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I tried to forget about it, but between the stalker breaking in and my porn-star professor next door and my overbearing mother demanding money, the prank caller had no problem entering my brain’s constant rotation of worries. I was already on edge. It now made sense why people hid from bill collectors. The fucking relentless calls were giving me anxiety attacks.
Although Silas was addressing the entire class, I felt like we were in our little world as he showed us how to express language functions. His eyes rarely left mine, and the intensity of his gaze made me squirm in my seat. He made me both nervous and giddy, irritated yet aroused. It was too much contradiction for a person like me.
“For the rest of our time today, we are going to go over some of Italy’s culture,” Silas said. “Now, none of this will be on the midterm, but I still want you all to take notes. If you’re ever in Italy, this will serve you well.”
The class tittered, and Silas went about setting up a PowerPoint at the front of the room. I ducked under my desk to grab my backpack so I could edit my schedule while I waited. Judging by Silas’ meaningful look when he talked about being in Italy, I wondered if someone had nominated me for the internship program. It was an exciting prospect.
“Where is she?” a familiar voice wailed.
“Ma’am, you can’t just burst in and interrupt my—”
“Where is my daughter? She hasn’t answered her phone in weeks. The office said she’d be here.”
It was the wail that got me. I stared in alarm at the crazy woman disrupting my class, with her disheveled halo of grey-brown hair framing her wrinkled face. She was wearing an oversized black dress and house shoes, as if she’d gotten up and just walked out the door. She looked certifiable.
“There,” she pointed, “there’s my baby girl. Eden!”
I sunk lower into my chair and ducked my head in embarrassment. This couldn’t be happening. This had to be some crazy dream. Like the one where you are standing in your underpants in front of your classmates. I rubbed my eyes, hoping I’d fallen asleep and that this wasn’t real.
Unfortunately, she was still standing there.
“Eden! Eden. This nonsense needs to stop. You need to come home. Your dad is probably rolling in his grave at the thought of you being here alone. And what about Brianna? She was so unhappy she took her own life. What if that happens to you? You can’t leave me all alone in the world. I need you to come home. I need to monitor you.”
Her eyes were glazed over and unfocused, like she was on something. I’d never seen her this bad. It was actually kinda scary.
Before I knew it, she had reached my row and was tugging on my arm, trying to pull me out of my chair. I tried not to yell, even though her nails were biting into my arm. I could already see blood where she was clawing at me.
“Call security,” Silas directed, rushing to my side and physically holding my mother back as she tried to grab onto whatever part of me she could.
I had practically climbed into the lap of a classmate in my attempt to escape. Silas held my crazy mother by the waist as she screeched and tugged at me.
Campus security arrived and pulled her away from me, and I heard Silas telling someone to call an ambulance. I didn’t know if that ambulance was for me or my mom, so I rushed to gather my things and hurried toward the lecture hall exit with as much dignity as I could muster.
At the door, I paused and took a shaky breath, then I looked back at Silas and the shocked faces of my classmates. “I’m sorry I interrupted your lecture.”
More screaming from my mother as she fought the guards cuffing her. “Eden! Eden! Help!” My eyes welled with tears as I watched campus security escort her out.
Students in the hall were staring at me. Some had their phones pointed at the commotion. It was mortifying. I just wanted to bury my head in the sand.
“Ma’am?” A head of security arrived. “If you could follow us, we can work this all out, being that it is your mom. That way you can give the ambulance her information.”
I numbly shook my head and followed him, feeling like I was taking a walk of shame.
We arrived at the security office. Now that there was no one to perform for, my mother had calmed down considerably. She was trying to sweet-talk the police officers and EMTs into letting her go. She played the “worried sick widow who’d already lost one daughter” pity card, and I could see the moment her story swayed them.
“No. Unacceptable,” a dark voice interrupted, making my head snap up. Butterflies took off in my stomach. “Thiswomanassaulted my student. We want to press charges.”
“But her daughter said—”
“I don’t care. Her daughter has changed her mind.”
The cops were confused by Silas’ presence. “And just who might you be?” one asked.
“Her language professor.”
Darkness flickered in his eyes when they came to rest on my mother, a look that had me believe he didn’t want to press charges but instead slit her throat.
“Ma’am?” the cop inquired.
