AS SOON AS I go inside Uncle Kimmy says, "Dinner's ready!"
Dinner is ready? When is dinner ever ready this early? I gasp it's my favorite meal! Fish, broccoli with carrots mixed with gravy, and potatoes on the side!
"Why is dinner so early? Is it a special occasion as in my birthday because it's not my birthday," I snap already done with this and it hasn't even begun.
"Just sit," Uncle Kimmy persists.
"Just sit down Malauge. God, why are you so stubborn?" Cass demands.
"Okay," I snap at her as I sit down. "Why can't--"
"Can you stop asking questions?!" She yells sitting down at the table opening Aries's food.
I want to scream and yell my voice beyond any universe, any solar system, and beyond any planet, instead, I sit quietly on my phone.
"Okay," Uncle Kimmy says sitting down in his seat in front of me as he dashes out our plates.
"Your sister, her boyfriend, my boyfriend, my sister, her girlfriend, my brother, his wife, and I all discussed it and..."
"You're really building this up," Casy gripes drinking wine in a wine glass. She does that whenever she is anxious or grumpy.
"We're moving to South Dakota to live with your Aunt Lucinda and your cousins."
"So, we're going to be roommates with our relatives?" I ask.
"Yes, it'll be easier for all of us, Indie."
It feels as if the world stopped spinning and the stars and the ocean has fallen and there's nothing; nothing except dust and darkness beyond what the eye can see. I want to cry and storm up to my room but I'm too sad and too sick of this shit to move.
"I know this might be hard for you," his words float around in my head like an echo in a cave full of annoying screeching bats, "and it'll be hard for everyone but, it's an easier situation for us as a family to get around easier. I mean, my sister wants to see Aries and you. She hasn't seen you in years, and she hasn't seen Aries at all."
I'm dumbfounded and sore. I feel the tears in my eyes about to emerge out of me with great vain like a tsunami crashing into every single place and every little town. This isn't a toast, it's a joke. They're kidding. I don't want to be the new girl at the end of my sophomore year, no! Hell no! I manage to soak up all of my feelings and weakly ask, "Where are we moving?"
"Southwood, South Dakota."
I gasp as my eyes widen. I've heard roomers about that place! It's the south side, south side, Tennesee--only nice on the outside, but on the inside, it's a dark and scary place.
Later tonight after helping Uncle Kimmy with the dishes, I couldn't sleep asking myself scary questions, what if I die? What if I get kidnapped there, or worse? It's a deadly place where only monsters live.