Corruption

When I got out of the shower, I completely forgot about the dress, so I was already putting some jeans on when I remembered. My hair still dripping—making my shirt stick to my back—I went out to get it.

Cass was sleeping soundly on the couch, not bothering to wake up from my presence. I patted her head as I passed her back to the bathroom. She grunted in response, not wanting to open her eyes.

The dress was in a black cover so I didn’t look at it as I traveled back to the steaming bathroom to put it on. When I unzipped the case, I didn’t think much of it. It was a strapless, light weight dress. The pattern on it was…different, and I did not like it that much. When I put it on, I thought differently. It fit so perfectly, the curve from the chest to the stomach and the way it just fell off my hips. It was almost like it was made for me.

A variety of pink circles were covering the surface of the dress, fading into smaller circles of different colors; mostly greens and browns, making it look like there were flowers every where. It was wild, but it worked. A dark purple bow was tied lightly at my waist, accenting the whole outfit.

A knock at the door startled me. I put down the hair dryer I was using and opened the bathroom door leading into the hallway. My mom looked me up and down, clapping her hands together.

“Don’t you look just lovely? Come, come!” She shuffled me back into the bathroom and picked up the hair dryer herself. The low whir it made was almost calming as she dried my hair. I watched her in the mirror ahead of me. She wouldn’t stop smiling.

When she was done she put the hair dryer down on the counter. Her hands were on my shoulders, keeping me still. Her chin rested on my right shoulder, looking in the mirror as well. I hadn’t noticed her because I was studying myself in the mirror. I tried to find the right words inside my head to tell them all I would never see them again. I just couldn’t.

“You’re growing up so fast.” She told me.

The smile didn’t leave her face when she said this. Weren’t parents supposed to be sad that their only daughter was growing up and was now an official adult? “You seem happy mom.”

She sighed, taking her head off my shoulder. She picked up a brush off the counter, dragging it through my dry, but snarled hair. “I am,” she said, “I really am. Your dad has really changed. He is more than ever involved with me and it makes me so…” she struggled for the right word.

“Happy?” I offered.

“But it’s more than that. It’s like there is so much love there that it would strangle me if it had the chance.”

I nodded. I felt that just last night with Aiden. We seemed to be together, really together. It was the most amazing feeling I had ever felt.

My mom rummaged through the drawers on the counter until she found what she was looking for. She plugged in the curling iron and set it down on the counter next to the dryer, waiting for it to heat up. She absently played with a strand of my hair as she continued. “You seem happy as well. It surprises me how much your mood has changed since we have moved. Mike here seems to have helped. It makes me feel good, letting him stay here with you, knowing what it does for you. I’m glad you’re happy.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks mom.”

“You know,” she said, smiling herself, “this is the most we have talked in a long time.”

“I missed you.” I said. I really did miss her. She used to be the one who I would tell everything. I would always come home from school and tell her every little detail of my day. I don’t know if she really listened, but she seemed to.

My mom wrapped her arms around my waist. “I missed you too, sweetie.” She kissed my shoulder and grabbed the curling iron. She babbled on about my dad’s work as she placed curls randomly on my head.

When she was finished, my hair bounced and sprang as I moved, making my hair match my dress. Different.

She followed me into my room, still talking. “It was his idea to get you Cassandra. He never forgot how much you love animals.” She sat down on the couch next to Cass and absently stroked Cass’ head. “She is such a good dog. We couldn’t have picked a better one.”

I watched from my bed as she talked on about the pound they got her at. She wouldn’t stop smiling; giggles escaped her lips every now and then. I thought again about the time when I would have to tell her about Aiden and I. She was so clueless and didn’t even know what was going on right in front of her eyes. It pained me to keep so many secrets from her.

As I sat on my bed—barely hearing my mother’s words—I noticed something odd. My bed hadn’t been made. It didn’t bother me that much, but it was odd. Gloria always made my bed as soon as I was out of in the morning. I noticed it before, but I did now. I hadn’t even seen Gloria today.

I interrupted my mother’s babble about the kitchen staff. “Mom?”

“Yes honey.” Her back was to me, but she lifted her head higher showing me she was listening.

“Where’s Gloria?”

“I don’t know. In her room, I do believe. Why?”

“She lives here?”

She laughed, turning her head to look at me. “Of course dear. Where did you think she lived? She works here.”

“Where?”

“Where, what?”

“Where does Gloria stay? Where’s her room?”

“Down stairs in the third hallway were the other help is.” She turned her head to look at Cass. Cass was on her hind legs, trying to see over the couch at me.

I smiled at her little bobbing head and nodded, knowing my mother couldn’t see me. I would go see her sometime later.

I noticed that the room was very dim so I went to the double doors leading off of the balcony. I wretched them open, making them fly.

A small breeze came with them, but stopped abruptly when I went outside on the balcony. The sun beat down on my bare arms and legs, making a soft blanket around me. But it wasn’t that comfortable. Since the last time I was outside, the temperature had risen. It was so humid outside, it almost constricted my throat.

Out load I said, “We could use a little breeze. My God!” A sudden light breeze picked up, the heat disappearing rapidly. I looked around, but couldn’t see any cars or any other vehicles that could have caused the breeze. The world was still around me beside the trees, swaying in the slight breeze.

I scrunched my eyebrows together and bit my lip. What was that about? Why did it do it when I said something? I decided not to dwell on it. It was just a coincidence anyway.

“Candace?” My mother called from inside the room. I went back in the bedroom. She was no longer sitting on the couch but was half way to the door. “I need to go and call the Westcotts to see if they are ready to…” she trailed off, side glancing at me. “I mean, did you have fun at the park?”

“Yes.” I wasn’t going to ask her any questions. I knew all about the surprise party, so it truth, she wasn't ruining any surprise.

“Did Mike…say anything?”

I scrunched my eyebrows together again to show her that I was confused. Of course Mike said something. Did she think we sat and stared at each other for hours? “’bout what?”

“Oh, nothing.”

“What?” I was really curious now.

“Nothing.”

I sighed. If it was that big of a deal, she would tell me. She was never the person to keep a secret. “Why don’t you go and see what Mike is doing?”

I shrugged. “Whatever.”

It wasn’t quiet like I expected it to be when I turned down the hallway. I could feel a steady beat on the floor when I approached the door. He had the radio on and it was blaring. The doors were shaking on their hinges. I wondered why I couldn’t hear it in my room. We shared a wall together so shouldn’t I be able to?

I knew the song by the beat. Stand Up, by Trapt. The beat was heavy and always the same. I didn’t bother to knock; he wouldn’t be able to hear me. I expected to see Mike rocking out with his guitar to the violent song, but he wasn’t any where near rocking out.

He was sitting on the edge of his bed. One of his hands on his neck, the other holding what looked like a birthday card. His lips were moving silently, but he wasn’t doing it with the music; he was reading. I went over to the radio and turned the volume down to make it easier to talk.

When I turned to look at Mike, he was closing the end table’s drawer; the card tucked neatly inside it. “Hey,” Mike said, “I didn’t hear you come in.”

I sat down on the bed next to him. “How could you? That music was a too loud to even hear yourself think.”

He smiled. “I like it loud.”

“Don’t I know it.” I mumbled. Mike laughed, remembering the night I had slept over at his house for the first time. It was in seventh grade and it was his birthday party. Lots of people came and left. I had to stay over night because my mom had to go to the hospital for my grandpa. He had had a heart attack.

I was in his bedroom while he took a shower down stairs. I figured he wouldn’t mind if I turned on the radio and listened to it until he got back. When I pressed the power button, it took a few seconds for it to finally work.

The sudden noise that came from the speakers made me jump back and fall over his bed to the other side. The music was so load I automatically clapped my hands over my ears to stifle the noise. The whole room seemed to be shaking with the beat of the song.

I couldn’t get off the ground and turn it off. Every time I tried to go closer, my body shook even more. Mike came running in wearing his pajamas and his hair wet from the shower. He raced to the stereo and turned it off.

I stayed on the floor covering my ears. I could still here the ringing from the loud noise. I heard Mike laughing right above me and uncovered my ears. When I opened my eyes, I saw under the bed. Surprisingly there was nothing underneath it.

Mike was still laughing at me when I sat up. He was on his bed, his head hanging over the edge. He was clutching his stomach like it hurt. He was laughing at me! Why was he laughing at me?!

“You like my music?” he asked me, and then started to laugh again. I laughed with him this time, thinking of what I had just done.

“I just woke up the neighborhood!” I said in between fits of laughter.

It wasn’t easy for us to fall asleep after that. We had so much fun that night. That was the day when I really thought Mike was my best friend. He just didn’t know that.

“That was a fun time.” I said, laughing at the thought of it.

Mike went over to the stereo and cranked the music once again. Another song was playing now, something I didn’t know. I automatically covered my ears from the loud noise. Mike was laughing by the stereo, clutching his side like he had that night. He was bent over, gasping for air. My face must of read how I hated the loud music, but Mike couldn’t get to the stereo. He was laughing to hard.

“Turn it off!” I tried to yell, but I couldn’t even hear myself. The bed was bouncing with the odd beat, making me feel uneasy, but it wasn’t all that bad. It was actually kind of funny.

Mike finally shut it off, letting me take my hands away from my ears. He was smiling at me. “Good times.”

“Let’s not repeat it again, alright?” I was smiling too. He knew I wasn’t mad at him.

He reached for the power once again and I jumped up, pushing him away from the stereo. “No!” I yelled.

Mike started to laugh. “I was kidding!”

I stomped my foot. “Don’t do that! Jerk!”

He was still laughing at me. I started to walk away from him, but he caught my arm. “Okay, okay. I won’t do that again. I swear.” He held up a hand to show he swore on it. “You ready?”

“Ready for what?”

“To leave. We have to leave before the sun sets. We need to be there early.”

“Let’s go.”

Mike looked at me, his expression unreadable. “You’re not going to ask where we’re going?”

“Are you going to tell me if I ask?”

He didn’t answer me.

“Exactly.” I said before walking out of the room with Mike following.