Thomas, Blue, and I stepped into the Mangello's house, revealing the most high-tech house I've ever seen. Granted I've only seen a few houses, but wow. The interior was mostly white and gray, and they had human accommodations everywhere. Electronic, moving walkways, ladders, elevators on the side of coffee tables, giant and human doors for every room. It made the layout of the Reed house seem sparse and simple, which isn't always a bad thing, for I like simple. Just an observation.
The massive man, Mr. Mangello, had greeted us, ushering us into the living room. I was trying not to look at this huge giant, and focus on the huge house, but a human voice coming from his shoulder caught my attention. On his shoulder was a tiny woman who looked like an older version of Parisa. The resemblance was incredible. They both had the exact same bronze skin, and long hair the flowed down their backs.
"Oh my goodness, she's beautiful!" the human on Mr. Mangellos shoulder said, staring at me.
"Thank you. River this is Mrs. Mangello,"
"Oh please, call me Daria,"
"Hi," I replied, feeling shy.
"The girls are in Parisa's room. I'm happy to show you," Daria said. Mr. Mangello lowered his wife onto a walkway that was about level with his knees, meaning it was level with Blues thighs. Blue placed me down next to Daria, and then Daria put an arm around me and started walking me down the hall.
"We'll be out here if you need us, River!" Blue said, as she and Thomas followed Mr. Mangello into the living room.
When I'd told Blue about being invited to Parisa's house, Blue already knew, as apparently Mrs. Mangello- Daria, had told her. Thomas and Blue said they'd hang around for a few hours and visit with the Mangello's while I hung out with Parisa. If it turned out I didn't want to sleep over, then I could just leave with them.
Daria led me to a human sized door, and I assumed I'd be walking into a human sized room, for afterall, Parisa was human. Instead the door led to an enormous room, twice the size of the giant room I used at the Reeds house.
Everywhere I turned there was color. Mostly pastels, with light pinks and lavender being the most popular. This room looked like the embodiment of femininity. And right on cue, I heard laughter filling a space in the center of the room. A moving walkway took Daria and I to the enormous pedestal Parisa and a group of human girls were on. I didn't realize there'd be more people here. There were at least 10 other girls here, and they were clearly all good friends.
"River! I'm so glad you made it!" Parisa said, greeting me.
Daria quickly excused herself and left me alone with Parisa and these strangers.
"River, I ended up inviting a bunch of people from soccer over. We're all on the human soccer team together, and they've been wanting to meet you,"
"Hi," I said, waving to the room full of girls, and feeling completely out of my element. It was already weird to be around Parisa. Now I had to meet alllllll these other girls.
"We were just going to play 'never have I ever'. Come sit!"
I sat next to Parisa, on a giant bean bag chair. In fact, there were so many seating arrangements available here since Parisa had so much space. I guess it's a perk of being a human in a giant house. You have a REALLY big room.
This game was pretty dumb. Everyone went in a circle saying things they've never done, but that everyone else has done. I had done pretty much nothing so I believe I was doing fairly well at the game. When it came time for my turn I found it easy to say something I've never done.
"Never have I ever been to a girls night," I admitted.
All the girls in the room practically sucked out all of the air in the room from gasping.
"What!"
"Really?!"
"This is your first time?!"
"Yeah," I confirmed, feeling somewhat embarrassed. Was it really that strange? I thought people weren't even allowed to hang out in this way until they're older. However, according to these girls, they'd been having girls' nights since they were super young. Cool... just another thing I missed out on.
"River, can I ask... what was life like living with that woman?" Parisa asked, putting me on the spot, and poking a needle in my heart at the way she felt so comfortable referring to my mom as "that woman".
"It was fine,"
"Didn't she murder three kids?!" One of the girls I believe was named Andrea asked..
"Yes, but I didn't know about that. She was crazy but she never came off as murderer crazy,"
"So you didn't go to school? You basically spent all your time with a murderer?"
"I-um yeah. I guess..."
"That's so freaky," Another girl replied before laughing.
"So how are you liking Wendleton High so far?"
"Well, I only went for 2 and a half days... but so far, it's alright," I said, hoping they'd stop asking me questions. I was being way more social right now then I'm used to.
"Do you play any sports?"
"No,"
"Are you in any clubs yet?"
"No... I haven't really had time to figure any of that out yet,"
"Wow. That's so weird," The girl named Claudia, said.
Finally Parisa jumped in and geared the conversation in a more ideal direction.
"River, I heard you're super into art?"
"Yeah. Art is probably my favorite activity."
"Perfect!" Parisa cheered. "I had an art project idea for us all! Makeover time!!!"
Some of the other girls cheered, but of course I was still confused. Parisa then got a bunch of pencils, brushes, and wheels of color, and for a second I actually got excited thinking we were going to paint. Paint is a lot more expensive than pencils or oil pastels, so I've not had as much experience with paint as I would like. Then Parisa explained that we could practice doing each other's makeup, which was essentially just paining someone's face to enhance how they look.
"Here, let me show you! So first of all River, you totally don't need makeup cuz you're so naturally beautiful, but let me just show you what a little bit of lipstick, and maybe a dash of something to really build out your eyes could do!"
Parisa was gentle as she applied the makeup to my face, being patient when I'd try and open my eyes, before she'd finished the eye makeup. Music played as all the girls in the room essentially just did art for the face. It was actually kind of cool. After Parisa applied her "finishing touch" she sprayed my face with something called a "setting spray" that would make the makeup stay on my face better. The light mist hit my skin, and it felt pleasant actually. Finally Parisa pulled her tablet out to show me how I looked.
My. Jaw. Dropped.
I looked... pretty? How? I've never considered myself pretty. Not like other girls I've seen in books. Not like the other girls at school. But wait- right now, I actually looked pretty. My eyes looked way larger, and my eyelashes were so full now. My lips stood out with the lipstick she'd used. On top of that, my skin itself looked smoother. I'd felt her brushing what she called "foundation" over my face. This foundation made my face seem slimmer somehow, with the blush placed on my cheeks making me feel so... girly!
"Thank you,"
"Aww you're so fun River. It's nothing!" Parisa replied. I actually might end up being okay with Parisa.
"Okay ladies! When you've finished makeup, come pick out... drumroll... nail polish!!!"
Nail polish. This I'd definitely seen before, but I've never worn any.
"Ok, I think you have to wear this darker red to match the lip color I gave you!" Parisa said. She then proceeded to paint my finger nails, being careful not to get any polish on my skin. Her precision and attention to detail was admirable. She might want to consider painting for real. We were having a light conversation when Parisa accidentally dropped the nail polish, making it land on my hand.
"Oh my gosh! Sorry! Here let me get a towel,"
I looked down at my hand, which now had dark red liquid dripping from the fingertips. Dark red liquid that made me think of blood. Blood on my fingertips. No. No. No. I was overwhelmed with a memory that somehow played out in realtime in my head.
I'd been a little girl, and Kerry had locked me in a long box... almost like a coffin... maybe it was a coffin? I used to try and get out, because the box was so hard to breathe in. I'd scratch so hard to break free that my fingers would bleed. Why did I not remember any of this until now? Why was this all happening in real time now? Was I in the box? I need to get out of the box.
I screamed, and all I saw was darkness.