Chapter 1 - Running Into Warm Light
The marble was cold through my shoes and my dress stuck to my legs when I heard her shoes hit the floor. The chandelier threw too much light everywhere and I couldn't blink it away. Mom ran straight through the middle of the ballroom in her dark blue dress, her hair pulled back and coming loose, right toward me while everybody else just stood there. Behind her a woman in black lifted her phone high with the little white light on, recording the whole thing.
It didn't make sense that she was running and no one else was moving. The music had stopped. The air smelled warm and sweet and my skin was freezing underneath it. Water kept dripping off the ends of my hair onto my light blue dress and onto the floor. I could see the dark spots it made on the marble.
My name is Lily. I was seven that night. That morning I had still thought the gala was a party.
She reached me at 8:14 by the clock over the dark wood doors, though I only remember counting the drips. One. Two. Her arms went around me hard and the long sleeves of her navy dress soaked through in seconds where my dress pressed against her. She didn't flinch. She pulled me up against her chest and my cheek hit her shoulder and I could hear her breathing fast from running.
Close up like that everything got louder. The chandelier buzzed. Somebody laughed once and stopped. Phone lights moved across my wet hair. I felt the water in my sleeves when I grabbed fistfuls of her dress because I didn't want her to let go and I didn't want anyone else to touch me.
I thought if I said it right she might not be mad.
“Sorry,” I whispered. My teeth were chattering so it came out broken. “Sorry.”
Mom didn't answer right away. She just held me tighter and turned her body a little so I wasn't facing the whole room anymore. Her hand covered the back of my head. I could feel her heart beating through her dress.
I kept my face hidden and listened to shoes shifting on marble and somebody whispering to put the flash on. Light swept past my eyes again. I gripped harder. I didn't know yet if she believed me, and I was scared to look up and check.
May you like
Then I felt her stop moving. She planted her feet in the center under the chandelier and stopped running. The crowd went quiet in a different way.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw a black tuxedo jacket and a bow tie cutting through the phones. Richard was coming straight at us.
