DISCLAIMER! I do not own Tuck Everlasting. It belongs to Natalie Babbitt.

Chapter 1

Life after the Tucks

"Mom, mom. No, mom please don't die," I said.

"I'm not going to die, sweetie,"

She said. I didn't believe it. Not for one second. She looked so pale, and so weak.

"Leave your mother alone Jess. She needs to rest."

"But, dad. She needs me. She's so weak, and pale," I said. They didn't understand. I needed to be with her."

"Your right, she does need you but she also needs rest. Let her rest and you can come back when she's awake. OK?" He said.

"Fine, but when she's awake you can't kick me out," I said.

I was not going to leave my mom after she was rested.

"That's fine," He said.

We started to head for the door when dad all of a sudden spun around really fast.

"Oh, I almost forgot. You know how our anniversary is in three months?" He asked.

Where was this going?

"Yeah," She said. She looked really scared. I wonder why?

"Well, I was thinking that if you're better by then, which you probably will be, then we could go to the Eiffel tower. If you're still weak then we could take the elevators," He said.

Oh no, Wrong thing to say. Whenever someone mentioned the Eiffel tower mom would grasp a small little bottle, which was on a chain hanging on her neck. I have always wondered why. I asked her about it once. She had told me that she would tell me one day. When I would understand. I focused on mom. She also looked sad when someone mentioned the Eiffel Tower.

"Maybe," She said and started coughing.

"Time to go," I said dragging him out of the room.

Dad never realized that she looked sad. It was hard to not see it. She looked like she was in pain. All of us saw it but he didn't.

"Is mom alright?" Miller asked.

"Yeah she's alright," I said quietly.

"What? I couldn't hear you, Jess. I know you're usually quiet but you need to speak up," He said. He was obviously in a bad mood.

"I said she's fine. Sheesh. Chill out," I screamed. "Is that loud enough?" I asked.

"Yeah, that is loud enough. Too loud in fact," He said and just to prove his point he put a finger in his ear and pulled out some earwax.

"Oh look. Another one for your collection," I said sarcastically.

"It's not a collection. I'm making a candle out of earwax," He said.

"I have such a weird brother," I complained. "

Oh yeah, well I have such a dorky sister," He said.

I really hoped this wouldn't turn into a dissing battle. He knows he won't win. I'm the dissing Queen. "Why do you even try? No one can beat the dissing Queen," I said, proudly.

Maybe too proudly put I don't care. I like watching them try. No one has ever beaten me.

"I can beat you. I came up with really good ones," He said.

"Really? Lay them on me," I said.

"OK. I lied. I didn't come up with any. I just wanted to see if you would be scared," He confessed. "Well, I'm not. You're such an idiot."

"Stop it both of you. You need to be quite so your mother can sleep. Jess, why don't you go clean up your room?" Dad interrupted.

"Fine. I'll give mom 2 hours. Then I'm going back to mother," I screamed at him.

"Do not talk back to me young lady. You will go in and see your mom when I say so. Now go up and clean your room. Now!"

I hate it when dad gets mad. He gets into such a bad mood and I can never win a fight with him. I headed up to my room. I didn't feel like cleaning it so I took a box out from under my bed. I always look at this stuff when I'm bored. In the box contained a whole bunch of photos and a journal. I took out the photos first. No one knew I had this box. When we were moving my mom tried to hide it in the basement and she hasn't gone down there since then. I found it when I was looking for the Halloween costumes one year. I have hidden the box under my bed ever since then. I asked my mom about it and she told me that the box went along with the bottle. I have always been a curious person but I didn't push her. I hate to see my mom sad. The pictures were very old. They were from like 20 years ago. There were a whole bunch of pictures of her family. My grandparents and all that, but there was two pictures at the bottom. One was of a whole other family. At the bottom was in scripted "Tuck family." The other included one of the sons in the other family and it looked to be his wife and kids. At the bottom was in scripted the names. The kids wee named boa and Anna. The mom and dad were just named mom and dad. I loved looking at this picture. I always held it when I took out this box. The picture dated to like 27 years ago so it must be really old. The last thing I took out from the box was the journal. I loved reading it. I turned to a page that was dated back 20 years ago. This is what it read "Today was the day I helped the Tucks escape from jail. I love the tucks so much. I still can't believe I helped them do that but the look on the commanders face was priceless when he found out I was there instead of Mae Tuck. I really miss them. Especially Jessie. I keep thinking about what he told me to do. I have almost decided not to do it. I have found this really cute guy I really like. I will sure miss Jessie, but when I'm older and married I might name one of my kids after him. If it's a girl I think I'll name her Jess. If it's a boy I'll name him Jessie. I don't know if I'll ever see the Tucks again but if I do I will probably be older and they won't be able to do anything about it. I love Jessie but I have to think of my family. I can't just watch them die. I don't know if I would be able to do that. I'll keep the bottle on a chain and wear it as a necklace incase I change my mind, but for now I'm stuck with this path. I hope tat Jessie will be able to forgive me. Love, Winnie." I love this entry because it mentions my name. I have asked my mom before why she wanted to name me Jess and she said she just liked the name. When I found this stuff I finally knew. I don't know why she keeps this stuff from us.

I looked at the clock then. It had been 3 hours since I left mom. I put the stuff away and shoved the box under my bed. Then I ran down the stairs.

"I thought you would never emerge."

Dad said not looking up from his newspaper.

"Is mom awake? Can I see her? Does she look better, worse?"

I can't believe I got caught up in the Journal again.

"Calm down Jess. Yes she's awake. Yes you can see her, and for your last question. Well I'm just not sure."

Dad always looked worried when he talked about mom's health. I would usually try to figure out what it was but I was too curious about mom to try and figure it out. I ran into mom's room faster then a bull that saw red.

"Mom, are you awake?"

I looked at her. She looked like she was asleep but dad had said that she was awake.

"Yes, Jess. I am awake. I'm just tired." She looked really tired.

"Didn't you just wake up from a long nap? How could you still be tired?"

Then again, mom was sick and she seemed to always be tired.

"It's just because of my sickness. It makes me really tired."

I could tell. She looked even more miserable then when I had last seen her.

"You don't look so good mother," I commented.

"Yeah, I know. Hey, Jess, do you want to know a secret?"

I noticed her fingering the bottle again. Oh my gosh! She's going to tell me the secret.

"Sure mom. Whatever makes you happy."

I tried not to sound too eager but I just couldn't hold in the excitement.

"Calm down, Jess. I can see you're excited but knowing this secret can be dangerous. If I wouldn't have kept this secret from your father many people would get hurt. It is really important. Do you understand me? You can never tell anyone."

I was shocked. It was rally that dangerous? I didn't know if I wanted to know the secret now but my curiosity got the best of me and nodded.

"Yes, I understand mother." I can't believe I was actually going to know the secret!

"Will you go get the box from under your bed and bring me the pictures of the Tucks?"

How did she know they were under there? I stood there motionless and staring at her in awe. She has stuck in her bed for over a month now so how could she know?

"Yes, I know about the box. I'll explain everything after you get me the pictures."

Wow. She was good. I ran out of the room and up the stairs. I burst into my room to find Miller digging in my closet.

"What are you doing? You shouldn't be in my room. Get out." Why was he in my room?

"I was…. I'm just…."

He was always like this when he got caught doing something he wasn't supposed to.

"You were just trying to find out what to say to get you out of trouble. Yeah I know all of your tiny little schemes," I said. I love it when I'm right and he can't do anything about it.

"Fine. I was looking for that box that you always get out when you think I'm not looking. I can never see where you put it though cause dad always catches me and I beg him to not tell you. Where is it? Please tell me."

I hated it when he wined. He was so annoying!

"Fine, but then I'm going to find another hiding place for it."

I knelt down and reached under my bed. I pulled out the box, opened it, and grabbed the pictures. Then I shoved my brother out the door and shut it. I put the box back under my bed but this time I hid it so you couldn't see it if you just looked under my bed. I reopened the door and ran past my brother. I ran into mom's room and shut the door.

"Wow, took you long enough. Just kidding Jess. Come sit next to me."

I loved it when mom joked around with me. I took off my coat, and with a smile, I sat next to mom.

"Jess, I'm going to tell you a story of a wonderful family. They are known as the Tucks."