And Then The Murders Began

Chapter Four: Cherry Chapstick

Four Years Earlier

"Hey. mom?" I ask, homework done and more than fully bored. Gods, I need to get out of the house, there's nothing to do, and the papers that I have to write for my English class are so, so so boring. It's a genocide paper, and I have to write about the forced famine in the Ukraine, so fun, I love it.

"Yeah?" she responds, her words mixing in with a yawn. She's slumped in her recliner like she usually is these days after work. I wouldn't want her job, that's for sure.

"Can I go out tonight? I haven't really left the house in ages and I wanna catch a movie with some friends. How's that sound? You'd be able to get me out of the house for a while, get to have the place clean and quiet and to yourself. How does that sound?"

"You know what?" she'd replied. "That sounds great."At the time, I was thrilled, but little did I know what that movie day would end up becoming the root of this whole damn mess, but hey, hindsight just so happens to be a perfect twenty-twenty, right? The whole 'life turns on a dime thing,' yeah, that's eight cents too much- life likes to give a mammal its two and then chew them up and spit them right back out.

Anyways-

I had a ball, and truly, honestly, it was one of the best times that I've ever had. Of course, it would indirectly lead to the worst, but I didn't know that at the time

Exactly. So there I was, a rather young, and shall I say it, inexperienced eighth grader, and as far as I had known, I was just going to the movies- Phoenix Ascending, it was called, if I remember correctly, starring Marina Aspen, James Marlboro, and Luka Jubatus... it had rave reviews, everything a gal could ask for in a good movie to see with her girlfriend- and not a 'girl who is a friend,' with a space in the middle, oh no, no space.

Well, I went with Lylah and another friend, and while we were sitting there, I felt a soft paw, claws out just a little bit, touch my own right. I looked over, and I saw Lylah sitting there with an embarrassed look on her face, as if she had done something wrong. "What is it?" I'd asked. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, just fine," she'd said, turning back to the screen and pulling her arm back into her lap. Everything was just fine for another twenty minutes or so, but then I felt that same paw again, questing for contact, and this time, when I looked, she didn't pull it right away like the last time. Instead, she took my hand fully and wrapped her fingers between mine, soft, paw pads rough...

Is this doing something for you Electra?

Uh huh...

"Uhm, Lylah," just one question," I'd asked, wondering why I was feeling flush. It felt really nice, in a way that I didn't really have words for.

"What question is that, Electra?"

"Why are you hugging my hand?" I mean, not that I mind? Just... warm where I'm not used to...

Instead of responding, she pressed her lips against mine, cold and- and it kind of made my mind come to a screeching halt, but as much as I was shocked, I didn't move. My tail was wagging, I remember that, and I found myself pressing back, and I felt the warmth flooding up in my chest and in some other places told me that Welp, Electra, you've kissed a boy, and you liked that. Now you're kissing a girl, and you apparently like that, too. Hey, I'm all for that!

Let's keep it up...

We do, despite the coughed 'ahems' from other folks in the theater. We're queer, get over it, it's the twenty-first century. We have our rights...

"My house afterwards," she'd whispered. I leave that part out, telling Mom; she doesn't need to know.

Present Day

"So that was it, then? The point when you well and truly found out how you roll?" Mom's looking at me intently, curiously. I don't know how she rolls, but I've never really dared breach the subject with her, and I'm afraid of what she might say. She could kick me out of the house, she could rat me out to 'dad,' and who knows what he would do. Probably beat the shit out of his pansy of a stepdaughter, that's what.

"If by that, you mean I discovered that I was bi, well, yes and no. I'd kind of been wondering about that silently for a while, and I think that I probably would have been the first one to make a move. It's just that Lylah's making the move first made who I was- who I am, at least in that regard, crystal clear. I mean, come on, can you deny it, she was hot...

"Of course, the relationship didn't last forever, as most high school relationships tend to. I don't suppose that feeling like we had to hide it really helped much of anything, either, do you?" I ask her, inquisitively, trying to feel the situation out before I dare go any farther. I'm here, I'm queer, and I'm seriously afraid of living in fear.

"No, Electra, I really don't," Mom said. " Is that why you haven't had any friends over in so long? You were ashamed of me?"

"What's that supposed to mean, Mom? No, of course I wasn't ashamed of you, I mean, I was scared what daddy dearest would think, but really, I think that I was ashamed that I couldn't bring myself to tell you about us. I mean, I tried, I just couldn't get the words out. 'Hey, Mom, I'm in love with someone and that someone's a girl...and that's really what broke us apart as a couple in the end. I mean, now I know a little bit about you, so I guess I could've, but you hid yourself just as well as I wanted to be able to hide me," I say, sighing, the smoke smell still lingering on my nose.

"I mean," I continue, sighing once again, "we were still friends, after all, but her mom and dad were constantly pushing at her to go find someone to date. 'Get yourself a nice boy,' they had told her, or so she told me that they told her. She didn't want to come out to her parents because she was afraid of what they were going to treat her as, and I didn't want to push the matter. That, and as I said, I didn't want to tell you, so there we go.

"That was certainly the end of us, but it wasn't the end of our friendship. No, that came about eight or nine weeks ago, I can't remember how long it was, exactly, but that's really not important right now. Anyways, what really drove us apart was my starting to date Michael. I did tell you that much, didn't I?"

"Yes, you have, Electra," Mom said, a frown wrinkling her forehead. Is there something else that you'd like to tell me?"

"What do you mean by that?" I ask, gulping. "Like why Lylah and I broke up?"

"Nothing, absolutely nothing, but if you want to tell me about that, I'll listen. I'm not gonna pry, I was just asking. Being annoying is in the job description, you know," she says, cracking a smile. It doesn't quite set me at ease; heck, I still feel like I should be hearing Admiral Ackbar's voice inside my head louder than ever, screaming, 'it's a trap, it's a trap, it's a trap!'

"I think I'd kinda figured that out," I said. "By the way, what's for dessert?"

"Peach cobbler, if you'd like," Mom says, opening the fridge and pulling out a can of whipped cream. "You want some?"

"Anything to take my mind off of the last while, yeah."