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There was a pause, and his voice boomed through the house again. “Alina who?”
Casey looked at her sister, who was standing beside her, and rolled her eyes. “If only they would forget me that easily.” She shouted so her voice would reach the upper flow. “Alina, your daughter. You know, your firstborn child.”
Their father’s voice went silent, but their mother’s tormented their ears with her high-pitched squeals. There was no time to react before the woman scampered down the stairs and encased her eldest daughter in a tight squeeze. “It’s so good to see you, Alina,” her mother declared, and for a moment Alina was relieved to be home. That was, until her mother opened her mouth again. “I was forgetting what you look like.” Alina’s mother released her and smacked her on the shoulder. “You’ve stayed away for so long people might think you had a terrible childhood.”
There was nothing to say except, “I love you too, Mom.”
“Don’t sass me,” her mom raised her voice and smacked her again. “You never come home and you don’t even call.”
Alina took in a deep breath. “But I’m here now, so let’s just enjoy our time together.”
Her mother pouted her lip but there was a slight smile on the corner. “How long are you staying?”
Alina raised her head to the ceiling as if she could find there the answers. “I’m not sure. Maybe a week or two.”
“A week or two?” her mother jerked her head back before turning around to shout at the top floor. “You hear that Lewis? Our daughter is only staying two weeks.” Then she turned her fierce gaze back to Alina. “Why did you even bother coming?”
Alina’s mother squeezed her way between her two daughters and headed in the opposite direction, her blonde hair shimmering from the stream of sunlight. Laura was a small woman, but she had a presence that was hard to ignore. Most times she kept her hair in a neat bun at the back of her head, but today she had it loose, her wet hair framing her face.
“Where are you going?” Casey asked, her eyes wide.
“To get started on dinner,” the older woman declared. “With Alina here, we’re going to have a big family dinner.”
Alina’s raised immediately. “Mom, you don’t have to go through all that trouble. It’s unnecessary.”
Her mother’s gaze pierced her. “Nonsense. It’s not like you come home every year.” Then she turned and walked away. A moment later, the young women heard the banging of pots and pans. They both looked at each other and sighed.
“There is my little girl.” Alina’s father slowly walked down the stairs; his gray hair completely taken over now. “So, you’ve returned to the prison after escaping?”
The women’s father’s comment earned him laughter from his two daughters.
“What can I say? I’ve grown attached to the other prisoners,” Alina said before the elder man wrapped her in a big hug. She closed her eyes and inhaled, happy to get a whiff of her father’s prominent nicotine scent.
When Alina was a child, her father used to smoke several cigarettes a day, but as he got older, he lessened his usage. The wrinkles on his face, however, have grown more dominant, and Alina wondered if it was due to age or the constant nagging of her mother.
“So, what really made you come home so suddenly?” the elder man asked, his sapphire eyes gleamed dully in the dim light.
“Can’t I just come home to see my family?” Casey looked at Alina with her hands folded and lips pouted while her father shook his head delicately. If Alina wanted to convince her family that she was there solely to spend time, she had to put some effort into it.
“Lewis,” her mother called from the kitchen. “I need your help.”
“Yes dear,” her husband said, keeping his eyes on his eldest daughter a moment longer before heading off.
While their parents were busy preparing the big family meal, Casey and Alina climbed the carpeted stairs that seemed so long when they were children to enter the bedroom portion of the house. There were four in all, one for each of the children and the last to be shared by the couple.
Alina pushed open the door and eyed the space she had spent most of her life in. The bed was small and covered with a pale purple sheet that matched the drapery in the window. There wasn’t much room to walk around with the table and desk close to the window. Alina looked at the wall where her posters and artwork were haphazardly displayed. She took in the bookshelf, the upper-level housing teddy bears before she sat on the creaking bed.
“Mom kept the room exactly how you left it,” Casey said, dropping Alina’s bag next to her bed.
“She should have at least gotten rid of the sheets.” Alina grabbed the material. “I mean, is this band even together anymore?”
Casey chuckled and sat beside her sister, “maybe she’s thinking the little obedient girl would come home one day,” Casey suggested.
“That ship has sailed a long time ago,” Alina said, making her way to the window.
“Do you think we should go down and help with dinner?” Casey said, but Alina was too eager to reject her sister’s suggestion.
“You go,” she said, not taking her eyes away from the window. “I need to frame my mind for that task.”
