Devil of Clinia

New Beginnings, New Secrets

Mar's POV

I'm riding home in a white jeep with who I guess is my new family. I'm sitting awkwardly in the back seat. The man is driving, and the woman is sitting there with her head straight forward, except I can see her face in the mirror, and she almost seems to want to make conversation, but is unsure how.

I scratch my head and blow out a bunch of air.
Boy is this awkward.

"You excited for a new home?" The mom offers conversation, in which I add onto, because if I'm gonna be their kid, I need to not be miserably uncomfortable with them.

"Yeah, new beginnings are always really cool. I get to start a new chapter of my life. My old life wasn't too good." I shake my head.

"I'm sorry. I hope you find your life a lot better here, with us." She places her hand on her husband's leg.

He glances over at her for a second, breaking his focus from the road. He quickly whipped his head back at the road after he smiled at his wife.

"I figure you should know about how your new life will go. You'll have a brother, his name is L-"

"Leo?" I jump up in my seat. "Ah, no," she looks around nervously, "Lawson. His name is Lawson. He was adopted too."

"Oh. Okay." I nervously laugh.

"You'll be going to a private school called Warner Prep."

I nod.

I relax my head on the window and watch as we drive by. I try to imagine a little man hopping over fire hydrants and swinging through trees. I smirk, and begin to nod off.

When I wake up, I open my eyes to the sound of the car door shutting. My door that my head was resting on then flies open and my head bobs.

"Time to wake up sleepy head." The man rattles his car keys.

The lady is already unlocking the front door, and is greeted by a tall gangly boy with dirty blonde hair.

I yawn and unbuckle myself. I trudge along to the house, and try my best to wake up to make the best impression upon these new people.

"As I get to the door I am welcomed with a firm handshake which startles me. "Hi there. I'm Lawson, very nice to make your acquaintance."

I must admit, he has a very nice voice. I imagine girls go crazy for him at school.

"I'm Marlow, call me Mar please. It's very nice to meet you." I smile, but I'm still waking up.

I walk inside, and it's a typical suburban home. Very nice. It's a white house that I imagine small children playing outside with sprinklers in the green back yard with the dad on the grill and the mom bringing out fresh lemonade.

I have nothing to my name, and nothing to set down, so when I'm shown to my room, I have nothing to decorate with to call it home.

I sit in my room briefly, but I don't want to hide away. I sit in the kitchen at the counter and get to know my amazing new family. I learned that Lawson is a junior in high school, and most of his electives are business and marketing. I learn that my new mother is a cosmetologist and a part time substitute teacher. I learn that my new father is an attorney and does volunteer work at the local no kill animal shelter.

Lawson gives me a tour of the house, and to my expectations, the backyard is indeed very green and there's a grill and white wooden bench that would be very good for holding up a glass of lemonade.

We play a couple of board games after the tour, and my new dad was the grand champion.

We finish the night with grilled salmon, artichokes, and a delightful bowl of neapolitan ice cream.

All was going well until I was handed my folded up uniform for Warner Prep.

It was a crimson uniform with a blazer, white button up, grey ankle socks, black Mary Janes, and a skirt that went down to mid thigh.

I tried it on, and as much as I hate the idea of it, it's nice to see that I have a family that cares about me to send me there. I have a nice family and a nice life ahead of me, and I should appreciate the cheesy uniform, because it's more than what I used to have.

The first day of my new school rolls around, and I'm wearing the uniform. As silly as I feel, I can't feel too badly since everyone else is going to be wearing the exact same thing as me.

I board the school bus with Lawson, and he and I sit next to each other towards the back.

"It's crazy that I don't actually dread going to school this time. You'd never believe it but my old school, it was run by-" I stop myself, "run by...teachers that were just really uh, mindless. Didn't care about the kids at all. Everything we learned was really subjective too. The kids weren't very nice either. I did have one friend though. Her name was Jenny Crosston."

Lawson stays quiet.

I awkwardly look at him for a moment so I decide to add, "she uh, she was really nice."

"Sorry, just a weird coincidence is all."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't worry about it." He brushes it off.

"I know we just met, but don't do me like that. My whole life has literally been a bunch of secrets."

"Fine." He adjusts his backpack. "Jenny Crosston was our adoptive parents' real kid. She died. They started adopting after that. I just, you know, thought it was weird that the name came up because they really hate talking about it. It never comes up is all."

It couldn't be the same person, could it?

Wait a minute. This isn't the first name coincidence. Taylor Motts. I remember who she was now! She was the girl that betrayed me! They looked the same too. Could it be the people Cosmo based the Clinia characters off of were real people?

"I'm sorry." Is all I say. I'm quiet the rest of the bus ride.