I stared at my dad, my own grin faded. His expression was one I had never seen before, and wasn't a pleasant sight.
"Uh... Dad?" I asked cautiously, my voice aching with confusion.
He acted before I could even register what he was doing. The letter was ripped from my hands, his own closing around the parchment. I stared at him blankly.
What is going on?
"Aelynn, listen to me." my dad said, his usual humor evaporated from his tone. "You cannot let your mother see this."
The statement hung in the air for a few seconds. Staring at his eyes, I saw how dead serious he was. This wasn't going to end well though, especially since I saw something behind my dad that he couldn't see.
"Can't let me see what?" my mom asked from behind him.
I watched as he physically froze, his finger clamping unnaturally tight on the letter in his hands. The real sense of panic in his face set off alarms all through my head.
I mean, I know this letter is crazy, but what does it have to do with Mom? And why did my dad recognize it?
Without missing a step, my mom grabbed the letter in my dad's hand. As soon as the envelope left his hand, my dad took several steps backward.
I took a deep breath. "So... what is this all about?"
As soon as my mom heard my words, her head snapped in my direction. There was a clear anger in her eyes I had never truly seen before.
"You will not speak." she spoke with such clarity and force, she left no room to question or disobey her.
I was shocked. My mother had never spoken to me this way, with so much anger and hate.
Watching as her cold eyes scanned the letter's content, I felt a pit drop in my stomach. Suddenly I wanted this all to stop. Suddenly I want this all to be a joke, a dream, just something that wasn't real.
Then her eyes flickered up and locked on mine. "You." she said bitterly. "You are a witch?"
I opened my mouth to respond with who knows what, but she didn't give me the chance. "Why haven't you shown any magic? You haven't, so you can't be a... I thought you were going to be normal, but you're not."
The last comment hit me hard. I looked at her, biting my lip.
I've always thought I was normal. Who doesn't?
I mean, sure, once I made a cup shatter by touching it when I was angry... but I said I dropped it.
And I made spiders turn into sticks when I was scared... but no one saw.
...And I made the glass of a friend's window disappear when I wanted to leave... but nobody saw me enter the room and I never went there again...
...
Wait... maybe I'm not normal... maybe I'm different... strange.
I felt something drop in my stomach, a feeling of self-doubt and confusion swept over me.
I never thought my mother would be the one to shove my insecurities back in my face, telling me I wasn't normal.
"I... I think I did show it." I whispered, my voice breaking slightly. "I just hid it from everyone, I wanted to be normal, I really did."
My dad, who had been silent up until this point, stepped in front of me. "It's not her fault." he said, his voice firm. "I know what happened to you, I know okay? I know this will be hard. But please don't take it out on her, it's not her fault... not anymore than being a Squib is your fault."
He turned to give me a reassuring look, but my attention was caught on my mom's reaction to what he had just said to her. Instead of softening her composer, her face turned a bright shade of red, his fists clenching against the letter as she held it up.
"Never say that word again!" she yelled, her whole body shaking now. "I know this wasn't my fault, I know that I couldn't control this! But I also know, she stole the magic I should have had!"
My breathing started to quicken and I took a step back. My eyes widened in surprise.
So something about this is my fault? Did she say stole her magic? I don't even know what's going on anymore!
"You know very well she didn't, and that's not how it works." my dad said calmly, opening his mouth to continue, but Mom didn't let him.
"You are you to lecture me on how it works? You don't know anything, only what I've told you!" she seethed.
With that she held out the letter in front of her, ripping it directly in half, then in half again. Letting the broken pieces flutter to the ground, she pushed past my dad and I to walk stiffly up the stairs.
Without even turning around, she spoke in a cold and bitter tone. "Don't think I'll ever forgive you."
Is this my mom? The mom who packed my lunches for school, who always insisted on doing family game night?
I started to shake, my body trembling as I started to fully realize what had just happened. This didn't seem real, my mom wasn't someone to tolerate childish behavior, and I had to admit what she just did seemed a little immature to me. It had been intentionally hurtful towards me, about something I didn't even understand. And she was my mom! Moms aren't supposed to do that.
"I'm sorry, A." my dad told me softly, "I can't believe she just did that."
Though I was still confused, I pushed back the hateful words and let out a light smile.
"It's okay." I said, as confident as I could manage, "I'm fine."