Mark of the Moon

Chapter 28 - Contemplating Qualities

Chapter 28: Contemplating Qualities:

  “You want some hot chocolate, Sammy?” 

  I looked up from the television, seeing my dad in the doorway to the kitchen. Another one of those crazy aprons was tied around his waist, in a very floral fashion. Refraining from rolling my eyes at his appearance, I shook my head mutely. Heat and sugar were some of the last things I needed. “You sure, its awfully cold in here?” he said, tugging down the sleeve of his equally as embarrassing Christmas sweater, the big Rudolph nose sticking out in the center of it.

  “I’m sure, thank you though,” I said, quietly. He just shrugged and made it back into the warm confines of the kitchen. My eyes trailed back to the television, but I wasn’t really watching it, the sound put on low, it was more of a background noise and something to keep my hyperness in check. I hadn’t realized all the things that my dad would have noticed that were different about me. I had made sure to keep the thermostat cold, because with the blasting heat that my father usually had on I would have gone mad with fever. The moment he arrived home he had commented on how chilly it was, and I had immediately put out my quickened response. I’d told him the thermostat was broken and that I had called the people who would fix it and they weren’t going to be able to come until school started again. By that time I hoped I’d be out of the house enough that I wouldn’t be bothered at him having it however high he wanted.

  Another thing was my different colored eyes, much different from how he remembered them, a whole shade lighter. That was an easier fix; I just always stayed in the darkened living room and didn’t look him in the eye much, and used my hair to skillfully cover both the peripheral vision of my eyes and the scar on my neck. That and I couldn’t touch him much, that first hug had almost convinced him that I had a really high fever and needed to go to the hospital, but I managed to brush that off and pretend I was totally fine.

  “—here we are in Times Square, this crowds pumped up to watch the ball drop us into the New Year,” the announcer stated into the microphone. Yes, it was also New Years, probably one of the calmest I’ve gone through for a long time. The last three years I had gone with Quinn and her family to their vacation destination and partied there, and usually those could get pretty out of hand, but always fun. But before that I spent them either here with Quinn, or when I still had her—my mom, and my dad.

  My arms were wrapped around my knees, that were pulled up to my chest as I stared blankly at the television from the floor. Back leaned against the front of the couch I tried not to let another wave of hyperness overtake me. It had come in cycles since my dad came, just three days ago.

  First was the uneasiness, as if I was forgetting something. My dad had given me worried looks as I went through the house several times, flipping furniture and going through the pile of homework. Of course it was already all finished, that had been done before I had even remembered that it was Christmas vacation, making that uneasiness that more unbearable. Furniture overturned and magazines everywhere, I had then begun my task of realigning all of them as if I had forgotten to mess up the house just so I could clean it up again. Checking cupboards for expiring foods and the fridge for anything that was close to going bad. Basically there had been nothing, and that sent me to the store to go shopping.

  The second wave had come as I had been unpacking the groceries. All of a sudden I was hyper beyond belief, having to put back all the food supplies and then because I was so on edge that I had to take them out and put them all back again just for my hands to stop spazzing out. An adrenaline shot of coffee had been jolted through my system and I couldn’t manage to sit still for any moment of time. That thought of forgetting something had increased along with it, and the thought had me practically crawling up the walls. I wasn’t good with forgetting things in the first place, but to this intensity it was impossible.