The Calls

In the neighboring house, Jamie was feeling completely and utterly distraught, and it was no secret to either of his parents. As they sat at the dining table, under the dimmed light, eating their dinner, it was practically stamped on his face; he was red-eyed and visibly heartbroken.

"She'll call," he said, though the uncertainty was clear in his voice.

"I wanted to think she'd changed," said his father, though Jamie quickly cut him off angrily.

"No, you didn't." He paused. "But she did change. Just not enough."

Reverend Grenadier sighed, putting his fork down on the table beside his plate. "James, you're not mad at me. You're mad at Carmen―"

"I am mad at you!" Jamie cut him off furiously. "And at Ayden! And the universe! And God!" His tone then took on a quieter volume. "I don't even know where to put all my anger."

"Honey, that's normal," said his mother. "God accepts your anger. He won't punish you."

"By making me ill, he is punishing me!" He took a deep breath. "I just don't know what for," he added quietly before fleeing to his room. He pushed open the curtains from his window and gazed out at Ayden's, which had its drapes covering it. He sighed. Please, Ayden...

But she was even worse.

She hadn't spoken to anyone. She'd forgotten all about her sessions with her psychiatrist and ignored his calls, or anyone's really. She was distraught, and she felt so for days.

She'd stay up late. Working, studying, reading on the computer. It didn't matter what she was doing, it's the feeling she got. She'd be tired, her eyes would burn, and she'd have the gritty feeling one usually gets after not sleeping for a while. She'd try to crawl into her bed, close her eyes for a couple of minutes while waiting for sleep to overcome her, but it almost never did. She'd try to get a little moisture back into her eyes. That couldn't hurt anything, right? But it did. It was like asking a corpse to come back to life. Like telling a broken mirror to put its pieces back together and show people's reflections without a crack of its previous break. Like telling a bird with a broken wing to fly when it clearly couldn't, when all it could do is fall. And that's what she was doing.

She was falling.

Like stepping off a cliff, she was in free fall, though her body wasn't even moving. Then, like a bungee cord snapping back, she was jerking awake, heart thumping a little faster, blinking quickly, wondering what just happened...

She searched that feeling online.

Professionals— doctors call it a hypnic jerk. A natural reaction, they say, to your brain thinking you're dying, when your breathing and heart rate slow as you fall asleep. What the doctors don't know is, her brain was right. Every time she let herself nod off, every time she felt that 'falling' sensation... She was not falling. She was being pulled down.

And one day... her brain won't be able to pull her back up. Her inner demons... they will have her, and that's what she was afraid of. That's what made her second-guess everything she thought and made her so indecisive.

Thursday, though, was when she decided to finally leave the house to do something for herself, to get her mind off of everything. She had gone to the park and walked on its outskirts as she had no idea what to do for herself alone. Finally deciding only one person remained that could make her feel better and was actually nearby her current location, she headed to the orphanage on the outskirts of the city to pay Emmaline a visit.

Emmaline Jensen was the owner of the only orphanage in the city. The only reason Ayden met her was because she had made a deal with the police department: she would do any type of community service if nothing she did with Jake and his crew was put into file. To her surprise, they agreed and even gave her the chance to choose what community service she would be doing. There were many, but most were out of the city. The orphanage was the best one there was, according to her, but a week after she had started, she instantly regretted it. She had to stay over for a few weeks, as it was quite far from her home, so she could learn more about how to work there for the next five months. She hated it the first week as there were kids her age who would tease her about anything and everything, then steal her things.

"Hey, look what the new girl brought with her."

Ayden groaned, chasing the boy around in order to get her possession back. "Jackson, give it back." He laughed. "Give it to me!"

Emmaline, the owner of the orphanage, walked in and stood by the door, crossing her arms over her chest. "Give it back, Jackson. The camera is Carmen's, not yours. We respect property in this household, don't we, Jackson?"

The young boy grunted. "Yes, ma'am," he replied grouchily, giving her Ayden's camera.

She grabbed the camera and walked over to Ayden with a warm smile on her face. "Here you go, Carmen." Ayden gave her a wary look. "It's okay, sweetie. I know you're new here, but you're gonna be just fine," Emmaline encouraged, and Ayden finally took the camera from her hand, though the wariness in her eyes did not falter. "Okay, lights out in fifteen! Don't forget to brush your teeth!"

Jackson, the boy who had been bothering Ayden advanced toward her the moment Emmaline was gone. "It's your choice, sweetie. You can either give me that camera tomorrow or I can make your life a living hell."

Ayden gave him a humorless smile. "Or I can just beat the crap out of you if you don't leave me alone." She took a threatening step toward him. "My life has already been hell, so trust me when I say you do not want to find out what I am capable of."

And with that said, she walked out.

Having had enough, she had packed her stuff and planned to run away and return home, but Emmaline had caught her.

"I made us some cocoa. Wanna join me?"

Startled, Ayden let out a small gasp, blinking a few times, before slowly turning around. "No."

Emmaline shrugged, from where she sat on an armchair in the living room. "Suit yourself." She took a sip of her cocoa. "You know, by my account, there are fifteen separate subconscious signs or tells that a child displays when they're going to run away. In the brief time, we were together, you showed seven. Not that I blame you. When I was younger, I did the same thing."

Ayden's brows furrowed in surprise. "You ran away?"

"I tried to. People in my life, they, uh... they intervened. Do you wanna know why?"

Ayden sighed. "Does it matter?"

"It did to me," Emmaline replied with a somewhat stiff nod. "They stopped me because they cared about me."

"Lucky you," Ayden muttered.

Emmaline shook her head and smiled. "No. Lucky you. Because now, though it's only temporary, you're living under my roof, and I'm gonna care for you the way they cared for me."

Ayden let out a humorless chuckle. "Yeah, well, don't waste your time. I'm not interested."

Emmaline smiled tightly. "Hmm. Suit yourself. Go. I won't stop you."

Ayden's eyes narrowed in surprise and wariness. "You won't?"

"No. Go on," Emmaline replied, motioning toward the door. "More cocoa for me. I understand how difficult it must be to live under the same roof as someone like Jackson, who's deathly afraid of spiders. Any spiders, really. Small spiders. Big spiders. Even the rubber ones I keep in my desk. In the drawer on the right. Behind the box of staples. Poor Jackson. It's a shame you can't stay, Carmen."

Ayden pursed her lips as she looked at Emmaline for a moment. "Maybe... maybe I could hang around for one more day."

Emmaline smiled, warmth making its way back into her smile, eyes twinkling as they gazed at Ayden. "Works for me."

So, Emmaline managed to make Ayden reconsider her run and eventually got her to stay for the weeks she had to, and keep coming for the next five months.

Emmaline was an amazing woman, Ayden discovered. In the short amount of time the young girl had known her, they bonded quite well, and the young girl saw her as the mother her own didn't try to be. As opposed to her mother who ignored her, Emmaline was kind, gentle and... she listened. That's why that Thursday, that fourteenth of July, Ayden went to visit her.

They spent the whole day together and Ayden was really starting to feel better. They went to an amusement park that night, and Ayden finally laughed after what felt like forever to her when Emmaline dragged the young girl to play a claw machine. Ayden laughed again when she began. She had no idea how to play as she had never played before. In fact, she had never gone to a funfair in her life or any place where there were such games.

"Ooh! What do I do? Help!" she exclaimed in a playful tone.

Emmaline laughed. "Don't look at me! You're 'driving'!"

Ayden shook her head and sighed, giving up as she couldn't catch the dog plushie she wanted. "Oh! I can't do it."

"Concentrate," Emmaline told her softly.

Ayden looked at her for a moment, then nodded, turning back to the game. "Okay. Okay."

"Okay. Trust your instincts and let it rip. Don't let go. Win."

Nodding to herself, the girl concentrated as hard as she did on a Macroeconomics test and grinned when she finally caught the puppy she wanted with the claw. "Ah! I got it!" she squealed, feeling like a little girl again.

"Yes! Let's see what you won."

Ayden popped open the small plastic egg tied around the dog plushie's neck and found a cute ring inside of it. She smiled. "I love it."

Emmaline smiled at her. "See, this is a great lesson, Ayden. If you push yourself and you ignore the flickering lights and the distractions of this world, you can accomplish anything."

Ayden chuckled at the woman. "Emma, it's a plastic ring, not a scholarship to McGill."

"I know, but you're a special girl, Ayden." The girl smiled; she had only ever been called special by her father. That was the only thing she'd understand as she didn't speak French at the time. "And someday, you're gonna surprise everybody with your extraordinary gifts."

Ayden chuckled again and shook her head. "Okay, now you're going overboard."

"I'm serious," Emmaline insisted, though it was hard to take her seriously as she was smiling. "I'm glad I got to know you." Emmaline beamed with excessive and genuine praise while shedding tears of happiness.

Ayden's smile faded into a frown when she noticed that. "Emmaline, are... are you crying?"

"No, just... a little emotional."

Ayden stared at her for a moment before blurting out, "My time's being cut off."

"What?"

"That's why we spent the day together."

Emmaline shook her head. "No."

"It's why you're crying."

Emmaline gave out a small laugh and shook her head. "No. You couldn't be more wrong."

Ayden tilted her head to the side and looked at the woman curiously. "Then what is it?"

"I'm... I'm filling out the paperwork to adopt you. We're gonna be a family."

Ayden froze. Adopt her? How could that even work? She must be joking. Ayden looked at her and saw no sign that indicated that it was a joke. She blinked and looked at her in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"I know that it's a big leap. But I—"

"No, it's not that it's— I have a family already, and—"

"They don't make you happy, Carmen. You've said so yourself. Your own mother and brother don't know you're a fifteen-year-old in college, studying to become a lawyer." Emmaline sighed and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders. "I know it's a big leap," she repeated. "And you may not look at me as a mother. I know how hard that is. But... I... I promise I will be the best big sister that you could ever hope for."

Ayden looked at her, eyes glistening with tears. "I...I love you," she whispered.

Emmaline smiled and brought her into a hug, kissing her forehead. "I love you, too."

With that, they pulled out away and shared another smile before making their way down the street toward the bus stop. As they waited, Ayden sighed, shoving her hands into her pockets; it was awfully chilly for a summer night in July.

"It's nights like this I wish I just had the power to poof home like Harry Potter," the girl said, sighing again. "If I was like him, I could be standing here in the cold one minute, and home soaking in the tub in the next."

Emmaline chuckled at the girl. "That would be something, wouldn't it? Ayden... Ayden, do you remember how much fun we had in the arcade two weeks ago?"

Ayden rummaged through her head for a moment, then grinned as she remembered. "Of course. Best day I've had in a long time, apart from today. How could I forget?"

Emmaline bit her lip, a thoughtful look on her face as her gaze locked with the young girl's. "And do you remember how the lights in the game flickered right before you won?"

Ayden thought for a second, then chuckled, nodding, making nothing of it. "Yeah. Weird."

"What if it was more than just weird? What if it meant that you were on the cusp of a great self-revelation? I think it's time."

Ayden gave her a puzzled look and only grew more confused when Emmaline led her into the middle of the road. Ayden looked at her with wide panicked eyes when she noticed a car coming their way. She tried to pull away, but Emmaline wouldn't let go.

"What are you doing?!"

"Stop the car."

Ayden gave her a disbelieving look. "What?!"

Emmaline's grip tightened on her arm and it was starting to hurt. "Trust your instincts. Do it! Stop the car!"

By now, Ayden had tears in her eyes. "Let go of me!" she shrieked as she yanked her arm out of Emmaline's grasp and turned to run away.

"Carmen! I'm sorry," the woman called after her.

"Are you crazy?! You almost killed me!" Ayden shouted, her breathy starting to get hard. She had to calm down before she had another asthma attack, but it was kind of hard while being in the presence of a crazy lady.

"I made a mistake. When I was younger, I... I had a traumatic experience that unleashed a power that I... I didn't even know that I had."

"What are you talking about?" Ayden demanded, now wheezing.

"I thought the arcade was a sign that you were coming into your own."

"You think I have powers? Like Harry Potter?" Ayden cried out.

Emmaline shook he head, trying to approach the girl. "No, Carmen. That's fiction. What you have is more real and more powerful than you can possibly imagine."

"Great. I should've known the only person willing to take me from my misery would turn out to be a nut job," Ayden said in disbelief.

Emmaline shook her head once again and reached forward to place a hand on the girl's shoulder. "No. Carmen..."

Ayden pulled further away. "Don't touch me!" The tears were falling from her eyes now. She was hot and cold, and confused, and she couldn't breathe correctly, nor think properly. "I thought..." Shaking her head in disbelief, she spun on her heels and sprinted away, ignoring Emmaline's calls.

"Carmen, wait. Ayden! Ayden! Ayden!"

One new thing to turn her back on.

She found herself in the hospital the next morning, her only visitor being Marion. Though she would've preferred having no visitors at all, or rather no one being aware of her being there, she was grateful it was only Marion as she knew she could trust her to keep it between them.

"You're lucky I was the one to pick up the phone," said the young woman.

The teenager sighed, leaning her head back onto the sickeningly stuffed pillows; they were almost suffocating her by being so big. "I know. Thanks for not telling my brother."

Marion stared at her for a moment, leaning her chin on the palm of her hands, her elbows propping them up as they rested on her thighs. "What happened?" she asked quietly.

There was a disturbing silence that lasted for about two minutes before Ayden decided to confess.

"A while back... after they took Jake, I made a deal with the department to keep our stunt out of my file, basically to not make me a file or put my name in any other. In exchange for that, I had to do some community service, though I was allowed to choose. I chose the orphanage on the outskirts of town since it was the closest place."

Marion nodded, still not understanding what it had to do with the previous night. "What does that have to do with whatever happened last night?"

Ayden sighed. "Remember the three weeks I was away?"

Marion nodded. "The school field trip?"

The young girl shook her head. "I lied. It wasn't a school field trip. I was supposed to stay at the orphanage to familiarize myself with the environment and work I'd be attending to for the next five months. I almost didn't last long. My first week was hell. My things kept getting stolen and I kept being teased. At the end of that week, I had packed and was ready to sneak out to come back home, but the owner caught me."

"She convinced you to stay?"

"She convinced me to reconsider my leave. She knew that I was planning on changing community service, but she changed my mind; told me she used to be teased as well and all that. We actually bonded throughout those three weeks and the next few months."

"You were done?"

"No. Yesterday was going to be my third month. I went to spend the day with her to clear my thoughts. Woman turned out being a nut job."

Marion stiffened. "She did something to you." Though it wasn't a question.

Ayden chuckled humorlessly. "Nicely deduced."

"Ayden, what did she do to you?"

"Well… everything was fine until a while after we left the amusement park. We talked, and she told me how she was planning on adopting me—"

"Adopting you? But you already—"

"I know, and I told her that, but she said she'd find a way, and, of course, I was ecstatic... until we were on our way home."

"What happened?"

Ayden pursed her lips, thinking for a moment before liberating; she explained everything that had happened the previous night, from the moment they met up and went to the fair together, to the moment she tried to kill her. After that short yet long revelation, Ayden did not speak, nor did she spare Marion another glance after they left the hospital.

As the days went by, she avoided her and her brother like a plague, just as much as she avoided answering her psychiatrists' calls. They weren't the only ones she was trying to avoid. Her friends, her classmates she'd gotten pretty close to over teamed projects... well, that was mainly because she was often falling asleep in class, but can you blame her? Summer is probably the worst time to go to school; the hot weather gets you more tired as you're tempted to stay up all night. That was what happened to her the next Monday. She stayed up all night, though, of course, it wasn't like your regular teen that stayed up all night partying. No. She stayed up all night in order to avoid having nightmares. Unfortunately for her, her all-nighters began to catch up to her.

On the nineteenth of July, she found herself falling asleep in class. Her eyes were drooping, and her head was slipping from the palm of her hand as the woman at the front of the classroom was going on and on about... something. The young girl couldn't tell anymore, seeing as she was drifting in and out of consciousness.

"Miss Jaubert!"

The girl jumped from her seat and almost fell off, causing few of her classmates to snicker once they realized she had been snoozing.

She blinked twice before giving her teacher a genuinely innocent look. "Wha— I mean, yes, Mrs. Marin?"

"Since you seem to be so interested in my class, mind repeating what I was just saying?"

The girl bit her lip and helplessly glanced over her neighboring classmate. The boy shrugged as if saying he wasn't paying attention either, making her sigh.

"Er... you were saying... that laws are rules that bound our behavior... um, they're effective and must have an enforcement, in other words, a penalty given by authority agencies... they're enforced, a domestic law being an example of an enforced law... but there are also non-enforced laws, like religious laws, which no one necessarily obeys...?"

Mrs. Marin stared at the girl with wide eyes for a moment as well as the other fifty students in her classroom. She was fifteen after all, in a college classroom filled with young adults; she shouldn't even know any of what she just said― she shouldn't even be there!

"I... well, that is a correct answer, Miss Jaubert, but we didn't... we haven't reached that subject yet— it's due for next class. We were talking about the Canadian constitution."

"Oh..." The girl could feel a blush creeping onto her brown cheeks. "Uh... well, then the Canadian constitution is the... hybrid type?"

Mrs. Marin smiled and nodded, though she was still in shock from her student's previous answer. "And what is a hybrid constitution?"

A blond perky girl, whose seat was right behind the fifteen-year-old, raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss Russo?"

"A hybrid constitution is like the British constitution and a general constitution put together."

"That is correct, do you have anything to add, Miss Jaubert?" the professor pressed, looking at the girl, who was no longer paying attention to the lesson once more.

"Huh?" she asked puzzled, making Dinah Russo face-palm herself at her friend's confusion.

"Tell me, Miss Jaubert, the types of constitutions within the hybrid constitution?"

The fifteen-year-old fought back a groan. She knew the teacher actually liked her, but couldn't she give her a break? She had enough attention placed upon her as it was, being the youngest in the entire CEGEP, she didn't need any more.

"Well... there's the unwritten, meaning... it can't be found in any legal document and it's made up of volumes of laws of parliament like back in 1215, the Magna Carta, and its laws are based on centuries of practice like common laws, which is the case of the British constitution, and then there's the written, which is the opposite and its laws are higher and harder to change."

"That is correct..." Mrs. Marin frowned, then shook her head as if to clear her mind. "I want you all to look up, from the cases I listed out for you, the Lord's Day act, the Oakes case and the Sikh student's case for next class— course dismissed."

"Finally!" Dinah sighed.

"I know," the other girl replied, shoving her stuff into her bag, before slinging it over her shoulder. As both girls started making their way towards the exit of the classroom, Mrs. Marin stopped the younger one.

"Yes, Mrs. Marin?"

"Can I speak to you privately for a moment?"

The girl glanced back at Dinah, who nodded encouragingly. "I'll be right outside." With that said, Dinah walked out leaving both women alone.

"Carmen," the stern woman began. The girl fought back another groan; she hated being called by her first name. "I must say, I find it quite disrespectful when you drift off during my classes."

God, she makes me feel like a high schooler, the girl thought. Though, technically, I should be one...

"I know, I'm sorry. I know I'm not in high school anymore and that is unacceptable, but—"

"I've noticed it has only started recently." That shut her up. "Are there any problems back at home that have rendered you to quietness and isolation?"

The girl bit her lower lip. "I... er... I can't... I have to go, Mrs. Marin." She sent her an apologetic smile then quickly walked out before her politics teacher could add anything.

"So, what was that about?" Dinah asked as they left the building. The fifteen-year-old simply shrugged.

"Just the usual teacher trying to play therapist: 'why are you so quiet all of a sudden?' 'Why are you so absentminded?'" The girl threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. "I'm fifteen, for God's sake! Of course, I'll be daydreaming every now and then! And what? There's a law against being quiet, now?"

Dinah snorted. "You would know."

The girl rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up." She playfully shoved her friend.

"So, what are you doing for this upcoming week?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. All I know is that right now, I'm going to CWM."

"Oh, God." Dinah groaned. "Would you leave that place alone already? It's like you're married to it."

The young girl gave her friend a sheepish smile and shrugged. "That museum is beautiful and filled with knowledge, so I wouldn't mind."

"You're weird."

"Your face is weird."

"Yeah?" Dinah paused. "Well you're weird... all in all."

"That's how we ended compatible with each other." The younger girl shrugged once more. "Your weirdness is contagious."

"Hey, that rhymed!"

"Now, look who's weird."

"That wasn't weird, Den. That was random," Dinah corrected as they walked across the crowded campus.

"Your face is random," the girl muttered. "Sometimes it's hard to believe you're older than me, you know?"

Dinah rolled her eyes before elbowing her best friend and nodding her head towards the large, crowded parking lot. "You catching a ride? Max's here."

The girl shook her head and snorted. "Even though we've known each other for five months, your brother still creeps me out it with all the... clinginess."

"Clinginess? That's not even a word," Dinah muttered.

"Course it is." The fifteen-year-old shrugged as she brought her MP3 player and headphones out of her bag. "Besides, it's almost a twenty-minute walk from here to there. I'll see you tomorrow, alright?" She then turned and started walking away from the perky blond.

"We're still talking later for the macro assignment!" Dinah called after her friend who was almost completely gone.

"Yeah, yeah!" Ayden plugged her headphones to her music player, placed the headset over her head, the speakers over her ears, and with that, she was off listening to the soft voices of Johnny Mercer and Margaret Whiting singing Baby it's cold outside ever so beautifully.

The Canadian War Museum was Canada's national museum of military history. It covered all facets of Canada's military past, from the first recorded instances of death by armed violence in Canadian history several hundred years ago to the country's most recent involvement in conflicts. What Ayden liked was that it also had, though separated from the rest, its own private exhibit on the First and Second World War.

She spent at least two hours in there before making her way back home.

"Hey there, Sunshine."

She chuckled at the mailman as he was the first to greet her as she reached the stone steps of her house. "Hey, Ernie. Got any mail there for me?" she asked politely.

"Sure do. Here." The postman handed her a letter and her eyes instantly lit up when she saw who it was from.

"Thanks!" She exclaimed before dashing through the door, up the stairs and locking herself in her room. The moment the door closed behind her, she ripped the envelop open and unfolded the letter.

Den-Den, hey!

I know haven't been writing to you a lot. I'm really sorry and I hope you forgive me. I know you must be very worried about me, but don't be, okay? I'm perfectly fine. So many things have happened, though, and I can't wait till I get home and tell you everything. I don't have much time anymore, hope you're doing fine and try to stay healthy.

With love from your best-est friend in the whole wide world,

Leonard Dorian

Ayden couldn't remember when was the last time she had felt so happy, but she didn't care. Though her best friend was in the army and she was extremely worried about his well being, she was exploding with joy after hearing from him. After knowing he was still well and alive.

Her happiness, however, seemed as though it was never going to get the chance to last.

The setting sun gleaming through her uncovered large window as she laid on her bed with a smile on her face, holding the letter to her chest, she was startled by the phone which suddenly began to ring. Brows furrowed, she turned her head to the side and stared at her extension. Who would be calling at this time? It rang a few more times before finally stopping, making her turn her stare back to the ceiling, a smile making its way back onto her lips as she thought of her best friend. After staring at the ceiling for a few more seconds, she shut her eyes close, sleep beginning to catch up to her once again. Her eyes snapped back open when she heard her name being called from the living room.

"It's... it's for you."

She frowned and hesitated for a moment before sighing, putting the letter aside before pushing herself up onto her elbows to reach for her extension, then laying back down when she picked up. There was a long pause as she waited for the person on the other line to say what they wanted to tell her, though as soon as they did, her heart stopped.

"What?" she croaked.