The argument started the way arguments often do, on a Sunday afternoon during a family reunion. The day had been quiet so far, Clara and her dad had brought dessert and they were about to eat it in the living room, where Clara’s grandmother was bringing a tray with coffee cups and a coffee pot.
They hate me. I know they do. With their smiles, their laughs, they all seem to be quite enjoying themselves, and it seems so easy. They’re all talking over one another, as if there’s a competition that I’m not aware of, and the winner will be the loudest; it’s deafening!
14th November
Dear Diary, today is my birthday, and you were gifted to me by Amalia, my friend -if you can call her that, because I am not sure how long you must know someone to give her a special designation. I am very happy. Even if mom said, she was sorry she couldn’t visit me on my special day, because of the snow. She is afraid of driving in the snow, or maybe she is afraid of seeing me again.
The Speaker’s Mother:
“Hey ma’, sorry to get you out of bed.”
“What happened sweetheart?”
“Leo and I went to the movies tonight and something awful happened.”
“Your two are alright?” Lauren’s husband had woken up and she put the phone on speaker mode.
August that year had sneaked inside the house disguised as a storm. A massive, wild Sunday morning storm. Mrs. Jones was annoyed. She was going to have to postpone her garden party. Everyone in the neighborhood knew her for her parties, and she couldn’t have been any prouder. Once a month, she would wear her brand-new flower dress and she would invite all of her best friends and worst enemies to stuff them with lemonade, mango punch, tiny sandwiches impaled by tiny parasols, deviled eggs, fancy goat cheese on fancy fig concoctions, and rose-shaped vegetables.
I almost got hit by a truck.
“Don’t worry mom, I’m alright. I almost got hit when I was crossing the road, but the driver managed to dodge me. She had to stop the vehicle abruptly so I think she got some bruises. But everything’s fine now.”
On the nights she couldn’t sleep, she would think of those people who had given her advice – read the Bible, count backwards, draw cats, think of a man you’d like to marry, or simply try harder – It was astonishing to her that even though she knew exactly what nights she wouldn’t be able to rest (one in two), she still hadn’t figured out what to do about it.
“Marry James, thirty-five years old has been found dead, killed by seven shots of knife. Do you recognize her, Mister James ?
“Yes your honor, she was my wife.”
“And you denied having assassinated her ?”
“Yes, I did not assassinate her. I loved her very much.”
It all started at the age of fifteen, after an ordinary gymnastics lesson, very proud of her new sportswear, which two friends of her had suggested that she lose a little weight before putting on such a tight outfit in a sarcastic tone. These were just the words of carefree young girls, but in Ellie’s ears this sentence was still ringing in her ears, it haunted her day and night for months.