GWENN CLENCHED DOWN ON her teeth hard for five terrible seconds, imagining enamel breaking apart before sighing and slumping onto the nearest bench. Her gaze wandered over to a window overlooking the rest of the Lockfell U campus. Green patches of land welcomed students, luring them with benches and tables, water fountains, and the cool shade of massive oak trees. The late October day colored the campus in more orange than usual-and explained the random guy skating down to the student center in a squirrel costume.
Though the rest of the Lockfell U student body prepped themselves for Halloween parties and spread the festivity's cheer, Gwenn frowned and brought her head to her hands. Midterms were fast approaching, and the one elective she chose for her semester was proving to be the hardest class. Not because her grades were slipping, but because the workload was pulling at her ankles like quicksand. She already felt neck deep into the pile of assignments.
All she wanted was to go to the convenience store and buy herself the lamest bunny ears she could find so she could follow Aura into the loudest party on campus, sip on the first drink she took for the rest of the night, and munch on chips while everyone around her slipped into alcohol-induced delirium. Instead, she had to go and read The Awakening by Kate Chopin and write a discussion about it, write a premise for her final project combining two of the major reads of the class, and then start drafting said project.
Gwenn sighed, practicing breathing exercises and going back to her train of thoughts. She had a lot of work to do, but she would do it. She was able. Maybe not in that timeframe with the spiraling thoughts grappling for control over her, but she would calm down and get to work.
She slapped her thighs on her way back up from the bench, her jaw setting as she focused on her next goal: getting home, cooking up a meal, and settling into her large batch of assignments while wrapped in her fluffy blankets. But her walk of determination was cut short when her phone vibrated in her hand, distracting her clear set goals until they dissipated like fumes.
"Mom?" she answered the call.
"Oh, my darling!" Meredith said from the other side. For a second, Gwenn had stilled in the middle of her building's hallway, but she eased when she heard the happy tone in her mother's voice. Nothing seemed amiss. "I have news that you will love to hear."
Her heart quickened. There in the empty hallway, she imagined her mother giving her all the answers to her loud, demanding questions. Had her mother finally grown sense and decided to give her the information she wanted of her biological mother? Would she tell her about where she came from? Tell her the story of how she ended up with her and her father? She might have been raised by them, but the biggest story was yet to be uncovered from the depths of the old chest-the origin of her existence.
"What's up?" she asked, pushing the heavy doors to find the stairs.
"Compass is hosting the opening to a new exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Sculpture in three weeks. These pieces are to die for, Gwenn. You'll adore them. You have to come to the opening with us."
Gwenn faltered at the last step, clearing her throat as she regained control of her limbs. Her soul sank into a shell, but she forced a breezy tone. "That sounds wonderful, Mom."
She could feel Meredith grinning. "It'll be fantastic to be together again. I miss coming home to you in your room, nose buried in a book."
A cold sensation dispersed from her chest until it touched every one of her fingertips, numbing her. Her feet took her out into the brisk day at Lockfell, embracing the rare chill in the air. "I miss you, too," she heard herself say.
It wasn't a lie. Moving out of her home proved to be the biggest change in her life, and every day forced her to discover new facets of her personality and essence. Whenever she looked at her reflection in her bathroom mirror, she saw a new person, not the girl that had grown up in Hales Bay.
YOU ARE READING
Forever Luminescent
General Fiction"Just shine like you always do." Gwenn Davidson has always known she was adopted, but after clearing up her stuff for her first move out of her parent's house, she finds an old blanket gifted to her by her birth mother that triggers an avalanche of...
