Dakota's Suite

Family Reunion

"Wow! You have a nice house!" Hannah chirped from behind me.

Baez chuckled. "Thank you, but the one who's done all the hard work was my wife, Mirabelle." He continued as we passed the gate and headed down the path towards the house. I could feel the sun hit my back, reminding me of the sores I felt from crashing down the stairs earlier yesterday. I did a stretch, hearing my shoulder blades pop in the process.

Once we approached the house, I noticed how the patio had a dark screen surrounding it. The exterior wood surrounding the house was a bright, faded yellow. The sun had shone along the footsteps to the screen door. I saw the silhouette of a small, pudgy woman on the other side. Baez had stepped up the steps and turned over his shoulder to us. "Don't be shy, my Belle is the sweetest thing you can meet."

The door opened, and out came Mirabelle. Her graying hair was tossed in a messy low bun, and several curls had escaped to frame her aging face. She wore round framed glasses and a long crochet cardigan that had stopped over her knees. Her wide legged blue pants had covered her shoes entirely as she approached down the steps, grabbing the railing.

"Where's your cane?" Baez questioned her. Mirabelle snorted in response and proceeded down the stairs.

"You're the older one here." Mirabelle sassed while she pointed her finger in his face. She placed a hand on her hip. "Ask me that question in five more years if I'm not dead yet!" She continued.

I fought back a snicker. I see why these two are a good match.

Mirabelle passed Baez, and the closer she got, the more I noticed how tiny she was for an old woman. She held onto the lapels of her cardigan and craned her neck up so she was beaming at all of us. "What a lively bunch you are!" She exclaimed warmly, her eyes slowly going from Hannah to Daphne to Bryant, them myself. Her sunken brown eyes lingered on mine for the next few seconds, her expression was unreadable when she took notice of the dark crimson stains along my clothes. "You guys can use a meal...and some clean clothes."

She glanced over at Baez. "We can make some room in the house. We have the space."

She turned around and started back up the steps with a come-hither gesture in her hand. "Come, come, I've yet to start breakfast so you guys can get settled and meet the other families that are staying here." She gestured.

We all wasted no time to follow her, being welcomed by the smell of apple cinnamon candles being lit the moment we set foot in the lobby.

Everything in the house had looked large and spacious. There were windows all around that had invited the sun, bringing out the faint lime-green wallpaper. The birch flooring had looked freshly polished. On my left, there was a dining room that had a row of red candles decked across. A group of people had surrounded the table, their bouts of laughter and clanging forks echoed about. Mirabelle turned around once again, arms-crossed and had stood in front of the staircase.

"You'd do best by ditching your shoes so I won't spend my evening scrubbing off god- knows-what off of my floors. We have three bathrooms in this place, I ask that you use them with other people in mind. We have a spare room for you to use for now. You'll have to bear with me a little as this place is already at full capacity." Mirabelle explained with her hand gestured out. "I recommend that you all get washed up, I prepared breakfast, and I don't want to have  all my Tupperware bowls taking up my fridge! We'll introduce you to the family right after you guys are better changed!" Mirabelle warmly instructed, she proceeded down the right to turn towards a hallway. "The bathroom is at the far end from here. We have another upstairs next to the den, along with a guest bathroom connected to the kitchen." She pointed before she turned back to face us.

Hannah stepped forward. Her sandals had been left next to the door, her arm was hooked around Daphne, who kept her head low, and her body shook. Her come-down this time must've been way too much for her, as she hasn't said a word ever since we left the house. I figured I'd at least cut her some slack. "Mind if we take the bigger one? I don't want my mom to be by herself right now." Hannah said as she glanced at Daphne with a sorrowful expression on her face.

Mirabelle eagerly nodded. "Girls must stick together! Feel free to get a shower going, I'll be sure to knock before giving you a change of clothes."

I raised my eyebrows. "Are you really okay with all of this?"

"Let's just say that if I wasn't, Baez wouldn't have wasted his time going out today." She sassed back. She strode closer to the open entryway of the kitchen. Her hand placed itself on its frame. "My house is too damn big for me to be so selfish. Especially with death following us around every corner."

Her eyes lowered to the ground before she had disappeared in the kitchen. Her voice was still loud enough for all of us to hear. "I said my piece, make yourselves at home."

Baez and Wayne exchanged looks. "Does she still scare you?" Wayne questioned.

"She terrifies the hell out of me, boy. I'm going to back out to have a smoke. Join me after you've checked on your people." Baez answered with a shrug. Wayne nodded and proceeded to the dining room. The chatter growing even livelier with his newfound prescence. Baez had passed us, sparing me a second to give me a nod. "Surely you guys aren't going to just stand there in all that muck." He remarked as the screen door shut behind him.

"Alright, so-" My sentence had been cut off as I turned around, Bryant had sped past me, his shoulder abruptly clashed with mine as he traveled in the kitchen, presumably to the guest bathroom.

Hannah sighed. "Bryant!"

"Let him go." I shrugged. The best we could do for Bryant was give him the space that he needed, his father's dead after all. 

Hannah nodded, "Fine, come on Mom." She urged, shambling towards the stairs. Daphne slumped against Hannah's smaller frame as they ascended upstairs. That left me with the bathroom down the hall as my only option.

I slipped my shoes off, not realizing how muddy and damp they were as I left them next to the door. I continued down the hallway right after, passing by multiple photos of Baez and Mirabelle, mainly their wedding photos.

Once I entered the bathroom, I stepped in front of the sink, gazing into the mirror set right above it. This bathroom didn't have a shower, so I'd have to make do with the sink and clean up after myself. My half-lidded eyes widened at my reflection. Dark, crimson stained handprints had rested over the shoulder parts of my blue jacket, my face had dark spots along it, presumably from the having to fall because of the kid caught in the bear trap. Blemishes of dirt remained over the left side of my face, twigs and dried leaves adorned in my choppy, disheveled hair.

Disgusting.

I wasted no time to turn on the faucet and started peeling off my clothes, allowing the running water to occupy the silence in the bathroom. I really didn't want to be left alone with my thoughts, at least not right at this second. I didn't really pay attention to the soreness in my body, especially the dull pain that emerged from my upper back, assuming it was from the fall I had with Isaac down the stairs. I stared back down at the crescent-shaped scars that collected along my forearm. I don't think I'll be growing out of them anytime soon. With a sigh, I proceeded to wet the sponge that was rested next to the soap and started bathing myself.

Before I could stop the faucet, the door abruptly opened, nearly hitting me in the process. I immediately took a step back to face a girl, who stood with a pile of clothes in her hands, her pale blue eyes were wide with horror as she stared back in me in nothing but my boxers.