Naleighna Kai's Literary Cafe Magazine Father's Day Issue | Page 48

MarZe Scott Excerpt from Gemini Rising Only weeks before my tenth birthday, a dark blue sedan slowly approached the front yard where I played with Nina, a friend who had brought her dolls over to hold our make-believe class. The car pulled up and parked in front of my house. I paused and glanced up in time to see a boy not much older than me slide out of the driver’s side seat. The stranger walked past us without speaking. Seconds later his brown knuckles rapped against the hunter green front door. My mother answered wearing black leggings and one of my father’s t-shirts that practically swallowed her petite frame. Brief eye contact and a smile between the two before the teenager entered the house close in step behind my mother. A feeling of discomfort worked knots in my stomach as questions churned in my mind. A shiver went through my body the second my mother introduced me to Ryan. He didn’t have a menacing appearance. On the contrary, Ryan was a typical looking teenage boy—tall with cinnamon skin; dressed in faded black jeans with fashion trendy holes in the legs and sparkly threads. His grey hoodie with block letters across the chest was out of season for a warmer than average day in July. The diamond stud glinted in his left ear in the same manner as his teeth when he gave me what was supposed to be a reassuring smile. His sneakers were bright white as though he spent every waking hour keeping them clean. Nothing I could name made this boy threatening in any way. “I have to run an errand,” she said, though she didn’t grab her favorite red leather satchel or move toward the front entrance. “I need you to go with Ryan. His father and your father were friends, alright?” “But Mama—” She shot a green-eyed glare at me that told me to shut up and fast. “You’ll be fi ne.” “Yes, Ma’am.” Something wasn’t right, even for my mother’s usually sour disposition. She was distant—no, she was … absent. She remained on the