[IN PROGRESS]
Martha and James are soulmates trapped together in a never-ending reincarnation loop. Not a bad way to spend eternity, but they wanted more. They wanted a child. Serafina is born and Martha and James are elated to love and raise her a...
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Martha sat in the back corner of her walk-in closet, her knees to her chest to make herself small. It was one of the few places in their home where an adult could fit during a game of hide and seek. They'd been playing it so much recently that Martha had brought in a pillow to fashion herself a seat.
Her shoulders began to ache so she rolled her neck to stretch her muscles when she heard the door creak open. She froze as tiny feet patted the carpet toward her.
"Found you!" Serafina cried, jumping in front of Martha.
"Ahhhh!" Martha shouted, feigning surprise. Then she chased her daughter out of the closet and into the daylight.
But that was yesterday.
Today, there was no game. Today, she sat in darkness but for a whisper of the day's fading light sneaking beneath the closet door.
Her daughter was gone. No, my daughter is sitting in the living room with James.
But she wasn't the daughter Martha knew – the daughter who was captivated by their friend's new hamster; whose mind they would blow with a trip to the Grand Canyon; who was the center of Martha's universe; whose eyes cast unfiltered awe and adoration towards her.
The eyes of this Serafina cast something altogether different.
But she's still my daughter just like I'm still my dad's! And she just woke up and she's probably scared and I ran from her!
She heard a high pitched scream from another part of the house. Was something wrong? No... That was laughter. Serafina and James were laughing. Of course they are.Why is everything so damn easy for him?
Martha took a deep breath. This was bigger than parental rivalry. She couldn't abandon her daughter. Because even though she had in no way considered the possibility that her daughter would be anything more than a first-lifer, she had resolved to hold no standards of expectation for Serafina. Whatever their passions, whatever their aptitude, whatever their choices, Martha would be there in support, no matter what. And however old they were in mind and spirit, Serafina still needed her and it was time for Martha to live up to her promise.
She wiped her eyes then got to her feet and left the closet. Down the darkened hallway, she moved quietly, stopping short of revealing herself at the edge.
"...Dostoevsky most recently," Serafina said from the living room. "But you know. You cycle through authors... through eras..."
"Oh yeah, totally," James said. "What about music?"
"Motown... New Wave... Australian Plunderphonics..."
