Devil of Clinia

A New Chance for Mar

The abyss is so silent that I swear I can hear a mumble or a whisper. Maybe the ideas are being tossed around, until one truly exists. I wonder who I'll be. I could be sent to earth, maybe even see Aurora there. Have a family. A life. A real life.

Suddenly, one of the whispers twirls around my head from ear to ear. It grows louder, and louder, and louder, until the world around me is the sound. I listen closely.
Marlow. Earth. Henrietta. Carl.

What could that mean? Could Henrietta and Carl be my new parents?

Almost in an instant, I'm in a shrewd building with peeling paint on the walls. The wooden floorboards were creaky and faded. Silver rusted nails sat in the corners of the room, neglected, and unnoticed to most. It's as if I've been here all along.

"Marlow, follow me. Your new family is here to meet you." A lady with dark skin and slicked back black hair said from the hallway, with a clipboard in hand. She wore a white button up and a long white pencil skirt. I noticed that the button right before it tucked into the skirt was missing, but instead sewn together.

She looked familiar. Couldn't be. Probably my imagination.

I follow her, gently stepping on each floorboard that whined with every place of my foot.

"Congratulations," she whispered as I passed her in the doorframe. "They are just inside that room there on the left."

I peeked my head around the wall to see a thin woman with bleach blonde hair and cherry red lipstick. She had a round black purse with yellow stitching that made a palm tree. She had high cheekbones and a long pointed chin. She had almond eyes that were icy blue. She had her arms folded over her purse which she clutched closely to her. She sat with her legs crossed, and she was looking ahead nervously as her husband was mumbling encouraging words to her. Her husband was short and round, and had dark brown greaser hair. He had droopy green eyes that overshadowed his thick and high arching eyebrows. He had a soft button nose, unlike his wife who's face was much more pronounced and sharp.

"Go on inside." The lady with the clipboard motioned me inside the room. I sat down across from the lady and the man, but sitting next to the clipboard woman.

Upon my appearance the lady almost teared up and gave me a warm smile. The man's was much more bright and wide, like any dad's awkward smile.

"We are so glad that you are giving us a chance, Marlow. We saw you and you immediately were the one for us, if you'll have us that is." The lady placed her hand on her husband's stout hand.

I think a moment. "Of course. You seem like great people." The lady's smile increases.

"We would love to adopt her today if at all possible." The man who had a very broad way of speaking added.

"Of course. We do have some paperwork to go over, but it's nothing that should take too long." The clipboard woman set down the stack of papers that were attached.

I sat there swinging my legs until they finished the paperwork, and when we got up to leave, I had nothing to take with me besides my new opportunity. "Thank you miss..." I trail off. "Taylor. Taylor Motts. I should hope you would have remembered that. I've known you for years, Mar." she laughed it off.

Even that name seems oddly familiar.