I saw the devil walking home from school 2day. It was bright outside. I felt so warm. The day was splindid. Sun shining down, birds doing their talkie in the trees. I don’t live far from my school, Marsh Middle, so it was a short walk. As I strolled my mind flew out into the blue, blue sky. I wasn’t thinking about much, just pleased with the beeutiful day. But then it happend. Some one breathd on the back of my neck. That made all of my little hairs jump up. BOOM. I froze on the sidewalk. And then my mind burst into a picture, telling me what was behind me. It was a man smiling at me, only he wasn’t a man. not really. He had gray skin that ooozed like rottun cake. Ms. Hannigan says practise five dollar words so here i go. His grin was t e r i f y i n g. i felt like he was saying Your Gonna Die, and happy about it. When i saw his teribl face i spun around real fast. But there was nothing behind me sept the blue, blue sky. 

By Lia Riosena 

Sharon stared at the words of her daughter’s writing assignment, hands trembling. She touched her greying temples, stood from the table, and went to the kitchen window to look out onto the street. The counters gleamed, smelled like lemon cleaner. The faucet dropped tears into the spotless sink. Sunlight was dying along the street when Sharon’s daughter came into sight. Lia walked with her bookbag slapping against her, the jaunt of a carefree child. A smile warmed in Sharon’s crinkled eyes. There was a pregnant silence before the bursting of the door. When Lia walked in her mother was there, ready to swoop her up and hold her. 

“How was your day sweetheart?”

Lia dropped her bookbag on the carpet in the entryway.

“Good, I got an A plus on my vocabulary test mama!”

“Oh my goodness!”

Sharon held up her hands for a double high five. Lia jumped up to smack them.

“Well that settles it. We’re going out to Foster’s tonight.”

She launched into song about Foster’s Freeze, squealing and giggling. 

“Ok sweetie, mama’s gonna finish up here in the kitchen. Why don’t you go play outside for a little while before starting on your school work?”

Sharon kissed the zigzag of her daughter’s barrettes, watched her go, and then turned back to the writing assignment. It was sitting by the sink. From the cabinet she produced a box of matches. With a grunt the kitchen window slid up, paint crumbling away. Yellowing angel’s trumpets shivered in the late afternoon breeze. Sharon put the writing assignment in the sink and lit a match before dropping it onto the paper. As it burned she fixed herself a drink in a mug that said World’s Greatest Mom, sipping as she leaned against the wall, watching Lia play outside. 

Time flew and Lia with it. She shot up to the sky, taller than her mother now at 17 going on 18. The fever dream of her younger days cooled. Hula hoops had shrunk down into bite-sized somethings. She put them glittering into her ears. The jump rope followed suit, lacing itself around her neck. The hopscotch squares had become buttons she pressed to chat with Tae or Jenny. She wore her colors on her fingers and toes now. And she had grown into a gorgeous young woman. Her ID showed up in the mail and when it did Lia tore the envelope open. The plastic card clattered to the kitchen table. That evening she asked her mother if she could go to a concert on Friday night. Sharon looked at her. Smiled. 

“As long as you bring your cousin Isaiah.” 

Isaiah was 31 but looked and acted younger than his age. He often came over to sit and chat or help Sharon with a repair. He and Lia had spent a lot of time together lately.

When Friday came Lia emerged from her room in a skeleton print dress and laddered tights. 

The fridge light fell on her as she scanned the shelves. 

Sharon, seated at the kitchen table, looked up, peering at her daughter over her reading lens. 

“Honey, I have a pair of fresh nylons in my drawer.”

Lia faced her mother. The fridge closed with a rubber kiss. 

“Mom, I'm wearing them like this on purpose. It’s a style.”

A deep crease furrowed Sharon’s forehead. There was a honk from the street.

“That’s Isaiah! Bye mom!”

Lia pecked her mother on the cheek and flew out the door. Sharon watched her running out to the car from the kitchen window. 

The next morning Sharon made pancakes. She stood over bubbling butter, still in her robe with a sleepy smile. Lia was sitting at the table, scrolling social media. The cakes each got a pat of butter with eggs and bacon on the side. A shriek suddenly pierced the air as Lia bolted up from her seat. Sharon was walking the plates over and nearly dropped them. 

“What is it?”

“He’s looking for me!”

Lia danced around the kitchen.

“What?”

Sharon held her stomach, bracing herself on the table. 

“J Cool!! The guy whose concert I went to last night! I met him and now he’s posting on his socials about me!”

“Eat some breakfast before you get caught up in all that.”

“Yeah, yeah, I will.”

“Explain to me who this J Cool is.”

Lia gave a little groan.

“Moo-om. I’ve told you.”

“Tell me again.”

“He’s a super cool producer from Sweden who lives here and makes music and he wants to hang out with me.”

“I need to meet him before he meets you.” 

 J Cool painted his mustache black with mascara. The makeup would smudge and blotch in dirty looking patches over his skin and along his ears and forehead because he painted that too. Sharon didn’t like him. His eyes would bug out when he talked, his laughter was false, and he had a rotten tooth as grey as foul. Yet Lia looked at him with stars in her eyes. 

“He’s so talented. He said I give him blue balls,” she sighed wistfully.

“Sweetie, whatever happened to Isaiah? I don’t see you two hanging out anymore.”

Lia looked down. She picked at a thread in her jeans. 

“Isaiah did something to me that I didn’t like.”

Sharon looked struck. She reached out to hold her daughter, but Lia tore away and shut herself in her bedroom. 

The next day Sharon stomped over to the house down the street where Isaiah lived with his grandmother. Burst through the screen door, nearly taking it off its hinges. Ignored the cries of protest. Found Isaiah in his room and began beating him with her fists. 

He just looked at her like she was crazy. Everyone did, even his grandmother and his mother who had come to shield him with their doughy arms. Nothing was the same after that. Sharon made angry phone calls. She cried and yelled herself hoarse over phones and doors and pillows. Lia wouldn’t speak to her. Sharon clicked through mountains of articles, blurbs, blogs, posts, and accounts. She drank tea like her life depended on it. Little spikes of alcohol here and there. She needed it on nights she couldn’t sleep. She needed it on nights she saw Lia going out.

Then she started going off to see J Cool. She’d take the metro to Hollywood. He never came by except that one time. 

“He’s really busy with his music,” Lia explained to her.

“I don’t want you disappearing like that. It’s not healthy for a girl your age to be spending so much time with a man. He’s too old for you sweetheart.”

Lia looked off, her face an expressionless mask.

“You don’t get it. We’re not just hanging out. We’re making music. J Cool says I’m gonna be a big pop star.”

Sharon maintained her composure with some difficulty. 

“Well, I’d love to hear it sometime.”

Lia played a demo for her mother in the minivan on their way to church. 

A beat punched through the speakers followed by Lia’s voice which sounded like a sexy robot. Sharon kept her startled expression trained carefully on the road. 

“It’s called Yo Hoe.”

Lia hollered the lyrics out the window.

“Girls are just a big distraction for you, you don’t wanna deal !!! I’m not gonna be yo ho !!!”

“I’m glad that you and J Cool are being so creative.”

“Yeah,” Lia said nonchalantly. “It’s cool.”

“But honey- I hope that J Cool isn’t doing the things that you talk about in your lyrics.”

Sharon’s hands white-knuckled the steering wheel. She pulled to the curb and put the car in park.

“I know we’ve had…difficulties. But I just want you safe, Lia. Is J Cool hurting you?”

There was no answer but a small sob. Sharon wrapped her arms around her daughter. 

“My baby…It’s going to be ok,” she murmured into her hair. 

Lia stayed home for a while. They watched reruns of Midsomar Murders. They went out to Costco for the five-pack macaroni and got huge ice cream sticks covered in chocolate and almonds. Lia spent her days writing new songs and hollering the lyrics out all over the house. For a while it was good. The nights were still rough, for both of them. Lia cried herself to sleep. Sharon tossed and turned. Sat in the kitchen with her mug. But the days were pleasant. 

On Saturday Sharon woke up and decided to do something she hadn’t done in a long time. She made pancakes, bacon, and eggs. Lia cleaned off two plates before scooting out of her chair.

“Where you goin?”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. Jenny called and wanted to hang out so I’m gonna go to her house.”

“Ok sweetie, have fun.”

Sharon beamed at her daughter through the window, her hands wrist deep in suds at the sink. After clearing the kitchen she tidied the house. She came to Lia’s room to put away a stray pair of underwear that had ended up with hers. When her hands parted the jumble, a thermometer suddenly appeared. Her nails rasped against the wood bottom. She held it up. She held it for a long time, wavering slightly. It wasn’t a thermometer. It was a pregnancy test. 

Sharon rushed for her phone.

“Hi, mom, what’s-”

“Get home. Right. Now.”

When she did Sharon was waiting for her in the kitchen, the test laying on the table.

Lia saw it. She slowly sunk into a seat, never taking her eyes off of the test.

“When were you going to tell me about this?”

“I just didn’t know how to tell you. I was scared of your reaction.”

Sharon rubbed her temples. Her World’s Greatest Mom mug was on the table. She took a big swallow. Lia watched her mother, eyes narrowed.

“Is it J Cool’s?”

Her voice was low, full of fear. Neither of them met the other’s eyes.

“I don’t know.”

Sharon yelped. Lia’s eyes filled fast with tears. 

Her mother began to dial a number.

“What are you doing?”

“Calling the clinic. You’re going to need an abortion.”

Lia was horrified. She jumped from her chair, tears splattering down her face.

“You don’t get to make that decision for me!” she screamed.

Sharon dropped the phone, shot up, and slapped Lia across the face.

It was silent. When Lia righted herself she held her cheek in shock, and looked down into the mug on the table. An ugly snicker slashed her speech.

“I never want to see you again.”

The next day Sharon watched from the window as Lia brought her things to the curb. J Cool was there, waiting for her, leaning against the car with his arms open. He rocked Lia side to side, and then he noticed Sharon watching them from the house and gave her a big smile.