If Normal Was a Thing

Suspicions

"Alrighty then," Oakley said as she stretched and then stood up, "I think I'm going to go take a shower and get dressed," she grabbed her yogurt trash and then tucked her laptop in her arms like a baby, "you should get dressed too," she gestured at my pajamas like they had insulted her.

I rolled my eyes and stood up as well, "Yes Ma'am," I said, saluting.

Oakley paused and looked at me before shaking her head and walking into the kitchen to ditch her trash. I on the other hand ran upstairs and into my room. I kicked off the slippers and opened up my closet, looking through it curiously. After digging around a bit, I found a pair of pants, a soft green tank top, and a grey cardigan to go over it. I set the outfit, along with my new combat boots, on the bed.

I grabbed my phone, intending to check the time, but when I opened it up I had a few text messages, which obviously distracted me.

Sean: How are you? :) ;)

North: I'm sorry I didn't see you yesterday at Lunch. Hope you had fun. When are you going to tell us about what happened at the Chinese place?

I stopped reading after North's text, and deleted them all. They didn't need to know that I was damaged, or that my step mother had found a way to torture me even after I'd been saved. I didn't know why it bugged me so much, butI did know that I wished they would just stop asking about it.

I threw the phone down on top of the clothes, and nodded absently along to the music that poured out of the bathroom speakers. The shower was running so I knew Oakley was already in the shower, and simply knocked and stepped in.

"I'm brushing my teeth," I warned.

I heard a laugh, and then she replied, "I'm showering in the nude."

It was a second before I realized that this wasn't a weird statement, because it was true, "Ew, who does that? Weirdo," I said, and smiled as her laughter rang out, somehow fitting the upbeat song perfectly.

I quickly brushed my teeth and flossed, before retreating out of the steam and going back to my room. After putting my hair up in a messy bun, and pulling on my clothes, I looked in the mirror and wrinkled my nose at what I saw. It was almost as if I was a stranger. I had a few scars on my skin, but most of them were faded and you couldn't really see them, but that's it. That's all that outwardly reminded me of the girl I was when I was in that house.

No longer did I wake up, with new marks, wondering how I would hide them, or if it even mattered that I hide them.

I turned away from the mirror and slipped on a pair of sunglasses, before grabbing my purse and stuffing my phone inside, not bothering to check the messages that lit up the screen. It wasn't fair to be mad at all of them for worrying about me, especially because it had only really been a few of them to ask about it, but I had a sinking suspicion that what one of them knew, the others were soon to be informed.

The shower shut off, and Oakley turned off the speakers but continued to sing the song that had previously been playing.

*

*

*

I threw my bag onto the couch while I waited for Oakley to get dressed, and dragged both myself and my kindle over to the kitchen table where I sat, and started to read. I was just getting lost in the world of spies and crazy adventures when the door opened and shut, causing the front of the house to give a little shudder.

My eyes lifted from the story, much to my dislike, and latched on to the guy walking in the house, a suitcase in had, and a shopping bag in the other.

"Where are my beautiful girls?!" he shouted, voice carrying through the house as if it had been carried by a magical wind.

I jumped up and ran over to him, he saw me out of the corner of his eye and then dropped his suit case, offering me a one armed hug, with a grin, "Hey there sweetcheeks, where's Oaks and your mom?" he lowered his voice as if offering up a secret, "I come bearing presents."

I laughed, unable to stop myself, "Mom was on the porch last I saw, and Oakley's getting dressed."

He looked pretty happy, his eyes sparkling, "Well here's yours and Oakley's gift, I've got your Mom's in my pocket," he said, patting the breast pocket on his suit, "How about you run up and grab Oakley and I'll grab Mom and we can all go in the living room.. it'll be like Christmas!" he was practically bouncing on his feet as he left me to go grab Mom.

I shook my head, grabbed the suitcase he had dropped, and the baggie holding the gifts and then walked them both into the livingroom. Just as I was turning to run up the stairs, Oakley came to a halt at the bottom of them, barely even making a sound.

"Did I hear Daddy?" she asked happily.

I nodded, smiling the same smile back at her, "He's getting mom so we can all open up the gifts together," I said, sitting down on the carpet and setting the gift bag on the coffee table.

Oakley plopped down next to me, and it didn't take very long at all for our parents to join. Dad was oozing excitement, which we all soaked up like sponges.

"Okay, 1, 2..... three! OPEN!"

None of us spared another second before opening up our gifts. Oakley and I could easily tell who's was who's because mine was pink and hers was blue. We had both gotten really pretty necklaces, her's was a seahorse head, and mine was an owl. The eyes of her seahorse were pink, while my owl had big blue gem eyes.

I looked up to see what Mom had gotten, and she was admiring a really pretty purple ring. The little clasps that held onto the gem seemed a little bit off to me, like they had tiny spikes on them, but as mom flipped the ring over again I thought I must have imagined it, because it was back to looking like a normal ring.

"They're for the formal dance event," Dad said, sounding pretty proud of himself, "Do you guys like them?"

This question, was naturally followed up by thank yous and hugs.