King Arthur and she’s the last of a dying breed? Now’s probably not the best time to buy into her stories, Ash.”
I sighed as I nodded in agreement. His bias towards Memaw was only fueled by my complaints. I was pretty sure she’d never said a word to him that wasn’t kind. She reserved her comments for me alone. “She just seemed so weird today. Everything about today is wrong,” I began to tear up and looked down to avoid the embarrassment of them watching me cry. “This can’t be happening. Dad can’t be dead.”
“Ash, this probably isn’t the best time to ask you this, but what the heck is wrong with your eyes?” She hopped off the couch and stared at me with confusion.
“Nothing, why?”
“Your eyes aren’t naturally black, are they?”
I darted to the bathroom in search of a mirror, Reese and Jamie following behind. My stomach dropped to the floor. My true eye color was on a need to know basis, which meant only the family knew. Memaw had always said it was a bad omen to have black eyes. To keep her from quoting even more Irish folklore, I had taken to wearing every color of contacts available. “Oh, crap. Yeah, they are. I forgot to put my contacts in this morning with…with everything.”
Jamie was staring as though she’d never seen me properly before. She didn’t even flinch after hearing the obvious hesitation in my voice. “How long have your eyes been black like this?”
“Since forever.”
“You were born with black eyes?”
I shrugged. “Not sure, actually. I don’t remember anything before turning four and Mom has next to no pictures from before then. It’s weird but she blows it off, so we don’t talk about it.”
Jamie looked at me differently than she ever had before. She almost looked hungry. Her eyes roved over me with what felt like suspicion.
I tried to make a joke out of it to lighten the tension she’d created for no apparent reason. “I can go put some contacts in if it’d make you feel better.”
Reese’s mom interrupted our strange pow-wow in the bathroom, making us jump. “You guys want to find a room with a little more space?”
This overanalyzing of everything was out of control. It felt like I was just waiting on some serious calamity to strike. Well, besides Dad…I couldn’t bring myself to say the truth. It couldn’t be real. Could things possibly get any worse? For some reason, it felt like they could. “Sure, Mrs. Williams.”
She smiled. “Jamie, want to help me finish up the Christmas cookies in the kitchen? You guys are welcome to come have some before Reese and his dad demolish all of them.”
Reese grabbed my hand and tugged me back toward his room, while Jamie went with his mom. “We’ll be right there.”
She put her arm around Jamie as they disappeared down the hallway. “Don’t be long.”
He practically dragged me back to his room. As he shut the door, his face was all business. “Let me get this straight. You pulled a Karate Kid on the paramedic, your eyes are black, and you don’t know anything about the first few years you were alive?”
These people were beginning to give me a complex. “Sorry. I’m not on top of my life.”
His expression was grave. “You know what this means, don’t you?”
An icy feeling doused my insides. “What?”
He suddenly grinned. “You’re the freak I always knew you were! Now we can make a horror film and get rich.”
I punched him. “You’re a jerk, you know that?”
“Guilty as charged. But you know you love me.”
We smiled at one another. Looking around his room, I felt more at home here than across the street at my house. Maybe it was escaping from the necessity to deal with today. My stomach turned to lead as my thoughts returned to Dad. I choked on the tears that threatened to emerge. Reese wasn’t allowed to see this. “Reese, I don’t know what I’m gonna do without my dad.”
He pulled me
John Holmes, Ryan Szimanski