Pippa stepped into her mother's house.
It felt both good and bad to be home. The hospital had been boring, and, despite the chemicals sprayed on every surface, the smell of sickness and death still clung to the walls and sheets; more as a memory than as an actual odor. Pippa's house was too big, though. The first room one saw after walking through the front door--the lobby--was a huge one, with a red rug and two sets of stairs both leading up to the same balcony, which in turn led to the second floor. The ceiling was domed and painted with nude women and cherubs and oddly colored fruit, and antique portraits lined the walls.
The house was both too large and too old.
It held the similar memories as the hospital; memories of death, but from different causes. The office, formerly a bedroom, held the frail tremors of old age and unheard last words. A hole in the living room wall spoke of bullets and death to the same one who dealt it. The large field behind the house was layered with soil that had nourished a plantation and soaked up the blood of slaves.
She would never say it out loud, but at midnight, when she occasionally awoke for no apparent reason, or when the back of her neck prickled, or the temperature between rooms shifted noticeably, Pippa was frightened of the dead.
Her mother was not. She bustled into the house and tossed off her coat, handing it to their maid, Sandra.
"Glad to be home, Pip?" she asked, as Sandra hung the coat up.
"Uh-huh. I'm gonna go to my room." Pippa started up the stairs.
Her mother sighed. "That science fiction show you like is on right now, right? I was going to watch it in the living room."
"Cool. I'll go watch it in my room," Pippa called from the balcony.
Her mother gave her a short wave.
Pippa turned to the left and followed the balcony as it curved to the shape of the lobby. There were multiple doors along the walls of the balcony. The tallest was at the top of the stairs, and led to a large parlor, in the back of which was another set of stairs leading to the third floor. Along the left and right sides of the balcony were smaller doors leading the smaller room, one being Pippa's bedroom.
She stepped inside it and closed the door behind her.
The walls of the room was pink and purple, as she hadn't repainted since she was seven. She had decorated to adhere to some of her current interests, though, so posters of boy bands and television shows hung on the walls, and her bed was draped with a blanket depicting an unpopular superhero.
Pippa snatched her iPod from the bedside table and opened Zodiak. She started a group chat with everyone in her clique.
Pippa: sup guys
Pippa: did ya miss me
Pippa: motherfucking yea ya did
Pippa: haha
Reese: Look who's alive.
Pippa: dude!!!
Reese: Hello.
Pippa: hi!
Maxy: hey
Pippa: hey man
Maxy: where were you
Pippa: hospital
Maxy: are you okay
Pippa: yea its no biggie
Reese: "Just a brain tumor and some internal bleeding; it's chill."
YOU ARE READING
Crossing Stars
Teen Fiction[Quick warning: some of the sexual and death related content in this could bother some people. It's probably fine for most teenagers and older, but if that sort of thing bothers you a lot, you might not want to read it.] Life is hard, especially for...
