Red Hood

I sat in a booth in a tiny side car dinner waiting for a man I’d seen every summer since I was ten. He was late to our meeting, a move he normally pulled. We both hated meeting but as a promise to my mother and to his we always showed up. My mother died when I turned sixteen, cancer had been the cultrate. She’d been best friends with Logan’s mother. Logan’s mother and my mother wanted this to happen in hopes of something more than just an annual meeting.

Both, my mother and his were born into old money as were our fathers. So to keep this tradition alive the "deal" was made to have Logan and I wed. I was arranged to marry Logan before ether one of us was born but the "deal" was set in stone when I turned out to be a girl. It never really mattered at first; I was too young to really understand what it all meant. Until my thirteenth birthday, I was found getting my first kiss from a boy who was just as rich and hansom as Logan but it wasn’t part of the "deal", I was to marry a Talbot. I remember being yelled at till I cried by my father, my mother tried to calm him down saying that I was young and it didn’t really matter. He snapped back that "A deal is a deal!" I ran to my room and my birthday party continued on without me. From then on I hid every boyfriend; each one looked less and less like Logan, and most importantly they weren’t part of the wealthy families club. I was a cliché of the white rich girl who wanted to rebel. Logan on the other hand was determined to win my heart despite the fact he didn’t really want it. He wanted more for his life than an arranged marriage but his father was Hell bent on getting Logan’s mother whatever she wanted. After my mother died Logan’s mother and my father wanted it even more.

I still had no desire to marry Logan but I promised to never shut him out either, so here I sit, waiting. I stared out the window causing the night to scream to me even louder. I heard the chime of a tiny bell attached to the door of the dinner, Logan in a thick black wool peacoat trying to get the snow off of his jacket. After hanging it up he pushed his thick dark brown hair out of his face and sat down across from me. He waited for me to speak first to start the usual small talk that would drag on for an hour before I would make an excuse to leave. After the talking began an old waitress brought over coffee, I didn’t drink it because I was wide awake so I just held it in my hands. It took me only a few minutes to realize Logan’s eyes were red from crying and he looked overly worried. When I asked why he was late, his paper thin excuse would only work on someone who hadn’t known him since childhood. Also the fact that I was one of the world’s best liars gave me abilities to see through others fabrications.

"You and I, I know it’s never been smooth." He was starting to act awkwardly, more so then usual and that’s when I knew that this meeting was different. "But you’ve never gotten married to anyone else. I’ve never thought about it with anyone else."

"Yes, because your mother won’t allow you to think about anyone else and I haven’t gotten married because the right guy hasn’t asked me." I cut him off quickly but Logan didn’t seem fazed, he simply rolled his eyes and wiped his face again. I wasn’t trying to be rude or mean but this talk had started on my seventh birthday and I’ve tried being kind and a friend to him. I’ve tried being rude too but neither tactic worked and it drove me crazy to repeat myself. So I stuck with the facts, because he couldn’t deny honest facts. Yet here I am at the ripe old age of twenty and still in the middle of this ridicules situation.

"Maybe because you don’t have a right guy. Maybe you and I are meant to end up together but you keep pushing so you can’t see that the right guy is sitting in front of you, right now." It was now my turn to sigh and try to think of something to day that would give me the right to leave but it was his turn to cut me off. "You and me makes sense, at least to me it does. I know to you it doesn’t but you’ve never given me chance. You fought against it because you wanted something to rebel against. If I was just a guy you would have given me a yes, at least to a date."

"No, you don’t know that. Besides, I’m not who you assume I am." I wasn’t sure how he’d take that statement but I already started to put my things into my pockets. I didn’t carry a purse to many purse thieves in this city. I stood up and Logan grabbed my wrist in a gentle "please stop" way. I paused and gathered my thoughts before turning around to look at him.

"My mom is dying." I could feel my jaw drop and my eyes widen. I turned to face him, forcing my mouth shut by biting my lower lip. "She wants you and I to get married before she goes. My father’s already told me if I don’t make it happen, he’ll cut me off. So I’ll be without a mother and broke."

"I’m sorry. I didn’t know she was sick." I said sitting back down. At the same time I’d always been truly jealous of the fact he still had his mother but I never wished him ill. Logan kept nodding his head until he spoke.

"Found out last week." He took a deep breath. "It’s not cancer but it’s her heart. She needs a transplant in about a month. She’s got a rare blood type but more than that she refuses to take a new heart because she has had a long life. I guess she doesn’t want to take it away from a kid or something."

He wiped away a tear that was trying to make its way to his chin. I felt bad; anybody with a heart would feel bad. Could I truly say yes to a marriage because I felt bad? I’ve known Logan since because I could walk and I know he was in pain. The hero inside of me wanted to save him and I could even hear my mother’s voice telling me to say yes. He could be civil and honest with but no passion or real love. Logan always seemed eager to please and would gladly accept a life like I described. It would be me that would be the hero or villain.

"Can I think about this?" I asked as Logan slid of his seat and on to his knee in front of me. I started panic as he pulled out a ring.

"Take this ring, wear it and tell me how you feel in a couple of days." He quickly grabbed my hand and slipped on the ring. Suddenly people who I hadn’t paid attention to started clapping. I jumped around Logan and out the door sliding on my jacket as I went. Once I was out the door I took a keep calming breath before running to my car, which was perfectly beat up. No one would ever give my second thought. As I turned the keys and my head lights popped on I saw Logan was standing hands on the hood. The snow still falling I hopped back out of the car, leaving it on so I could quickly escape.

"What Logan?" I was upset, I took the ring and I wanted space to decide if I wanted this. Finally saying yes to the "deal" I never wanted to be a part of.

"Will you really think about this? I want to do this. I know you never saw this really happening, even when your mom was alive. I know you only show up because of what she wanted. I’m a good person. I would protect you till the day I die, all I ask is for you to say yes when a priest asked do you take this man. I would do anything for you."

"Really?" I asked, Logan didn’t grab his coat on the way out and his button up white shirt was already soaked through because of the snow and he stated shivering. "Look, go back inside and get warm. Then give me a few days to think. Can you do that for me?"

Logan nodded and walked back into the diner without another word. I drove back to my apartment. It was cluttered and organized chaos, which was always the pet peeve of the family. When I got though the door I was immediately greeted by my German Sheppard, Coco. She licked my face then after I gave her dinner she ignored me. As soon as I had set her bowl down I started stripping off my clothing and putting on my real clothes.

After my mother’s death I ran to my boyfriend’s house. He lived on the rough side of town and even he had a Mohawk. I was half way to his house when I stopped at a red light. Silly me for following the law, it was the first time a gun was held to my head and that was the first time I broke someone’s wrist and nose. It was also the first time I held a gun as I drove at high speeds. I passed my boyfriend’s house and instead sped up till I hit 90mph for over three hundred miles away till I found a cheap motel room.

I blocked out the world while I was in the room. I wasn’t scared or in shock, I was excited and thrilled. Death was pointed at my head and now I held it in my hands. I’d never felt like that before. All this adrenaline pumping through me made me, for once, feeling real. I stayed in that room until I formed a plan, unconventional as it was, it was formed.

First was clothing, what would I wear to go a*s kicking in? Probably a question most girls ask themselves before they get dressed. I kept thinking of that early morning, the gunman and how it made me feel. For some reason I thought of little red riding hood, he was the big bad wolf and I was little red. So I became reborn as Red Hood, with a crimson cloak and a black mask to hide my face.

Second thing was how I was going to fight them. Not a gun, I wasn’t ready to be responsible for killing anyone, even the guilty. Bare hands are a good back up but I knew I’d need more; after all I am only human. Bows are too bulky and arrows run out. That left knifes or daggers. A few of those and good training, I would be a formidable foe. I signed up for classes for general weapons, blade handling, and hand to hand combat. Two years later I was physically and mentally ready for the night.

To begin with I could never sleep at night. Not since my mother was diagnosed with her first brain tumor. First it was because I was thinking about mortality and how short life was frightening to me. It even gave me a panic attack or two. Then it was just the thought of living without my mom that freaked me out. My dad and I never saw eye to eye and even with the "deal" standing between us, my mother and I were incredible close. Now I stayed awake because I was only truly alive while climbing, falling, fighting, and saving the darkest side of the city. I was doing everything I could to bring it back to life.

Of course there are others like me. They think like me and understand me in ways nobody else could understand. Most in the group lead lives outside of the night, wives or husbands, children, jobs or hobbies to make them blend in to the "real" world. I stayed to myself, life was easier that way. I am wealthy and it allowed me to lead a life without limits. I had my money work for me in stocks and investments so I never would run out. I think I’m the only rich Night Dweller. The name of the group I belonged to is called Night Dwellers, mostly because all of us felt calling each other heroes felt awkward and braggy.

As I left the apartment building ready for something not Logan related. I jumped a few buildings over to meet North Star. He was everything I could wish to become as a Night Dweller. His hair is jet black and eyes are blue grey. Everything else was covered by a military inspired outfit. We’d planned on meeting here earlier but I was late due to the meeting with Logan. This meeting, unlike the tiny diner meeting, took place on top of a forty foot building. Even though I was late it looked like he hadn’t made it yet either, until I heard the slightest noise of feet behind me. I swung hard uppercut then dropped and did a sweeping motion to knock him on his back. I clipped his jaw but missed his legs as he jumped just in time.

"It’s just me, Red." He pulled me to my feet and I felt my heart pound inside of my chest like a beating drum. North Star then took my face in his hands and I bit my lower lip. I would day dream about North Star, wondering what he looked like without his costume but I knew better then to voice my dream. "Why were you late?"

I swallowed hard and tried to not show that I was not intending on talking about my excuse. I didn’t want to tell him about something that would take away from us, yet I knew I wouldn’t lie to him. North Star was more to me then a friend but you can’t really date a guy who won’t tell you a first or last name not that I would tell him mine. "I was talking to an old friend. He asked me something."

North Star paused for what felt like the longest moment in the history of moments. Both he and I made it clear that we had no significant other in our normal lives but he could hear the tone in my voice. Something had happened with my old friend that was more than friendly.

"What did this old friend ask of you?" I wanted to rewind my day. Right before agreeing to meet with Logan, I would say sorry but I can’t. Then everything that made this time with North Star wrong would be alright. Logan screwed everything up without realizing it.

"He wants me to marry him." North Star backed away from me, it hurt more than any kick or punch I’d ever received since joining the Night Dwellers. "I hadn’t seen him for months and I didn’t say yes."

North Star smiled sadly picking up the thing I was avoiding saying. "But you didn’t say no, did you?"

"No." I jumped onto the ledge of the roof and looked down. The cars forty stories below looked like tiny blurs. "It’s complicated North. I’ve known him a long time. My first memory involves him. I’ve never dated him, his mom and my mom wanted us to be married."

"You don’t want to though. I can tell." His voice was close by, but I didn’t look at him. "Do you?"

"I don’t know. Married to him no, but no one else is lining up to ask." North Stars hand slipped around mine. I never thought about marriage except when my family or Logan brought it up, it always left a bad taste in my mouth. Even marriage to North Star came with a list of things that could go wrong. "You and I, the way we are, is good. But as soon as the sun hits the horizon you and I mean nothing. No future in our relationship."

"We’d have to break every Night Dweller rule to have a future." North Star said simply like he was telling himself the statement more than me. The rules were short, sweet, and to the point. They are necessary for our own protection and our family’s protection. 1. No Names, nobody can say a name that belongs to you or family members or friends. 2. Never let your face be seen. 3. Don’t do wrong even if the world thinks you to be a villain.

"Not all, just most." I closed my eyes, try desperately to hold on to my dignity. "I won’t say no to him unless you give me a reason. I know it’s not fair but North you’re the only one. The only one who could make me say no."

I turned around half expecting him to not be there but I knew that we had other more important business to deal with. North Star was leaning on a vent with arms crossed looking out at the aging city. His mouth opened, words about to follow when the sound of shattering glass breaks into our conversation.

"Well that’s our cue, Red Hood lets go. It’s time." I was in a dead run to keep up with North Star, who was leading me to opposite edge to jump. Vikings was a local gang that recently graduated to bank robbery. I think the name represents there goals of wanting to conquer cities while they raped and pillaged them. In my eyes they all were vile vermin who deserved to be locked away but somehow they kept being released back on the streets.

I followed each jump and leap down the building using an old fire escapes and the walls themselves. We finally stopped outside a window giving us a full view of the vermin, there were four of them. I turned to look North Star who was already looking at me and in a hushed whisper spoke. "Why did you want to help me with this one? You usual go after perverts, this is just a bank."

North Star stopped me from breaking the window to let the assault begin. I looked down into the back and saw my photos of all the men in my family line who ran this bank, starting with a black and white photo from the early 1900’s to today’s CEO my father. I was almost unable to read the sign posted above the hung photos stating it was the "Smithson First Nation Bank", but I didn’t need to see it I knew these halls since I was a baby. I can remember playing in the bank with Logan and eating with my parents on my dad’s desk. My mother thinking it was important to spend dinners as a family even if my dad was too busy to come home.

"It’s a important place to me and my family." It was a vague enough of an answer that made North Star accepts that he wouldn’t get a full picture. Maybe I or a family member worked here, or maybe we simply did our banking here.

The bank itself was worthless to me. What was inside was my mother’s valuables in a lock box, my some of my savings, but there was also the unknown of what my dad felt necessity to store here that worried me. I hated the man but my mom would want me to protect him. So here I was, listening to my dead mother’s wishes.

"Well then lets get down there. We don’t want any security guards getting hurt. Four agent us two doesn’t even seem fair." North Star said breaking the window. He always liked to be the one who got to break windows.

I woke up in bed alone, except for Coco sleeping soundly on my feet. Coco was my only security alarm, the only one who knew both my normal and abnormal life. It was comfort to have someone else know, even if that someone was a German Sheppard cutting off my blood circulation to my feet. Besides, the Night Dweller rules applied only to humans and maybe talking birds. The sun hit my face though a small gap in my black out curtains and I moaned while pulling the heavy quilt over my head. I was trying to pull my feet from under Coco trying to find my comfort zone once more when she stood up and began to bark protecting in the direction of the front door. I grudgingly got up and made my way towards the door.

Normally when Coco barks it means a person is walking by my door or past it, so when I peeked out the peephole I was stunned to see Logan. Before his first knock landed I swung open the door. After the door was already open I realized all I was wearing was a baggy t-shirt and panties, Logan was already dressed for the day in a well fitting suit. He looked good but now all I could focus on was that he invaded my apartment, not even my lack of clothing made me flinch. Coco was still barking and snapped my fingers to shut her up she then sat at attention waiting for another signal.

"I would say don’t mind her but she does bite." I said with a glare. Logan then held up a brown baggy and two coffees, completely ignoring the terrifying Coco as if she were a puppy. I sighed before giving in. "Come in, sorry about the mess. I wasn’t expecting company."

"It’s fine. If I didn’t hire a maid my place would probably be the same." He said with a shrug. I would hire a maid if the threat of my alter ego being found out wasn’t at risk. He pushed things to the side on my countertop and handed me a coffee. I drank half of it in one gulp but I told myself to slow down, still hoping to go back to sleep after I kicked Logan out. "I brought a pastry for you too. Late night?"

"Yes well there’s something you should know, I’m a hooker." I said sarcastically and Logan smiles and a small snort escape his nose. "I was trying to decide about investments and gossip I heard about a certain stock." I paused as the caffeine started kicking in and I looked at Logan casually sipping coffee. "How did you know where I live? I never told you."

"Is it really a surprise your dad told me?" Logan asked which a cocky grin. Truth was I only told dad so someone could notify me when he finally kicked the bucket or something important happened. Not so he could send Logan at the wee hour of ten AM. "He always wanted you and I to work out. I thought of something after you left last night."

I rubbed my face trying to wipe the way the last of the sleep from my eyes. I finished the coffee and went to my fridge to grab a vitamin B energy suppliant drink. Logan watched me a little to lovingly for my taste and I stared back at him. I stretched trying to wake up the rest of my body waiting for the next attack on my metal stability. "What might that be?"

"We never fooled around. Or just kissed even. I mean we hugged a few times but not since we were ten. Maybe if we did… You and I might actually click." I was completely unprepared for this one. I thought maybe he’d pull extra hard on my heart and explain his mother is only holding on to life by a thread only to see her only child marry the child of her dead best friend. Instead he went to a place I would have never expected. I knew Logan so well and one in a blue moon imaged how easy it would be to just let everything happen according to our family’s "deal". Logan was every bit the all American good looking guy but and more than once I’d received glares from other girls who would have killed for just a glance from Logan. I was for once at a loss at words, so Logan continued. "I know it’s completely insane but I’m good at this stuff. I’ve been told I’m good. It might help."

"It’s time to leave. It takes more than a pastry and coffee to get into my pants." I turned and opened my door.

"To be fair you’re not wearing any pants therefore its implied that I at least could get past your pants." I shook my head a despite my attempt at hiding my giggle it comes out. Logan closes the door and walks up to me, my back at the wall I had nowhere to go. If I wanted I could knee him or break his nose or a million other self-defense techniques I’d perfected over the years, but I didn’t. Logan leaned in a kissed me slowly, not forcing anything. When he finally pulled away he lifted my left hand and kissed the spot where his ring still sat. He then picked up his coffee, patted Coco on the head, then left.

I stood there not sure what I should do next. I looked down at the ring; I assumed I would have taken it off by now. I hadn’t last night because I was exhausted from running and fighting. Now I didn’t because the ring felt so familiar and safe that it somehow felt right. Maybe Logan and everyone finally wore me down. Only one thought made me fight this notion, North Star. I slid down the wall till my butt hit the floor focusing all my power on thinking.

North Star was more to me romantically involved with me then Logan could ever be or so I thought. On the other hand North Star could never be more to me than just a great unfulfilled love affair, who’s really name I’d never know. North Star was everything and nothing to me at the same time. Maybe if we’d met as civilians not Night Dwellers we’d have a really shot at a future, but we didn’t and we don’t.

Logan Talbot was real and I knew everything there was to know about him. Like his full name, Logan Landon Talbot. That the scar on his right hand is from him falling out of an unsafe tree house we’d built one summer, a shared history that no one could compete with, unless they were willing to spend twenty years with me. Logan is what my mother wanted for me and Logan may not be in love with me but he cares for me in a way I could never understand. Maybe that is all marriage really is, a shared history and a deep caring for one another.

I never thought I would ever marry. I never really believed in the institution. Not because I grew up in a house without love or the rise in divorce, it was because I never saw it. I liked freedom and being responsible for me. This would not be a reality if I would walk down any isle. I would have to answer to someone else and I doubted being a Night Dweller would work out anymore. Telling Logan would just make him tell me I could no longer do what I loved but maybe it was time to slow down.

I have money, so does he; we could travel or do anything else in the world together. Also I could figure out a safer hobby like base jumping. I always wanted to try glass blowing. I am after all I am only human; I only have so much time till the inevitable happens. Why spend all my time worried about fighting various rapists, child molesters, and other predators of the night? I worried myself realizing I wouldn’t find a good reason to fight with this pretty ring on my finger.

I looked at the plain brown bag that Logan left behind. As I got up from the ground, Coco’s eyes followed me; she wanted the contents of the bag before even knowing what it was. Inside the rather large bag I spotted a huge blueberry muffin, which he must have remembered was my favorite or it was a lucky guess. I sighed as I figured out that I had already agreed to the proposal if only in the back of my mind. I was engaged.

I figured that admitting something to yourself was always the first step but this was a hard step to take. The second step would be harder; this step would involve me speaking to my father, in person. A feet as unpleasant at stabbing one’s self with a butter knife, though with news like this it may not be so bad. I made my way to my closet and got dressed in something my father would deem as proper attire for a young woman. His idea what was and wasn’t proper was long and stressful. I thought like an artist, my dad like a businessman from the 50’s. I found a black business outfit he’d gotten for me, in case I ever needed to come visit him.

I left after giving Coco a quick walk and went to the Smithson First Nation Bank. In the light of day it was huge and resembled a Greek Parthenon with its white marble and cold uniformity. If you happened to care to investigate further, you’d see high tech video servailce and armed guards. I walked in to the bank forgetting about last night until I walked into the scene. My father yelling at his near-tear assistant and being what one might call civil towards a police detective. I nearly laughed but covered it with a cough. Four cops, all the staff of the bank, and my father’s eyes snapped to me in a flash. I walked towards my father who looked at like he always did, it was a mix of extreme disappointment and loathing for daring to look exactly like my mother. I had thick sun soaked brown hair and chocolate brown eyes, I looked like my mother when she was my age the age that my father first met my mother. It made my father unable to look at me for too long.

As I stood in front of everyone as I tried to look confused and shocked at the broken glass or the sight of the police. I prayed that my inner glee was not showing on my face. Soon my father introduced me to the police and they asked me where I was last night. I said in a matter of fact tone "Watching a chick flick with my German Sheppard, I was mulling over a meeting I had earlier with Logan Talbot."

The news of my meeting with Logan came of no surprise to my father but to police asked for Logan’s information as to confirm this much of my story. My father whispered something to his assistant who looked my way. Her near teary face vanished in an instant as she made her way towards me. She ushered me with her figures to follow her. I quickly caught up with her. She was already back to business, chatting away on a blue tooth head set.

"Smithson First National Bank… No he’s canceled that appointment… Yes it’s already been rescheduled. You need to hire more help or retrain the ones you have. I have only time to handle one company and it’s not yours…. Thank you, have a nice day." She touched her ear and turned towards me. "Your father will join you shortly. I have minor crisis to deal with, I hope you are capable of entertaining yourself."

I chuckled at her bluntness and immediately understood why my father hired her. She was smart and knew how to act in every circumstance. As I was left alone in my father’s oversized office I started roaming his office. Looking at pictures on the walls, mostly degrees and awards but there were a few photos of him and my mother. I could see my refection in the glass and even now I could see my mother in my face. It made me happy and scared at the same time. I was a living ghost to not only my father but myself. I sat down in a chair across his big desk. Papers neatly organized and the latest Mac on the market where the only things taking up space. I knew I wouldn’t find a single picture of me in here. In my father’s neatly constructed world I no longer existed therefore he didn’t need to display a picture of me. Deep down though I still hoped he’d at least cared enough to have one. Even I had one in my apartment. It was one of the few I had with the three of us. I had just turned 13 and my parents took me to the beach, it was the first time I had seen clean ocean water. We asked a stranger to take a family photo, my mother hugged me placing her head on top of mine and my dad’s arms wrapped around us both. The biggest rarity of all was we all smiled in the photo without being forced.

I could hear my father’s assistant talking and typing until the even steps of my father silenced everything. At least my focus blocked out everything but his steps. The doors closed and I sat, unmoving, not sure what to say. He walked to my chair and I stood. We shared an awkward hug and then I sat back down as he made his way to his chair. As he sat down and faced me it felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room.

"Meredith, what do I owe for the pleasure of your company? Last time we spoke I believe, tell me if I’m wrong, you wanted to cut all ties with me. I think you went as far to threading to change your last name or bleed out the blood that belonged to me from your body." He said with malice but fact was I was pretty sure I had said both these things. The fact that he thought this made me regretful when he said them was wrong. I wished for years that my mother had cheated on my father and I wasn’t his child or my mother leaving him and taking me with her. The fact that she was taken and not him led me to believe the world truly makes no sense.

"Things change, but if you want I can leave. I just thought you’d want to know my news before someone else tells you." I said calmly, ignoring his comment.

"What? DUI? Drugs? Pregnancy, God forbid." He rattled ideas as they came. Most are unsurprising. I smiled slyly when I gave my reply.

"Logan asked me to marry him."

My father dismissed my comment by waving his hand and pretending to read an email. "He does that a lot."

"I’m going to say yes this time." This got his attention; he smiled and crossed his arms. "He doesn’t know I’m going to say yes. But I wanted to tell you alone."

"So he told you about Carol." It wasn’t a question; he knew Logan would tell me the truth. Logan always told me the truth.

"His mother is sick, yes I know. There more though, he’s been there for me. Always has been, unlike a lot of other people in my life. He wants this and I owe him."

"Well then, I guess I’ll have to cancel my lunch meeting." My father punched a speaker button his phone. "Roz!"

Roz immediately jumped up and was at the door with pen and paper. My dad instructed her to cancel all meetings for the day and to call Michael Talbot to meet with his son at the Lautue Du Mant. I tried to open my mouth to stop Roz but she already back to work, at her desk with blue tooth in ear. Logan will be glad to find I finally agreed to his proposal but my father had found a way to take away Logan’s moment to tell his parents. His parents would be upset that my dad had found out first and that it wasn’t there son telling them but the fact that were finally getting what they wanted would easily make up for it.

These thoughts occupied my mind until I felt my father’s chauffeured town car stop in front of the restaurant. I wasn’t sure why but I felt uneasy. I never felt this way before, even when meeting this group and giving them news they didn’t want. Even when jumping off buildings or fighting men with guns I never felt uneasy. This wasn’t what I thought it would feel like. Then again I told them all this would happen over my dead body, maybe my body was dying trying to keep true to my words.

We were seated immediately as we entered the building. Logan and his father had somehow beaten us. Logan’s father had put on extra weight since I’d seen him last and he has grown a beard. Logan and his father looked nothing a like except for the nose and ears. Everything else came from his mother. His hair and beautiful green blue eyes, and I say green blue not blue green because his eyes were green but somehow a hint of blue always found its way in. Logan’s eye brows were lowered in concern and he was poised to have a panic attack. Both Logan and his father stood up when they saw me us approach.

"Meri!" Mr. Talbot said as he hugged me. I hated being called that, I had told him this many times but he’d always forget a second later. "So Ari, why do you call this meeting?"

"I think we should wait for Carol, Mike." My father said as we all sat down. Logan met my eyes for a moment and I could see him pleading to know the answer to the question we were here to celebrate. I smiled and put my hand over his to emphasize that I agreed. He smile and held my hand in return, exhaling in a way that made me think he held his breath since being told to come down here.

"Carol sends her apologies and wanted me to send Meri her love." We smiled at each other. Then Mr. Talbot’s eyes trailed down to Logan and mine’s hands intertwined together. I suddenly felt dirty and wanted to pull away but Logan held on, nerves getting the better of him. Without missing a beat he understood why we were here and wanted to get down to business. "So you kids set a date?"

"No." I didn’t need to look at Logan to know how uncomfortable his dad made him feel, though these trivial things really didn’t matter to either one of us. Let who ever wanted to plan it, plan it. Just tell me when to show up.

"Oh well you kids know we need to set up a date to book a church. I mean we can get any day, just have to bribe the right clergymen." Everyone laughs but me, Logan’s laugh was more inept but I was the one my father glared at. Mr. Talbot was being overwhelmingly nice, but it was a paper thin kindness that would go away as quickly as it came, if I messed up. I didn’t doubt this "deal" was finally going to happen but it didn’t mean either my dad or Logan’s dad believed it, yet. The only thing I doubted right now was if I could handle one more meal like this. I wondered how many excuses I would have to make to avoid this. The both of them watched the way we looked at Logan and me make me more than a little queasy, but my dad smiled proudly at me. A look on him I thought died when my mother did.

I thought back to a week before my eighteenth birthday. No parties, no friends, just a giant hole of depression known as home. My father and I sat in the dining room eating breakfast silently. I was going over all the things I needed to do to the house to make sure it became a shrine to her. My father didn’t seem to notice or care what I did. I graduated a year early and he didn’t even make it to see me walk. I took online classes for college avoiding as much human contact as possible. As the hired help left the room no longer able to handle the misery seeking new host, I assumed we’d finish eating and go along our days as usual.

I figured he’d forgotten about my birthday and I didn’t care for it. To celebrate anything with my mother seemed criminal. Besides turning eighteen meant only one thing I cared about happening. I could be a Night Dweller. I was going to have my first night be on my birthday to make sure I’d remember the exact moment I became the real me. This would be just a normal unhappy meal, no longer caring about trying to understand why my father couldn’t love his only daughter. He wiped his face with a cloth napkin before getting up. He pulled an envelope from his pocket and placed it besides my hand. I smiled for what felt like the first time since my mother had passed, until he spoke.

"Leave by the time I get home from tonight or I’ll have the staff do it for you." He picked up and apple from a bowl of fruit that sat in the middle of the table. I opened the envelope and five thousand dollars fell out. I felt confused and hurt at the same time.

"You’re paying me to leave?"

"Mo, your trust fund will kick in, in a week this is to tide you over until then. I wanted to be sure you didn’t have an excuse to be here." He said coldly.

"What about mom? What would she say?" I said fighting off tears.

"Nothing. She is dead and you never listen to anything I say or what she said. You’re an irrational little brat, I want you gone and I want to move on."

After that moment I knew if there was even I chance that he was not really my father I’d cry from joy. I hated him and his black heart. Logan became the only connection I had left to the world of old money. The world that living in was as bearable as having bamboo shoots shoved under your fingernails. Now two years after being exiled from the world I hated so much, I was being ushered back with a wedding.

"Next week, at the cathedral on Front Street. All you’ll have to do is pick a dress." My father said with a sly smile. Then looked back to me with grim hatred. "Are you capable of such a feet?"

I wanted to b***h slap him; sadly I held back the urge and just replied sweetly. "Of course I’m capable of finding a dress. Only question is if I can find an actual father to walk me down the aisle."

I was pleased with my final statement and got up from the table. I walked quickly out of the restaurant feeling in a daze. I heard the patter of feet following me and turned around to see Logan. His face was trying to figure out if he should smile or be upset.

"Couldn’t have told me your decision? Had to do it in the hardest, most insane and unhealthy way possible?" He said with a half hearted smile. I shrugged with grin, suddenly feeling like we were five again and got away with stealing cookies. He hugged me but made no attempts to kiss me before jumping into a taxi. After he left I pondered how I would get home.

Reviews

[Brittany W]

Overall this was a good write, if i could critique anything it would be that you indent your paragraph, and maybe keep the font and size consistent throughout the story.