Shadows of Kin - 1. Chapter 1

The first thing I did as I walked out of the exam room was pull out my box of smokes. I was finally finished with my second year of varsity. I could physically feel my shoulders relax. I was not going to think about my marks or whether or not I was getting into third year or not. I was just going to enjoy my time off.

“Gen! What do you think you’re doing?” My best friend Midge ran up to me almost panting. “Hey slow down, short legs here.”

“What do you mean, what am I doing?” I held up my unlit cigarette, “I’m about to smoke my freedom cigarette.”

I slowed my steps so she could keep up.

“Yeah, I can see that, dumbass. What I mean is… why are you having one without me?”

I laughed. “I didn’t think you’d finish your exam so quickly. Does this mean we can go?”

I didn’t have a car yet, so I relied on Midge to drive me around. At least I paid her petrol money.

“No.”

We sat down on one of the tables close to the security gates into the campus. And as usual we grabbed our earphones and played some music while we smoked. I also took a few seconds to clean some of the smudges from my glasses.

“What are we waiting for?”

Midge looked up at me and smiled sweetly. She wasn’t sweet. She was sarcastic and mean. It was why I loved her.

“What did you do, you evil little midget?”

She was about a head shorter than me, hence the nickname Midge, short for Midget. It was a nickname my dad had given her before he was killed. Her real name was Sam.

“You’ll see, oh loving best friend of mine.” She had an evil glint in her eye. It frightened me. Trouble was on the horizon.

I turned my head just in time to see her evil little plan unfold. Declan O’Riordan was heading in our direction. I turned to Midge and hissed.

“Why?” I mouthed to her.

She rubbed her hands together in joyful glee.

I’d had a crush on Declan since the year began. He was a transfer from the Westville campus to our Sandton campus. And before that, he was in Ireland, making him an international student. I’d fallen for his Irish accent long before I’d even seen his face, when he sat at the back of the lecture room and asked a question about the validity of Freud’s work. I remember turning around and seeing a sly smile on his face, and since then it was all downhill for me.

“Hey Genevieve. Samantha.” He nodded his head at us in greeting.

He always used our full names when talking to us. I inwardly sighed.

He sat on the opposite side of the table to us.

Midge had vowed to me that if I hadn’t done anything about my crush by the end of the last semester, she was going to. And she was very good at keeping her word, even if it meant tormenting me.

“How’d you find the exam?” He asked as he started rolling his own cigarette.

“It was actually pretty easy.” I replied.

“Speak for yourself. Question 2 killed my brain.” Midge said with a sigh.

“Speaking of killing my brain,” She carried on, “I rate we should drink tonight. What do you guys say?”

I laughed. She’d use any excuse to drink wine.

Declan looked up from his rolling and looked at me, “Only if Genevieve agrees, then sure, why not?”

I could feel the blush creep into my cheeks.

Midge just grinned.

And my phone chose that exact moment to ring.

It was Chase, my childhood best friend.

“What’s up Chase?”

“Meet up with me?”

“I’m still at varsity.”

“I have a very special invite for you and Midge. You guys need to meet up with me. Besides I need to talk to you.”

My heart skipped a beat. Why? That was not a sentence that my anxiety wanted to hear.

I stood up and walked away from the table.

“What’s wrong Chase?”

We’d been best friends ever since the sandbox in pre-school. We’d grown up together. We even went through the stage where I thought I wanted to marry him. But that changed after we hit our teens and he started dating. It was always one girl after the next.

“Nothing too serious. We’ll talk when you get here.”

I sighed. “And where is ‘here’?”

“The usual spot.”

The usual spot meant the outdoor restaurant that we frequented.

“We’ll be there in an hour. Got some stuff to do here first.”

“See you then.” Click.

He always did that. Ended the call without saying goodbye. He might have been one of my best friends but lord did he grind on my nerves sometimes.

I walked back to Midge.

“Let me guess. He wants us to meet up with him?”

Declan looked up again. “Who is him?”

I swore I heard a bit of jealousy in his voice. Or maybe I was just going crazy.

“Him is our friend Chase.”

Midge nodded. “Called it.”

“Does he go to our campus?”

“He doesn’t study, he doesn’t do anything actually. He’s just sort of everywhere and nowhere at the same time.”

It was the best way to describe Chase. He jumped from job to job, like he jumped from girl to girl. I didn’t even know what job he was doing this month.

“He sounds… interesting.”

“He’s weird is what he is.” Midge stood up, “But when he calls, we go. It’s just how it works.”

Declan nodded like he wasn’t confused at all.

“So will I be seeing you tonight?” He looked me straight in the eye waiting for an answer.

I blushed again. “I hope so.”

My heart was thundering in my chest, and I could feel the smugness rolling off Midge in waves.

“I’ll call you.” Declan handed me his phone so I could give him my number.

As soon as I grabbed it, his fingers brushed against mine and I felt a spark. Like static, but sharper. It wasn’t one of those moments in romance movies where the two main characters feel sparks between them, it was different. It felt weird. Like we weren’t supposed to be touching, but I brushed it off to my imagination and my anxiety.

I handed his phone back after entering my number, and looked over to Midge.

“We should get going evil human.” She stood up with a bounce.

“Yes ma’am. James is ready to drive you to your destination.”

I laughed. “Dumbass.”

We said our goodbyes, and headed off towards Midge’s Ford Fiesta. My phone started ringing again, and I looked at it to see an unknown number.

“Hello?” I answered tentatively.

“This is my number. Call me if you guys have come up with a place to go, or I’ll call you with a place of my own.”

He hung up.

“What do you see in him?” Midge asked me as we climbed into the car.

Honestly I didn’t know the answer to that myself; I was just drawn to him. The accent was a bonus.

I shrugged.

***

Chase wasn’t at the restaurant when we arrived. So we sat down and ordered something to drink while we waited. After a while I decided to call him. He didn’t answer.

“What the actual fuck Chase?” I said in frustration while looking at my phone.

“He’s not answering, I assume?”

“You would assume correct.”

“We should just leave. Besides you have a date with destiny tonight.” The evil grin came back as she put her chin on her hands and leaned across the table towards me.

I tried to laugh at her words, or at least feel excited, but my gut wasn’t happy. I could feel something strange was going to happen and I didn’t like it.

A waitress brought us our bill, along with a giant envelope.

She shrugged when we asked her about it.

We opened the envelope as soon as she’d walked away. There were two invitations with our names written in the most beautiful cursive I had ever seen. There was also another envelope, smaller this time, with my name on it in Chase’s handwriting.

Sorry I couldn’t wait. You two took your time, and I have other things to do.

The invites are for a masquerade ball. It’s something different. Something I think you would enjoy, even if Midge doesn’t. You both have to go.

Go to The Diamond Walk. There is a dress shop there. Two dresses will be waiting. Just do it. Don’t ask any questions. And tell Midge that if she fights this, I will haunt her for the rest of her life, and after.

We’ll talk tonight. Don’t be late… again.

Needless to say, I was very confused. Midge scoffed when she read through the letter.

“That asshole. The only reason I am even considering going now, is so that I can find him and kick his ass.”

“The fuck?” I held up the letter, “Like… what the actual fuck?”

“This sounds like adventure time with best friend. Let’s go. The asshole has piqued my curiosity.”

I looked up at Midge as she grabbed my hand to drag me to the car.

“But what about Declan?”

I could see the wheels turning in my best friend’s head as she tried to puzzle out our situation. After a while she shrugged and said, “Let’s invite him too?”

“Chase would murder us in our sleep.”

“He’ll deal with it. Besides, better to ask forgiveness than permission.”

“I don’t know dude. This seems different. I can always message Declan and meet up with him tomorrow.”

Midge looked at me and shrugged. “Up to you.”

I felt apprehensive. But something felt off about this whole thing. Maybe it was just because I wasn’t used to it. It could’ve just been the nerves. But no matter how off it felt, I couldn’t quell my curiosity.

“Let’s…” I started saying and then looked over at Midge expectantly.

“Do it again.” She finished.

We both laughed. We’d picked that saying up from a YouTube channel that we loved to watch.

As we drove out of the parking lot, Midge cranked up the music and off we went on our best friend adventure.

***

We’d walked into Sandton with one task in mind. Get the dresses, then leave. It’s a pity our plans never seemed to work out. Our first stop, even though we’d wanted to bypass it, was the bookstore.

“I feel like I’m betraying Jack by being in here.”

Connor Jackson, or Jack as he liked to be known, owned a small bookstore in Fourways, and he just so happened to be my boss.

“Please… He deals in old books. This is a chance for us to see some of the new releases.”

I couldn’t fault her logic.

“This is our reward for finishing our second year at that hell hole.” She said, referring to our varsity.

I smiled, until my phone rang and reality slapped me in the face.

I walked a few steps away from Midge.

“Hi mama. What’s up?”

Not long after I answered, had Midge disappeared further into the bookstore.

“Hey chicken,” my mum used her childhood nickname for me, “how’d the exam go?”

“It went well. I definitely passed.”

“That’s great sweetheart.”

My mom’s voice faded into background noise as the hairs on the back of my neck stood on edge. I could feel someone’s eyes on me. I wanted to pass it off as my anxiety, but the feeling was so strong.

“Gen? You still there?”

“Oh sorry mom. I spaced out for a second.”

“I was just asking if you had any special plans for tonight?”

“Just gonna hang out with Midge and Chase, probably grab some pizza, and watch a couple of movies.”

I wanted to tell her the truth, but ever since my dad was the victim of a hit and run, my mom had been a bit on the paranoid side. She was over protective towards her children, even asking my older brother and sister where they were at all times, even though they didn’t live with us anymore.

“Oh that sounds fun. Just be careful, Okay? We don’t want anything bad happening.”

I’d heard those words so often, but something about the way my mom had just said them made me feel uneasy. The words niggled at the back of my mind.

“Well I’d better let you go. Say hi to Midge and Chase for me please.”

“Will do mama. I love you.”

“Love you too. Bye sweetie.” Click.

“Gen! Look!” Midge popped up behind me, giving me the fright of my life, with a high pitched squeal. “They have it! The limited edition Phillip Pullman. I’m so excited.”

I could feel her delight rippling through the air.

“That’s awesome Midget. Now next question. And this is very important.”

She looked at me expectantly.

“Can you afford it?”

She jutted out her bottom lip, and pretend sobbed. “Nooo.” She almost wailed.

“Then put it back. We’ll come back after we’ve been paid.”

As much as I loved being in the bookstore, something was telling me to get the hell out of there. It felt as though every eye in the place was trained on me.

“Fiiiiine.” Midge drawled as she stomped off to put the book back.

“Why can’t you ask Jack to order it for me, then I can get it on discount?”

She asked me as we made our way to the dress shop.

“Because Jack doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to do. Now let’s get these dresses and get the fuck out of here. I wanna go home now. We need to rest if we’re going to have to deal with people.”

Midge muttered something about Chase and murder under her breath, then grumbled, her face turning sour.

It hadn’t surprised me that Chase had gotten our dresses from a shop in the diamond walk. It was a specialized section of Sandton Mall that catered to the one percent. And Chase was a part of the one percent. You wouldn’t think looking at the way he dresses, but one should never judge a book by its cover.

The shop assistant in the store gave Midge and I a dirty look as we entered the store. I couldn’t really blame her. I was wearing shorts, slops, and one of my dad old t-shirts. My usual varsity attire. And Midge looked like she’d just crawled out of bed. Not to mention that several of my tattoos were exposed. But books and covers and all that jazz.

“Can I help you… ladies?” She looked down the end of her nose at us.

“We’re here to pick up two dresses under Charles Mathews’ name.”

Her eyes widened. Charles was Chase’s legal name, but he hated using it.

The assistant went from being overly judgmental to being overbearingly cheerful in the space of a second.

“You must be Genevieve and Sam. Mr. Matthews said you were coming. And might I add that he couldn’t have picked two more beautiful girls for these beautiful dresses.”

I almost scoffed. She was beginning to get on my nerves. I disliked being called a girl. I might be younger than her, but I wasn’t a girl anymore. It made me feel like she was talking down to me.

“Cool story.” Midge said, “Can we see the dresses now?”

She hated fake cheery people even more than I did.

The lady led us to the changing rooms where two of the most gorgeous dresses I had ever seen were waiting for us.

Midge’s dress was deep purple in colour and flowed around her, making her look like she was floating on air. She adored the dress. The only problem that she had with it was that it was a boob tube, and because she was anything but lacking in that department, she was going to have to keep putting her boobs back into the dress. This was an obvious joke from Chase. But the dress was beautiful none the less.

My dress was a beautiful watery masquerade gown with a satin black under-skirt, and a black corset, with a turquoise skirt.

The dresses fitted our bodies like second skins.

I had a feeling that tonight was going to be a very interesting night.