MINK

From as far back as I can remember I was always the one that everyone wondered about, I could hear them whisper, ‘Who is she?, Why is she here?, Do you think she has a problem?’. You see I moved here from another country, I didn’t understand their dialect and half the time it was hard to even understand their language but I muddled along just to keep my father happy.

We moved here, to, ‘ever so sunny’ California from ‘dull and boring’ Romania. Now you see why I find it so hard to fit it. I heard stories of how everyone was so friendly here and that I would ‘love’ being the new kid at my high school. Well, that was the joke of the century I think. I hate this place and I hate my school. No-one wants to talk to me and I sit at the back of every class in the corner. I prefer this because I can work better and faster by myself.

Only, last week a new guy started this hell hole. I know how it feels to be the ‘new kid’. I’ve been here for 6 months and they still steer well clear of me, like I have some sort of disease or something. I don’t bother to even try and make friends. I don’t see any point, with my fathers’ job we never stay anywhere long enough to stay in contact with the people we meet. I tried to stay in contact with a guy and girl I met in Australia but eventually lost contact with them, due to moving around from country to country! I am really beginning to get travel sickness, but I do it so my dad isn’t lonely.

Let me explain a little bit about me and my ‘family’.

My dad is a military surgeon, we’ve lived in at least 9 different countries since I was 7, and I’m now 15. I have a ‘brother’, although he isn’t blood related, just seemed to tag along from when we lived in Egypt, his name is Minkabh, but we call him Mink!, then there’s me, I’m Lemuela. We are originally from Hawaii. My father’s name is Rishon. Unfortunately my mother died when I was 4, I don’t really remember a lot about her, only that she was really pretty with long dark hair. My father says I inherit that off her as well as my rather large dark eyes. Maybe that’s why everyone stares at me! My eyes maybe they are too big!

Well having moved here from Romania, I find California maybe too sunny?? I know Hawaii isn’t much different but by sunny I mean maybe some people are a little too friendly, I went to the store to buy some milk and even the store owner offered to walk me home?? Should I be wary of the neighbourhood I wonder! But anyway, Mink started here at the high school too and seemed to make friends in an instant. He doesn’t speak much English as such but he seems to make the girls giggle, which is great for him.

This new guy who has started here has certainly turned a few heads; I must admit he’s turned mine too, only because he seems so mysterious! He is in my science class, I’m a little worried as the only available seat is next to me, and maybe I will have to, finally, make conversation with someone. I hope he isn’t like a lot of the other guys here, who poke fun at me and Mink for being outsiders.

Having made my way to my science class, I settle myself in for what could be an interesting lesson. As he takes his place next to me, he introduces himself as ‘Klik’, now I’m not up there with this ‘street’ talk but I’m pretty sure that isn’t his real name but I just let it slide. I introduce myself too, sad fact is my name is really hard to pronounce so I guess I now have the reason most people don’t talk to me. He smiles, wow!! Perfect set of teeth!! I’m not a teeth kind of person but I know a nice smile when I see one! He replies, ‘I think I’ll just call you Bush Baby’ (on account of my eyes Im guessing as my hair is straight to my waist!). Ok so that went well, now for the rest of the lesson! Prof. Williamson is standing at the board! Seems we will be doing ‘partner work’. A queue of girls forms to be ‘Kliks’ partner, ‘Ha-ha girls please, I’m going to be partners with……’ (Deep breath holding in here)…..’Bush Baby’….. (Did I really nearly pass out then??) Cue the disgusted looks! I don’t think I’m their favourite person right now, but I don’t see why that should bother me. On with the lesson, we crack a few jokes and a few laughs and get on with the task in hand! Bell rings (dam) end of lesson. As i pack up my things he doesn’t seem to leave like the rest, he waits for me to put my stuff away, holds the door open for me to pass through and even offers to carry my folders and books for me! Where did this guy come from??

As the days, weeks and months pass, we seem to be getting along great, we seemed to always be together and always having fun, I don’t think I can remember laughing so much!! But he really brought the sparkle out of me! So it’s been 8 months since Klik appeared as if by magic! We go out to a movie and pizza afterwards; we get along great, like best friends.

This is the night when my whole life changed.

We had watched a movie, something a bit strange if I remember correctly, I don’t remember the name but I remember a lot of screams in the theatre. We went for pizza after, talked about the film and the previous day at school and how Mink always seems to have a few girls following him. Klik seemed to bring a smile to everyone he met, my father liked him, which is good as I really did like him, but not as a friend anymore, seems the more I got to know him, the more I liked him. We talked about our childhoods, the places we grew up and the funny things we remembered from school. Klik told me about his family, his mother, Wendy, his father, Paul, his twin sisters, Paulette and Rose and his little brother, Brady. He told me how he had moved here from England! Wow, I’ve lived there once, not for long though, I liked it there. He told me how they had to move away as some trouble had been caused and everyone blamed them. They thought it best to start fresh in another country. ‘I’m glad they chose California’, Klik said. ‘Why?’, I asked him. ‘If we didn’t move here’, he said, ‘I wouldn’t have met you’. At that instant I believed in love.

My father had told me how he loved my mother but being young I thought he was just being silly, now I know how he feels, just sitting here and watching Klik stare at the stars, I can see the rest of my life flashing before me. He turns to look at me, catching my day dreaming. ‘Are you alright?’ he asks. ‘I’ve never been better’, I reply. ‘Why have I only met your father?’ he asks, ‘My mother died when I was 4’, I tell him. ‘Oh Bush Baby, I’m sorry, I had no idea’, he says as he pulls me closer for a hug. ‘There’s no need to apologise, Klik’, I tell him, lingering just that little bit longer to take in his scent. We notice the time and need to get home for curfew, just as we leave the pizza bar car park; he pulls me close and kisses my forehead. My grandmother told me that when a guy kisses your forehead it’s something special, all I can muster is a smile but that seems to do the trick.

We arrive at my house; my father spots us through the window and waves. Mink looks out of his bedroom window, he looks sad? Klik kisses me goodbye, turns to leave, then turns back. He walks to me, takes me by the hand and asks me to be his proper girlfriend as in couple! I smile at him and say, ‘I thought you’d never ask, I’d love to!’. This rounds off my night! I smile as he leaves. I walk into the house and up the stairs. Mink appears from his room, he still looks down. ‘What’s wrong Mink?’ I ask. ‘I think there is something wrong with me’, he replies, mentioning to his bedroom. I enter is room and freeze on the spot. There is furniture stacked on one side of the room and the carpet is pulled back baring the floorboards. On the floor is a huge pentagram! He says he has been researching witchcraft and thinks he may have done something that he shouldn’t have. ‘What do you think you have done Mink?’ I ask him carefully, ‘I think I’ve let something in that shouldn’t be here’, he replies, and with that the door to his room slams shut and locks itself. This is beginning to worry me a little but Mink looks frightened. Mink is older than me by 2 years but he still acts like a child, and having him to run to me like this is a little freaky. We sit together and try to work out exactly what has happened. That’s when Mink admits to ‘summoning spirits’ seems he summoned the wrong one.

I take out his laptop and start to search hard on how to send this thing back!! Short of sacrifice there is nothing that helps. Somehow we have to find out what this spirit is willing to accept to leave. Well its easy when you say it! Doing it is slightly harder. Having tried the nicely nicely approach, I decide to go in hard and nasty, (well if this thing can be nasty then so can I!) ‘Right, you ugly thing, you listen to me’, I say, ‘What do you want that will make you leave?’ ‘Who are you shouting at honey’, my Father cries through the door. ‘No-one Dad, Just helping Mink with his script for school’ I reply quickly (I don’t know what made me think of that but he went away!). ‘I want to be sent back with my wedding dress’, the spirit replies. ‘You’re female?’ I ask, ‘Yes, and I am sad and angry, you see, when they killed me, they stole my dress and my life’, she replies. Having heard this I start to think of how I can get this dress to make her happy and help her rest in peace. I ask her where all this happened, she says right here!!! So this tells me there is a dress somewhere in this house! But Mink and I have explored every last room here! I ask her ‘Where else can I look?’, ‘There is a secret compartment in the attic’, (I don’t remember seeing it).

So I ask my Dad if I can put some boxes in the attic quickly, he sets up the ladder and leaves me to it. I scramble up the ladder and start to hunt for this compartment; I just cannot seem to work out where it could be, until I see something shining up in the corner, I head there and see the crack in the wall, slowly opening the door I see a box, taped up so well that I have to grab some scissors to open it, inside is a white wedding dress, with real diamonds and crystals draped all over it. I grab it and quickly run back to Mink’s room. His eyes popped out when he saw the dress, ‘That would suit you sis’, he says. I slowly smile and say ‘It’s a lovely dress Mink and seems to be worth a lot of money, I can see why she wanted it’. While I was gone Mink had found out a few things about our ‘visitor’, her name was Gwen and she was killed in this house in the attic because of her dress, she was due to get married but was killed 5 days before her wedding. The people who killed her couldn’t find the dress anywhere in the house but killed her anyway. After hearing this I understood then why she wanted it. I called to her and she shook the room, this kind of made me feel a little scared. I lay the dress in the centre of the pentagram and then she finally appeared to us. She had blonde hair, blue eyes and the gentlest face I have ever seen. She looked so happy and sad at the same time, but more relieved to see the dress was still there. She thanked us and apologised for scaring us both, Mink didn’t really know what to say, so I took it in my stride to say ‘Gwen, I hope now that you will be happy in your after life and that you may now rest in peace’. Having said that she disappeared. Mink put all his furniture back, and promised never to mess with that stuff again.

Monday morning came, Mink and I got ready for school, Dad dropped us off, seems that everything was back to normal. I spotted Klik talking to some of his friends so I just waited patiently for him to finish. He turned to see me, smiled that smile and called me over, ‘Hey, why were you waiting over there, Bush Baby?’ he says, he friends laugh. ‘What’s funny?’, he asks, ‘Bush baby?? Really?’ one of them says, ‘How about freak!’, says another. I saw Klik getting angry, so I just grabbed his arm and looked at him, he pulled me in for a deep kiss, right there in front of everyone. Then he whispered in my ear that he didn’t care what anyone thought, we were together and nothing else mattered. I knew right then that he felt the same thing I did. We went to lessons with people talking about us behind our backs but that seemed to make him pull me that bit closer. Lunch arrived, we went to sit outside in our own little piece of the grass and we just relaxed. He said he needed to tell me something important, this scared me as I thought that was going to be the end of the dream. I sat up listening to every word he said, about how his parents wanted him to change schools, I was devastated, nearly in tears he held me close and said that he had come to an arrangement with his mom. He asked and begged to stay at this school, after asking why, he told his mom that his future wife was at the school at he didn’t want to leave her. I just stared at him. I didn’t know what to say! He sat up, pulled a box from his backpack and asked me to marry him! I stared at this ring for what seemed like hours, it wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t small. It was a simple ring with a simple stone but that instant I knew how my Dad must have felt with my Mom. I could barely make a sound, ‘Yes’, I whispered. He pulled me close and held me. I felt safe and secure, I felt no-one could hurt me, not now I was with Klik.

We decided to tell our parents together, so I invited Klik and his family for dinner. We ate Roast beef with all the trimmings, Strawberry trifle for dessert. Klik announced we had something to tell them, we both stood together and told them we were engaged. A little stunned at first but my father was the first to raise from his seat. He tugged my arm, pulled me close and hugged me hard! ‘I’m so happy for you honey’, he said, ‘Your mother would approve’. He shook hands with Klik. Kliks’ parents were a little shocked, but slowly nodded their approval. Both our parents agreed that the engagement was a shock but that they were happy if we were happy. We were happy. We talked for a while until it came time for Klik and his family to leave. We kissed goodnight and parted. That night I dreamt of our wedding, I could only envisage the dress from the attic but knowing I could never afford one quite as nice.

Over the following months I hunted for dresses, told Mink he would be by my side after my Dad had walked me down the aisle, and decided on a colour scheme, I wanted a summer wedding as that’s what my parents had. Klik told me to choose anything and not to worry about price, but I didn’t want anything too pricey, I know money is a big issue these days. I just wanted everything to go smoothly. I couldn’t find a dress I liked anywhere in any shop, so I hunted online. Some came close, others were miles out. I explained to Mink that I wanted something similar to Gwen dress. He helped me to look, not the normal thing for a teenage boy to do but he helped all the same. We managed to get it down to three dresses. But I still wasn’t happy. I went to bed that night after receiving an email from Klik with a link to a dress he thought I would love. It was it!!! The exact dress!!!! He found it!!! I emailed back saying I love it and that I would buy it tomorrow, he replied saying it was due to be delivered on Friday!!! He’d brought it already. Mink told him I would like it.

I woke up Friday morning to a knock at my door; Mink was there with a package. I opened it up and there it was, the dress.

Inside was a note,

Lemuela,

This is the same dress as mine, I saw your face when you glanced at the dress in the box in your attic, I decided that I no longer had a use for it, so I managed to get a website made that only Klik and yourself could see, I hope you and Klik are as happy as your parents were on their wedding day.

Gwen

Oh my!! She had seen how much I admired her dress and here it was in my arms and all ready for me to wear!!

I have to admit I did kind of find this strange but who am I to question!! I jumped out of bed, and tried it on, when it was in the box it looked too big, but after pulling it over my head it fit me perfectly!

‘You look beautiful sis!’, Mink said.

‘Oh honey, it’s perfect’, my Dad chimed in.

‘I love it!!’, I replied.

‘Thank you Gwen’, I whispered.

I quickly took the dress off to get ready for school. I threw all my books in my bag just as Dad announced it was time to leave. Mink and I jumped in the car and were talking about the wedding all the way to school. Nobody at school knew about our engagement, but I never removed the ring Klik had brought me. Today something felt different at school. Klik and I walked through school hand in hand, and everyone smiled at us, some said ‘Congratulations’, others just ignored us. We went to lessons and treated it like any normal day, well; there was no need to make it any different.

Months flew by and the wedding was all planned, Klik and I had decided to write our own vows, we believed that was the only way of expressing how we really felt about each other.

One night, there was a knock at the door; it was Klik. Taken by surprise I let him in, he seemed a little upset. ‘What’s wrong?’ I asked, ‘I just missed you’, he replied. He threw his arms round me and held me tight. It felt so right just being there with him. He stayed for a while, talking to Mink and Dad about the wedding and how he needed some help with his vows, at this point I ducked out and went to my room. I’d let the guys talk for a while, in the meantime, I’d finish my homework and finish up on my vows, I only had 3 more weeks until my wedding day!

That night, I did something I hadn’t done for a while. I found the picture of my mother that my Dad had framed for me; I sat on my bed and spoke to her:

‘Hi Mom, it’s been a while since I spoke to you. Where can I start, I have so much to tell you. I’m 15 now, about the age when I really need my Mom. I don’t remember you very well, I was only young as you know, but looking at you now, and watching myself in the mirror, I’m practically turning into you! Well, we now live in California; I go to an OK school. I met a guy called Klik, I don’t believe it’s his real name but I love it all the same. He’s lovely, Mom. You’d love him too. I’m getting married in 3 weeks time. I don’t know if you saw everything that happened in Minks room a while ago, but the spirit gave me her dress for my wedding. Oh Mom, I wish you were here to see everything Dad has arranged for us. He’s been great; I just wish you were here to enjoy it too. I’ll never forget you Mom, even though I know so little about you. I love you, Mom’.

When I looked up from the picture, all teary eyed, I saw my Dad and Klik looking as bad as me! I wonder how much they heard. I wipe my eyes, put the picture on my bedside table and join them downstairs. When I enter the kitchen, I see everyone sitting around the table, I join them, and we all talk. Klik announces that his vows are complete and he can’t wait until the day. I say that I have a few more things to add to mine and that I’m excited for our big day. We sit for about an hour longer, Mink is dozing off at the table so I nudge him and tell him to go to bed. He gets up; says his ‘goodnights’ and disappears up the stairs.

Klik gets up, pulls me to my feet and holds me close. He kisses my forehead and says his goodbyes. As he leaves my dad mentions they heard part of what I had said to my mom. As I turn to him, he holds his hand up and says ‘what was said between you two is between you and your mom. Keep it that way’. I hugged my dad; he’s been like my best friend for so long. I said good night and headed upstairs, I looked at my mother’s picture again and then looked at myself in the mirror, I really am starting to look like her. A tap at the door brings me back to reality with a bump! Mink is standing in my doorway looking a little worse for wear. He sits on my bed and tells me he is worried he will mess up on my wedding day. I tell him it’s normal to be nervous, and that he’s not to worry, everything will be perfect. He hugs me and says he wished he was my real brother; that brought a tear to my eye. I went back with him to make sure he got into bed alright.

When I finally drifted off to sleep, I felt lost in my dreams. They didn’t seem to make sense, one minute my Mom was with me, then she was gone, then my Dad was gone. I didn’t know if this was a sign but it really scared me. When I woke up it was about 4am. I picked up the phone and hesitated before dialling Kliks’ cell. He answered quickly which surprised me.

‘Hey, what’s up?’ he asked.

‘I just had this awful dream Klik’, I said ‘First I lost my Mom then I lost my Dad, I’m scared’.

‘I’m coming over now’, he said.

And within minutes he was at my door and holding while I was crying. I explained the whole dream to him and he listened without interrupting me. After he simply said, ‘Dreams are sent to test us, to see if our feelings run into our sombre time too, don’t be afraid by what you see, it just proves your love and care for your Dad’. We talked for a bit more then we both fell asleep on the sofa.

My Dad woke us later in the morning; he could tell I had been crying at some stage as my eyes were a little puffed out. While Dad and Klik made breakfast, I went to shower and dress. On the way up the stairs I bumped into Mink, still half asleep, looks like he had a bad night too. I decided to talk to him later, after he had woken up a little bit.

In the shower I realised I only had 2 more weeks to go until my big day! I started planning things in my head, how the morning should run and how early I’d have to get up! After washing my hair and blow drying it, I went downstairs to find a big breakfast made by Dad and Klik. It had everything, eggs, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes etc. From that second I was starving, so I sat and ate. We talked throughout breakfast about the wedding and how nervous I was! Klik said he felt fine and was really excited.

The next week and a half passed so quick I can’t even remember half of what happened, apart from there being a big fight in Maths. Two girls fighting over a book, how strange! Anyway, I have only 3 days until my wedding, I’m over excited but really nervous, what if Klik doesn’t want to marry me after all? We’ve had one rehearsal already and everything went perfect, no mess ups or anything. So I have my stylist coming over in the morning to trial some hairstyles, I love being pampered!

Well we’ve decided on one hairstyle that works with both my makeup and the dress, it’s a half up style with big curls at the bottom and my tiara which attaches to my veil, it looks lovely!! My make-up will be natural; it will blend with my dark skin. I can’t wait, not long now though. I spoke to Mink about the morning he looked half asleep. He said he had dreamt that Egypt was wiped out and he was worried about his friends there. I told him we could call and check everything was ok, he was happy about that, so we called and spoke to his friends, everything was fine back home so that set his mind at ease. Mink and I have become real close just lately, like we’re related along the line somewhere. Maybe I should chase my family history a bit!

So the days pass and now I’m nervous!! It’s my big day!! I’m up at 4am!! My stylist arrives at 5:30am, gave me an hour and a half to eat my breakfast and shower, and so my stylist starts to style my hair and someone is doing my makeup and my nails. I look at the time, its 8:30am already! This day is going to be the best, the sun is out and it’s warm, not too hot. The ceremony starts at 11am, I hope I’m ready in time and that everything goes well, Mink looks great in his suit and my bridesmaids look great in their gold dresses. My Dad, oh he looks so pleased and happy for me. The cars arrive; a white Jaguar XKF for my bridesmaids and Mink and a white Rolls Royce Phantom for me and Dad. On the way to the church; Dad tells me how he talks to Mom a lot. He told me how happy she is for Klik and I and that she will be there in spirit, if I look hard enough I will see her. I hug my Dad and say that I will look for her.

We arrive at the church, the music starts and I follow my bridesmaids in to the church, and it looks perfect. I can see Klik at the altar, he isn’t facing me. I start to worry that he is having second thoughts, so I carry on walking. As I get to the last row of seats he turns and smiles at me, that same smile he gave me when we first met. I smile back and he kisses my forehead. We stand hand in hand as the pastor begins the service. As the pastor is talking, I glance behind him and for a brief moment I spot my Mom, she looks beautiful, she simply blows me a kiss and disappears. I know from that day on our life is blessed. Klik and I read our vows to each other, both promising to love and protect each other and to always be honest with each other. We round the service off with a kiss and proceed to leave the church, on the way out Klik asks if I saw the woman behind the pastor, I glance at him and say ‘Yes, It was my mother’. ‘She was beautiful, you have your looks from her’, he says.

Outside we have some pictures taken and all head off to the reception. It lasts well into the night. Towards the end of the night, my Dad hands us an envelope containing tickets back to Hawaii. Our honeymoon! We leave the next day. So we pack quickly, say our goodbyes and thank-yous’ and head off to board our plane. When we are in the air, Klik turns to me and says ‘For the record, my real name is Horatio, Klik is my middle name and I use that more than Horatio’. I just smile, kiss him and tell him ‘I prefer Klik’.