The Perfect Storm

“I don’t want to be here,” I hissed in Regina’s ear, trying to keep a pleasant smile on my face through the process.

“Suck it up, birthday girl,” Regina hissed back, her smile much more natural than mine.

I glared at her for a split second before putting on a happy face again. I glanced around the table, trying to see if anyone had noticed the slip in my façade. My father was discussing politics animatedly with Mr. Long, Elaina was asking Mrs. Long if she knew how to make some sort of recipe I had never heard of, Conor was gazing at Regina, who pointedly ignored him, and Kasey was staring at the table, presumably lost in thought.

I looked down at my plate, picking at the food that Mrs. Long had insisted on piling on it. I pushed the mashed potatoes around the plate, swirling them in the gravy, until it became one giant mess. Suddenly I felt something jab into my ribs, and I looked up to see Elaina glaring at me.

Enjoy this or else, her eyes seemed to say.

I glared back at her but stopped playing with my food. I looked around the table again and saw Kasey watching me, his signature smirk on his face. My eyes narrowed at him before I looked away. Soon everyone was finishing up with their dinner, sitting back in their chairs contentedly.

“Conor, come help me with the dishes.” Mrs. Long said, standing up and starting to clear the table.

“I’ll help too,” I said quickly, starting to rise from my seat.

“You’ll do no such thing!” Mrs. Long cried. “It’s your birthday Sydney, sit down and enjoy it.”

I grimaced inwardly but did as I was told. Kasey threw me an amused and knowing look, and I resisted the urge to flip him off. The conversations continued around me, but I remained silent in my seat, uninterested in any of them.

“So how are you liking Lincoln High, Kasey?” I heard my father ask.

“Oh it’s alright,” Kasey replied. “The people are more interesting than I expected.”

My father chuckled. “Well I hope that’s a good thing.”

Kasey flashed him a smile. “Definitely, Mr. Towers,”

I ground my teeth. It angered me so much that my father could have an easy conversation with a stranger, but not with me. The small talk continued around the table as I tried desperately to come up with an idea for an excuse to leave.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” I blurted finally, standing up and leaving the room before anyone could stop me. I felt several pairs of eyes burning into my back as I made my escape, but I didn’t turn to face any.

I hurried up the stairs to the bathroom where I locked myself in. I stood there, leaning with my back against the door and my eyes squeezed tightly shut for a while before I opened my eyes and caught a part of my refection in the mirror. I strode the few steps to the mirror and examined what I saw. Troubled blue eyes stared back at me, surrounded by smooth pale skin dotted with a few freckles here and there. Dirty blonde hair framed the face, part of it pulled back in a clip at the top. I tried to smile, but only ended up looking like I was in pain.

A knock at the door jerked me back to reality.

“Sydney?” Kasey’s voice wafted through the door.

I froze for a moment. Did I imagine his voice?

“Sydney, open the goddamn door,” he called again. No, that was definitely not a hallucination.

I slowly unlocked the door before crossing back to the sink over which the mirror hung. The door opened slowly to my right but I didn’t look up at Kasey.

“What are you doing?” he asked warily.

“Nothing,” I muttered.

“Your sisters are looking for you.” He stated. “They want you to open gifts now.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course,” I muttered.

I swore I saw his lips twitch the slightest bit before his face returned to its normal stoic expression. “C’mon.”

I followed him without another word back downstairs and into the living room where it seemed that everyone was waiting for me expectantly. Regina and Elaina were practically bouncing out of their seats on the couch with excitement.

“We’ve been waiting forever to give this to you,” Regina exclaimed, holding out a gift wrapped in shiny silver paper.

“Mom said to wait until your sixteenth birthday,” Elaina added as I reached to take the gift.

I froze. “What?” I asked.

“Just open it already!” Regina urged.

Slowly I peeled off the wrapping paper and founnd myself holding a thick scrapbook. I sat down hesitantly on the coffee table and ran my fingers gently across the words embellished on the cover, “To Sydney, With Love From Mom.”

I turned the page and found myself staring at a picture of me as a baby being held in the arms of a pretty woman I recognized as my mother. She’s staring down at me with love filling the blue eyes I inherited from her. Underneath the picture was a caption that read “I loved you from the first time I saw you.”

The picture on the next page shows the room that was my nursery until I was three. The walls were pink, and flowers were painted all over the walls. The caption for this read, “I painted the flowers just for you, to give you a place of your own, specially made by me.”

Tears filled my eyes as I ran my fingers over the messy script scrawled across the page. I looked up to find everyone staring at me sympathetically. Regina and Elaina both moved to wrap their arms around me to comfort me but I stood up abruptly. I dropped the scrapbook on the coffee table and before I could wrap my mind around what I was doing I was out the front door and sprinting down the street.

It didn't even matter where I went as long as I was far, far away from those haunting words.