Page 42 of The Blairville Legacies

What remained was the website of the local news station,Blairville Daily, on which in every third picture a Joe with synthetic cheeks grinned into the camera, in every second video his wife Harriet, who wore a blond perm and like a bird of prey on the prowl attacked unsuspecting pedestrians and forced them to give interviews, or the young reporter’s daughter who apparently wrote the town’s newspaper and gathered a massive reporter team of young men around her. The only one who seemed like a normal person was their son, the weatherman, Oliver.

The more time I spent on the Bexley's page, the more I understood why Mum didn't want me to listen to the news.

Frustrated, I slammed the laptop shut.

I had given up arguing with my mother. While I would sooner or later forgive her for forcing me to let Julian take me to university, I resented her for not telling me about such important things as her new job. We were a family, and I should know about such things. But I was getting more and more convinced that Mum disagreed.

Still annoyed, I rose from the bed and hung my blue dress over one of the free hangers. The wrinkles it had gotten overnight, because I had just thrown it in the corner out of rage, stretched all over the fabric.

I had to think about yesterday again. That dinner had been the biggest disaster in a long time. Julian’s pompous manner had driven me incredibly insane. And then my mother...

I had to be careful that nothing crazy happened to my arms. That’s why I had jumped up and had run to my room. Just because of that. Upstairs, I had taken two pills and immediately went to sleep.

Fortunately, nothing more had happened. But after I had woken up this morning, I had regretted it because, right after that, the usual headache had started again.

Now I was standing here in my room, trying to clean up the mess that had been made over the last few days. I had to admit to myself that I was not tidiness personified. Clothes lined the white carpet, and between them were sheets of paper and scribbled notes.

I bent down to pick it all up, just tossing the used clothes into the nearest corner. Orderly chaos was still better than disorderly chaos.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

I didn’t have to turn around to know my mum was standing in the doorway.

Instead, I continued to sort through the paperwork I had to turn in to the office on Monday. They were the visa, my mum’s bank account details and scholarship evidence.

“...I just didn’t want to catch you off guard.”

Well, that’s exactly what she had done with that.

Within the last two days, there had been so many disagreements and conflicts between us that it was just getting on my nerves. I didn’t know her like that at all. It was getting to the point where I thought this town had something to do with it, but I didn’t want to go that far yet.

“I understand if you’re mad at me now.”

Oh yes, and how mad I was. Even my guilty conscience couldn’t change that. It still reminded me that I was going through all thisfor her. So that she would soon feel better again and we could get out of here.

Eventually, I overcame my pride and turned to her.

“I’m not mad at you,” I snorted.

A lie. Just for her.

Mum came over to me and stroked my left cheek with her warm hand. Something she often did when I was feeling bad.

“I’m still sorry sweetheart,” she whispered, and there was something desperate in her voice. As if she still wanted to tell me so much, but couldn’t. I knew it was her illness that made her so emotional. The reason I needed to be there for her now.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to apologize, Mum,” I finally replied a little more gently.

Then, I broke free of my stupor and went to the dresser to sort through the little jewelry I actually owned. It distracted me a bit and made me forget about the last few days. There was something positive about all this tidying up. But Mum was still standing in my room as if she was not yet satisfied with the situation.

“Are you getting ready, honey? We’re leaving in fifteen minutes.”

Questioningly, I turned back to her. “Where to?”

Possibly another surprise that would surely knock me off my feet with excitement.Not.

“Well, you wanted to go down to the harbor, to the market...”

On the drive to Blairville, I had already seen the harbor from a distance, but it seemed much larger to me now that I could overlook the entire area.

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