11

Chapter 11.
Sheila asks for a Margarita refill and then snaps me out of my 80’s sitcom initiated trance.
“I know you’re super smart and all, but your dad posseses evil in his veins, he’s an evil genius, so you and I both know that there is a huge chance of him going against his words, I mean he locked you in the house just to get you to marry that Lucas Saul,” “Shaul, Lucas Shaul,” I correct her, “whatever his name is,” she responds.
“My point is, the cunning fox will do anything to get you to do his bidding, tats how he became so rich in the first place isn’t it?”
“What will you do if that happens?”
” If I was you Sheila, sitting across from me right now I would ask myself that same question, even as I am myself I still asked myself that same question, don’t you think I’ve put all these intro considerations, I’m planning to take it one day at a time alright.”
I still could not binge watch “Friends” after leaving Sheila, I got home late and tired and found myself in Narnia falling in love with a Satyr and riding on him to fight against an evil witch in a kingdom behind my wardrobe.
Then I woke up in the morning and realized that I had dozed off after just two episodes of “Friends.” Then, I thought about how the dream I had was quite similar to my life, only I was fighting an old Wizard and not a Witch and I was getting married to a real life Satyr in the person of Lucas Shaul, I mean he’s hairy enough to fit the description isn’t he?
I have to go visit my mom, it’s the only time I have to do so in between burying myself in work work.
Mama sees me and immediately her face lights up, her pupils dilate and that makes my intestines tingle inside. It is very difficult to face her, knowing that I can’t keep hiding what happened at the party to her and she will pry. One thing I Know about my mother is that she is sure to pry.
“What’s wrong Pumpkin?” Mama asks with all the strength she can muster, she healing and getting better but still very frail, at least she is smiling I thought to myself.
It’s funny Mama decides to call me by my childhood nickname for the first time in ages right after I just went through a Halloween-esque week, way to go Mama and it’s also quite ironic how my father who is the Devil turning my whole life into his playground, is the one who gave me that nickname as a 7 year old.
“What do you mean, Mama?” I feign naivete, the last I would want is for her my hell to spill over and become her hell, let me handle this Devil alone, enough damage had been done.
” I know you Anna, there’s something wrong, have you not been getting enough sleep?”
She asks, I deflect and try to change the topic to her Doctor’s report.
“Is it work?” she asks again and once again I deflect and start talking about how Dad named me “pumpkin” but never calls me that anymore and she has actually called me that more times he ever did.
“Your father, it’s your father isn’t it, what did he do this time?” That turned out to be a bad move, shouldn’t have mentioned his name.
“No Mama that’s not it, I just missed you that’s all, I promise you there’s nothing wrong, I just wished you would be discharged and you’d come home, I kind of hate having to come here before I can see you,” I say solemnly and then engulf her in a great bear hug and say “I love you, Mama Bear.”
“I love you too Goldilocks, you little trespasser,” she responds and we both burst into heavy laughter.
We play a game of chess and talk about a lot of things before I notice it’s getting late and decide to start heading home, Mama sheds a few tears as I hug and kiss her goodbye.
Driving past a McDonald’s on the Boulevard, I notice a particular SUV which hasn’t left my back since I pulled out of the hospital driveway. It gets closer and something seems strange, every other vehicle that was behind me either branched off or overtook me, this one has been consistently behind me for almost half an hour and I’m beginning to get suspicious.
My mind begins to wander about what I did that would warrant anybody trailing me, in not going for any positions at work so that’s obviously cancelled. The car gets even closer and I notice it’s a Dark Grey Ford Dodge.
It gets even more sinister when I realize that I had seen this car on my way to the hospital, it’s obvious they are definitely following me, I’m panicking now, my palms start sweating and I nervously lose grip of my steering wheel and swerve a few times in the road.
I notice that the car behind me, the Ford Dodge lost focus everytime I swerved, they struggled to regain balance or know what to do next. With this new found knowledge I begun to swerve on purpose to get them distracted.
I swerve, they swerve, this goes on and on until they almost hit a motorbike and swerve right into a gas station, I take the chance while they’re distracted and make a turn into a lane I had no interest in going to but I go in there and find a longer route home but it was worth it as long as I got them off my tail
I get home all shook and exhausted, I even fumble my keys and let it fall a couple times from my trembling hands.
I open the door and the last person I wanted to see is the first person I see.
He sits in the living room in his bathrobe watching the Kansas City Royals play the Philadelphia Phillies in the MLB. Since he’s here anyways I tell him about being followed and I even lie that they followed me all tgexeay home to get some urgency from him but my dad couldn’t care less, he remains stoic and unfazed.
Why did I even bother, how did I forget that my mom got married to the Devil’s incarnate, my hate for him keeps knowing no bounds as the days go by.