Hey! So I decided to start a new story that is completely not bloody or gory at all (so far). This is a work-in-progress and I am going to need a shit-load of support from you people because I always tend to be impatient with my stories and if I don't see an interest I'm probably going to stop writing.
If you are reading this beware of cursing, sex, incest, death, and sarcasm. There is a reason this is rated M and if any of this offends you then DON'T READ IT.
Don't be afraid to review because I love people commenting on my stories. Speaking of which you should all read my other story Life No Longer Living. And then review.
Thanks! Enjoy your reading.
Dess
A good place to start would probably be the plot. It could be a lot of things depending on how you want to read it. There's "Fate vs. Free Will", "My Life is My Own", "How to Find Yourself", among many, many others that I am sure you could come up with. My story begins three months ago with me staring up at the ceiling of my bedroom at home – then ends with me half way across the country washing dishes in a diner standing next to my sister.
Some background information probably wouldn't hurt, and it will make the situations around this event a whole lot clearer. My name is Bella and I'm seventeen years old and a senior in high school. I had a seven year old brother named Jacob and a twin sister named Alice. My mother was a lawyer, and she was basically the best mother that had ever walked this planet. My father was nonexistent (until the events of this story played out), and no one wondered or cared about him. We lived in the middle of Dickshooter, Idaho, where nothing ever happens except the corny, worn-out jokes that everyone continues to make about this place's name.
The four of us rented a small house with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen that was also the dining room and a living room the size of my closet. It was kind of cramped, but it fit us and we liked it. We each got our own room, but the walls were so thin that if someone sneezed on one side of the house you could hear a person whisper "Ga-Bless-You" from the other. The whole place was made of wood, smelled like wood, and felt like wood. We had a wood stove for when it got cold and a fan with some string hanging off it for when it got hot.
The morning that started everything was (as all the stories say) a morning like any other. I got up, got dressed, got ready for school, shouted 'good morning' to everyone that was awake, and walked the fifteen steps into my sister's room to dump some cold water on her head. Once I ran down the hall to avoid the projectiles being chucked at me, my mother was at the table with the best smelling pancakes ever created in the history of life.
"Morning Sweetheart," she said, "How'd you sleep?"
"Fine," I said, "Got any mail?"
"Yeah, it's right on the table… Do you know where your brother's lunchbox is?"
"Nope, sorry."
"It's okay. Your breakfast is on the table… Don't you have that final today?"
"What final?" I walked my way over to the chairs that surrounded our table. Well, stumbled would probably be a more appropriate term. Jacob had left his plastic toys all over the floor and I kept tripping over them. Finally, I made it to the table and caught myself from falling by grabbing onto the back of a chair.
"You know… that one… what was it? Math? Something like that."
"No, I'm done with my finals. I finished them all yesterday; Alice still has some to do though."
"Oh? Alright. Well, Ally, Good Morning, nice of you to join the land of the living."
"Mmmmmrrg." Was all that came back as a response. My mother continued talking to the zombie in the kitchen as I sat down and began stuffing my face with food.
Eventually we got everyone organized enough to leave the house. We only had one car so we all squished in together to get wherever we needed to go. Jacob's school started before mine, but we passed the high school first so he always ended up a bit late. "Bye Mom, Bye Jacob." Alice and I chorused as we exited the car. She hooked her arm through mine and we went to our first period class.
The way every day went was the same. First gym, then English, math, and science. After lunch we had history and one free that we usually spent at the library ("we" being Alice and I, we had all of the same classes). Even though most of the finals were finished the teachers were required to keep us in class for some reason, so no one was really doing anything. If I recall correctly we actually watched one and a quarter movies for the time we were there. We only made it to partway through science before we were called into the principal's office on the speaker system.
Alice and I walked to the office slowly, hand in hand, as always. We got to the office we took seats on those uncomfortable plastic chairs that every office has until they told us it was our turn.
"What do you think we're here about?" said Alice.
"No idea. I think we're about to find out though."
I could hear soft footsteps coming from to our left and an equally soft voice speak a second later, "You two may go in to see Principal Dover now."
We got up and made our way over to the doorway of the mini-freezer that was known as the principal's office. The room was always cold; hence the nickname "freezer", the "mini" came from how the room was two feet by three feet. There was a carpet that muffled every step we took and it felt soft and thick. There were two kindergarten-sized chairs in front of the night-table that was the desk. Behind the desk, the principle, a man with a rough old voice, cleared his throat.
The principal's name was Benjamin Dover, a high school drop-out himself, I believe. He had been the head-man for about twenty years and had been alive for three hundred years more than that. Everyone thought the guy was insane. Sometimes he walked through the hallways of the school yelling at random kids about prophecies and vampires. Apparently he thought he could see the future, but of course I never got a chance to witness any of these episodes. I only got to hear about them through the normal game of telephone that all gossip goes through.
"Please, take a seat," he said, "I have some news for you that might be quite a shock." Alice and I sat down quietly, neither of us saying a word in response to his statement. "About five minutes ago I got a call from the police saying that your mother got into a car crash with a drunk driver."
The first thought that popped into my head, obviously, was 'Who drinks at 11:30 in the morning?' The second was slightly more panicked. "What? What do you mean? Is she alright? What – What happened? No, you have to be wrong, she was at work. She's always at work now. You're wrong, you have to be, I mean-"
Principal Ben cut off my rambling, "I'm sorry, but it's true, this did happen. Which leads me to my second piece of news… she wasn't the only one in the car."
Alice spoke before I could, "What do you mean? Was she with a co-worker?"
"No. The reason that she was out of work at this hour in the first place was because the elementary school called about your brother. He had not been feeling well so they called for her to pick him up. They were probably on their way home when-"
"No." I said, "No, that's impossible. My brother was not in that car. How do you even know who it was? No, I-I-I- no. It's-It's just not…"
"Bella, calm down," Alice patted my arm, "Let's hear what happened first. Are they alright? Do you know?" Even with her calm demeanor I could detect the slight tremor hidden in her voice. She was just as scared as I was.
The Principal hesitated for a moment, "Well, she was hit from the side with a car that was going seventy-five miles per hour… there was never… I mean to say…" He stopped and was quiet for another minute. Alice and I followed his lead and did not make a sound. He sighed and then decided to just say it as bluntly as possible, "The car hit your mom's and killed her instantly. Your brother was in the back on the other side of the car, but he was hit with a large piece of metal and bled out right as the paramedics showed up. I'm sorry."
Alice and I just sat there. I mean, what are you supposed to say to that? 'Thanks, I'll just go back to class now that you have just informed me that I am an orphan.' Yeah, I don't think so.
We were silent for an immeasurable amount of time. No one moved or made a sound. It was actually quite like one of those movies where everyone pauses for about an hour trying to figure out what just happened. See, as much as it scared me that what Ben Dover said might be true, I didn't really believe it. It was just… impossible. It couldn't happen. So I had very little of a reaction right then.
Alice, on the other hand, is very down-to-Earth, she is the kind of person who understands everything the second you say it. Later she told me she was trying to figure out what would happen to us next, because she couldn't bear the thought of her brother and mother lying, dead, in a morgue somewhere with their chests cut open and their organs still and useless.
A couple of times I opened my mouth like I was about to say something, but for the life of me I couldn't think of one word. I'm pretty sure my brain shut off or something, because the next few hours passed and I could not remember a single thing about them. I don't remember walking out of the building, getting into a cop car, getting to the police office… none of it. Alice relayed it all to me later that night when we slept in our own beds.
Because we turned eighteen in a week no one bothered with the business of a foster home or anything. The next day we had a scheduled meeting with a lawyer so he could give us all information and stuff then run off to his next client.
That first night I distinctly remember the silence of the house, when there usually was so much noise. It never occurred to me how much the noise of my family meant to me until right at that moment. That was the moment when I realized that I would never be able to see my mother again. Not my mother, not my brother. No more hugs or laughs or playing… hell I would have even went for tripping over that kid's toys if it meant he would still have been with me.
I didn't sleep the entire night. I sobbed so hard I actually puked. That had never happened before, but I suppose the whole situation was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I honestly hope that no one ever experiences their mother dying twice.
Alice and I got up in the morning and neither of us said one word to the other. She had fared just as well as I had that night and neither of us was going to admit it. We walked to the kitchen and stayed mute. When we walked in toys still littered the floor and it took most all of my will power to not start bawling; which didn't work because I started crying anyway.
Alice ignored my tears other than a soft pat on the back. I wish I could say that we had that creepy twin-connection thing that let us comfort each other without saying a word, but that would be a lie. We were both just really bad at expressing our emotions and taking comfort from others.
I grabbed the cereal box from the top of the fridge, where it always was, and put it on the table. Neither of us ate, of course, but it felt necessary to have it there for some reason. We were so absorbed in our own minds that when a knock came from the door I jumped so high that I fell out of my chair. Had it been any other day I would have laughed until my gut hurt more than my butt, but I couldn't even bring myself to crack a smile.
Alice got up and went over to answer the door and I was able to hear the sharp tone of a woman speaking as I got up. "Hello, are you the… Swans?"
"Yes," replied Alice, "How may I help you?"
"We had an appointment scheduled for today. I am Angela Webber, your lawyer."
"Oh, well, come in, please. Uhm, would, I mean, could we… uh… do this in the, uh, kitchen?"
"Yes, that would be fine." I listened to the clicking of Ms. Webber's heals on the wood floor. They sounded painful.
"Hello." I said when they walked through the door. I stood up and put my hand out for her to shake, "I'm Bella."
"Nice to meet you, though I am sorry for your loss."
"Thank you, would you like something to eat or drink?"
"No, thank you. We have business to attend to… do you mind if I sit?"
"Not at all." Ms. Webber and Alice took their seats and the boring, long discussion began. I won't go into details because I got bored while I was there, I couldn't imagine what torture it would be it I retold everything word by word. Basically, we sorted out life insurance (Alice and I had $100,000 to our names because of that), what our mother left us in her will (the car, which was wrecked, and all of her money, which was another $100,000), as well as the fact we were legally adults soon so we didn't have to move into a home or anything.
"Now, I know that your father has never been in the picture, but if you would like to track him down I do have a name."
"Wait, what?" I had never heard my mother ever mention our father, and to be honest, we never asked. But if there had been some information that she could have told us about him that had been available, but then just hid it… that was worse than cruel.
"On your birth certificates, there is the name of you father. Would you like to know what it is?"
I nodded my head and Alice did the same.
"His name is Charlie Hugh Jass, born and raised in Ding Dong, Texas. I do not know his current whereabouts, but I could find out if you needed. Would you like me to?"
"Yes, please." I answered quickly, before Alice could say anything. Ms. Webber nodded and packed up her things. We all thanked each other and said goodbye an obscene number of times when Angela finally left and we were alone again.
School was over until graduation in two days and we had two funerals to attend tomorrow. Lucky for us our mother's firm was kind enough to sort out everything to do with the funerals, one less thing for us to worry about.
Without anything to occupy our time, Alice and I were at a complete loss as to what to do. We could cry, sure, but we had done a lot of that already and had the headaches to prove it. We finally just turned the TV on and watched sitcoms until our eyes could not stay open any more.
The next day was a blur of funeral stuff and people. I do not want to go into detail and there is no reason to. It was sad, it was depressing, and it was never-ending. That is all you need to know. Alice and I went home with a ton of flowers and enough food to feed all of those African children that everyone pities so much. They could certainly have it too, as I don't think either of us had even thought about eating for around two days or so.
The next day was more hectic and only slightly less dismal. Graduation was supposed to be happy, but with no one there to celebrate it with it was definitely no uplifting occasion. We threw our hats, got our diplomas, and I think someone gave some sort of a speech about our mom, but I wasn't really paying attention so I can't be sure.
The day after graduation Alice and I sat on the couch staring at nothing. After we'd been doing that for about an hour I decided to break the silence.
"So what now?"
"I don't know."
"We can't go to college this year anyway. We were planning on helping out so we could buy a real house. So, we can look at colleges for next year, right?"
"Yeah."
"Do you know where you want to go? Or what you want to do?"
"No."
I sighed. We were wonderful conversationalists, no? We had been silent for another ten minutes before the phone rang. I jumped up to answer it, dying to do anything.
"Hello?"
"Hi, this is Angela Webber, your lawyer. We spoke earlier this week."
"Yes, I remember." 'Why would she be calling? Is there something we forgot to go over?' With everything going on I had completely forgotten about the missing person she was looking up.
"Well, I found your father. Charlie Hugh Jass moved out of Texas and now lives in Happyland, Connecticut."
"Thank you."
"Not a problem. Have a nice day."
"You too."
I hung up and stared at Alice. "Guess what?"
"I would rather not."
"Ms. Webber found Charlie."
"Are you talking about some TV show?"
"No. I'm talking about our lawyer finding our dad."
"What? Really? Well… Where?"
"Happyland."
"You're kidding."
"Nope."
"Oh my god."
"Yeah. Happyland, Connecticut."
"You think it's true?"
"What?"
"The happiness of that land."
"Probably not."
"You're right."
"We should find him."
"What?"
"We should. We have nothing to do here, and we have a year. We can do a cross country road trip to find our dad."
"Are you high?"
"No. I'm being serious. Don't you want to meet him?"
"Not really. "
"Why?"
"Because he either left us or didn't want us and we have gotten along just fine without him."
"That was when we had a mother."
"What if he doesn't want anything to do with us? What are we going to do then?"
"Hit him over the head with a hammer and come back here."
"No."
"Oh, come on. We never do anything. We won't be doing anything here. We should go. We have talked about doing a road trip from when we were old enough to figure out that cars could travel farther distances than from here to town square."
Alice huffed at me. "And what are we supposed to do about this place?"
"Nothing. We leave it the way it is and the credit card will pay all the bills. We've got to get out of here or we're both going to lose our minds and you know it."
"Fine. But how are we going to do this? We don't even have a car."
"Well, let's go and get one."
"This is ridiculous."
"Absolutely."
We walked the three miles to the one car dealership in town. We looked around until we found the one car that both of us liked. It was used and kind of battered, but we loved it. It was an old red truck with an open bed in the back and a bench seat. The guy selling it said it would run well for at least another five years. I'm pretty sure you could have hit that thing with a tank and it would have gotten up and hit back.
We bought the car and headed home in it. We packed our things that night and went to sleep at around three in the morning. When we woke up we threw out all of the perishables and made sure to leave it where the garbage people would pick it up. We locked all the windows and doors and put our stuff in the back of the truck.
We head out on the road, no map, no real destination other than Happyland. We were going to let the stars guide the way for this adventure, and we were going to have some damn fun doing it.
Whoo. That is a packed first chapter. Tell me what you think! I am going to try to update this at least once a week and if I don't feel free to yell your ass off at me. I am already working on the next few chapters so that shouldn't be a problem.
REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!
Thanks for reading,
Dess.