Submitting novel Chapter 6

"Say cheese!" My mother who seemed unusually excited chimed in her shrill voice to grab the attention of the room full of people, standing in scattered small clusters, as she took pictures of them and their loud smiles. A moment captured in time forever, a memory which would hardly ever be recalled again but it succeeded in achieving what she wanted.

To show how happy and silly we were. The truth? Not so much. 

That was the point. These pictures, these happy smiles, these parties, it has always been the point. To avoid suspicion, to act normal, to blend in. Getting people's affirmations felt like having a subconscious conscience where everything they did was justified and they knew that if something ever happened then they will always be supported by these people who didn't know the harsh reality of their true faces. 

She tucked a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear as for a moment her facade broke and with that still pearly white smile on her face she spotted me and looked at me in a certain way which I was too familiar with. 

I stood out like a sore thumb here. In my white dress, neatly pleated hair, emotionless face, quiet and alone. It didn't come to me, naturally or unnaturally. As if that piece was missing from me, snatched away. I couldn't bring myself to even smile back at the several smiling faces that would often questioningly look at me and perhaps wonder what was wrong with this sunken-eyed girl with a dark cloud all around her. Something that repelled everyone around. 

I turned away and walked to another room in search of a safe place where the chatter wasn't so loud and I was invisible to the prying eyes of the people whose attention was on people other than me even if it was for one day. A day that I always looked forward to for reasons not common to most. 

Upstairs looked like a good option but an option I was not provided. My grounds were strictly restricted to the three rooms downstairs occupied by the people to show that I was doing okay. I am fine. So that the screams or quiet whispers, whatever reached them were wrong and just something they might have imagined or heard were false tales.

The living room, the study, and the dining room.