Second-Best Medium by Ash Dylan

Author:Ash Dylan [Dylan, Ash]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Supernatural Romance
Published: 2018-08-13T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Keya took the oars on the way back. She insisted.

She tried to hide her grimace from the exertion, but it was obvious she couldn’t oar as well as Venus, and they proceeded much slower across the lake. About a quarter of the way out, Keya put the oars up to let the boat drift. They were the only ones enjoying the lake.

“Why do you want to see your mother so much?” Venus said.

“Huh?” Keya had been distracted, staring at a barely visible fish that swam close to the surface in the water.

“I know she was very important to you. You just seem to really want to see her more than anyone else. I’m curious, that’s all.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye.”

Keya debated telling Venus what she had found in Marilyn’s house. On the table in the room off the kitchen, there was a folded piece of paper, with Keya’s name on the outside. Marilyn’s last message to Keya. Which she was apparently too busy to deliver in person, now that she was a spirit. Keya had folded it and tucked it in her pocket. If it was personal, she didn’t want to reveal it in front of Venus.

“I’m sorry,” Venus said.

“Yeah.”

A moment of silence later, Venus said, “Tell me about her.”

Keya’s defenses were down. She let herself talk.

“My mother was my closest friend growing up. I had problems in school because of my eyes, and I got teased a lot. My mother was usually the first person I saw when I got home, and she would give the biggest hugs. I always felt safe when I was with her. One thing she liked to do was show me old photo albums, with all the weddings she had gone to growing up in India. She would tell me how I would be dressed for mine. Describe the mehndi designs I would have. The groom would come in on a horse.”

“There’s a horse?”

“It was going to be fabulous. Anyway,” Keya continued, slightly enlivened by Venus’s distraction, “she always loved me, no matter what I did, and she always wanted me to be happy. When I finally told my parents that I was queer, I wasn’t nervous really, but I didn’t know what they were going to say. My father—or dad, as he likes to be called—was quiet while he processed it, and then he told me all the words that you would hope your parent would say. My mother didn’t say anything. She just came over to me, gave me a big hug, and kissed me on the cheek.”

“That sounds nice.”

“Sometimes I need someone to tell me things and spell them out. Other times, I just need a big hug. And since she’s been gone, I feel like I’m waiting for that big hug to tell me everything’s going to be okay. But it never comes.”

“Why do you always play with that bangle?”

“Do I?” Keya said. She looked down and, sure enough, she was twirling it around her wrist.

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