Just today, I read the memories of 3 people accidentally. On my way back home, I tried not to make eye contact with anyone who came across me. I smiled with some, waved to a few fellow citizens but didn’t stop for the regular “Hi” or “How are you?”
However, after the evening coffee, I felt much better. More collected. As I hoped, the headache had disappeared.
The evening shower I just had was only a cherry on top. I glanced at myself in the mirror. There was my glorious rake-thin body. I washed my face once more and left the bathroom, wrapping the towel around me, thinking of a way to get in good shape.
Alice was sitting on the couch with her legs sprawled across it. She was reading a romance novel, she always adored those slice-of-life stories. Said, “Makes me feel less of a virgin” when I asked why.
“Hey, weirdo. Tell me, where’s Mom?” she asked, calling me a name as usual. “Why is she late? Is she down in the coffee shop again?”
“Said she’ll come home, ugh… a little late, didn’t she?” I replied. “Hmm… maybe she went out with that Daniel guy?” Daniel. Mom’s new boyfriend. He seems super suspicious and he isn’t even nearly good for Mom. I wonder why she’s dating him.
“Oh yeah, the new hot dude she’s dating,” Alice retorted.
“Yeah – wait what?” I was seemingly shocked. “The new hot dude?Do you actually like that bastard?”
Alice placed the book down and turned with a scowl. “Um, what the fuck? I’m not into old men, weirdo…” She huffed and started finding the page on her novel once more. “Fucking weirdo.”
“Umm… okay.” Before shit got out of hand, I backed off into my room. So, yeah, that was the last time I talked to Alice that evening.
Well, I had to leave the house once again today. Neil and the boys had prepared another band practice at Neil’s place and it was already close to 9 pm. I was getting late.
Since the headache had disappeared too, I had no reason to stay back home. I quickly pulled up some pants, put a t-shirt on, and dashed out of the house with my bag. “I’m going, Alice!” I called out to my sister as I left, but she didn’t reply. Simply ignored me like every other time she got mad at me. Siblings.
“…What she said did not change the fact that she loved him. She truly knew it, inside. How she felt about him, only she knew.” Alice stopped reading the book after finishing the ninth chapter. She was only reading for a few hours, but Macy’s story made her feel like she had lived years.
The last words made a spitting image in her head. Jerry, the male lead of the story, has curly hair, 6.8 feet tall, handsome, and always shaved. The perfect image that brewed inside of her was Daniel’s because he is a real-life “Jerry Colton.” She still wondered why she bit her lip the moment she said “I’m not into old men” huffing to her little brother.
“Ha, this is stupid, Alice.” She told herself, chuckling and getting off the couch after four hours. She checked her phone and there were absolutely no messages from her group chats or her college friends.
She sighed, walked up to the kitchen, and started to make a sandwich for her dinner because Mom wasn’t going to come back any time soon.
Humming along to the tune of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” she sliced off the edges of her sandwich. She never liked the brown edges. Then, she neatly placed a paper-thin cheese in the middle under some slices of bacon and shoved it into the toaster.
At this moment, there was a knock on the door.
“Alice! Honey… are you there? Jamie?” It was Mom.
“Coming Mom!” Alice called out to her as she rushed to the door, wiping her hands from a tissue nearby the kitchen slab. She opened the door, and there was Mom… soaked wet from head to toe.
It was obvious that she had cried from her ruined makeup. “Mom?” Alice asked, worried by her appearance. But Mom was even more worried, she could tell. “Mom, why are you crying –“ Before she could end the sentence, her mother hugged her tightly without concern for her soaking wet clothes.
“Ha… you’re safe, my love.” Mary sighed in relief.
Alice hugged her back. Even though her clothes were wet, she knew that hug was warm inside. “Mom? Your face is a mess,” she said. “Did something happen? Something with Danny? Or – why are you crying?”
Her mother finally released her daughter and gazed into her eyes. “No,” she sniffed. “I’m glad that you’re safe, honey.” Mary peeked over Alice’s shoulder to see if Jamie was in the living room, but he was not. “Alice? Where’s your brother?”
“Um, he went out, why?”
Her Mom’s mood changed once again. Mary swallowed. “When did he leave?”
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“About an hour ago. Went with a bag… it’s Friday, so he probably went to band practice in that Neil guy’s house. Why?” Alice asked, again.
“Let’s take a seat, honey. I have something really important to tell you… really important.”
“Okay, Mom. Well… first get changed,” Alice replied, slightly frightened by what Mom had said. She took Mom’s bag and kept it on the table. Mary went into her room and changed into her casual clothes, she wasn’t ready for a shower… she only washed her face which was actually a mess. Afterward, she went back outside, she was ready for the truth now.
Alice gazed at her and smiled. She always had an optimistic smile. Mary sat down beside her on the couch and smiled back, but she couldn’t push in her tears.
“Honey,” she sniffed. “I wasn’t telling you the whole truth and I was hiding something from you…all these days. You – and your brother. And… I was putting your lives in danger. Now, you have to tell me, my baby, that you’re not going to hesitate. If I tell you the truth, you cannot hesitate to tell the truth either.”
Alice was a bit frightened by her words. “Um, afraid to say what… Mom?”
Mary held Alice’s hands and kept them on her lap. “It’s about your father, Alice. The things that I have told you about him are not entirely true. Perhaps, not true at all,” she muttered. “Your father’s name is Ryan Cross. He isn’t some guy who just left us… honey. Well, he did leave us, but for good reason, at least that’s my opinion. It’s not easy to read a man’s heart. But I hope I was close enough for him to read his.”
Alice was confused. “So… what? He left us for good reason? No one leaves their children for good reason, Mom. I think you’re too sweet for him,” she retorted. “And – what is this so-called good reason anyway?”
Mary’s heartbeat raised. She took a deep breath and calmed herself. “Honey… Your father, he isn’t entirely human.”
Alice was utterly shocked. “What? What are you saying? What is he then?”
“Tell me, darling. Recently, have you had any headaches… any sort of strange feelings? Powers? Doing things… Normal humans can’t do it. Have you had any such feelings, Alice?”
“What?” Alice asked, clueless. “I haven’t, Mom. Why are you asking…? And – why… headaches?” Headaches. This sickness was a familiar one. She knew this very well, it was at the tip of her tongue… yet, it didn’t come out.
“Yes, honey… headaches. Have you had any?”
“No, Mom. Honest. I haven’t had any headaches… why – why are you asking this? And what was Dad? A fairy? A werewolf… vampire?” Alice began to list off the names of the supernatural. “What is he?”
Mary gulped once more.
“He… was a Mage.”
Alice was speechless. She covered her mouth with her hands and fell back on the chair. Dad… is a Freak?This was the first thought that occurred to her. “You… you have to be kidding me, Mom.”
Alice had seen the news, hell, she lived in a town where the Headquarters of the Freaks was located. It wasn’t possible for her to not to know about the discrimination of these Freaks. The Mages who were mentally ill… just because of what they were. Such power doesn’t come without a cost. The Freaks… well, they were Freaks.
Mary started bawling her eyes out and hugged her daughter. “I am sorry, Alice. But – it’s true… It's true. I am sorry for what I did to you.” Alice was frightened, and she didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t been this shocked before in her whole life. Even her hands were shaking with fear.
What will her friends think when they say that her father is a Freak? Will anyone ever accept her?
“I – I am sc - scared, Mom.” She stammered as she hugged her mother back.
“I know… my girl, I know. Are you telling the truth, Alice? Be honest… I don’t want any of you dead, Alice. Not you, not Jamie. Not anyone… I care about you,” Mary uttered.
“I am telling the truth, Mom… I don’t think – I am a Freak,” she replied. “I – I don’t want to be one of them. Please, Mom… I love my life as a human. Don’t let them take me…”
“You… you don’t have to be, Honey.”
Mary lent her shoulder for Alice to cry. If her daughter was telling the truth… There was only one person left. Jamie.Mary closed her eyes and wished for none to turn out as a Freak. “I'm sorry, my loves.”