Gone

 “What’s she like?” The inspector asked, keeping his eyes on his clipboard.

“Crystal?” Burke replied, staring up at him with saddened eyes.

“Yess,” he said, with a slight hiss on the S. “Whatss sshe like?” He repeated.

“Oh. Um,” Burke glanced around the room. “Independent.”

“Creative,” Lauren put in. “Faithful.”

“Athletic,” grunted Mike. “Unpleasant, some days.” Burke shot him a glare from across the room, knowing that it might have been his fault that Crystal was gone, without a note, without a trace, she was gone.

~~~

January 2^nd, 2013

                Burke considered herself to be Crystal’s best friend, and as she stretched awake she reached for her phone she grinned.

“fclkdjfsdklfjsk,” Crystal had sent her, around one or two am. She smiled and rubbed her eyes, pulling on sweat pants and a sports bra. Her mother was already bustling around, and Burke knew she had been up since six.

“What are you having for breakfast, dear?” she asked, in a new voice today. Her mother turned around and smiled slightly, her cheeks a light pink. Her eye makeup was all white, with a sparkly eye liner. Her lips were colored with a lighter pink as well, and the make-up on the rest of her face was masking what was really there. It wasn’t a new thing; her mother had been changing herself around since Burke was born. Burke never really noticed anymore, but it was hard explaining to her friends why her mom woke up looking like a new person, acting like a new person. Her mother wasn’t okay with the way that she looked. It was like she was always trying to be someone else… but she didn’t do it subtly. Burke had to keep the neighbors away, the cops away, anyone or anything that would notice her mother and ask awful questions. Burke knew her mother was sick, but she felt trapped. Burke couldn’t let anyone take her mother away. And yet there were some things that her mother couldn’t change that tethered her to the ground, like how her upper lip was slightly crooked, or that one of her ear lobes was larger than the other one. Burke used things like this to create an image of her mother.

“Leftover Chinese food?” She said, pulling the take out box out of the fridge and putting it in the microwave.

“Is that a question?” Her mother replied, smiling. English lady. Very sweet, loves baking. Burke thought to herself, deciding on what kind of person her mother was today. English people never really stuck, Burke had noticed that. It was likely that her mother would take off the make-up, ditch the accent and clothes and pull on a new mask by noon. If only… Burke thought to herself. Just for one day, she pleaded silently. Just for one day take off the make-up and the wigs and jewelry and please, please just show me who you are. You don’t even have to tell me. The microwave beeped, bringing Burke back to reality. She pulled the food out and started eating it, noticing the left over saltiness. Her mother, meanwhile, was busy cleaning up and starting a very elaborate lunch.

Burke first started noticing her mother was different when she was two.

It had started at elementary school, when Burke in kindergarten would walk home.

“I’m sorry, hun,” her mother had said, with a country look that day. “But I just can’t pick you up from your school! But when you get home, I’ll feed you lunch.” Burke smiled, nodded and left. She was okay with that. She knew already to stay away from the strangers and keep walking home, never stopping until she got there. But as she walked each day, she noticed how the other kids in her class would hop into a car, or a bus, or they would meet up with older people who looked like them. Each day, each child would meet up with the same exact person. Burke only knew that when she woke up, the woman in her house who made her breakfast should be called “mother.” She didn’t know why these people looked the same every day.

“Who do you walk home with?” she asked her friend Alto. He smiled at her with four front teeth, the only kid in the class who had four, and replied

“My mom!”

“What’s a mom?” Burke asked, confused.

“Ummm,” Alto said. “I guess a mom is the same as a mama, or a mother. Right?”

Burke blinked, a million other questions popping into her head.

“But…if she’s your mother… why does she look the same every day?”

“Because she’s the same person!” Alto said, giggling at such a silly question. But Burke wanted to know more, like why she didn’t have a mom or why her mother didn’t look the same ever. Why was she always changing?

Burke’s mothers’ voice brought her back to reality.

“Could you pass me a paper towel, darling?” She asked, wrapped up in her latest baking project. She had her cook book propped up on the kitchen sides, her hands covered in a large number of ingredients.  When Burke looked at her, she blushed.

“Um. Sure,” Burke replied, handing her mother the paper towel. She laid it carefully on the kitchen counter, smoothing the bent places and carefully dripping water onto it. Burke didn’t ask a question, it was a useless answer that her mother always told her. Her phone buzzed, and Burke piped up again.

“I’m going to Crystal’s house,” she told her mother. And before the sweet, mid aged English stranger could talk, Burke blurted “I’ll walk.” She grabbed her coat and escaped through the door. Burke took after her father more in looks… or at least, that’s what she liked to think. Her mother didn’t really have a true face that Burke could compare too. Besides, if her mother was so obsessed with changing her look, Burke didn’t want to look that way anyway. Burke was fifteen, and had light skin that tanned easily in the summer time, especially during her softball season. Her eyes were a piercing green, which was her favorite feature of herself. She wanted to be different. Her hair was a dark, dirty blonde, usually strung up into a pony tail or messy bun. She wore a copper bracelet every day, which danced up and down her arm whenever she walked.

~~~

“Hey!” Crystal’s voice chimed as Burke walked into her room. Crystal’s mom had opened the door, smiling and telling Burke that she should just be granted a house key.

“What are you working on today?” Burke asked, humor in her voice. There were failed craft projects strung around Crystal’s room, as well as ones that worked hung up on her walls.

“Just bracelets,” Crystal sighed. Her whole room smelled like nail polish. “See these metal washers? Apparently if you paint them with nail polish they look like glass, which isn’t true to my findings. I was going to make them into bracelets… but now there’s polish all over my fingers.” She grinned and held up her fingers, wiggling them joyfully. There were covered in different colors, just like her nails. Burke grabbed her hand and pointed at her nails.

“Got bored?” She asked, smiling.

“Just a little!” Crystal replied, giggling. “I could paint yours too! Or you could try to help me with this… or we could watch Lost,” she said opening her arms and shrugging. Her eyebrow rose slightly, tugging a smile at the corner of her mouth.

“Lost,” Burke agreed. They had started the show after Burke had gotten hooked on it, and they always watched it. Burke grabbed the plate of cookies in the kitchen, happily munching on the delicate sugar and chocolate chips.

“So much drama,” Crystal whispered as they sat down on her couch. Crystal’s mother, Lauren, opened the door slowly and peeked her head in.

“I’m going to the grocery store,” she said. “Want anything?”

“Chocolate, Nutella, marshmallows and gram crackers!” Crystal replied, not batting an eyelid. S’mores on steroids, Crystal mouthed, grinning. Lauren sighed, and looked at Burke.

“Do you want anything that won’t make your body want to implode?” Lauren said, her eyebrow raising and mimicking a face exactly like her teenage daughter’s. Burke laughed and thought of just one thing she wanted. But it wasn’t really something that could be bought.

“A glass of water?” Burke asked. Lauren winked.

“You can get that yourself,” She closed the door. Crystal waited until she heard the car pull out of the driveway until she started the show.

“Your mom is awesome,” Burke said, looking to her best friend. Crystal shrugged.

“Well, she’s seen me naked,” Crystal replied, her smile lighting up the familiar sparkle in her eyes. Both girls giggled and ate their popcorn.

~~~

“Go away!” Crystal shrieked, hyperventilating. The shadows she saw in her minds eyes slinked towards her, making the ground cool at their touch. “Leave!” She shrieked again, wishing for someone to help her. She saw the shadow slowly turn, crouching menacingly. Her heart skipped a beat as tears started falling down her face. She could hear its rattling breath getting closer and closer to her ears, a horrifying taunt. Suddenly, the shadow was whipped backward, disappearing into the night. Crystal sat on the ground, leaning against a rock. Her clammy skin was pale in the moonlight shining through the trees.