1.
"I don't know where you're going, but do you have room for one more troubled soul? I don't know where I'm going, but I don't think I'm coming home."
'Alone Together,' by Fallout Boy
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"I've been watching you, boy..."
Thirteen-year-old Griffin O'Connor jolted and looked about for who had disrupted him- bad form to sit outside the toilets to wait and accost a poor soul. His eyes fell on a tall woman with dark eyes, olive skin, and black hair. Her hair had wisps of grey, and her skin was beginning to wrinkle around her eyes and mouth. He'd seen her around...
He was not immediately afraid of her.
"What's that suppose to mean, then?" he asked in an impolite manner.
"Only what I said- I have been watching you."
Her tone was pleasant enough, but he didn't like the idea of someone watching him.
"Ah, c'mon, miss- I'm not stealin' nothin', am I? Leave me alone," he attempted to wave her off.
"That's not what I meant.
She smiled at him in an indulgent way that was almost...motherly.
He began to walk away from her for that smile alone.
"I know what you can do, boy," she told him as he turned his back.
He froze. No one should say that. He should run from anyone who said that. Instead, he turned back to her slowly to reassess her.
"I dunno what you mean"
"I think you do," she nodded wisely. "I have someone I think you should meet- I'd like it if you would..."
With that enigmatic statement, the woman turned and walked away. Griffin watched her go in her long skirt and her brown shawl. She seemed...mysterious. What was she all about?
She had an accent that didn't seem distinctively familiar to him, and it seemed like it had faded...maybe she'd been here in the states a long while. And, yup, definitely mysterious...but sometimes that was just par for the course in places like this.
He'd bunked up with a traveling circus group. He had done so before in Nevada and found people didn't ask a lot of invasive questions in places like that. You could come and go more freely than in many other places- they typically thought of him as a kid fascinated with running away. As long as he stayed out of trouble and minded his own business he faded-in well enough.
He had planned to stick around for a while to eat up and rest up around company and make sure he still had some semblance of social skills before moving on. He no longer had family- he never really would- but being around a tight community and pretending he was part of it...
It felt nice...
The woman let herself into a small camper, and Griffin hesitated outside. It could be a trap...but he was also curious; he could always Jump away. With a deep breath, he followed her up the small metal step.
The woman was at the stove, and the smell of whatever she was making engulfed the whole RV; a spicy smell took over his senses. It was close to overwhelming and yet it was also a delicious smell.
"Are you hungry?" she asked over her shoulder.
"Maybe," he teetered in the doorway.
"I"ll dish you some...come on in."
"Maybe..." he repeated himself monosyllabically.
"A man of few words... Okay, okay," the woman chortled and looked at him again over her shoulder. "Where are you from, child?"
Her voice was somewhat raspy...he found it soothing against his will.
"Why do ya wanna know?"
"Just to make conversation... ...so?"
"...Oxfordshire...but really I'm from all over..." he told her, scuffing his toe at the warn carpet.
"I'm sure," the woman turned from the stove fully now. "What's your name?"
"What's yours?" he challenged.
"Elsa," she smiled. "And I think I like you...?"
"...Griffin," he ticked his chin up proudly.
"Feel free to have a seat, then, Griffin," she waved at her small table.
"...you said I should meet someone and you said...things," he muttered, not wanting to specifically say that she'd alluded she knew he was a Jumper.
"So I did," she nodded. "I'll see if she's here..."
Griffin tracked the woman with his eyes while she moved to the back of the RV. She knocked on a wood door and pushed it open.
"What are you doing? It's not time for a nap, you silly girl. Up! Up you get, Charlie..."
The woman was laughing, and there was some mumbling, but she returned with a young girl following behind her in a loose, knee-length skirt and a sleeveless top. Her dark hair was sleep-tussled, and she stopped by the sink when she saw a stranger at the door.
"Who're you?" she asked rather rudely.
"Who're you?" he countered without missing a beat.
"Elsa? "she looked up at the woman.
Obviously she was less than amused with this visitor and his attitude.
"This is Griffin; he's joining us for dinner. Griffin, this is my niece Charlotte."
The preteens merely stared at one another.
"Charlotte, where have your manners gone?"
"...nice to meet you, Griffin...can I get you something to drink?" she asked pleasantly.
"...I dunno why I'm here," Griffin huffed. "I don't mean to be rude, miss, but-"
"Just come on in and we'll talk..."
Both females seemed normal enough, but he also didn't like to just stroll on in. Of course, he didn't need an open door to escape, and that was a good reminder. Trying not to think "curiosity killed the cat," he stepped out of the doorway and pulled the creaky door shut behind him.
"My niece, Charlotte...she's like you. She can do what you do..." Elsa announced.
Griffin just stared at the young girl, and she snapped her head around to stare at her Aunt. Her hair flicked with the motion; perhaps she wasn't pleased to be outed- he wouldn't be.
"How do ya know about that?" Griffin recovered first to demand.
"I know the signs... I know what's possible, and I don't deny what I feel and see to be true. You are all alone, aren't you?"
Griffin kept his chin up defiantly.
"So? I can take care of myself," he insisted.
"I don't doubt it... you look well for a baby who is all alone," she smiled.
"I'm no baby," Griffin scoffed.
"...a young boy, then. Just like my niece is a young girl- her parents are gone as well."
"Aunt Elsa!" Charlotte hissed.
"She showed up at my door three years ago all alone ...my sister and brother were dead. Sound like a familiar story?"
Griffin silently nodded.
"Come eat, then," Elsa nodded, apparently considering the conversation closed for the time being. "Charlotte- set the table...go on, darling..."
She seemed much more at ease than either child, so they took lead from her cue. Charlotte started to set the table, and Griffin finally sat himself on the edge of the worn booth at the small RV table. He watched the other preteen closely like he'd see her do something that definitively confirmed what the older lady had said. He had never met another Jumper, but he supposed he wasn't shocked to run into one.
They were quiet as Elsa, humming, spooned food onto shallow plates. There was rice, chicken, and vegetables in a sauce that was spicy. It was quite nearly too hot, but it was also flavorful and tasty; he gladly accepted more when it was offered even though his lips stung slightly.
"I've never met another Jumper before," he told them when he started to slow down on the food.
"Neither has Charlie," Elsa spoke when the girl did not.
"Have you?" Griffin checked.
"...a long time ago. A boy who went to University near my home... I knew he was different as soon as we met..."
Griffin wasn't one hundred percent clear on what she meant, but he thought maybe she was about to get all romantic about something, so he didn't pry.
"Sorry I can't repay you or nothing for dinner," he sighed and pushed some sauce around his plate with his fork.
"Oh, no- it's nothing. We help each other out around here," Elsa beamed. "We share and take care of one another."
"Right ...are ya both in the circus then?"
"No, no," Elsa smiled. "The ring master is a friend ...I help with scheduling and ticket sales. Charlotte lives with me ...she helps around behind the scenes when she can. Sometimes at a campfire she entertains us all with a song at the piano," she winked at her charge.
Charlotte rolled her eyes.
"Aunt Elsa used to be a great performer. She was one of the troupers- an acrobat. She performed on aerial silks," she bragged on her Aunt's behalf.
"True," Elsa smiled humbly and stood to clear the table.
"I can!" Griffin offered quickly and took all the plates and silverware so he could rinse them in the sink.
"I'll wash them properly later; just stack them, Griffin," Elsa discouraged him.
He did as she said and perched on the edge of his booth again.
"You say you're from all over? Do you travel to stay safe?" Elsa questioned him curiously.
"I don't stay nowhere permanent, yeah," Griffin confirmed. "You, too- always moving camp, right?"
"I believe it works to ur advantage, yes," Elsa agreed. "...so does the fact that Charlotte no longer Jumps..."
"What?"
"It's been over a year, hasn't it, ladki?"
Charlotte nodded and crossed her arms moodily- it seemed like this was a topic already discussed on more than one occasion.
"She won't ...she knows people killed her mother and father because of what she can do. And we think someone almost found us in Utah a while back...she is frightened, but I know her refusal is nonsense."
"Aunt Elsa, really?" Charlotte sighed.
"Shh, shh...I will not always be around to look over you! You are my family, and I love you... you cannot be defenseless..."
Griffin felt as an intruder on this heartfelt declaration, so he just squirmed where he sat.
"I know your ability is a gift if you learn how to let it be ... ...but you don't listen to me, and I don't actually know how to help you myself. Now Griffin has gone and arrived here..." she twisted to smile at her guest again. "An answer to all of my many prayers ..."
Griffin was not sure just what to make of that ...it was quite a huge thing to say.
"That's ...nice," he told her lamely and looked at Charlotte.
She seemed uncomfortable over this, too, and maybe somewhat confused.
"I'm glad you've come to our corner of the world ...of all the places in all the earth," Elsa smiled. "It's a sign ...you are a sign and you are welcome with us as long as you like..."
"...nothin' good ever comes of that," Griffin picked at the table.
Sam. Consuelo. Mum. Dad...
"Don't be silly. Stay. Relax. Teach my girl to be free with herself," she sighed. "I need that ...but not tonight. Charlie, go show him to the campfire; introduce him. I'll be out in a bit..."
Charlotte eyed her Aunt a couple moments and then rose.
"Come on, Griffin..."
She waved him up, and he followed a little mindlessly. This whole evening was very unexpected.
"I'm sorry if she's a little... ...like that," the girl sighed and glanced back at her RV. "She's just had this in her head lately..."
"Hmm," Griffin didn't commit to anything about her Aunt.
He looked sideways at her while they walked. Another Jumper...another Jumper right in front of his eyes. One who...didn't Jump.
"So who we meetin', Charlie?"
"A few trapeze kids are our age- they're usually out. Other than that it's mostly all adults... ...and I'm usually only Charlie to people I know," she added pointedly.
"Got it," he nodded.
He wasn't sure if he should be there at all, but he'd stay- for now.