Jhondie
I was glad that Mrs. Alvarez didn't stay too much longer. There was more conversation, but I wasn't really participating in it, just polite nods here and there. Maybe I offended her a little, but I really didn't care. I couldn't stop thinking about Eva, and the night we ran. She had told us over and over that we were better, that the guards couldn't hold us back. Zack was the first to believe her, and for so long he was the only one who would physically attack a guard. Even so none of us had ever even dreamed of threatening Lydecker himself. Even after that day in the woods, after we could all tell that we had scared the hell out of Lydecker, she was still the only one with the courage to threaten him. Oh, some of us had started to defy him in little ways, like getting up at 5:03 AM and other little things, but she was the only one who would have pulled a gun on him. I missed her. I missed them all.
After a while, she finally left with lots of hugging and promises to come to Mexico soon. She warmly said goodbye to me, and I was sure I replied in kind, so I guessed I couldn't have offended her to dreadfully. The twins ran upstairs to do whatever it was they did up there, and the three of us left standing ended up in the den. Justin and I plopped down on the couch, and Mr. Carter came in a few minutes later with some bottles.
"Don't you dare tell your mother I let you have this," he said warningly, handing me a beer. I shrugged, starting to feel a little better.
"Never seen it before in my life," I replied. He smiled back, and then hoisted his bottle.
"To the end of another Thanksgiving dinner," he toasted. That was something we could all drink to. A few swallows and I was feeling a little more mellow. Justin had his arm around me, and I could feel the tension from the day draining away. It wasn't the dinner I had envisioned, but it was over now, and all in all…it was going to be a hell of a dinner before this one got topped. I thought of Denise covered in goo and had to bite back a laugh. That was one for the record books. Tomorrow…tomorrow was going to get better. Do a little work, and do a lot of something else. I thought it would be a pretty equal division of time.
"Hey, Jhon!" Brit called out, bouncing down the stairs and running into the den. Brit coming in with a bounce was a lot like a tornado. You didn't know where it was going to touch down, and you had no idea what was going to happen when it did. Bryan was right behind her. I had a feeling I was getting ganged up on.
"You really Catholic or just playing with Nana?" she yelled.
"She's right here," Mr. Carter said reprovingly. That translated to lower the volume to jet engine decibel levels.
"I really am," I said, wondering why it was such a big deal.
Brit grinned triumphantly at Bryan. "See! Right at St. Andrew's!" He glared at her.
"No way!" he refuted. There was no way to decipher their conversation. "I get to pick!"
"It's the girl's job," she said snottily. He jumped at her and they tore back up the stairs. We could only watch them go and wonder what the hell had just been decided. I liked Brittany, I really did, but she was like dealing with live ordinance. You didn't want to be anywhere near the explosion.
Justin laughed. "Just when I think I know you, you find another way to surprise me." I had to grin at that.
"Get used to it," I teased back.
He glanced up at his dad, eyes twinkling with mischievousness. "Hey, you got something on your face," he said, motioning to above his eyebrow. Mr. Carter reached up and wiped at his face, and while his eyes were covered for a moment, Justin leaned over and kissed me soundly. I know I blushed, but Mr. Carter was grinning. Those two were a dangerous tag team on poor little me. And I had two more days of it.
Justin
"So when did you get all religious?" I asked Jhondie, waiting for the punch line. I had never seen her in a church, and just couldn't imagine her in a confessional. If she ever told a priest everything, the whole story of her life, he'd probably have a heart attack. I almost did when I found out about Manticore, and I still knew very little about it. Jhondie didn't like to talk about it, and I didn't want to push her.
"Hey," Dad said to me, "it was one thing your grandmother couldn't complain about." Very true. He looked at Jhondie curiously. I could feel her tense in anticipation of the questioning. I knew that kind of tense. You couldn't see it in her face, but I could feel it in her body. The only way to get her like that was for the "M" word to be mentioned. "Does your family not practice, or," he started imitating Nana, "are you one of those children with no place for God in their lives?"
We both laughed. "Actually, my family isn't Catholic," Jhondie said with an embarrassed little grin. "You'd think for all of the arguing I went through to get permission to join the church, I'd be better, but I'm not the best of Catholics." She shrugged. "I go when I can, or when I want to, or whenever."
I guess she could see the curiosity in both Dad and me. Dad was wondering why a kid would fight so hard to join a church. I was wondering where it came from at all. To be honest, I had been a little shocked to discover she believed in God at all. Most people wondered where they came from. She knew for certain that her life was far from a miracle. Unless, of course, you counted escaping and leading a normal life as the miracle.
"You know I was really sick when I was young," she said more than asked. Her hand tightened around mine. Yeah, sick. The place where she was, that was the sickness. But Dad thought she was referring to leukemia, what the original Katherine Harris died of. "Anyways, one night, one of the boys I was in the, um, hospital with, he started to get really bad. We were all worried that something was going to happen to Jack, and he…" she broke off for a moment, drowning in a well of memories. I could just imagine what happened to Jack. Actually, that made four names besides hers that I knew. Zack, Max, Bryn, and now Jack.
"He was getting so sick," she said in a small voice. She looked like she was about to start crying. I squeezed her hand, and she gave me a little smile. "Anyways, this orderly came in and he saw Jack, and…he gave him something. He told Jack to pray to her and she'd help, and then he left and we all ran over there to see. It was a prayer card, and it had a picture of Mary on the back." There was bitterness in her smile, and I knew there was a hell of a lot she was leaving out. "Jack started to feel better, and we all thought she had helped."
She looked up at us. "I know it seems silly now, but I didn't know who she was, but I thought she was really going to save us all. One of the younger ones just knew that she was there for just us and that she was going to get us all out of there. I eventually did, and then it just stuck with me, and when we moved to Las Vegas, I started going to church." She shrugged. "I haven't been quite as devout these last few years, but that's life."
"What happened to Jack?" Brit asked from the door. For once she had been quiet.
"He died," Jhondie said flatly. Brit's eyes got huge.
"How many of your friends died?" she asked. Kids never think that people they know can really die. Dying only happened to adults or people on TV.
"Too many," Jhondie said sadly. She got up quickly. "Ok," she said with a smile. "Enough depressing everyone for the holiday, I'm going to throw this away, anyone want anything while I'm in the kitchen?"
"I'm fine," Dad said. I could tell he felt a little bad for bringing this up. He had no idea how bad it really was for her. Jhondie trotted out, looking just fine as she went into the kitchen. Brit turned to follow her, but I was already up, and grabbed her shoulder.
"But she's upset!" Brit protested.
"That's what I'm here for," I reminded her. I waited a few seconds, and then followed Jhondie into the kitchen. She was standing at the window looking out into the dark. I couldn't see much out there, but night didn't bother her at all. She didn't acknowledge me coming in, but I knew she had to have heard it anyways. I walked up behind her and wrapped my arms around her.
Maybe she was expecting me. She didn't seem surprised at all that I came in there. She should know that I was there for her by then. She turned in my arms so that she could have her head on my shoulder, letting me hold her tightly. I could feel her trembling slightly.
"They took him a few days later," she whispered. I was not expecting her to say another word about what happened, and wasn't about to interrupt her. "We were in line up for maneuvers," she continued. "He had a seizure and collapsed, and we couldn't hide him. They dragged him right off of the field, and he never woke up again. None of the ones they took ever woke up again."
Jesus Christ. No wonder she was terrified of a seizure. That was one of those things that stuck with you for a while. "Did you ever find out for sure what happened?" I dared to ask. "You're sure they were killed when taken away?" I looked into her face, wondering if she'd ever hoped they were still alive somewhere.
"Max snuck out of the block that night, and she…" The sudden fury on her face almost made me step back. "She saw them doing the autopsy," Jhondie hissed. "She heard everything," she said. I wasn't sure what that meant, and I wasn't going to ask. The fury drained slowly, and she put her head back on my shoulder.
"Did I sound like an idiot out there?" she asked finally. I smiled.
"Not at all," I reassured her. "They all think you were talking about having cancer."
"It was a cancer," she said flatly. "One of the spirit instead of the body, but it was just as destructive. They wanted to beat us down, take all of ourselves away, become a little machine for them."
I tilted her chin up so that I could look into her eyes. "You're cured now."
She looked sad at that. "No," she said. "It's in remission."
I kissed her firmly. "You my love," I said in a do-not-argue tone, "are cured of what tried to make you anything less than the human being in front of me." She smiled for real. I didn't know if she really believed me or not, but it was a start.
