My mother freezes, as does all of time for one brief glorious moment, and I burst into laughter, a deep resonating cry of relief that permeates the infrastructure of this building and rides past the sky and into the stratosphere.
Astrid snatches the filthy bird off my mother, and both women look angrily toward me as if I had orchestrated the event.
Cosmic justice had allowed me to be here at just the right moment to witness the comical scene.
Astrid’s entire chest caves in with a sigh. “I’d best get Rocky home. He’s had a big day.”
Lena nods to me and mouths the wordsBig day?
I can’t help but scowl back at her. How dare she do something that would have been so private and normal for us just a moment before my mother crawled back into our lives? How dare she try to pretend that none of this happened? The grievance of reintroducing our mother back into the fold was far too much. We can never go back. It’s impossible from my end.
Astrid takes off without a word from any of us, and it’s just the original three in the room. Together again in a confined space just the way my mother liked it all those years ago. We never belonged to the world. We were her possessions to do with as she pleased.
She waddles toward me, her gait too ingrained in her cellular code to change with the mere drop of a dress size, her eyes set in a daze dead to mine. “You laughed at me.”
I take a moment to marvel at the fact she still walks as if she weighs four hundred pounds. Old habits die hard, as does my hatred for her.
“I laughed at you.” I nod, my own gaze just as hypnotic as it sits over hers. Her icy stare, that cold veneer, the evil percolating just beneath the surface—it’s all there, palpable as ever. “I’m still laughing at you. The weight loss, the hair, the new face. None of it is an improvement. You are a walking, talkinglie. And whatever you’ve told Lena is merely a manipulation to get back in our lives. To get back in control. It’s not happening. Not with me. Not with Lena. You may have her fooled for now, but it won’t last long. You are a danger to yourself and others. I know what you are capable of. I know what you are doing—what you’re still doing.” I needle hard into her with those words. A part of me didn’t want to come out and say anything about those emails. It would only enable her the right to deny them, strip me of my superiority of knowing she’s behind them no matter who is actually pushing send. If I suspected it before I saw her, I can be certain of it now that she’s here.
“I’m not just here for you, Aubree. I’m not just here for Lena. I’ve changed my life.” Her left eye comes shy of winking, and a dull laugh pumps from me. Not even her own body could go along with the lie. “I’m here for my grandchildren.”
A primal cry sails from my throat as I lunge at her, knocking her back to the pantry as my hands dig into her flimsy flesh, my fingernails carving right in soft as bread dough.
“Ree!” Lena snatches at my shirt to drag me away, her own fingernails clawing at skin, at the belt loop of my jeans until she manages to pluck me off her and I stagger backwards a few steps, panting as I struggle to catch my breath. “She means it. She’s not the same. You need to give her a chance.”
I look to my sister, who stands there exasperated, frustrated, at her wits’ end with me of all people.
“What made you change your mind about her?” There has to be a valid reason. There is something at play other than my mother’s goodwill, her bullshit excuse of anI’m sorry. Lena is no idiot. I know deep down she shares the same hatred for our mother as I do.
Lena’s eyes round out as if she were plotting the words to put together and came up short.
“You don’t have any good reason, Lena. Throw her back on the street and we can be sisters again. This is your moment. It’s her or me.”
The three of us pant relentlessly as the sound of our breathing clots up the space around us.
Sometimes you don’t need any words at all to hear the remainder of the story.
“Oh. Lena,” it comes out sorrowful, full of grief. I glance back to the beast who bore me. “Stay away from my children or I’ll initiate a restraining order.” I look to Lena. “Same goes for you.”
I head out and don’t look back.
