Rich

7 (Selene)

        Faith, the blonde haired service woman was already waiting for me in the foyer on my way to breakfast this morning. To inform me of where I might find my mother's things. No one was around for my meal, which I was relieved of. There was a question already looming inside my mind as I ate my food. 

Am I ready to sort through my mother's belongings?

        I wasn't comfortable being barefoot in a home like this one, so all that could be heard was the sounds of my sneakers walking down the long hall until I reached the room I was told to look for. The handle clicked and easily swung open as I pushed to enter. 

When I flicked on the light switch I saw the room was full with everything from a vanity mirror, to gift boxes, to clothes set on hangers resting across a bed from the spare room. 

If what you owned was what you're worth then my mother was worth a lot. As I had been worth very little in my few sad brown boxes, there was no caving in cardboard here.

        Before I could even start with the sorting, my cell phone rang and I saw it was a facetime call from two of my three best friends. Izzy was a sweetheart whom I work at a small boutique with. She has what she coined as 'bronde' hair, which essentially is icy blonde hair with dark underlayers. It suited her. 

My other best friend was Marcus who's away at college right now. He's a fashionable guy like Izzy, and has fading amethyst dyed hair and a handsome face. He keeps me laughing.

        "Hey! How was the move?!" Izzy greeted me first. With my sour expression both my friends gave me a sympathetic look. "Day one yesterday and I was already disrespected by the two wicked step siblings." I huffed. "This better not turn Cinderella for you," Marcus teased. When I sat on the floor beside the items scattered around the room it caught their eye. 

"Is that all your stuff? Looks like a lot," Izzy asked me, flipping her hair from her face. "No...it's my mom's" I sighed, tinkering with one of the lids of a gift box. "Oh boy, how are you feeling about that?" she asked further.

        "Honestly, I don't know. It's in a spare room. I can take my time going through everything, but I don't know if I even wanna wait so long. I don't want her memory to become this junk left in some forgotten room," I glanced at my two best friends and sighed at their expressions. "I wish I could come help you look through everything," Marcus scratched his chin. 

"I certainly would if I wasn't terrified of showing up there..." Izzy trailed off. She was fidgeting with the neckline of some blouse. "I don't even feel comfortable having guests here anyway. It doesn't feel like my own home" I told her truthfully.

        "Are you still going to keep your job? I mean, aren't you like, 40 plus minutes away now?" she tipped her head at me. "I need to keep my job. I need money. I don't want anything more from David, especially knowing how closely his kids are watching me. I haven't sorted out the details yet though" I stretched my legs out and a few shoe boxes shifted aside once my foot touched them.

"I don't want you to leave the boutique anyway. I can't handle the bitchiness without you" Izzy whined of our boss. "And it's probably the only way you'll see each other for now" Marcus added salt to the wound of leaving everyone I love. "We'll come live in your dorm Marcus" I teased him to lighten the mood. 

"I am very fine with that," he chuckled. 

We've been friends since our start of high school. I didn't know him before then because we went to separate middle school's, but Izzy and I have been friends since the 6th grade when she moved here.

        Our third best friend is Crystal. She's one of a kind. Very promiscuous and out for fun, but she brings a balance to the group. I'm the quiet passive one, she's the good time girl, Marcus is the testosterone of the group, but also the funny guy, and Izzy is the more neurotic one that keeps most everyone in line.