Ghosts under that smile

It's a tad embarrassing to admit but Cara still felt slightly disappointed when the 'fluff and fuzz' air around Cellen shifted to what she had gotten used to. A cool and sharp dagger, confident yet humbly modest. A lethal white rose now calmly waiting for the order to arrive. Oblivious to the fact that both of them looked like a pair of ghastly flies greedily sitting on an extravagant cake.

But, ah...the cafe did smell oh so glorious as cake. Just standing at the door had made Cara think her survival of fourteen gruesome years on salty bread and seaweed salad had paid off. And there was that waiter. Her heart fluttered a bit at his occurance. If she was lucky, she should be catching a glimpse of him at least once more along with the order. He looked so much like a gentleman. Like his aura had come from an entirely different world. Although she knew his social status was middle class at most. But it was still something unimaginable to the scraping poor as her. Cara had blushed because the waiter was handsome but another reason was that his sugary words somehow made her ashamed of intruding upon property dedicated to the elite. What right did she have even if she could pay for a meal? If it wasn't for Cellentine..... uh! Cellentine! That's right. Cara frowned. She never got to know how her equally broke friend ended up brandishing something as deadly as a THREE-freakin hundred dollar note. She didn't actually.....

"Quit staring like I'm some sort of criminal,Cara." Cellen snapped out of the blue making Cara jerk. Right after the words left her mouth Cellen started to regret. Cara was used to Celly's shameless speaches but she still was hurt. Celly felt her mood droop again with a sigh. Saying sorry won't wipe that hurt of Cara's face. And here she was doing such aperfect job of posing the perfect extrovert friend." After all, Black's gonna take no other hue, huh? " This very morning she had entered her fourteenth year. And the first thing she registered had been the cold,slimy floor under her head and the pungent scent of sewage gas. She intended to gag only to find out that her throat tasted the same. She probably had slept with her mouth open. But that did not matter. Rather she tried to comprehend her situation.

"Why did I wake up in the toilet?" She tried to remember last night. Ah,yes. Glimpses came back. She remembered feeling all drowsy because her mum was being late for work. She might've even taken a nap by the bedside. Then, how did she end up here?

"It would be so much easier for both of us if you'd stop clinging to the past."

The voice was soft but the words spawned such disgust that could heard from miles afar.

"I-" A faltering voice from her mother.

"..."

"..."

Hitched silence from both sides.

"I was helpless and numb when I came here,not to mention terribly sick. I do appreciate the generosity you displayed at that time, even if they were unclean intentions."

She heard the voice of her mother breaking the stiffness.

"Hahah!" The man laughed in a humorless tone."I thought you'd finally get that nativity out after about two decades....but all in vain, I guess?"

"..... " With her slightly opened eyelids, Cellen spotted her mother bite her lips.She avoided that man's gaze,no, according to the conversation, Alan's gaze.

Cellen grit her teeth as her mother continued the pitiful act.

"Please, I've told you my answer countless times...even tonight! I thought we'd made it clear at the pub,right?! To think you'd tail me liikee-"

Her voice cracked as a teardrop simmered on her chin.

"Please don't tarnish the image I have of you in my mind, I beg you."

"SO THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY!" A loud punch shook the wooden wall of the room. Cellen's body shook in surprise as she sneakily saw Alan trembling.

"Don't you understand that everything I am doing is for your own good? Do you have any idea how stinkily lucky you are? Is it easy to find friends that won't harm you in this place?"

"Bbbut,you do mean to ..."

"It's your daughter, not you. And it's nowhere near harm either!"

Alan shouted.

"Do you know that the rumours are starting to spread,huh? That the girl's not as she seems?Not that they're wrong-"

"SHUT IT!" This time Celly's mom was the one to shout.

"You don't know anything....She's completely okay,yes. She'll live here with me and have a silent safe life and-"

"Be discovered and probably enslaved."Alan interrupted."<sigh> I may not know much but I know enough to say that she does not belong here. Just think about it, mkay?"

"I.. Huh? Cellentine,dear, you're awake?" Suddenly the attention shifted to Cellentine who had started to shift uncomfortably by then. Her mother busily started propping her up.

"Oh dear, how long have you been awake? Oh no, sweety Mommy's so so sorry, I'm sosooooo sorry." She kept whispering nonstop while running her hand through her daughter's golden hair.

Cellen noiselessly enjoyed her mother's touch as she eyed Alan's frozen reaction.

She was a child. Yet that moment an unknown fuse was lit between them and in response to her widened provoking stare, Alan's expression turned murderous.

"Ah!" was all Cellentine could remark. Truly, she felt as blunt as as a piece of wood. But she wasn't stupid enough to not understand what was happening. Calmly, she detached herself from her mom's embrace and walked out to Alan.

"You should leave. You don't belong here." And thus she delivered her own sentence staring the much older man down with a gaze that wasn't even hers. A part that still hadn't been eaten felt sorry. But mostly she was possessed by countering the imminent slander. How dare he to an existence like her-

Cellentine was half trapped in a dream. That's why 'she' took control.

The incoming punches and kicks were endured without protest or noise.

Her memory got fuzzy at this point. However, she could recall her mother's screams vibrating her vision and hear Alan shout something like-"I'll prove to you the demon she is."

And, she remembered...laughing? No, Cellentine Picara did not laugh, the woman with red hair did. And Celly watched with the same shared eyes until her consciousness gave up.

By the time she woke up, she was alone on the cold bathroom floor and her head throbbed from last night's ordeal. It wasn't just the punches and kicks.Cellentine shuddered on the wet floor remembering it.

"I'm still around you know. It would be a pain if I don't get to bully you."

A familiar voice lulled past her ears and Cellentine was back at the disgustingly posh cafe facing an apologizing Cara.

".....as I was saying, I'm sorry, Cell. You know I trust you I trust you with my entire being. I know there's no way that money is illegal."

Illegal? Cellentine smirked inwards. Would it even make a difference if the money is illegal?

"It's filth anyway." Cara's eyes widened at her spitting remark. Cellentine could have bet her left eye that she would start with those stupid condoling questions. Ugh, she'd have to take the initiative first this time.

"I got it from my mother....as a birthday present."

"Oh, so that's the case."

"Yeah, mum'd been holding on to this for a long time." Cellentine sighed contently. Well, her word's weren't blatantly lies. And what mattered most was that Cara was back to her old antiques.

Celly smiled as she silently listened to Cara rumbling about all the things she'd seen on the street today. No matter how odd the vibe was, her enthusiasm still didn't lose its charm.

Beneath the smiling face, the unkempt emotions threatened to overcome. But Celly held her still through the sickly sweet illusion of a rose tinted life. With her naively cheerful buddy and the warm fuzzy café. Forget about what you saw in the morning after you stepped out of the bathroom. Forget aunt Callida's face when she gave you the money. Forget that your mother can't see you for a while. Forget those blood-chilling snickers of last night.

Her ghosts are only here to nurture and thrive. To her friends and family, they can see her smile and feigned innocence.

A ting of the door indicated their order was here.