Seeing with the Shadows

Chapter 39

Lena:

“It’s breakfast...” Lena heard a quiet voice say. She swiped in the general direction of it, like she was trying to shut it off like an alarm clock. There was a frightened squeak, a thump, and then the sound of footsteps scuffling out of the room.

Lena groaned and rolled over, pulling the covers over her head. Just like she used to do before school. Only it wasn’t before school, and she didn’t live here anymore, and she definitely didn’t care about her mother anymore she reminded herself. But all the same, Lena got out of bed, changed clothes, and went down to the breakfast room. Winter sunlight streamed in through the glass French doors, casting shadows onto the wooden floor. Lena could see the umbrella rolled up, but still in the table on the deck. The blue chairs around it were covered with snow.

There was the soft clink of a butter knife knocking into her mom’s plate as her hand shook slightly while she spread jam on her toast. Jade bit her lip and looked down at her plate.

“Bite too hard and you’ll start bleeding.” Lena whispered, just like her mother had always done. Jade stopped, licked her lips, and hugged a stuffed dog to her chest. Michaela threw her napkin down and left the room. “I asked.” Jade told Lena solemnly, “And she got scary.”

“Asked what?”

“Who you were.”

How stupid can you be? Lena thought to herself angrily.

“Well?” Jade asked impatiently.

“Well what?” Lena snapped.

“Will you tell me who you are because Michaela won’t tell me?”

Lena sighed, then said, “It’s a long story. First, tell me who you are.”

Jade stuck out her lower lip, “Why.”

“Because I asked you, and if you want to know exactly who I am then you’d better do that. Deal or no deal.”

“Deal.” Jade stuck her little hand in Lena’s, but Lena pulled hers away. Her palm was sticky with jam and syrup. “I’m Jade Kanstrofi, and mommy adopted me two months ago.” She nodded to herself, “Mhm… so she gave me a room and now she’s my nice new mommy.” She took a bite of her waffle.

“Why did you need to be adopted?” Lena was determined to find everything out everything about this girl.

Jade’s face crumpled. Her hands balled into fists at her side, and the stuffed animal dropped to the ground. “I don’t want to talk about it!” She said in a tearful voice, jumped from her chair onto the ground with a crash, scraped her leg, and got up. She then proceeded to run out of the room and slam the door.

Well, that could’ve gone better… Lena thought to herself. She walked into the living room where various small objects that her mother had collected over the years were displayed on the shelves. A small model of a disco ball, only made completely of glass and then real mirrors, caught her eye as the sun slanted down onto it and made the squares cast bright reflections onto the walls around the room. Michaela’s concerned voice came down from above as she tried in vain to comfort Jade.

Lena moved closer to the mirrors, seeing the different parts of the room shown in them in a mismatched order. She didn’t remember this from when she had lived here before. Maybe I’m just dreaming, and none of this is real. Maybe my mother still loves me and I’m just in a coma hallucinating this whole thing. Thoughts swirled around in Lena’s head, always connecting the new things and the old things that were here. It was odd, walking through the place she had known so well just a couple months ago.