Genesis killed her mother.
And no, she did not slit her throat with a kitchen knife while she slept, but in the sense that she never talks about her. It's as if she never existed in the first place. So as the years went on, everyone that met her assumed her mother had passed away which justifies why she never speaks of her. But her mother is well and breathing.
Or at least she hopes so.
At the age of twelve, a month before she officially became a teenager, she heard glass shatter downstairs. It was loud enough to wake her up from her sleep. Initially, she thought some burglar had broken a window to break into the house until she heard her parents' screams.
From her room, she could barely make out what they were saying. Young and curious, she threw the sheets off her and barefoot walked into the kitchen. She did not want to interrupt them although she wanted them to stop yelling, so she remained hidden behind the corridor wall.
"I tried, Mason," her mother said, searching the cabinets for one-dollar bills that were scattered around the house. "I swear to you that I did."
Her father followed her around the kitchen, almost as if he wanted to grab her but was too afraid to. "Come on, Eloise. Don't do this me."
Genesis had seen her act like this before. Sitting on the toilet with her nose over the sink counter sniffing white strips of powder. All of a sudden, she would run out and begin to rummage through everything until she had enough to keep herself happy.
Just as her mother head for the front door, her father gripped her arm. "Don't do this to me. Fuck, Eloise. Don't do this to our daughter. To Genesis."
"I'm no good for her, Mason," she said to him between quivering breaths. "Look at me. Do I seem like the kind of woman that can raise a child?"
"I can help you," he tried to convince her. "Just stay so you can be there for her. She'll need you when she grows up. She'll need her mother."
"Guess what, Mason." She snatched away from his grip and pointed a finger at him. "You wanted her, you raise her."
The door shut.
"Mommy!" Genesis did not want her to leave. "Mommy!" She ran for the door, but her father held her back, wrapping his arm around her waist.
"Gen." He enveloped her into a hug—mostly to keep her from chasing her mother—but also to let her know that although her mother left her, he did not. She still had her father.
"Don't let her go, dad!" she yelled, still stretching her arms for the doorknob. "Dad, go get her!" She was crying so he was crying. "Mom! Mommy!"
The two of them fell asleep on the couch that night. His father looked after Genesis to make sure she wouldn't run out the door. That was her first heartbreak. Harvey's came second.
She began to be haunted by the sensation of loneliness, a twist in her chest that wanted release. She felt that emotion all through middle school and high school. And she was pretty, so she was never alone. Many guys and girls were more than glad to keep her company.
Junior year was when she met Harvey Cohen on Earth Day. The school was announcing the soccer players going to state by organizing a pep rally at the gymnasium. Everyone cheered. Especially at the young boy that had already left an impression on the field as a freshman amongst all the seniors. After their presentation, she took advantage of the audience and made her statement of reducing plastic consumption in honor of Earth Day to gain votes for her presidential campaign.
He came up to her after the rally was over and she knew he would. He had been glancing at her often when they were announcing the players.
The entire school watched them talk, giving them looks as they passed by. Every student and even staff knew they would date just as much as Genesis did.
He was beautiful and so was she. There couldn't be a better match.
As presumed, they dated and everything went well until months later when Harvey became distant overnight.
"You are not leaving me, Harvey Cohen." Not you too, she also wanted to add the time he decides to break up with her.
"I can't love you the way I used to." He couldn't look her in the eye.
"And why is that?" Her mother left her for drugs, so what was his excuse?
He shrugged.
That's what hurt her the most. He couldn't give her a reason as to why he was leaving her.
She wanted to beg him to stay with her. To not leave her the way her mother did, but she was done crying for those that didn't love her back. Instead, she wanted him to pay. She wanted him to feel the abandonment she had felt when he and her mother left. Maybe he didn't deserve it. Maybe she was placing her mother's issues onto him. But pain is unforgiving and so was she.
Now, during the bus ride to visit the college, she can hear him talk with Oscar four seats behind her. She had had enough of his voice even if he slept for most of the ride, so as soon as the bus stops, she rushes out to step into the campus first. With the key to her dorm, she goes up to the third floor with her bags and heads down the hallway. A tall, dark-skinned guy stops as he almost passes her by.
"Need help with those bags, beautiful?" he asks her.
She looks at him. He called her beautiful and she loves being showered in compliments, so she agrees.
"Are you one of those high school students that were gonna visit today and tomorrow?" he says, dropping her bags next to her bed as soon as she unlocks the door.
Genesis walks to the mirror and reapplies a pink lipstick. "Yeah. Are you here to convince me to stay... Uhm— what's your name?"
"Tanner," he says.
"Tanner." She looks at him as she leans on the sink counter. "Convince me to stay. Why this college?"
He smiles sideways. "I can think of many ways to convince you."
"Don't be disgusting, Tanner," she says, lifting her middle finger at him. "You don't even know my name and you expect me to bend over that bed for you. I'm no whore."
"Well, what's your name?" He sits on the bed.
"Genesis."
"Genesis, there's a party tonight at ten in a dorm building nearby," he says. "Come."
Genesis states at him for a moment. "Are you asking me on a date?"
He chuckles and stands from the bed. "All I'm trying to do is convince you to pick this college." With those words, he steps out.
Then I step in.
"You requested me, didn't you?" I tell her. "Also, who was that guy that left the room?"
"First of all, why would I request you?" she begins. "Second, start getting ready. We have a party to attend tonight."
"We have to wake up early tomorrow," I remind her, dropping my bags on the bed beside her.
Genesis pats her bag. "I brought like ten Starbucks and Redbulls, Theo. No one is falling asleep tomorrow and no one is missing the party tonight."
When Genesis said no one was missing the party tonight, she never referred Harvey. However, sadly for her, I invited him and Oscar last minute to tag along.
"What is he here?" she whispers to me as Oscar and Harvey walk a few steps behind us.
"Didn't you want me to break his heart?" I tell her, kicking a rock that was on my path. "A college party sounds like the most dramatic setting to do so."
"You're not fooling me nor the girls," she says. "I know you and Oscar got something going on."
I didn't expect her to say that, so I remain silent.
"I never envisioned you as a player," she says, the tapping of her high heels following her. "I guess it's always the nerdy ones."
I nudge her shoulder, causing her to almost lose her balance.
"Don't ever ruin my walk again, Theodore Walker," she says, fixing her straightened hair after she almost fell into the bushes. "Did Harvey see that?"
I look over my shoulder. "He's still talking to Oscar."
"Good."
We stop in front of a building with several vehicles parked outside. Also, there was a window on the second floor that enlightened the street with radiant lights. It couldn't be more evident that the party is here.
"Not bad," Oscar says, patting my shoulder.
Before Harvey knocks on the door, a guy springs it open and rushes to the bushes to throw up. "I guess that's our invitation to go in," Harvey says.
The four of us step into the house.
Genesis quickly recognizes a guy that I recall seeing coming out of our dorm, walking up to him and being greeted with a bottle of beer.
"I'm going to grab some," Harvey says. "Oscar, want one?"
"Yeah, sure."
Harvey then looks at me. "I'm not even going to ask you."
When he's gone to fetch the beers, I look at Oscar. "So you two are friends now?"
He grins. "I guess cookies do form bonds."
I raise an eyebrow. "What cookies?"
Oscar leans close to me. "I can't hear you!" he starts yelling. "The music is too loud."
"You didn't eat the cookie Al made me, did you?" I begin to worry.
He cups his ear with his hand. "What?"
I couldn't tell if he was faking it. "Did you eat the cookie Al gave me?" I say louder this time.
"It's the music, Theo," he yells. "Too loud."
I repeat myself, "Did you eat my—"
His lips are over mine before I can finish my sentence. They're soft and they're warm. Even a bit sloppy.
I smile at him. "What was that for?"
He nudges my nose with his. "I thought you said kiss me."
I roll my eyes. The whole not-hearing-me was definitely an act.
"You want to go to my room?" he says, grabbing me by the waist and pulling me close to him. "Only if you want to, though."
"What about Harvey?"
Oscar takes a card out of his pocket. "I took his key. He can stay with Genesis."
I think about it for a while until I finally give in after looking at those blue eyes. They are a very convincing feature.
Harvey comes back with two beers the second we leave the party. "What the hell?" he mutters, looking around.
Genesis can only stand Tanner for two hours when she gets the urge to leave. He had been drinking a lot already and was beginning to get touchy. She didn't bother saying goodbye, roaming the party to look for me.
As she did that, I was having more fun in the room alone with Oscar than she did the entire night at the party.
She slams a bathroom door open and finds Harvey in the bathtub. He is asleep.
She closes the door and gives up looking for me, heading for the front door. And just as she's about to leave, she grunts and heads back to the bathroom. "Harvey." She pats his cheek. "Wake up. We have to leave."
"Why?" he asks, voice too drowsy. "The party is barely starting?"
Genesis pulls him up along with his help. "Shut up or I'll seriously leave you here."
She walks by his side the entire way to the dorms, holding him only when he begins to stumble. Crickets chirp nonstop.
"So you're talking to me now?" he says as they enter the building.
"You are the one that stopped talking to me, remember?" she says, getting in the elevator with him. "What floor are you on?"
"I don't have my key," he says, almost falling asleep leaning on the wall.
"What?" Genesis tells him. "What do you mean?"
Harvey hiccups and Genesis worries he might throw up. "Oscar took it."
Everything clicks in for Genesis. "Motherfuckers!"
She is a bitch, but not always. She heads down the hallway and unlocks her door, allowing Harvey to step in. He quickly runs to the toilet, vomiting all he drank tonight.
Meanwhile, Genesis removes her high heels and begins massaging her feet. That's when Harvey comes out of the bathroom and hops into the bed.
"I really loved you, Genesis," he murmurs.
Genesis glances at him. "Go to sleep or I'll kick you out. I'm being too kind to you."
"I'm sorry for what happened," he continues. "You didn't deserve what I did to you."
Genesis decides to remain quiet, hoping that eases him to sleep.
"I did something terrible," he says. He rests a hand over his head. "I should've told you."
Genesis turns off the lights.
"I cheated on you, Genesis."
The lights go back on. "Wait, what?"
__________
A\N: To celebrate this new year with you, guys, I present to you this chapter. Finally! I wish you all the best 2022 filled with love, health, and success :)
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