Chapter 2

Mom wakes me up early on Saturday morning.

"I'm going out for some grocery shopping for today, do you want to come with me?"

"Mom it's too early for this"

Charles emerges from behind her.

"I'm coming with you if you promise to let me drive."

"You don't even have a license yet," I interject.

"Dad let me drive his car the other day."

My heart sinks. In all my years of being a capable driver my father has never let me drive his car.

"You might scratch it Maya," he would say.

"I'll stay and make breakfast mom, you can go with Charlie."

After Charles and mom leave, I go downstairs and start preparing breakfast. I can hear my father's footsteps as he comes downstairs and I quickly put my earpods in my ears just to avoid conversation.

I turn around to face the window so that I do not have to look at him when he enters the kitchen.

"Maya?" I can hear his voice faintly behind all the music.

"Maya?" his voice is much louder the second time so I act startled.

"Dad, hi, sorry. My music is too loud I couldn't hear you."

"How did you sleep"

"OK"

He picks up the newspaper and starts browsing through the pages.

"The Steins are coming over this evening, remember Larry? You guys used to play together all the time when you were kids. He is coming too, I thought it would be nice if you guys would catch up tonight. He is in college now studying Medicine. He is a very decent young man"

This makes me uncomfortable. My father and I hardly ever talk, and now here he is making suggestions about boys. This feels very weird.

"Breakfast will be ready soon."

I put my earpods on as a sign that I have pulled out of the conversation, and I continue to make breakfast.

***

The house starts to fill up with some of our family friends and other new faces.

After a few minutes of fake smiles and greetings, I go up to my room. I cannot stand watching my father parading my mother around as if everything is just perfect. Although the abuse is less common now, there have been days where my father has had a bad day at work, and has released all his anguish on my mother. And I have lay in my bed helplessly, listening to my mom being thrown around in their bedroom.

I am about to start reading Midnight Sun when Charles comes into my room.

"Hi hermit crab."

"Hi goofball."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"If mom and dad were to separate, who would you live with"

"Probably mom, why?"

"I don't know, I just feel like mom is not happy or something."

A part of me is aware that Charles is mature enough to see how messed up our family is , no matter how hard our parents try to conceal it, but at the same time, my big sister instincts are telling me to lie to him, to tell him that everything is fine and that he has nothing to worry about.

"Mom is okay Charles, she's happy."

"He hits her, doesn't he?"

"Who hits..."

Charles' phone rings.

"It's Scott."

After a brief chat with his friend, he hangs up the phone.

"Look, we'll talk later Scott says he wants to show me something but I'll be back soon."

"There's no way you're leaving me alone Charles."

"I'll be back before you know it, I promise."

"Okay I'll drive you there"

"I'll just take my bike."

Just as he is about to leave my room he turns around and looks at me.

"I love you Maya."

"I love you too stupid."

Shortly after Charles leaves I go downstairs to get some food. The Steins arrive just as I am about retreat back into my cave.

Greeting are exchanged among the parents, with me standing awkwardly behind mine.

"Maya you are all grown up!" exclaims Mrs Steins. "Larry will be here shortly, he's just finding a suitable spot to park the car."

"Charles just left to go to his friend's house, he should be back soon," says my father.

The Steins move to the living room with my parents, and I proceed to stuff as many marshmallows as I can into my mouth.

Just as I am about to find the next delicacy to indulge in, a young man walks into the kitchen. My cheeks are stuffed and I can hardly speak.

I immediately recognize his face from some of our play dates. Except now he is taller and way more attractive. He is lean with a perfect face, brown eyes and dark brown hair. He wears round glasses and has a perfect haircut that highlights his facial features, including the most perfect jawline I have ever seen. I have to remind myself to breathe before I make a fool of myself.

"Woah, leave some for the rest of us," he has a deep voice that gives me instant butterflies.

I quickly swallow the remainder of the marshmallows that are in my mouth.

"Larry, you look, you look healthy."

"Compliment?"

He's wearing a black shirt that isn't buttoned up entirely.

"And strong"

He chuckles.

"You've grown Somaya. You look beautiful."

"Thank y..." my voice breaks and I almost choke on my spit. "Thank you."

He walks up to me and I have to crane my neck just look at his face. He holds out his arms gesturing for a hug. I awkwardly stumble towards him. His arms envelope me and my head rests on his warm chest. I am surprised by how safe I feel in his arms. I pull back and I can feel my cheeks getting redder by the second.

"How's everything, how's school? The last time I saw you we were running around in nothing but our underwear in the backyard."

"Yeah, I don't think that would be a good idea now."

"Whoops there goes my plans for tonight." Sarcasm, I like.

At this point, my whole face turns red.

"So my dad told me that you want to be a doctor?"

"Yeah I just really want to help people. The Medical field is coming up with new advances year by year, I want to be a part of that."

That voice could wake me up from a coma.

"That's amazing."

Why aren't there more doctors that look like that anyway?

"Let's go somewhere quieter, I want to hear about everything I have missed."

We decide to go upstairs since there's no one on the balcony. It's quiet and the sky looks perfect.

"I really have no stories to tell Dr Stein, but I'd love to hear a bit about you."

"Well for starters I..."

"MAYA!"

His sentence is cut short by mom calling for me downstairs.

"Hold that thought"

I walk to the living room where my mother is standing alone with a glass of champagne. She looks like a movie star in her red dress and red lipstick. The bun makes her blue eyes stand out.

"Have you spoken to Charles, he's still not back and its almost been 5 hours now, his phone is ringing but he isn't picking up."

I've been so caught up in my own business that I didn't realize that Charles hasn't come back. I look at my watch.

"It's 8:45pm already, have you called Scott's mom?"

"Let me, you can go back up honey I didn't mean to disturb you."

She picks up the phone to call Scott's mother. I can't carry on with my night without knowing if my brother is okay, so I wait.

"Hi Jenny...I'm well thanks...that's good to hear...Can you please give the phone to Charles I need to speak to him...around 6pm?"

My mother's face drops.

"Thanks Jenny."

She drops the call and looks at me with a concerned face.

"Charles left Scott's place 2 hours ago, he should be here by now"

"Let me tell dad, maybe we can go out and look for him."

"Oh I would hate to ruin his night Maya, how about you and Larry take the car and look for him, I'll tell your dad that you just went out for a drive."

I can sense the fear in my mother's voice.

"I'll call Larry."

It's as if he has heard our conversation because at that moment, he comes downstairs.

"Is everything okay?"

"We need to look for Charles, let's take my car."

My car keys hang by the window that faces the gate, and from where I stand I can see the road. I look outside the window and immediately feel my heart drop.

"Mom..."

My mother runs to where I am standing.

We both stand by the window and watch as a police officer walks up the driveway towards our house. By the time she reaches the door my mother and I are already standing there. It must've been the look in her eyes because at that moment I can tell that something bad has happened.

"Mrs Purple?"

My mom stares at the officer, a blank expression on her face.

"My name is Officer Riley. A young boy who was riding a bicycle was hit by a car earlier on today..."

My eyes go out of focus and things start to get blurry.

"The person driving the car fled the scene, and the boy was left to bleed out at the scene..."

I do not know what the officer says after that, but the last thing I remember is Larry's blurry face towering over me and my mother's muffled crying in the background."