Fiction
Meeting Mrs. Hazel: Part Two
People… people could surprise you sometimes. I felt something open in my chest.
To Read Part One
“I know people like you,” I said with an edge that shocked me, “People like you only care about rules, numbers, anything logical really. And I know people like you don’t like it when people are different, or unique, or creative. You don’t like people that don’t see things the way you do.”
“Nonsense!” she said, her voice growing more high-pitched. Now, her face was turning a light shade of plum. I didn’t like to admit it, but part of me was proud to see that my words had an impact on an adult.
Mother and father never paid attention to what I said. They never made it easy for me to see the weight of my words.
“Now, Queenie, we’ll finish this conversation tomorrow. You know, you shouldn’t-”
“Shouldn’t judge a book by its cover? Touche,” I snickered. I felt a tinge of guilt for undermining her authority, but I said what I felt. It had always been this way.
“You’re going to be a difficult one,” she said, chuckling, “Well, I suppose it can’t be helped. I was the same way when I was younger.”
I didn’t know what to say to this. I hadn’t expected her to empathize with me. People… people could surprise you sometimes. I felt something open in my chest. The air around me felt like summer, though seconds ago I was sure it was the bitter end of fall.
“I-” I felt a lump rising in my throat as I tried to form my words. Tears threatened to leak out of my eyes. Ugh. I didn’t like exposing my vulnerabilities so openly. It made me feel on edge.
“Don’t cry,” she said, patting me awkwardly on the small of my back. A stranger’s hand felt weird on my sweater. Only my parents were supposed to touch my sweater.
Her sharp eyes seemed to soften momentarily.
Why was I still crying? I was a tough girl, I was also very smart, and I certainly didn’t cry! I rubbed at my eyes angrily.
Through my blurry vision, I saw two arms extend open in an inverted V-shape. I looked up and saw that she was offering me a hug.
That was unexpected. I looked up in wonder. My dark, jet-black curls looked so contrasting in comparison to her snowy, white head of hair. I had the brief semblance of a thought that she was an angel.
The tears sprung out and now I couldn’t control them. I was ugly crying. Snot sagged out of my nostrils. My vision was nonexistent through the blurry sea of tears. I made a choking noise as my sadness threatened to swallow me whole. On top of that, my anger created weird shaky breaths coming from my mouth.
She closed the distance between us and enclosed me in her warm arms. She wasn’t my father, and she certainly wasn’t my mother (who could never offer such warmth), but in that moment, it felt like she was the closest thing to that.
Copyright Yao Liu 2023. All rights reserved.
