Naleighna Kai's Literary Cafe Magazine NK Literary Cafe 2018 Mother's Day Issue | Page 52

MarZe Scott
Excerpt from Gemini Rising
Only weeks before my tenth birthday, a dark blue
sedan slowly approached the front yard where I played
with Nina, a friend who had brought her dolls over to
hold our make-believe class. The car pulled up and
parked in front of my house. I paused and glanced up in
time to see a boy not much older than me slide out of the
driver’s side seat.
The stranger walked past us without speaking. Seconds
later his brown knuckles rapped against the hunter green
front door. My mother answered wearing black leggings
and one of my father’s t-shirts that practically swallowed
her petite frame. Brief eye contact and a smile between the two before the
teenager entered the house close in step behind my mother. A feeling of
discomfort worked knots in my stomach as questions churned in my mind.
A shiver went through my body the second my mother introduced me to
Ryan. He didn’t have a menacing appearance. On the contrary, Ryan was
a typical looking teenage boy—tall with cinnamon skin; dressed in faded
black jeans with fashion trendy holes in the legs and sparkly threads. His
grey hoodie with block letters across the chest was out of season for a warmer
than average day in July. The diamond stud glinted in his left ear in the same
manner as his teeth when he gave me what was supposed to be a reassuring
smile. His sneakers were bright white as though he spent every waking hour
keeping them clean. Nothing I could name made this boy threatening in any
way.
“I have to run an errand,” she said, though she didn’t grab her favorite
red leather satchel or move toward the front entrance. “I need you to go with
Ryan. His father and your father were friends, alright?”
“But Mama—” She shot a green-eyed glare at me that told me to shut up
and fast.
“You’ll be fi ne.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” Something wasn’t right, even for my mother’s usually sour
disposition. She was distant—no, she was … absent. She remained on the