The Memory Of Us

Chapter 8

Khalil's answer came almost instantaneously, but Mina didn't see it until the next morning at breakfast.

"I'll meet you there." He had said.

Mina's thumbs hovered over the keyboard of her phone, as a thousand different responses formulated inside her brain.

She decided to settle for, "Ok," though she found herself wishing she had said nothing at all as she hit send, but she was hastily pulled from the depths of her thoughts by the sound of her grandmother slamming paper angrily down onto the counter beside her.

Mina turned her phone off, placing it face down as she turned to her grandmother. Her spoonful of cereal was halfway to her mouth as she asked, "What's wrong?"

"What isn't?"

"Ok." Mina drawled out, spooning her cereal into her mouth before grabbing one of the papers from her grandmother's hand. "What is this?" She asked, scanning the paper curiously.

She had utterly no idea what she was looking at, and she never got a chance to discern it as her grandmother snatched the paper back.

"You need to get a job." She said, folding the stack of papers in her hand so that they were out of Mina's general eyesight before folding them under her arm.

"What?"

"You heard me." Her grandma said snarkily, one hand on her hip, the other placed flat against the cold, granite kitchen counters. "You need to get a job." She repeated. "Your dad's funeral cost a fortune, and so does your mother's lawyer-" She began to list off. "-the estate hospital is on the verge of bankruptcy, my clients are dwindling. This family has no money!"

"I'm still failing how any of that relates to me getting a job." Mina frowned, dropping her cereal spoon altogether now.

Milk splashed onto the countertop.

"Don't be a smart ass, Mina Joyce!" She warned. "You're part of this family whether you like it or not!"

Mina didn't like it, but she resolved to keep that to herself.

"You will get a job!" Mina's grandmother demanded. "And you will testify in support of your mother in court!"

Silence reigned for a moment before Mina was suddenly pushing her breakfast away, her appetite suddenly gone completely and, the only sound of that in the room was of her stool scraping against the tiled kitchen floors and her heeled shoes slapping against the ground as she stood.

She was about an inch taller than her grandma in her square-toed heels and the extra height gave her the illusion of invincibility as she said with her chest, "She's where she belongs."

And she meant it.

The only problem was, she wasn't invincible.

Mina hadn't realized what had happened at first, she was only distinctly aware of a sharp burning sensation slowly spreading across the side of her face.

"Don't you ever-" Her grandmother's voice was shaky as she spoke. "-ever" She enunciated. "-say that again. They did what they did for you, because that's how important family is! That's one thing you could learn from Khalil."

Mina's eyes began to water as the burning sensation grew stronger, more prominent. It felt as if her cheek had a heartbeat of its own.

Slowly, she turned to face her grandma once more, her hand cradling her cheek. Her skin was hot to the touch.

"Get a job." She said with finality. "Are we clear?" She asked and, when she didn't receive a response, she asked once more, "Are we clear?"

"Crystal." Mina whimpered out.