With that, Alex closed her eyes and this time when she opened her eyes, it was her Mandala looking back at her. Alex took a deep breath, washed her face and opened the bathroom door.
Alex calmly walked to the living room and saw the table had already been set.
"There you are. Where were you sweetie? Blaine got bored...he's upstairs on the phone. Were you throwing up in there? I hope you didn't make a mess. We have guests for God's sake. Maddy said you got mad because she didn't let you drink more??" Alex's mother was going on and on but Alex wasn't hearing her. She was in her la la land and in a way, mentally, relaxing and letting her Mandala take over.
"No I didn't throw up. No worries! And you're right; I know. Maddy always looks out for me. I hope she's doing okay."
The change in Alex's tone startled her mother, Marilyn. "Um. oh. Okay. That's good. Yeah she's fine why wouldn't she be?"
Alex smiled at her mother and sat down at the dinner table.
Her mother was still dumbfounded. Maximus and Fred walked in, probably smoking. Blaine walked in behind them; it looks like he wasn't that bored after all.
He flashed a smile at Alex and she looked away, blushing. Blaine was impressed. He sat next to her, between Marilyn and Alex to be exact. He turned to her. "So tell me about LA."
"Oh certainly. LA is--different! It's much warmer for one!..."
Marilyn was still surprised but she decided not to read too much into it and instead went to the kitchen to help Maddy bring out the rest of the food. Fred and Maximus also sat at the table. They were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't even realize that Alex had been in the bathroom for 15 minutes and was sitting with Blaine now, having an intent conversation. At this point, Blaine was looking at Alex like she was the only person in the world. It was like he was under a spell. Well, in a way, he really was under a spell. That was the thing with Mandalas. Not only were they extraordinarily calm and embodied peace, but they were also magical beings. They took everything that was good and positive within their host's souls and radiated it.
Maddy walked into the room and sat next to Fred, across from Alex and Blaine. Marilyn walked behind her and set the salad on the table and sat in her seat. She noticed Blaine was still looking at her daughter in the dazed way and felt a hint of jealousy. She shook her head, trying to clear the image from her mind.
"Daddy. Come on. Can you give me back my husband and also ready to say grace?"
Maximus was finally able to shift focus from Fred and looked at Maddy. "Sure sweetheart. Is everyone here? Alex?" He looked around and saw that she was sitting not too far away and was smiling at him. He smiled back and brought his palms together in form of prayer and said aloud:
"For the meal we are about to eat, for those that made it possible, and for those with whom we are about to share it, we are thankful. Amen."
Everyone repeated, Amen. And they started to eat. Blaine tried really hard to look away and onto the salad. Alex graciously poured some soup onto her bowl and began to take small sips.
"Blaine, your shirt. Let me help you with that." Blaine had spilled gravy on his shirt because he was too busy, still staring at Alex. It was Marilyn, Alex's mother who said that. She rushed to the kitchen to get a napkin and began to pat away on his shirt.
Blaine was looking rather embarrassed. "oh that's not necessary. I'm good thank you." He took the napkin away and got up: "I'll just run to the restroom to clean this up. Excuse me."
Nobody said anything when he left the table and went to the restroom and got out, in a rush probably to get back to sitting next to Alex, but when he returned, Marilyn had taken his spot and was beaming at him. Blaine, not knowing what to say, sat on Marilyn's original seat. But he still tried to peek at Alex, once in a while. She was now talking to Maddy, gracious as ever, discussing the current events.
It was around this time that Alex's father, Maximus realized that her daughter was in a completely different state. In fact, she was even sitting differently. She always had a slight slouch when she sat and here she was sitting straight more than ever.
"Anyway it's these stupid Mandalas that are ruining everything." Alex's hand turned into a fist for a moment before going right back to normal and nodding. That was when Maximus became extra suspicious but decided not to say anything, still.
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After dinner, Alex offered to make the coffee and Blaine followed her to the kitchen to help her out. Alex, watching this whole scene from behind the curtain, was starting to be impressed by Blaine and the bravery he showed in front of her parents despite her mother's obvious crush on him. Silently, she gave the permission to her Mandala to let him kiss her. Blaine moved in for the kiss only for her father to pull him away from behind.
"No! She's lying to you! It's not her. She's just using you."
Blaine looked shocked and surprised at this point, and a bit embarrassed. "Wha--I---sorry. But, what??"
Maximus was angrily snarling at Alex now, ready to attack. Alex didn't know how to respond. She tried to shake it off and walked towards her father to remedy the situation but he only stepped back.
"Get away from me bitch. You don't belong here. How dare you take over my daughter? Go away you monster! Get away from her!"
Alex stepped back. She didn't know what to do. Did he know? How was that possible? He couldn't know. And if he did, he wasn't supposed to point it out.
Alex attempted to walk towards her father again and opened her mouth to explain when---whip. Alex fell to the ground. Her father had slapped her and she was bleeding. At this point, Maddy, Marilyn, and Fred joined the scene in the kitchen. Maddy tried to run to Alex when this happened but her father stopped her.
"Maddy. It's not her. It's those Mandalas. She's possessed by them!" Maddy stopped in her tracks. Maddy turned to Fred and whispered in his ear to take Blaine home. Fred complied. He tried to pull Blaine away. "But...Alex...I need to..." Blaine stammered. "Man...I'll explain in the car okay come on! It's a family matter." They walked out the front door.
Maximus also walked out of the kitchen. Marilyn and Maddy followed him. He was pacing back and forth in the living room, trying to decide what to do next.
Marilyn and Maddy were watching him, hand in hand. Marilyn had already started crying and Maddy was trying to comfort her.
"I don't understand. How did this happen? I knew we shouldn't have let her gone to LA. What the fuck were we thinking? Look at her now! She's gone and gotten possessed by these things. She's never going to be able to recover. We can't have her in this house. I can't have her! How do we get that beast out of her? There must be a way. There must be a way!"
Maximus was muttering to himself at this point. Maddy walked to her father and stopped him.
"Dad, I don't think there is a way for us to do anything unless we take her to the doctor or something. If anything else, I think she's the one who has to make the decision."
Her dad looked back at him and resolved, said: "I'm going to beat it out of her if I must!" And he angrily pushed Maddy away and made an attempt to walk towards the kitchen when he saw Alex, napkin in hand, walk out and say: "There's no need for that. I'm already back."
Her eyes were teary and she was trying hard not to break down.
"What you did was so irresponsible. Is this how I raised you? How dare you?--"
Maximus was going on without making any attempt to apologize. Alex was surprised by this. She thought when she reversed, he would be apologetic for hitting her, but he was only continuing to reprimand her. And that's when she lost it.
She ran to her room upstairs and put all her clothes back in her luggage and ran down. Maddy tried to stop her but Alex pushed her away. She promised she would never return to this home again and if she wanted, she could switch to her Mandala forever and it was not up to anyone to tell her not to do this. She was screaming all this while her dad had fallen silent. Her mother, Marilyn, was crying uncontrollably at this point. Alex walked out of the door and slammed the door behind her. She walked a little only to be stopped by Fred, in his car. He rolled down the window, seeing the luggage in her hand: "need a ride?" Alex, who was freezing in the snowy weather, opened the front door and got in.
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A lot has passed since then...Alex eventually made up with her parents and Maximus apologized like a hundred times. He did regret hitting her and after not responding to any of his calls for 6 months, Maximus had taken a plane and gone to see Alex in LA. After talking for hours, they finally came to an agreement. Alex can switch to her Mandala as much as she liked except when she was in their presence. Maximus told Alex that he's going to try to respect her decision to have the Mandala but she also needed to respect him about why he was so against them. Coming to a mutual agreement, it was settled. One year later, Fred and Maddy split up. Alex was relived, because she never wanted to have to explain how that night went when Fred picked her up after their fight. Thankfully, the divorce was completely unrelated to what went on between her and Fred that night. Still, Alex always felt very weird when she was around her sister. She felt a sense of guilt but at the same time, she felt justified.
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I'm going to end my writing here and take the pains to put everything I've written so far together to see how much I have, edit it a bit and come back to this story on Monday. This week has been so much fun and on the weekend I will go back to writing non-fiction. I think this story definitely still has a way to go which is okay because I'm starting to re-energize in my writing process, one a hour a day, every day.
Alex calmly walked to the living room and saw the table had already been set.
"There you are. Where were you sweetie? Blaine got bored...he's upstairs on the phone. Were you throwing up in there? I hope you didn't make a mess. We have guests for God's sake. Maddy said you got mad because she didn't let you drink more??" Alex's mother was going on and on but Alex wasn't hearing her. She was in her la la land and in a way, mentally, relaxing and letting her Mandala take over.
"No I didn't throw up. No worries! And you're right; I know. Maddy always looks out for me. I hope she's doing okay."
The change in Alex's tone startled her mother, Marilyn. "Um. oh. Okay. That's good. Yeah she's fine why wouldn't she be?"
Alex smiled at her mother and sat down at the dinner table.
Her mother was still dumbfounded. Maximus and Fred walked in, probably smoking. Blaine walked in behind them; it looks like he wasn't that bored after all.
He flashed a smile at Alex and she looked away, blushing. Blaine was impressed. He sat next to her, between Marilyn and Alex to be exact. He turned to her. "So tell me about LA."
"Oh certainly. LA is--different! It's much warmer for one!..."
Marilyn was still surprised but she decided not to read too much into it and instead went to the kitchen to help Maddy bring out the rest of the food. Fred and Maximus also sat at the table. They were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't even realize that Alex had been in the bathroom for 15 minutes and was sitting with Blaine now, having an intent conversation. At this point, Blaine was looking at Alex like she was the only person in the world. It was like he was under a spell. Well, in a way, he really was under a spell. That was the thing with Mandalas. Not only were they extraordinarily calm and embodied peace, but they were also magical beings. They took everything that was good and positive within their host's souls and radiated it.
Maddy walked into the room and sat next to Fred, across from Alex and Blaine. Marilyn walked behind her and set the salad on the table and sat in her seat. She noticed Blaine was still looking at her daughter in the dazed way and felt a hint of jealousy. She shook her head, trying to clear the image from her mind.
"Daddy. Come on. Can you give me back my husband and also ready to say grace?"
Maximus was finally able to shift focus from Fred and looked at Maddy. "Sure sweetheart. Is everyone here? Alex?" He looked around and saw that she was sitting not too far away and was smiling at him. He smiled back and brought his palms together in form of prayer and said aloud:
"For the meal we are about to eat, for those that made it possible, and for those with whom we are about to share it, we are thankful. Amen."
Everyone repeated, Amen. And they started to eat. Blaine tried really hard to look away and onto the salad. Alex graciously poured some soup onto her bowl and began to take small sips.
"Blaine, your shirt. Let me help you with that." Blaine had spilled gravy on his shirt because he was too busy, still staring at Alex. It was Marilyn, Alex's mother who said that. She rushed to the kitchen to get a napkin and began to pat away on his shirt.
Blaine was looking rather embarrassed. "oh that's not necessary. I'm good thank you." He took the napkin away and got up: "I'll just run to the restroom to clean this up. Excuse me."
Nobody said anything when he left the table and went to the restroom and got out, in a rush probably to get back to sitting next to Alex, but when he returned, Marilyn had taken his spot and was beaming at him. Blaine, not knowing what to say, sat on Marilyn's original seat. But he still tried to peek at Alex, once in a while. She was now talking to Maddy, gracious as ever, discussing the current events.
It was around this time that Alex's father, Maximus realized that her daughter was in a completely different state. In fact, she was even sitting differently. She always had a slight slouch when she sat and here she was sitting straight more than ever.
"Anyway it's these stupid Mandalas that are ruining everything." Alex's hand turned into a fist for a moment before going right back to normal and nodding. That was when Maximus became extra suspicious but decided not to say anything, still.
---------
After dinner, Alex offered to make the coffee and Blaine followed her to the kitchen to help her out. Alex, watching this whole scene from behind the curtain, was starting to be impressed by Blaine and the bravery he showed in front of her parents despite her mother's obvious crush on him. Silently, she gave the permission to her Mandala to let him kiss her. Blaine moved in for the kiss only for her father to pull him away from behind.
"No! She's lying to you! It's not her. She's just using you."
Blaine looked shocked and surprised at this point, and a bit embarrassed. "Wha--I---sorry. But, what??"
Maximus was angrily snarling at Alex now, ready to attack. Alex didn't know how to respond. She tried to shake it off and walked towards her father to remedy the situation but he only stepped back.
"Get away from me bitch. You don't belong here. How dare you take over my daughter? Go away you monster! Get away from her!"
Alex stepped back. She didn't know what to do. Did he know? How was that possible? He couldn't know. And if he did, he wasn't supposed to point it out.
Alex attempted to walk towards her father again and opened her mouth to explain when---whip. Alex fell to the ground. Her father had slapped her and she was bleeding. At this point, Maddy, Marilyn, and Fred joined the scene in the kitchen. Maddy tried to run to Alex when this happened but her father stopped her.
"Maddy. It's not her. It's those Mandalas. She's possessed by them!" Maddy stopped in her tracks. Maddy turned to Fred and whispered in his ear to take Blaine home. Fred complied. He tried to pull Blaine away. "But...Alex...I need to..." Blaine stammered. "Man...I'll explain in the car okay come on! It's a family matter." They walked out the front door.
Maximus also walked out of the kitchen. Marilyn and Maddy followed him. He was pacing back and forth in the living room, trying to decide what to do next.
Marilyn and Maddy were watching him, hand in hand. Marilyn had already started crying and Maddy was trying to comfort her.
"I don't understand. How did this happen? I knew we shouldn't have let her gone to LA. What the fuck were we thinking? Look at her now! She's gone and gotten possessed by these things. She's never going to be able to recover. We can't have her in this house. I can't have her! How do we get that beast out of her? There must be a way. There must be a way!"
Maximus was muttering to himself at this point. Maddy walked to her father and stopped him.
"Dad, I don't think there is a way for us to do anything unless we take her to the doctor or something. If anything else, I think she's the one who has to make the decision."
Her dad looked back at him and resolved, said: "I'm going to beat it out of her if I must!" And he angrily pushed Maddy away and made an attempt to walk towards the kitchen when he saw Alex, napkin in hand, walk out and say: "There's no need for that. I'm already back."
Her eyes were teary and she was trying hard not to break down.
"What you did was so irresponsible. Is this how I raised you? How dare you?--"
Maximus was going on without making any attempt to apologize. Alex was surprised by this. She thought when she reversed, he would be apologetic for hitting her, but he was only continuing to reprimand her. And that's when she lost it.
She ran to her room upstairs and put all her clothes back in her luggage and ran down. Maddy tried to stop her but Alex pushed her away. She promised she would never return to this home again and if she wanted, she could switch to her Mandala forever and it was not up to anyone to tell her not to do this. She was screaming all this while her dad had fallen silent. Her mother, Marilyn, was crying uncontrollably at this point. Alex walked out of the door and slammed the door behind her. She walked a little only to be stopped by Fred, in his car. He rolled down the window, seeing the luggage in her hand: "need a ride?" Alex, who was freezing in the snowy weather, opened the front door and got in.
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A lot has passed since then...Alex eventually made up with her parents and Maximus apologized like a hundred times. He did regret hitting her and after not responding to any of his calls for 6 months, Maximus had taken a plane and gone to see Alex in LA. After talking for hours, they finally came to an agreement. Alex can switch to her Mandala as much as she liked except when she was in their presence. Maximus told Alex that he's going to try to respect her decision to have the Mandala but she also needed to respect him about why he was so against them. Coming to a mutual agreement, it was settled. One year later, Fred and Maddy split up. Alex was relived, because she never wanted to have to explain how that night went when Fred picked her up after their fight. Thankfully, the divorce was completely unrelated to what went on between her and Fred that night. Still, Alex always felt very weird when she was around her sister. She felt a sense of guilt but at the same time, she felt justified.
------
I'm going to end my writing here and take the pains to put everything I've written so far together to see how much I have, edit it a bit and come back to this story on Monday. This week has been so much fun and on the weekend I will go back to writing non-fiction. I think this story definitely still has a way to go which is okay because I'm starting to re-energize in my writing process, one a hour a day, every day.
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