Mother's Day 2014 (short story)

[Momento]

Today is Mother’s day in the year 2014. I have seen so many of those come and go. My mother passed away a few years back, but that doesn’t seem to matter much anymore in the grand scale of things. My father still being alive is eased by his inability to see me or my sister, whom has been gone for almost a year now. I filed a missing persons report on her about a week after I noticed, but when I explained to the authorities that she liked to be alone and was known to leave at a moment’s notice, they basically told me that she likely just forgot to leave me a note. I knew the truth, but I didn’t know how to explain the shadow realm to humans and left it. The report was mostly to appease what would surely be an issue with my father.

My name is Melody Luna Grey, officially married to Hans Adler Grey shortly after we met. My father knows that I’m married and that Lizzie was with me here, in Harper Rock, at the compound that I paid for with his money. What he doesn’t know is that I and Lizzie were turned into vampires by my husband. I don’t know how to bring that up over the phone and needless to say not eating at a family dinner would get me cut off from all contact, so instead I tell my father that Hans doesn’t celebrate the holidays because he’s from Germany and that and that alone is my get out of jail free card. I don’t even know if that’s true, but Hans and I don’t celebrate holidays together. I spent Christmas with my one (and pretty much only) friend Serendipity and I don’t even know if that’s her real name. It was just another normal day.

As much as I have been dreading it, I knew he would call me today because I don’t have my mother anymore, and so he did and I answered my phone to his somber tone. In less than 3 seconds I can already tell that he feels that my mother’s passing is still his fault. That he broke her heart and she ended up dying and leaving me all alone in the world. However, I know that isn’t how it is, but my ideals and my life was forever changed when I became a vampire and that is something I don’t know how to explain to him, so instead I play along. I play my cards and tell him I’m okay and fake the tears in my eyes and the noise in my voice that makes him give in to me every time.

So long as he feels guilty I have a bit more sway with him anyway and sometimes I have to use it, like when he found out Lizzie was gone and I had to spend two days convincing him that he didn’t need to come look for her himself. That she was likely fine and just walked away from me since we’d gone distant since I married. I’d let him come look for her when we hadn’t heard from her for thirty days, but I had asked Sera to go with him everywhere. If he got turned into a vampire I would be stuck with my dad forever, and he’d never forgive me for not telling him I was one. To him omission was just as guilty as lying and I’d done both.

I lost track of the uh-huhs and yeahs and okays in our conversation until he said what I thought he said, which was that he wanted to come visit. 30 seconds passed and I forgot to breathe. 60 seconds past and I still couldn’t remember how as I tried to get out of it and then 80 seconds past and I heard him ask if I was okay because I wasn’t making noise. I made up some excuse about going out of town, but I don’t think he bought it, because he wants me to visit for the fourth of July. Did I mention he still hasn’t met my husband? I’m not sure how to explain a serial killer German man to my father. I hung up and stared at my phone like an idiot.

Maybe I’d ask Serry to come with me and be a buffer. I’d have to remember to ask her if that’s her real name first and if she had a record. Dad liked background checks. There was only another month and a half to plan the best ******* pulled off in-your-face lie i’d ever done and I truly had no idea how I was going to make that possible. Perhaps she could help me keep Hans from slaughtering half the population of Kirksville, Missouri, which in and of itself was going to be a challenge. Not to mention the fireworks were likely going to set off that firebug inside of him and myself. There was no doubt in my mind that by the end of this trip, something was gonna burn and someone was gonna be dead. The sad part was that with less than 18k in people in the city, we could likely kill them all, and that idea was slowly growing on me.