Ice Shine

1. Prologue

“Well, Ms. Decaprio, she isn’t a normal child.  I know that you probably know this already, but your daughter refuses to speak.  Now I don’t mean to offend you but the little dear seems to be, um, intellectually inadequate.”  I listened silently as my fourth grade math teacher spoke with my young mother.

I knew enough then to know that ‘intellectually inadequate’ was her way of saying that my brain had been negatively affected by the absence of a father.  My mother knew as well and scowled.  It hadn’t been the first time she was called a bad mother nor was it the first time that I had been called a bastard.

Admittedly, I wasn’t as serene on the inside as on the outside.  Because to this day I remember wanting to call her a ‘pretentious, presumptuous bitch.’  I wasn’t as stupid as everyone thought that I was.  In fact, the reason I kept words locked in my mind was because I was capable enough to know that my mother was bitter and blamed me for all of her misfortune.

“My daughter lacks nothing except the patience to converse with lousy old maids like you.”  My mother snapped at the teacher.  She was just as angry as I was then amused.  Neither of the women liked me, but both wanted to either protect me or to expose me, for the same reason.  They both feared me.  As someone once told me, it’s the quiet ones that harbor the most.

“All I’m saying is that you should look into a psychologist and a tutor.  Then, maybe, her grades wouldn’t look so . . . colorful.”  The teacher said in a self-righteous tone as she handed Mother a couple of business cards.

My eyes were fixed on a lbird that had landed on a tree right outide the window.  Maybe it sounds silly but I was jealous of the cardinal and all of its freedom.  It even seemed to know and began to sing a pretty little tune as if to mock me.  I was trapped and at the mercy of everyone who had asserted their power over me.

They argued for a few more minutes until my mother drug me out of the classroom.  All the while she muttered about how much of a bother I was to her.  Two hours later she was arranging for me to see the very same psychologist the teacher had recommended.

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Sorry for it being so short! I just wanted to put the prologue out. I'll be posting the first chapter really soon though :)  I would love it if you'd leave your thoughts in a comment I love feedback! Love y'all <3