Cherry - part 13

Zia

Holes

The most important thing about Zia, is her wish to just be another one in the crowd. For as long as she could remember, she loathed the girls who did everything they could to get attention from the boys. They just seemed so fake, with their push up bras, their thick layers of make-up, and their dyed hair. Her only problem was that she had all the things the other girls wanted; the look of an angel, and she never even tried. She only tried to make people like her for whom she was, yet people would still comment on her breathtaking beauty. They'd ask how she kept that figure of hers, and they'd ask how she managed to look like a dream when she left for school. They'd say she was the most beautiful girl on this planet. And then she'd shrug and walk away. That's usually how Zia does, when she is stuck in a moment she can't get out of without being mean. She even wore hooded sweater and plain jeans, yet people continued to see her as a model. And now, Twenty five years old, she was about to give up. Would anyone look at her and like her for who she was? She never figured that would happen.

As she stood in her bedroom, somewhere past midnight, she opened her window and looked out. All the lights were out in the entire house. People must have been asleep for a while. When she noticed Perry's window was open, she closed hers and started singing. The song had been a part of her forever. She rarely plays the game anymore and never tells people about it, but she still sings the song whenever she's alone.

“I dig my hole, you build a wall...” She sings. She'll always remember when she found her, Zia, in the game. Hearing her voice, so similar to her own was scary. She didn't say a thing for a week, but the song was stuck in her head like a virus. It was something pure inside her that grew, just to stay for good. And Zia liked it.

It was so beautiful; she never wanted people to know about it. Her treasure, something so personal. Like the most fragile flower, like a lily made of floating diamond dust, she couldn't share without destroying it. So she sang on the top of her lungs and sent a prayer to all holy and pure, that no one heard her.

Perry had a talent of being mad in the morning, and Zia had perhaps sugarcoated her memories of his bad mood throughout the time she had been away. The following morning he was as mad as ever.
“What's with you, little brother?” She teased him. He sent her a look of doom and she turned away.

Her father had been gone for hours now, and she was wondering when Perry were going to start working for him.

“What's up with you and dad, anyway?” She tried in a playful, yet serious voice. He answered something which was not to be understood.

“If you don't want to talk about it...” It left Zia in not so wonderful a mood to see him mad. She had to get going through; she was going to a job interview.

“An English and music teacher, huh?” The fat lady behind the desk peaked up from her lemon shaped glasses with a skeptical look on her face.

“Are you sure you're not in the wrong place, Missy?” The elevator look was getting old on Zia, but this lady's eyes was disapproving and discomforting. That was at least a new thing.

“Whatever do you mean?” And she knew exactly what she meant. She was going to give her the old 'you're too pretty to be here'-speech. Frankly, she was getting tired of it.

The fat lady looked like she chews on her tongue and started shaking her head.

“Right. You have quite some qualifications, Miss Cryx. We didn't get anyone with such a nice resume. I think you'll fit here perfectly.” Everything the fat lady said sounded sarcastic, but Zia didn't let it get to her.

“I'll see you in two weeks then.” Two weeks, and she would start at her new job. And she left the office feeling completely empty.

Cherry - part 12

Cherry

Reminiscences

“I've found an education.” Cathy says. Cherry is walking around in her room, looking for her favorite jersey whilst talking to Cathy on the phone.

“That's wonderful, what do you want to be?” She answers and tries to hold the phone in place with her shoulder.

“I want to be a home nurse.” Cathy says. Cherry doesn't really listen to her, even though she ought to.

“That's great. Go find out when it starts, and send me the bills.” They agree and she hang up. It feels good to be helping Cathy. She really seem like the right kind of person to help.

When she finds the jersey, she puts it on and leave the house. It's time for some shopping, because for Cherry, shopping is everyday life.

Cherry can almost see how the employees smile when she enters. This is the perks of being rich, she doesn't even bother to look at the price tag.

And then she sees a friendly face. One she haven't seen in a year, but it seems like much longer time. She might just be the only girl, who can make Cherry feel like she looks like a piece of garbage.

Zia's beautiful smile comes towards her. They hug. It's been so long.

“Zia, are you home? I can barely remember when I last saw you.” Cherry is actually very happy to see her.

“Cherry, it has been forever. Yes, I'm home for good now. Paris wasn't really me, I guess.” And they share a little laugh. Though there's the age gap between them, they had been great friends for a long time. Zia had been babysitting her. They just connected, but then again, Zia is great at making friends.

“Zia, would you like to have a cup of chocolate – or coffee, whatever you want, sometime?” She asks, and Zia nods.

“How about now?” She looks at her watch and Cherry looks at her watch.

“That would be lovely.” Cherry is in no hurry.

The local barista takes their orders; two chocolates with caramel sprinkles. And they reminisces the old days.

“So... what now? Why did you come home?” Along with Cherry's question comes a serious face. She senses that there is something wrong.

“It's Perry...” Zia starts. Cherry's face gets even more serious.

“He's not well.” She sighs. Cherry feel herself worry instantly. What does she mean with 'not well'? Is he dying or something?

“Would you care to elaborate on that?” Cherry asks, and Zia laughs. She must have sounded so serious that is was funny.

“He's fine, Cherry. It's just dad. He's been favoring me all my life, and now, where Perry got that job at his firm, they should be slightly closer to a better relationship. And mom, she doesn't see it. She's oblivious to dad and how he treats me. I worry for Perry, and I'm here to help him. We have been fighting a lot the past few weeks over the phone, before I came home from Paris. When I told mom and dad that I was coming home, they were high over heels about the news, and apparently, it overshadowed everything. Even the fact that Perry graduated, and did quite well. He called me every day to yell at me, and we would fight. Old fights from our childhood, when dad let me have the last cookie behind Perry's back, just for him to find out when he suggested we'd split it, and there was no cookie. I was supposed to be the good kid, and I thought I was. When dad gave me the last cookie, I asked if Perry have had equal as many as I would end up getting, and he said yes. It was fights like that. And new fights, like how I took his spotlight. Graduation time was supposed to be all about him, and all people talked about to his party, was about my homecoming.

At last I didn't want to come home, but he told me, that if I backed out now, that would be the subject the entire next year. He's over the edge, and if I can, I'll help him.”

She sips her chocolate and nips on the caramel sprinkles.

“He's clearly stressed.” Cherry says. Even though Zia had been babysitting Cherry back in the days, it was at high school where Cherry met Perry for the first time. Zia never spoke of him when she was babysitting Cherry, so she was oblivious for many years. Zia would be shocked if she told her, that she had a crush on her brother.

The only thing she could think of was poor Percival, stressed and not doing well. She wanted to help him, but wouldn't that just be weird? He probably didn't think of her anyway, if he remembered her, even.

So they talk more about the past, and then Cherry asks her if she needs a lift home, so she doesn't have to call her own driver.

They drive in Cherry's car in silence, and Zia's scent fills the car.

Flowers and candy.