STORKED
Part One: Necessity
1-Lina
Lina Carlen wakes to the bright morning sun piercing through the blinds next to her bed. It is mornings like these that she lives for. And yet, with the recent discovery of the Unwind Order that her parents signed, a year before she is no longer eligible, Lina can't find the greatness in the morning anymore. She wonders how many more mornings she will see through these eyes. Or rather, with her eyes within her own sockets.
Lina pokes her feet out from under the covers, and slides out of bed. The cold draft coming through the room hits her like running an icicle down your back. She quickly leaps back under the covers, finding not only warmth, but another few minutes of rest.
The ten minutes of extra sleep go by too quickly. Reluctantly, Lina forces herself from bed. She goes through her morning rituals, ending up in the kitchen. Mom is already sitting at the table, eyes glued to her computer, scanning the News websites. Lina glares at her even if Mom doesn't see it.
"Morning, hun," Mom mutters.
Lina doesn't respond. Why waste precious air? Why waste anything on her? They obviously wasted seventeen years on her.
That's the thing that escapes Lina every time she thinks about it. What did she do wrong? She's not a bad kid. Sure, she got into a fight once with a guy. But he was asking for it! You don't just go around grabbing people. Just because the other girls in school put up with it, giving no other response than a high pitched "ooh!" and a snicker, didn't mean Lina would get with the program. Still, that was a long time ago. In seventh grade to be exact.
"Everything okay?" Mom notices Lina's silence.
Lina realizes she's been standing at the island in the middle of the kitchen just staring at her. "I don't know, Mom. You tell me. Is everything okay?" Her tone is sharper than she intended. She feels bad that she sounds so angry, but then remembers she has nothing to feel bad about. She didn't sign the Unwind Order.
"Excuse me?" Mom's eyes look away from the computer screen. She's taken back by the strange tone. "What did you say?"
"Forget it," Lina turns to the fridge, reaching in and grabbing anything that's at the front. As long as her message gets across. Then again, what message is she trying to convey? Lina sets the food down on the counter next to the fridge. There's cream cheese and cottage cheese, lettuce and bagels, and milk and strawberries. She puts everything else back but the cream cheese and bagels.
Mom abandons her computer. "Don't ever speak to me that way again or else-"
Lina slips two halves of a bagel into the toaster, and finishes the sentence, "Or else you'll unwind me?"
It stops her dead in her tracks, the look of surprise plastered across her face. Mission accomplished.
"You know what, I'm not really hungry." Lina leaves the toaster, escaping to the living room, scooping up her bag, and heading toward the door. Once she's outside, she feels the tears can finally come.
2-Chris and Jak
The twins wake almost simultaneously. The look up at the same time. Their eyes meet at the same time. It's weird enough to wake up and see your image reflected back at you, but it's another thing to mirror each other's movements.
"We've got to stop doing that," Chris mumbles as he gets out of bed.
"Then you get up after me," Jak responds.
"Fine with me." They both laugh.
Their eyes lock on the door. Giving each other one last glance, the twins race for the door, knowing the one who gets their first will have the upper hand in getting to the bathroom first. They get to the door at the same time, struggling to get through. The door swings open to reveal Ricky racing down the hall toward the bathroom. He's heard the commotion. The twins continue to move through the doorframe at the same time, shoulder to shoulder. Needless to say, Ricky gets to the bathroom first.
The morning rolls along as it usually does: The twins race to the bathroom and once more get stuck in the door frame until Ricky comes back to push one of them through, they make their own breakfast in the small kitchen left for them upstairs, attempt to finish any homework they forgot (which is usually all of it), and then leave for school down the fire escape.
Only, this morning, Ricky didn't follow suit.
"Coming?" Jak asks, hunching so he can fit through the window.
"Yeah," says Ricky. "Go on ahead, I'll catch up."
"Sure." Jak slides through the open window, joining Chris on the fire escape. He leaves the window open for Ricky and then the twins make their way down the two short flights of steps to the ground.
Once their feet hit the ground, Chris asks, "Is he not coming?"
Jak shrugs his backpack into position on his shoulders. "He is. Must of forgot something, I guess."
3-Ricky
Once the twins are out of sight, he goes to the stairs that lead into the Legal's den. They usually never go down there since they're not exactly what you'd call wanted. It's no mystery to either of the boys that they were storked. What is a mystery is who their real parents are. And for some reason, that's always bothered Ricky. He figures it's just something else he feels compelled to know.
So, that's why he's slowly tiptoeing down the narrow steps. He knows exactly what he's looking for. The only problem is that he doesn't know where it is, and it's that crucial detail that could mean the difference between life and death…. Not really, but in the chilly presence of the Legal's, Ricky feels exceptionally nervous. If they would build an entire other level above their house with a fully functional mini-kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms just so they wouldn't have to deal with brothers, how would they react if they found him looking through old drawers for something he's not sure they still have?
Ricky steps precariously to the edge of the last step, rocking back and forth, as if he was a child playing a game in which the carpeted floor is imagined to be covered in hot lava. Then, with the utmost caution, he touches his first foot onto the floor. Ricky makes his way through the room like someone going through a minefield.
He tries to be as quiet as a mouse when pulling out drawers and shuffling through old papers. It's complete luck when he comes across a yellowed slip of paper with curly handwriting sprawled across the small sheet. It's barely legible, but Ricky can make out the first few words in a second: This is the-
The sound of creaking wood makes Ricky look up from the paper in an instant. He can't see anyone standing near in the hall connecting the den to the dining room, but he can feel something. Craning his neck to get a better view, Ricky spots the tail end of Mother Legal, her trunk filled to the brim with enough junk to provide seven children with warmth for an Antarctic winter. She turns around and her beady eyes lock on Ricky's. "What do you think you're doing in here?" she shouts, rushing into the den.
He doesn't even bother to close the drawer before clutching the paper tightly in his hand, making a beeline for the stairs.
"You've been looking through my things!" Mother Legal screams at the sight of the drawer. "You little brat! If I wasn't the decent person I am, I would have re-storked your ungrateful butt the moment I saw you! No one would have known! I would have gotten away with it again-" She slaps her bulgy hand over her collagen injected lips that remind Ricky of a fish's. She knows she's said too much. If he so desired, Ricky could turn her in with this confession. But he has more pressing matters.
Just so he doesn't do anything, Mother Legal races after him anyway. Climbing the stairs one at a time, as fast as she can. Her arms are stretched out, reaching for him but always coming up short.
Ricky reaches the top before she does, looking for the button on the wall that activates a sliding door that would effectively keep Mother Legal out. It's only a matter of time. She's almost to the top when Ricky finds the button, pressing it with all his force. She lets out a shriek, dropping down so she doesn't get decapitated by the sliding door headed straight for her back. Ricky can hear her sliding down the steps, screaming obscenities.
With the note still clutched in his hand, he lets himself to a few moments of victory. Then, he goes to pack anything the brothers might need. They leave for good tonight. After all, he turns eighteen. And that's a big accomplishment for every kid.