"Hey Nix, where had you gone off to? Guess who was looking for you after you left!" Cleo danced out of the hall slinging her pack around her shoulders. I smiled packing my bag. "Guess who found me and then stole my trig homework!" Cleo giggled and followed me back to our apartment that we shared a ways into the city.
"What's the big deal Nix, so what? He stole your trig homework. He just wanted a date," Cleo tried to reason with me. "Cleo, I worked three hours on that assignment and my uncle still hasn't gone over it. He'll freak!" "Nix, any other girl would be happy!" "Any other girl would be one of those little suck up preps that just want to date him for the five minutes fame and I have more important things to worry about then boys!"
We stopped at the crosswalk and Cleo stamped her foot impatiently. "At least take me with you!" she pleaded. "Don't worry, I hadn't even been planning on going." The light turned and Cleo and I made our ways across the street. "How are you planning to explain this to you uncle?" Cleo asked with surprise. "I'll just do the assignment over again."
Later that night, I lay in my bed, listening to the thunder outside. My trig book lay on the floor with the nearly finished assignment on top. Sighing, I rolled over to look at the mirror. My hair was pure and simply, a big brown mess and my plain blue eyes told that I was confused. Why would he even be interested? In the next room, a babbling Cleo could be heard, chatting away on her cell phone. Slowing my breathing, I listened.
"…don't understand, why does she just blow him off… no, she's not full of herself… well she's smart enough to know how good she is… yeah, a bit of a nerd… I guess… me too… well-
I rolled over onto my stomach hugging my pillow to my head. The window was soaked with rain and for a moment, I thought about going for a walk outside in it. But then, it was too hard not to fall asleep.
Where am I? There were people all around me. I heard some kind of set of doors slam shut. Something was covering my mouth. I swiped at it groggily. Once it was gone, I found I couldn't breathe. I gagged until I felt it over my mouth once more.
"Hang on sweetie, you'll be fine."
That voice, why was it so annoying? Everything seemed to go black and for a moment everything started to burn. But I couldn't scream. Why can't I scream.
Suddenly the pain vanished. Everything was white and for a moment, I thought I was dead, but then, I realized it was just the ceiling.
"Good morning."
I turned my head to the familiar voice. "Suh-lade?" What was he doing all the way up here in Alaska? He stood up. "As you know, under normal circumstances, that would be an unacceptable way to address me."
My head began to ache. "Cir-cum-stances?" He walked over, towered above me. Slowly, the steady beat of a heart rate… the smell of sanitizer… the unusual neatness all seemed to register. I was in a hospital.
"Mom?" He stared at me. "Dad?" Nothing. "Kevin? Hayden?" I didn't want to believe it. "Kassie?" He closed his eye. I closed my eyes as well. I felt my consciousness slipping away. "You?" I opened my eyes. He was at the door. "I'm you legal guardian," was his simple response. He turned and leaned against the door frame, arms crossed, watching me. I couldn't help but close my eyes and fall into a sleep.
I awoke to a familiar gray light shining dimly through clouds outside the window. Slowly, I blinked away the sleep in my eyes and looked at the window. It was still raining. I smiled, realizing it was Saturday… no school! When I looked down beside my bed at my homework, I smiled even wider. Somebody was going to be quite confused when I didn't show up at around 2:00pm.
I could smell coffee drifting in from the hallway. Cleo must already be awake. I frowned. How was I supposed to explain this to her? Slowly, I got up and pulled my bathrobe over my grungy looking uniform. She greeted me with a cheery grin. "Good morning, it's ten, you may want to shower before two." She turned around, coffee pot in hand. She still thought I was going. Taking two mugs down, she filled them each near to the brim with the hot steaming coffee. I sat down and took my mug. I couldn't help but notice that she looked like a Lucy home maker.
"Look Cleo-
She whirled around, a warning edge in her eyes.
"I re-did my trig assignment."
Silence. To make it less awkward, I took a sip. Ouch! Bad idea, it scorched my tongue. "Why?" First she would be sad-
I took another sip of my coffee. Ouch again! She slammed her fist on the counter top. "Nicole! What is wrong with you? Are you trying to make your dating life complicated? Or are you taking playing hard-to-get to the next level?" she waited for an answer. This time I fake sipped my coffee. She snatched it away and whirled around to dump it in the sink. It made a large splash, splattering the walls.
When she turned around, I ran my hand through my greasy hair. "Umm… I'm going to go take a shower," I said, standing up, "I have a meeting with my uncle at noon and-
She rushed past me. "Yes, your taking a shower AND you are going to that fountain at two! Why do you insist on making your life miserable?" I rolled my eyes as I watched her storm into her room, slamming the door behind her.
Sighing, I went into the bathroom, turned on the hot water, and took my daily, twenty minute shower. When I was back in my room, I could hear Cleo on her cell phone again.
"Yeah… I KNOW!... couldn't be more stubborn… no, I hid her keys… box of brownies, she's on this weird diet… her uncle's idea I guess… won't figure out till the last minute…"
I laughed, knowing that she's the one that couldn't be more stubborn. Looking at my alarm clock, I saw it was 10:31. It was a forty minute drive to Uncle Slade's and at least five minutes to get to the car. I had fifty minutes.
I proceeded to go through my normal morning ritual. I dried my hair- it was naturally straight. My closet seemed to be empty and my uncle had this rule about dressing formally when we met professionally. I finally pulled out a pair of dark jeans, a white camisole, and a green cardigan sweater to go over it. He will just have to deal with the fact my washer is broken.
Finally, I was tying the laces of my running shoes, on the den couch when Cleo walked into the room. She looked at me smugly. "Where you going?" she asked, switching the TV on and slumping into the recliner. I smiled brightly. "I told you, I have a meeting with my uncle."
I got up and went into the kitchen, reaching for the brownies in the pantry. "What are you doing?" she asked, puzzled. I smiled again, pulling out a brownie and my keys at the same time. "Look, they're putting prizes in these now!" I said, holding up my keys. I picked up my backpack and walked out the door, leaving an annoyed Cleo to watch Gossip Girl.
The road to my uncle's place was not only hidden in the vast forest on the outskirts of Jump City, but it was very, very slick. I nearly ran into a tree five times. My uncle would kill me if I wrecked his car. The trip was long and very uneventful. The only thing to see outside the windows were trees… until you got to the edge of Wilson Property, where there were two memorials. I pulled over on the side of the road and walked over to them, ignoring the slight drizzle.
Slade had never told me who the first one was for. I never asked. But the second one was more familiar to me.
"Wintergreen?" I asked.
"Yes Miss Deme?" he replied, looking down at me.
"Why does uncle not come to the service?" I asked.
It was just me and Wintergreen. "He is busy Miss Deme. The Teen Titans have caused him trouble again."
"Why do they always cause him trouble?" I asked again. They never discussed this with me for some reason.
"They think he is a bad man."
"How long have they been dead?" I asked, looking at the large, polished gray stone in front of me. Wintergreen looked at it too. "It's been two months today since the fire," he answered. "Why did I live?" I asked, watching an ant crawl over the white orchid in front of the stone. "Because you are a strong girl."
I felt my eyes burn with the threat of tears. But it couldn't be possible. How could I still have tears?
"I shouldn't be alive! I heard the doctors and the firefighters. They said I should have died with the rest of them, that I should have been the first. The fire started in my room!" Amazingly my voice didn't shake. Wintergreen put a hand on my shoulder. "Maybe you have a guardian angel." I looked back to the stone. "I think I started the fire Wintergreen…"
In memory of Marcus, Lucille, Hayden, Kevin, and Kassie Deme
May they be at rest
"You stop here on this day each year," commented a weary Wintergreen. "It's been five years today," I answered. He put his hand on my shoulder. "I shouldn't have survived," I said thoughtfully.