“Eight o’clock.”
“Ciao.”
And with that, she hung up in her abrupt, very Savannah-like manner. I had to admit, though, that she’d brightened my day. How pathetic is that, when your mood is so dark that someone who’s just lost her sight and her boyfriend ends up being the cheerful one?
With a renewed zeal for getting out of bed, I pushed back the covers and walked to my closet. I had no idea what to wear to a Halloween costume party. It was the first one the school had ever had. I didn’t think it really mattered, though. It wasn’t the party I was looking forward to as much as spending time with Savannah.
It seemed she was just what I needed—a friend and a distraction.
I pulled out a couple of possibilities and laid them on the bed and then made my way to the kitchen. It was Saturday and Dad was home. That meant only one thing: time to brush off my daytime Emmy and get to work pretending.
Mom was standing in front of the coffee maker. Her back was to me and both hands were flat on the counter, her shoulders hunched as if she was in pain.
“Mom?” I said, rushing to her side. “What’s wrong?”
I leaned around to look into her face. I was relieved to see that there were no tears. No tears meant that whatever was ailing her was fixable.
Haunted, bloodshot eyes met mine. “Your father went to get breakfast. I’m just having some coffee. Why don’t you pour yourself some juice?”
With that, she straightened, her eyes falling to the mug that sat on the counter in front of her. She reached for it with a hand that shook so badly she nearly spilled the hot brew just trying to pick it up.
“Here,” I said, wrapping my fingers around the handle. “Why don’t you come over here and sit down. I’ll get the drinks ready and set the table.”
I carried Mom’s coffee mug for her. When she sat down, she put her elbows on the table and I handed her the cup. Her shaking wasn’t nearly as perceptible with the support of the table under her arms.
She closed her eyes as she took a sip of the steaming liquid. When she opened them, they locked on mine. A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. It wasn’t much as far as expressions go, but there was a lot more gratitude in her eyes. Once again, I had helped her avert disaster. She knew it and I knew it.
She was my mother, though, and I loved her. She knew her secret was safe with me.
After all, a family of pretenders had to stick together.
We made it through breakfast. And lunch. And dinner. I knew better than to make too many other plans for the weekend days when Dad was home. He was adamant about spending “quality family time” together. It was a farce, but he was a stickler about it.
With the last of the dinner dishes tucked safely away inside the dishwasher, I closed it and hit the start button. I was on my way back to my room to shower when I remembered something.
I returned to the living room.
“Mom, do you still have that mask that you wore to the masquerade party you guys went to year before last? The silver one?”
I could see Mom struggling to remember. I’m sure it was like trying to flip through the pages of a soggy newspaper.
“Gosh, Ridley, that’s been a while. Why don’t you check the box in the top of my closet. If I kept it, it would probably be in there.”
“Ok. Thanks.”
I headed straight for her room and got the box down. Sure enough, the mask was in there. In tact, too. Luckily, it only covered the top portion of the face, so there was virtually no chance it might have puke on it. Sadly, that was a constant consideration when borrowing anything of Mom’s that didn’t predate Izzy’s death.
After my shower and an intense buffing session, I smoothed on some shimmering lotion and let it dry before slipping into a dress that I’d worn in a beauty pageant a couple years prior. Though it was snug, it still fit, and the tight factor only enhanced the look I was going for.
The dress had a white bodice that hugged me in a corset style. The lower half was fitted and covered in silver sequins. The very bottom of the dress flared out and had layers and layers of white frothy material spilling from beneath the sequins, making it look like a tail. It was a curve-hugging mermaid dress if I’d ever seen one.
I left my hair long, flowing in thick waves down my back. Once I had my makeup on, I sprayed some perfume behind my ears and in my cle**age and then put on the mask. With its silver, white and blue sequins, layed out in a design that curled and swirled around my eyes and over my forehead, I thought I looked the part: a mysterious sea siren.
A little pang of longing and loneliness pinched at my insides. It would be perfect if I was going to the dance with Bo, a magical night to match my magical costume.
I shook off the melancholy direction my thoughts were taking me. Tonight, I refused to mope. For one night, I was going to do my best to pretend that I was a normal teen going to a dance to have a little fun. No drama, no sadness, no soul-mate issues. Just fun. Carefree fun. Plain and simple.
I slipped on my shoes, said my goodbyes and headed for the car. As my hair shifted against my back, I noticed there wasn’t even so much as a prickle of pain where my scratches were. I reached back and felt beneath my hair. The skin was smooth, despite the fact that I hadn’t really focused on my back with my scrubbing and lotion application. The scratches were gone without a trace.
When I got to Savannah’s I walked in tiny steps to the door and knocked.
Her dad answered, letting me inside to await Savannah.
“You look very pretty, Ridley,” he said kindly.
“Thank you, Mr. Grant.”
“Call me Jeremy,” he insisted. “Mermaid?” he asked nodding to my dress.
“Yes, sir,” I said, smiling.
Good. At least there was no question about what I was made up to be. If nothing else, I wanted my costume to be a clear departure from the normal
“everything gone slutty” attire that many females chose to sport on Halloween.
“Would you like something to drink while you wait? I’ve got Dr. Pepper, orange juice, Propel and—”
Mr. Grant’s voice trailed off when movement drew his eye down the hallway behind me. I turned to look in that direction as well.
Savannah was making her way slowly toward us. She looked amazing. How a blind girl accomplished what she had was beyond me.
She was wearing a black dress that looked slick and scaly and it fit her perfectly. She had silver rattles at her wrists and ankles, and she wore silver sunglasses to hide her eyes. Her plump lips were stained blood red and her skin was porcelain smooth.