Copy of Too Old to Play House

By: laurenicious |


Word Count: 394

Too Old to Play House

The skirt of her dress bounced every time she took a step, the fabric swishing against her arms. Pink frills gathered around her shoulders, the ribbons at the ends forming immaculate bows that tightly bound her upper arms. She twirled her way to her bed and picked up her pink teddy bear, who was wearing a pink ribbon that matched her own.

“Gloria!” Her mother yelled up the stairs. “It’s almost time for school. Don’t you have an exam this morning?”

Gloria skipped down the steps, doing a pirouette as she tossed the teddy bear up in the air. Her mother snatched it away, red nails sinking into the soft pink of its stomach, and tossed it to the ground.

“I thought I told you to stop this ridiculous behaviour.” she scowled. “You’re sixteen, Gloria, not five anymore. I can’t always allow you to play princess and dance around the house. Grow up.”

Gloria stopped mid-pirouette, looking from her fallen teddy bear to her mother’s stern face, hair pulled up in a neat bun. Tears welled up in her eyes.

Her mother’s cellphone rang, lighting up to reveal the background image. A picture of young Gloria in a pink tutu, hair tied into pigtails with bows on the ends. The two adults in the photo were smiling, completing the picturesque family. She picked up the call, the background image disappearing, and talked briefly before putting it back in her pocket.

“I don’t have time for this.” she said, picking up her purse from a nearby chair. “I have an important meeting to go to.”

“Wait,” Gloria reached out, grabbing the black strap on her mother’s purse, feeling the ribbon on her sleeves bite into her shoulder. “When will you be home?”

“Late. Ask your father for dinner.” Her lips thinned noticeably. Ask your father for dinner.

“Make sure you go to school.”

She left Gloria standing in the kitchen, with her wide arms pushing against the seams of her dress and her long legs reaching far past the edge of the frilly skirt. She glanced at herself in the mirror as she walked back to her room.

Even though she’d tried to recreate the background photo in her mother’s phone, her mother’s smile was still missing.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

laurenicious

No biography available.