Chapter 4: That Aftermath
The next morning, I woke up to find Newt gone with a note attached to my wrist.
How in the world did he do that without waking her? You're wondering. Well, to be quite honest, I don't know, I have a feeling I had to be out cold for that not to wake me up.
I pulled the note from under the tight rubber band and unfolded it.
It read:
Rebel,
Had to practice with DC3 for our gig tonight. Meena has a great idea she wants to run by you, be dressed around 2:30, the band's coming over and we'll tell you. Coolie? Awesome.
Rock On!
Newt
I shook my head and smiled. He was so strange. It was kinda cute though. I stopped myself then. I was not allowed to think he was cute.
I looked at the clock, it was already 1:30 so I got up, grabbed one of the shirts and shorts he had given me last night and went into the bathroom, got in the shower and got out.
I let my hair dry naturally simply because I didn't care. I mean, I had bigger things to worry about.
The small slash on my wrist had scabbed over during the night to the point where I could take off the bandage and not have people up my case.
I sat in the room where I had slept the night before and stared out the window.
Soon I heard a knock on the door.
Mrs. Livingston stood in the door holding the phone.
"Rebel, sweetie, come here, this is really important."
Again with the sweetie. I realize some people didn't understand the meaning of the word to me, but it still hurt.
She nodded and handed me the phone.
I stared at it a bit before putting it up to my ear, "Hello"
"Is this Rebel Marie Sawyers?" the guy on the other end of the phone said
"Yeah, who wants to know." I said angrily
"This is Dr. Christopher Martin from the Roosevelt Memorial Hospital and we have come to a conclusion on the cause of your mother's death."
I swear, my heart stopped beating at that very minute.
"Uh," I couldn't get anything out, "Continue"
"Yes, she had seemed to have a massive blood clot in her brain. Had she fainted anytime in the past 24 hours before her death?" he asked
"Yes sir, she fainted at work that day, she worked at the White House and my…er…friend's dad, the Chef had to wake her up." I said, nervously
"Had she been complaining about headaches?" he asked
"Yeah, but you see, I thought the whole fainting thing and the headaches came because it was her time of the month, yah know."
I know, that sounded so vain to come out of my mouth at a time like this, but it was the truth. At least I wasn't lying to the man.
"I'm afraid not." He said, "Again, I'm very sorry about your loss, the coroner suggests you have the funeral sometime in the next two days."
"Okay, thank you." I said
"We've already told your boyfriend's mother, because I can understand that it would be hard to plan such a huge thing only being shy of fifteen." He said
"Yeah," I replied
This guy was seriously getting on my nerves now. And what was with the whole boyfriend thing? I swear Newt probably said I was his girlfriend. I didn't care, I had someone claim me, that was enough in itself.
"Thanks" I told the guy
"Oh, you're welcome" he said
I handed the phone back to Newt's mom.
She looked at me for a second before sighing and asking me what I wanted to do about my mom's funeral.
I told her, that It would be a lot to do if we were going to do it tomorrow, so we agreed on Monday, right after school.
She had this lame idea about having it after school so I could have some supporters.
I didn't think I needed support right then, I thought I could handle it on my own.
The phone rang again about five minutes later, it was my aunt Caitlyn, she was crying and she began to tell me about I needed to come live with her and that my grandma in Lynchburg was going to be to elderly to deal with a fourteen year old.
I flat out told her that I wasn't leaving DC, and that she could come over here if she wanted to leave Nashville, that'd be fine, but I wasn't leaving my friends.
She sighed and said we'd talk about it when she got down there. I didn't want to talk to the woman. Sure, she was family, but I didn't want to move, so I didn't want to discuss the possibility.
A little while later, Newt and DC3 busted through the door and came to find me.
We talked a bit about everything, mainly about the accident and when I thought I was coming back to school.
I told them I'd come back to school in a week and a half. Which was long enough for me to get this stupid bandage off my head, and to move on and find myself somewhere to live, maybe.
Then Meena brought up her idea.
"I was wondering, if you'd let our gig be a benefit concert, for you, because…"
Once again, Meena Parhoom was destined to make my life a hell. After all, it was probably karma coming back to get me, but still.
"No!" I exclaimed, "I am not a charity case, Parhoom, I don't need 'benefit', okay, just play your gig minus the 'benefit'."
"Hey, better idea" Cory spoke up, "Would you be mad if we used it as a memorial concert for your mom, to raise money for the funeral?"
I thought about it. It wasn't a bad idea, I didn't like Meena's idea because at Washington Prep, I was feared, how was I to go back and take on that same stance if people thought I was needy.
I smiled softly and replied, "Yeah, that's fine."
"What was your mom's name?" Meena asked
I felt tears come to my eyes, "Cassandra Evans Sawyers"
I looked over at Newt, who hadn't said a word the whole time. He looked at me. He had this unknown emotion in his eyes. I couldn't tell what it was but it made me wonder if he liked this idea at all.
Later that day around three thirty there was this dude at the front door. This wasn't like a mail man dude, this was like a big dude. When Newt's mom opened the door, the guy flashed a CIA badge.
"CIA" I heard Newt whisper from behind me.
We were standing at the top of the spiral staircase.
"I'm here on behalf of CIA agent 001 Jason Stickler's son, with a message for a Miss Rebel Marie Sawyers, as I have heard, she is staying here."
I looked at Newt and exchanged confused looks with him as we went back to staring over the railing.
"Here" the man said, holding a note and a white rose over to Mrs. Livingston
"Told you he'd come back." Newt said.
He said it kind of bitterly. He's always had it out for Jason but I didn't understand why right at that moment.
Newt's mom quickly called me downstairs and gave me the flower and the note.
It read:
Rebel,
I'm sorry to hear about your mother. I went to go get help and succeeded but then my father called and wanted me home. I couldn't come back. I'm so sorry I haven't called you but I've been assisting my dad in an effort to find your dad. We haven't found any leads but when we do, I'll let you know.
Jason
Newt then tapped me on the shoulder.
"Hey, come here." He said, leading me into the living room.
He smiled and handed me something in a see through bag.
It was my purse! The one I had tossed out on the lawn last night when I went to save my mom.
"How did you find it?" I asked
"The fire man dude found it and handed it over to Cory for some reason, and then he gave it to me at band practice." He said
I dug through it, everything was still there, money, lipgloss, and more importantly, my phone.
I quickly cut my phone on and stared at it. I had 8 new voicemail and 9 text messages.
All were from Jason.
I quickly texted him back saying:
Jason-
All is okay. Don't worry. Thanx for searching for my dad.
G2G, L8R,
Rebel
"Are you going with me to the DC3 performance?" he asked
"I don't know, I need to ask your mom if she needs help with the funeral and since it's my mom, I think I need to help, so probably not." I said
He looked a bit disappointed.
I got up and went into the kitchen where Mrs. Livingston was huddled over some papers and on the phone.
When she noticed I was there she hung up the phone and smiled, "Hey, I needed to ask you, do you have a list of your mom's family members that are still living, like close, not like you know, fifth cousin twice removed."
"I could call my aunt Caitlyn, she's coming for the funeral." I said
She nodded and I called my aunt.
She gave me a decent list and I wrote them down. I gave them to Mrs. Livingston.
"Are you going to see Newton's band make loud racket for the public's displeasure tonight?" she said
I laughed, "I don't know, I need to help with the funeral I think, because after all it's my mom." I replied
"You need to go, it'll get your mind off your mom and everything around you right now." She said
"Nothing will do that." I replied
I know, I sound so bitter right now, It' just so confusing, you know, I lost my mom and my house is half charred and it's crazy.
"You should go, he's always wanted you to see him perform."
I looked away from the lady. Man, did she ever know how to kick me when I'm down. I mean, I've lost everything, but then she reminds me about how horrible I've always been to her son.
"I guess I will, but I have to call all of these people, and…" I counted down the list, "Four of them I've never met."
"Okay, do you need something to wear to the concert?"
I grabbed my wallet out of the purse that I had laid on the counter beside me, I got lucky, I had forty bucks in there plus my emergency credit card.
"I don't but I have money so all I've got to do is get someone to call a…"
"What about the funeral, won't you need to use your money to get something to wear to that?" she asked
I thought about it for a second. If I went to somewhere like, say Aeropostale and got a shirt and a pair of pants on sale that could cost at much twenty dollars, so then I thought if I needed to after that, get a dress, I could use the card. But if I did that, then it would back me up in debt I knew I couldn't pay off. It was a lose/lose situation.
"I have an emergency fund." I said pulling out the shiny blue card.
She nodded, "Newton got his emergency fund taken away a long time ago, after he spent his on a lime green electric guitar."
I smiled. That seemed like something Newt would do.
"Do you want me to call a car?" she said
I nodded. I quickly went and grabbed my broken black sandals, grimacing at how terrible it looked and searched for Newt.
Then I heard the sound of a guitar booming and followed the noise.
I went out into this little walkway that lead to what appeared to have used to been a guest house, turned music room.
I knocked on the door, over and over again.
Then I caught his eye and he walked over and opened up the door.
"What's up?" he asked
"I have to go to the mall, as you see, I'm out of clothes and shoes, If you could do me a favor and…"
"Be your mall buddy!"
I put my hand to my forehead. This was going to be a long, long, period of time before I get settled elsewhere. I knew it.
"Yes, be my…mall buddy." I said, probably with a look of utter repulsion on my face.
"Awesome!" he said, hugging me
I pulled away from him and stared at him, nodding.
Correction, this was going to be a long day.