Chapter Eleven: Movie date night

"Cindy hurry up or we'll be late," she said collecting clothes that were lying on the floor and dumping them in the washing basket. Her daughter's room was a pigsty. She had been caught up in her school work that she overlooked the fact that she had a life elsewhere. Her mother was proud that she was really into working for her future. She saw a spark in her that was igniting and she vowed she would give everything she could to make sure it bloomed into a full blown fire. In her daughter, she saw an escape from this hell of a life they had been living. She worked two jobs, as a shop assistant on the corner store and as a waitress in a restaurant in the city. The sum of her wages were just enough to quench the landlord and service providers' appetite. There was only a little left after that which she devoted entirely to her daughter. She fed herself from the scraps that fell off that table. All she longed for was to live to see the smile on her daughter's face widen. So far disappointment had been relegated to the fence, beyond reach of her view. Life had been hard, caring for a teenage daughter on her own. She many a time came to the cusp of failing and giving up. But she had nowhere else to go so failure was not an option. She had to be her own motivator.

Cindy's father had recently been incarcerated. He was abusive and her body was his fists' familiar playground. They knew every inch. She had visited clinic after clinic, made up excuse after excuse. Her tolerance finally broke when his hands landed on her daughter as she tried to shield her helpless mother. After this incident, with newfound courage, she got up and paid the law enforcers a visit. Her husband was arrested, endured a short trial and was sentenced to eight years in prison. Finally they could breathe. The relatives from his side were however not impressed by this and as a result began to harass them every chance they got. They disowned their son's daughter, their own daughter, because her testimony was the blow that shattered his defense into a million pieces. Cindy didn't care, all she wanted was rest for her mother's worn out soul. As the harassment and victimization took its toll, Cindy and her mother packed their bags and went away unheralded.

Cindy's father was a real estate agent for a top city firm. He earned the bulk of the family money. Her mother was a potter, she made porcelain cups and bowls which she placed in her friend's shop. The proceeds from this endeavour gave her some semblance of independence and hope that if she worked harder and smarter she could make a life for herself and her daughter. Her husband had demanded another child but after her miscarriage during her second pregnancy she had secretly befriended the pill. When the husband had labored in earnest to insert an heir to his kingdom into her belly, he imagined nature was not ready to give him the gift. His scorn had been directed to his wife and he needed the slightest trigger to commence a bashing.

When they arrived in Upper East Valley, the air greeted them and it whistled into their ear a beautiful song – 'A fresh start'. Cindy was enrolled into Upper East High. Turned out fresh start meant starting anew. All her friends had been left behind and because her mother was wary of her husband's relatives tracking them down, continuing their friendship was outlawed. Hence she had changed their phone numbers and forbid her daughter to attempt to make contact with anyone back home.

Cindy struggled with making new friends at her new school. Everyone just stared at her, at times she thought they knew of her past ordeal. Their eyes carried an enormous amount of judgement. Each time they blinked, it was as if the gavel would be hitting the judge's table. The paradox was making her life hell, they all victimized the victim. They did it in harmonious unison too. When the weight on her shoulder became too much and threatened to make her kiss the ground, she sought comfort from her friend from Castle Heights. Kayla had been her best friend since they started high school. She understood her and never judged the flinching spirit that possessed her as a result of her father's misconception of what makes a strong man. While undertaking this forbidden venture, Kayla had been sworn to secrecy. She had assured her friend that her allegiance was as unalterable as the law of the Medes and Persians.

Cindy tried to make friends in their new neighborhood but the frailty of her character made her feel she couldn't belong in any group. Maybe the outcasts? She found the company of loneliness to be quite soothing. Her heart needed time to heal. Maybe she could learn to trust the male species again. Her father had tainted everything that had broad shoulders, a deep voice and a third leg dangling between the other two notable ones. She noticed she had an attitude with most of her male teachers, even from her time in Castles Heights. In Upper East High, there was one kind man that opposed everything she perceived with regards with the opposite sex. It was Mr. Bradley.

He taught her Geography class. He saw the dim light in her eyes and in the most compassionate way tried to revive the glow from which she illumined parts of the world. His eyes pierced through her shield and from her invisibility shined a spotlight so that everyone else could see. It only took three weeks for her performance, not only in Geography, to pick up. She improved in other subjects too. Other staff that were involved in her classes started taking note of the new girl. For a brief moment, the world became a habitable place. The students did not take a liking to her, however. Their eyes turned green, she was gleaning all the teachers' attention. Her newly discovered abilities made them seem as if their minds were stupefied. Those that once held the crown now had to bow and pay obeisance to the new queen. Their commitment they desired not to submit. The popular girls never even noticed her even though her grades were fast giving her celebrity status. Her looks never endangered their standing for though she was beautiful, it was in a rugged manner. The bad kids just went along with their quest to reach the core of their sinister abilities. Once again, only loneliness could understand her. She buried herself beneath a mountain of books.

Mom made touch ups to her well styled hair, running the brush a few more times to make sure there was not a strand out of place. Cindy was still showering. She was late, she had been surreptitiously talking to Kayla and completely lost track of time. When her mother came in from work, she realized she was late for their usual movie date night. Mom had suggested they skip this week but she knew just how much her mother enjoyed the undertaking. This was her way of unwinding and resting. She also sensed the dejection that came with the suggestion and because of it, she wasn't going to allow this one to slip.

Kayla had confessed that she had let some of the friends in their circle in on the secret regarding their whereabouts. Cindy remonstrated vehemently but Kayla had given assurance that their being in the know was benign in nature. It had been a week since they had been told and there was absolutely no chatter that suggested they had spilled the beans. As the news came to her, Cindy knew that she had betrayed her mother's trust. All she could do now was hope nothing bad would happen. Her mother had been recuperating well, her flesh was finally getting used to the absence of pain. She knew that in her mind the story would be different though. She was just fifteen but she felt the need to protect her mother was a call to duty that only she could respond to.

She rushed out of the shower and into her bedroom. Some of the unwanted articles of clothing had made their way to their proper place, must have been magic. She rushed into her wardrobe and picked out a pair of jeans and a red T-shirt that would match with her favorite pair of sneakers. The beauty process had to be cut short and only the bare minimum would have to suffice. Mother was in the kitchen fixing a bite for her daughter and herself. She held one of her porcelain bowls in her hand and while her culinary skills were undergoing a test, there was a knock on the door. Cindy heard it too from her bedroom and shouted, "Mom, are you going to get that. I'm almost done getting dressed." Mother made her way into the small single couched living room and reached the door. "I've got it honey, finish up," she replied. Cindy refocused on the mirror and sought to make herself as her pretty as she could for the date with on-screen hot movie stars. From the living room, she heard the bowl break as her mother unleashed a screech of a scream. Cindy dropped her hairbrush and ran into the living room.