Page 53 of Moros

“I’m okay.”

The second level looked as if it walked out of a fairytale. The bedrooms were large with floral wallpaper. But even then, I knew it was the height of fashion back in the day.

The beds were covered in dust.

The cobwebs had moved in and taken up residences evident from hundreds of discarded webs. Something scurried across the floor in front of me. I screamed and hopped up into Khadri’s arms.

He laughed and held me that way until I realized what I’d done.

“I’m heavy.” I pouted. “Put me down.”

He kissed me nose, twirled me around then set me on my feet.

I shook my head but smiled as I turned to open a drawer to find a dusty jewelry box. Glancing back at Khadri, my hands shook as I reached in for it.

Khadri took pity on me, stretched around my body to pluck the box from the drawer and set it on top of the dresser. There, I was able to open it.

Inside was a single silver necklace with a star shaped pendant. Surprised, I lifted it out and opened the locket to find a picture of my mother in one side, but the other was empty.

It was the first time I was seeing her—even though she’d died in a horrific car accident, for some reason there weren’t any pictures of her or my father in any newspaper that I could find. I thought it was because they weren’t famous, that their death hadn’t been covered.

“What’s wrong?” Khadri asked as he used his arms to consume me.

“This is my mother.” I sniffled. “I didn’t get my looks from her—I’d be a beauty queen.”

He kissed my neck.

“You’re beautiful, Shorty.” He whispered. “Why do you not see it?”

I didn’t reply. I turned the locket over in my hand

“Do you think I could keep this?”

“Technically, the house should be yours.” His breath was hot on my neck.

“I don’t want the house. I’m happy with this.”

Khadri took the necklace from my hands and helped to place it around my neck. When I turned to face him, he smiled down at me before pulling me into a hug.

It began raining then, a strange kind of music coming down atop the place that my parents once dwelled. It wasn’t the kind of sound that soothed me like rain usually did. There was a heaviness to the symphony—reminding me of a time a friend of mine snuck me into the opera while they were showing Carmen,

I couldn’t remember ever being that sad about anything—even the life I’d had wasn’t as sad as the haunting sounds of the singers.

We searched through the house, checking doors that had access to the outside. One in the basement had been breached—that was how Khadri related it to me.

I’d peeked around his body to see he meant someone had broken into the property through it.

“How did they even get in here?” I asked.

“Evil finds a way.” Khadri muttered.

Nervous, I pushed my hand back into his as we continued searching.

We found some clothes—it seemed my mother was quite the fashionista. They were designers of the time—there was a dress by Vivienne Westwood dress with the tag still on it. I wished I had the body to wear something like that.

Blushing, I set in back into the closet.

“I definitely didn’t inherit my mother’s DNA—well any of the good ones that is.” I moved around the room to find makeup that had long since dried out, a box that looked like something from China—very pretty.