickly for the little bottles of yarrow and peppermint. I grabbed the azurite bowl to mix the yarrow and peppermint oils in, and I began dropping the oils in the stone, letting the fragrances intermingle as the clarity of the stone allowed for the oils to reach their maximum potency. The yarrow and peppermint mixture should intensify my ability to perceive everyone’s intentions. I lightly stroked the oil behind my ear, along my wrist, and at my collarbone. It was already making me feel better, clearer.
Putting everything back in the medicine cabinet, I almost knocked over the small brown bottle of acacia. How ironic. That vial certainly would have been nice to have at the shop to dab myself with for protection. Better luck next time.
Standing back and looking at myself in the mirror with my new bangs and the vibrancy of the oils spreading through me, I took a deep breath readying myself for the rest of the evening. My brown eyes certainly lacked the golden glow they usually carried, but at least I looked more presentable.
“Veritatem Morum,” I uttered, closing my eyes and then repeated once more for assurance, “Veritatem Morum.”
I shoved the scissors back in the drawer, dressed quickly, and headed back to my bedroom where Logan and Ellsy were waiting for me.
“Wow! You are one of the only girls I know who could pull off giving themselves a new haircut,” Logan said smiling. “It looks nice.”
“Yes, it does. Now what do you say we go downstairs and give these people what they want so we can get some privacy soon?” Ellsy said. “By the way, I flipped through your mom’s planner, and I think we do have some items to discuss.”
“So I might not be crazy?” I asked.
“I don’t think she said that,” Logan said, teasing me.
Wrapping his arm around me, we headed down the stairs to greet the many who were waiting for me. “If I could make these people disappear, I would,” he whispered.
“Thanks,” I replied. “It’s time I learn more useful spells I’d say. All I managed to do was place a spell on my ability to better gauge the truth about these people’s intentions.”
“Ooh,” he puckered his lips, catching my eye. “Sure you want to do that?”
“Not really, but I thought I might as well face the facts early on,” I replied quietly, enjoying the strength of Logan’s embrace.
Thankfully, some of my cousins had saved a seat for me in between them, and I managed to sneak right in on the couch. Logan had let go of me and wandered into the family room after his mom. I recognized one of the voices who I heard when I was upstairs. I followed the direction it was coming from and found myself accidentally scowling at the male who thought I was about to go over the deep end. I really wanted to go over to him and give him a piece of my mind, but thought better of it. I’d only give his statement more validity.
He looked like the type who would enjoy the sport of speculating based off of others’ misery. He had short greying hair, a potbelly, and a fidgety sense about him. I didn’t recognize him from our coven, but there were many other visitors from surrounding covens. I tried to let the ointment do its job, feeling his intentions run through me. It seemed he had some sort of interest in being here. The sense I was getting from him was that he showed up to do a job, and that job was possibly reporting back to someone. I could only see his profile, but I was hoping he would turn toward me, so I could get a better glimpse. It would be nice to see what the person looked like who thought I was about to be put in the loony bin.
One of my cousins, Tammy, started talking to me, brin
ging me out of my fog.
“Hey, I think you’ve done a fine job of holding it together,” she started, patting me on my knee.
I looked at her and smiled. If only she knew.
“Thanks. It doesn’t seem that guy over there thinks so,” I said pointing at the potbellied gossiper.
“Aaah, you heard?” she asked, squeezing her lips tightly and shaking her head.
“Yep. I might be needing a straightjacket any minute,” I said, trying to force a smile.
“Don’t mind what these people are saying. A lot of them aren’t even from our coven. I think they are only here to satisfy their curiosity because of…,” she stopped herself.
“No, I get it. I keep reminding myself not to get bitter. It’s only natural, I guess. But I’m still confused how we even got to this place. None of our family wanted a memorial yet. However, here we all are.”
One of our neighbors, Nancy, held her hand up in a slight wave, with her lips pursed. I waved back at her and nodded as a thank you. At least she was giving me some space.
“Well, as much as you’ve heard on the gossiping end about you, I’ve been hearing that many from our coven had the same reaction as ours about the memorial. You’re not alone in that thinking. A lot of people can’t understand what the hurry is about. I know my mom has been struggling with it, but she’s been hoping the coven would provide the support needed for you if she went along with things.”
“Poor Aunt Vieta.” I shook my head.
“So is that Logan?” Tammy asked, already knowing the answer. “He’s certainly grown up,” she purred.
I rolled my eyes. “We both have.”
The first group of mourners came over to offer their condolences, and I knew I was in for many more hours of the same. Virginia and Sofia were the first in line. Virginia was dressed in a beautiful black dress with a royal blue scarf, which really set off her brilliant red hair. Her eyes held the kindness I had seen many times before. Sofia was her daughter and was blessed with the same hair color and fair skin. She had just graduated from college. I didn’t know her well, but they were both coven members. Standing behind them was a couple that I didn’t recognize. They were an older couple. The wife had pale blond hair, bordering on white, and her husband had a cane in his right hand. Going by my gut and the little bit of magic I employed, I felt relieved that not everyone was out to snoop. After accepting their condolences, I was immediately inundated with the next batch, one of whom was especially chatty. She was apparently my preschool teacher from the coven. I didn’t remember her, and she seemed a bit skittish, but I couldn’t put my finger on whether that was her regular personality, or if she was shady like the heavyset man who felt it was his obligation to commit me.
Lonely Souls Page 3
