CHAPTER EIGHT

MYRAH

When I went home that afternoon, I felt very satisfied. But I also felt guilty. Essence never does anything bad to me. Or Derek. Or Alyssa. Or North. Or anyone for that matter. Essence is actually kinda quiet and calm. She's pretty, too. I've been bullying her for nothing. What if she's been going through hell too? I heard a rumor her parents and siblings were murdered. Is that true? What have I done?!

"Aunt Leah?" I call from the living room. I paused the episode of Pretty Little Liars I was watching. Melissa and Spencer had gotten into a car crash and now Melissa is in the hospital because—

"Yeah, Myrah?" Aunt Leah calls back as she strolls into the room.

"I need to talk to you about something." I say nervously, fingering my long, reddish-brown hair. Aunt Leah looks at me understandingly. She has pretty, crystal green eyes, pale skin, and black hair. The whole package is tied together with the perfect hourglass figure every girl wants to have.

"Is it about Aly again?" She asks. I shake my head.

"No. Not this time." I murmur. Aunt Leah looked surprised for a second.

"Well, alright." She finally says. "What's this about then?"

"There's this girl at my school," I start. "People are kinda mean to her. Like, me and my friends are mean to her." I watched as a disapproving look crossed Aunt Leah's face.

"I want to make her feel better. I kinda feel bad about being mean to her. She's done nothing wrong, like, ever. And I heard something sad about her past." I started to play with the hem of my white floral skirt.

"Whether it's writing a note and placing it into her locker or directly going up to her or whatever, just arrange somewhere where you two can meet up and where you can apologize to her. And I just want you to know I'm disappointed in you, Myrah."

"I saw that coming." I said with shame. "I'm sorry."

"Hearing you talk about you bullying her just makes me feel like I'm raising you wrong." Aunt Leah sniffles.

"But you aren't!" I assure her.

"Was it your parents? Have I been raising you any differently than they were before… You know…"

"Yes. But that's because I was four. All they taught me then was manners, abcs and 123s, what an unsafe touch was, bad and good, what not to touch, you know… The basic toddler crap." I point out. Aunt Leah nods and wipes her eyes.

"Good point." She chuckles.

"Maybe I should leave you alone?" I say. "For you to calm down?"

"That would be best." Aunt Leah responds.

I get off the couch and go upstairs to my room. A pink mess of cute stuffed animals, slutty clothing and stripper-like shoes, makeup palettes strewn everywhere, and a queen size bed with velvety sheets and a million fluffy pillows. I pulled out my iPhone and opened up iMessage. I scrolled until I found Alyssa, whose name was decorated with unicorn, kitten, rainbow, and heart emojis at her request. I clicked on it and typed 'hey girl' into the message bar and then hit send.

I got 'OH MY GOSH HI MYRAH' in response

'Can I talk 2 u plz' I type, hands shaking.

'KK what about' She responds.

I hesitate before typing 'I'm lesbian'

'Oh um ok?' Alyssa texts back. Oh, what the fuck? Give me a sign, for Pete's sake!

'Oh my gosh who is the lucky girl plz tell me I'll keep secrets' She responds. I don't know if I should tell her or not.

'Ooh is it Andromeda' Alyssa tries me.

'Fuck no she's just not like cute or anything you know' I type, anticipation building in my stomach. Will she get the hint?

'Waaaait is it Essence the weird chick!' Alyssa types.

'Lol noooo I mean she's got a nice rack I guess but absolutely not' I say, my heart thundering in my chest.

'Pleeeeeeeeease Myrah tell meeeeeeeeee' Alyssa texts to me.

'Wait nvm baby is texting me can I ttyl' She texts back before I can even hit send on the message I had ready for her. Damn it.

'Yeah sure go on ttyl xoxo' I simply type. Good job Derek. You want nothing to do with who Alyssa is on the inside! You just wanna get your hands on that beautiful ass of hers. That beautiful, beautiful ass.

'Byeeeeeee xoxo' Alyssa types. I throw my phone down onto my bed and bury my face into a fluffy white pillow. I pick my phone up again and reread the message I was gonna send Alyssa. I'm no Shakespeare, but I'm pretty sure it would be super romantic and immediately capture Alyssa's heart—or scare her away. Is text speak romantic?!

So this is hard for me to say but the lucky girl is u Aly ILYSM and I mean it a lot u don't deserve that cum sucker Derek u deserve better because u r beautiful and amazing and you mean the world to me u r my BFF and I want you 2 b my bae b my gf Aly plz I luv u I will treat u like the amazing princess u r xoxo

I turned off my phone and plugged it into the charger on my bedside table. I lay down in the mess of stuffed animals and pillows till at least a second later Aunt Leah knocked on my door.

"Dinner time!" She called. I pushed aside all the fluffy animals, pillows, and sheets.

A few minutes later I was sitting across from Aunt Leah at the table, eating a chicken Caesar salad and sipping on an ice water. I popped a dressing-covered tomato into my mouth and decided to pipe up about the texts. I slammed my fork down.

"I came out to Aly!" I proudly announced. Aunt Leah's eyes brightened and she squealed, pulling me closer to hug me.

"So what? Is she your girlfriend now?!" She asked. My smile faltered.

"No. I didn't tell her she's the one. She kept thinking I wanted Andromeda or Essence. I kept my guard up. So stupid, right?"

"No, it's not, you clammed up, that's all. You were just nervous. When the time is right, you'll get some more confidence. You'll get the girl." Aunt Leah assures me. The doorbell chimes and Aunt Leah rises to her feet, grinning.

"Speaking of getting the girl!" She sing songs, running to the door to answer it.

"Baby!" A high pitched voice cheers when Aunt Leah opens the door. I turn around in time to see Aunt Leah making out with her girlfriend Victoria. I watched them for a moment. Aunt Leah fisted Victoria's bleach blond hair as their tongues fought each other's for dominance. Two young women kissing, getting physical. Something I wish I had with Alyssa.

When Victoria pulls away, she drags a big suitcase inside the door. I jump from my seat and run up to hug Victoria. She welcomes my embrace, the smell of Juicy Couture perfume wafting around me. Victoria, better known as Tori, is a beautiful blond with deep blue eyes and a slender body. She's been Aunt Leah's girlfriend since middle school, about twenty years or so of dating.

"Hey Myrah! How's it going! Oh! Are you finally with Alyssa?" Tori cheers. Super enthusiastic like I remember.

"No, not yet. We were close to that tonight but I got nervous." I explain. Tori pats me on the shoulder.

"That's okay. Asking someone out is a little tough. You'll get the hang of it." She assures me.

Tori comes over every so often to stay the week or so. In that time frame, we all go out and have fun with each other. The mall is Tori's favorite spot to go to.

Aunt Leah grabbed Tori's suitcase and started to roll it upstairs to her room. Tori then started to ask me about my powers. She's actually not a Manipulator, but knows just about everything there is to know about Manipulators.

"Have they been easy to control?" She asks.

"Yeah. Although if I'm home and it's that time of month they can go off for no reason."

"Hormones control them mostly." Tori explains. I nod. I'm not paying attention, of course.

Aunt Leah finally comes down the stairs.

"You're just in time for dinner!" She smiles. Tori shakes her head.

"I already had dinner." She says. Aunt Leah nods and Tori sits down next to her.

"So, Myrah. Tell me about Alyssa again." Tori started off. We spent the rest of the night talking about relationships, school, and shopping. Later as I was getting ready for bed, I heard something coming from the other room. I slid out of bed, dragged my feet all the way to the door as I opened it, and walked to Aunt Leah's room.

Cries of "yes baby, yes," and "right there! Yes right THERE!" Floated out of the room. The door was cracked a bit and I peeked in. Tori was sitting on Aunt Leah's face, panties off and moaning. Aunt Leah had her own breast pulled out of the cup of her pink bra and was playing with it. Face burning, I ran back into my room, panting. I laid down in my bed and reached for my phone. I needed to take my mind off of the lesbian sex thing. I plugged in my earbuds and hit shuffle on the new Melanie Martinez album Cry Baby. The song "Mad Hatter" began and I settled down. I decided to do something I was deathly afraid of doing.

I looked over the message one more time and hit send. The little bubble appeared on screen, displaying the message I sent to Alyssa. I hoped. And I waited. And I fell asleep, listening as "Cake" finished playing and "Sippy Cup" started.

Blood still stains when the sheets are washed.

Sex don't sleep when the lights are off.

Kids are still depressed when you dress them up.

And syrup is still syrup in a sippy cup.

I drifted off to sleep. I started dreaming. I was in a field, snow blanketed across the rolling hills as far as the eye would see. Pine trees in the distance had bits of snow and icicles hanging of the branches. Gentle flurries fell around me. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. It was so peaceful and sweet. When I blinked, Essence was standing in front of me in her normal clothing. Her face was streaked with tears.

"We can have it all, Myrah." She coos. Her voice is frosty and sharp. She's annoyed at me.

"What do you mean?" I ask. My voice is barely a whisper.

"If you would cut the bullshit and quit treating me like an idiot, this world could belong to us!" She snaps. Essence balls her hands up into fists and then opens them. She's controlling small snowstorms in her hands. Her eyes glow a pale blue. Essence is a Manipulator.

"Why didn't you tell me?!" I shout. "I would've been there for you!"

"You think I would tell the bitch who made my life miserable since fucking pre-K?" Essence shoots back. She laughs hysterically, tears streaming down her face. "I don't have anything! You point that out to me everyday! You think I'll trust you?!"

"I'm sorry, Essence!" I scream.

"Fight me, bitch! Show me who you are! Show me how heartless you can be!" Essence spits.

Without thinking I scream, ball up my fist where an icicle appears for me. I throw it like a dart and it sinks through Essence's forehead like a hot knife through butter. She collapses on the ground and I hear whispers. The snow around me picks up and turns into a blizzard. I hear Essence laughing again and then a shrill scream as Essence explodes in a blue light.

I wake up drenched in sweat. My clock says 5:00 am. Two hours before I need to get up for school. I won't be able to fall back asleep and I know it. Essence appeared really upset at me. I admit, I have been giving her shit since just about forever. I decided to do something about it.

I am seriously going to change.