Brewing Trouble

Slowly, her eyes moved from Benjamin to Luciana.

Panic clawed up her throat. This had to be a sick joke, it had to be. 

Annalise felt cold and hot at the same time, random palpitations hitting her. Her head throbbed painfully and discomfort squeezed at her insides.

Numerous times she had imagined what her parents would look like but nothing in her whole imagination had prepared her for this. She had thought of them as the picture she had been presented with; the irresponsible parents, the drunks, poor, and callous people who were so selfish they had no time to care about her feelings. 

Annalise had no idea if to laugh or cry. This felt surreal.

It was as though she was no longer in her body, almost as if a part of her had been separated from her physical form and it stood watching everything unravel.

"What did you just say?" she asked, surprising even herself by how steady her voice sounded.