by Sharon K. Souza
(Catch up on the story here.)
There you are? My
heart felt like it would burst through my chest. I threw my legs over the side
of the bed, stood, and nearly fainted again as the blood rushed to my head.
“Easy there,” Peta said, as I dropped to the bed.
She
lowered herself to the floor with uncanny ease. Then, with a smirk, she tugged
out the shoe box. She paused for a moment, looking me square in the eye, as if
giving me a chance to confess to its contents before she discovered for
herself. But what could I say? Wordlessly, my eyes dropped to the box.
“I really thought it would be me she visited,” Peta said.
She tossed her frizzy, silver ponytail back over her shoulder.
“Sh-she? She who?”
Peta laughed that biting laugh again. “Oh, Cuz. This is
me, remember?”
I did remember. All too well. I remembered that summer I
first brought Don to meet my family, to meet the cousin who was more like a
sister. The same sister-cousin who betrayed me.
The smile faded from Peta’s face, and I knew she
remembered too. “You’re not still holding a grudge, are you? After all these
years? We were kids. I mean, what’s the point? He went back to you.”
“Why did you do it?” I hated that there was still pain in
my voice.
“Honestly, Maeva, that’s ancient history.” She said it
like it was no big deal, and yet she squirmed, adjusted the shoulders of her
peasant blouse, fluffed her skirt.
I lowered my eyes, let her off the hook, because she was
right, what was the point? I was about to say as much when all at once she lifted
the shoe box and placed it on the bed beside me.
“Peta, wait—”
With a devilish grin she lifted the lid. Then she sat
back on her heels with a huff. I looked ever-so-slowly at the box on the bed.
Blinked. And blinked again. Inside were a pair of green pumps, one with a
broken heel. I looked back at Peta, gave her a weak smile.
Suddenly, Hector appeared from beneath the bed. Peta
scrambled away from him, got to her feet and backed to the door. “I know it’s
here,” she said. “I know it.” Then she turned and hurried away.
I dug through the shoe box looking for the Her, but there was nothing inside
but the shoes. Shoes I’d never purchased.
“Hector?” I said, thinking the unthinkable.
He sat there and swished his tail with a smile on his face.
Thank you, Sharon!
Sharon is the author of three published novels, Every Good and Perfect Gift, Lying on Sundays, and Unraveled. She doesn't shy away from the hard questions and the emotion that draws us into a story. Her storytelling is powerful.
ATTENTION! We need one more author to participate in our story in the month of June. Contact us at novelmatters@gmail.com if want to make your splash.
9 comments:
You gave the main character a name! Maeve. Perfect. Love the surprise in the shoe box, so clever...
Loved your setup, Margaret.
this just keeps getting better and better
As a reader, I love that shoes appeared magically. As one of the future writers, I'm a little concerned about where the Her went.
Yikes!
Bad kitty?
Good Kitty! Hector saved the day by chasing the snoop! Of course the Her turned herself into shoes, or cast a spell to make herself look like shoes. I wonder what she would turn herself into for the grand daughter... Every person who opens the box sees a different thing and they argue about it and Maeve sounds like the only sane person left.
Sorry, imaginative vomit spilling again.
I do love our story very much. Is it really able to find closure by June. Don't we all want another turn?
Yes! We all want another turn - because the story is really going somewhere now. So far, we're not sure we can trust Peta. We're not sure we can trust Hector. And apparently, we can not trust a fayette to remain in the same place or with the same shape.
I love how you're all thinking.
You've opened up so many possibilities for the story, Sharon!
I can't begin to explain the green shoes--but I know there is an answer--fae don't possess the ability to shape shift, but they are very, very clever and powerful (and not all are good, the fairy myths are all about the exploration between good and evil with the fairy world divided between Queen Titania and King Oberon) So the great part is, we don't even know if we can trust the fae!
Uh oh, Bonnie is plotting like Shakespeare, or dreaming about mid-summer or something.
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