Summer 2003
The sun shone down delicately, casting warm glows across the lush, green fields of Henrietta. The heart of town was lazy and serene, lulling several of its inhabitants into a light afternoon sleep. Dogs curled in the little sanctuary of shade the house provided and cats dozed in warm rays of sun filtering through windows. The dull sound of a cicada's hum and the low grumble of thunder in the distance created a soothing melody to relax the mind. These were all things that the people of Henrietta, Virginia cherished about there homes. There was something amazingly peaceful about a place such as this one. And something magical as well.
Blue Sargent pedaled her bike with all the strength she could muster on this warm, summer day. A bike that had ironically been painted blue just for her sake. Her legs moved in perfect motion, increasing her speed as she flew down the concrete road. It had only been moments before that she her friend Richard Gansey III (or to her, Dick) had foolishly challenged her to a race. The bike Blue sported was a few sizes to large to fit her stature, but she was determined to make Dick eat his words.
"Jane!" Dick called, desperately out of breath, now several paces behind Blue, "Stop!"
"No way, Dick!" she called back, throwing a glance at him over her shoulder. With that comment, she pedaled even harder.
Dick sighed and squeezed the handlebars on his bike to apply the breaks. He came to an abrupt stop, Blue continuing to speed ahead of him. Dick shook his head. Blue was the most competitive eight year old he'd ever met in his life. Which didn't say much considering he too had only lived about eight and a half years and lived in the small town of Henrietta.
About a block away, Blue realized that Dick was no longer on her tail. She too squeezed to breaks to a halt and whipped her head around to look at him.
"Why'd you stop?" she shouted. He gave her a blank look and shook his head. He was too far away to hear what she said. With an exasperated sigh, Blue wheeled her bike around and pedaled back to him.
"What did you say?" Dick questioned when Blue game to a stop next to him.
"I asked you why you stopped." She said as matter-of-factly. She crossed her lightly tanned, chubby-ish arms and waited for his response.
"I stopped to catch my breath," he said, inhaling a deep breath, "and," he added, "to do this."
Without any warning Dick shot off on his bike, pedaling as fast as his stubby, childish legs would carry him. He only made it half a block before the now outraged Blue caught up with him.
"Cheater!" She shouted at him, now they they were riding side by side.
"Am not!" Dick protested, even though he and Blue both knew it was a lie.
The pair was neck at neck in the final stretch on concrete before their neighboring houses. Dick thought he might actually have a chance, just one little glimmer of hope to once in his life beat Blue in a race. But, that hope was shattered when he ran over a rock, throwing him off his bike and into the dirt. Blue let out an evil cackle as she rode past, skidding to a stop in front of her house.
"I win!" she gloated, hopping of her over sized bike and trotting over to Dick. "Are you ok?" she asked him, extending her hand to help him up. He nodded and took her hand, but winced a little when standing up.
"I think I hurt my knee," he admitted, pointing to the bloody scratch on his leg. Just then, the door to Blue's house was thrown open and out popped Blue's mother followed by her two aunts, Calla and Persephone. Though they were really just friend of her mother's that lived with them, Blue called them aunts anyway.
"What did I tell you, Maura?" Calla snapped at Blue's mother, "I told you I foresaw one of the kiddos getting injured today, now didn't I?" Maura rolled her eyes and shot a somewhat competitive glare at her friend. She then redirected her attention to her daughter.
"Did Dick fall of his bike?" she asked with a hint of a smirk already knowing the answer. Blue nodded and Maura sent a triumphant smirk at Calla. Calla rolled her eyes.
"Come inside and let me clean that up," Persephone said, her voice barley a whisper. Dick and Blue obliged, following the fluffy haired woman into the house.
Once inside Persephone lifted Dick gently to the kitchen counter and disappeared upstairs to find some first aid supplies. Calla perched herself on the top of a chair and faced the two children. Blue was standing next to her friend playfully poking him in the sides despite his protest. Maura stood next to her friend arms crossed.
"If you don't get off that chair like that you'll need first aid too," Maura commented, giving her friend a look. Calla once again rolled her eyes. It wasn't until a few moments later that Calla lost her balance and fell backwards slamming her head on the floor.
"SON OF A-" she began, but was interrupted by Persephone who had just returned from the second floor.
"Careful Calla," she said in her quiet voice, "There are children here." Both Dick and Blue giggled at the idea of Calla saying a bad word. Maura grinned.
"Oh shut up all of you," Calla grumbled, pushing herself up off the floor and directing herself into another room with angry stomps.
"You're just jealous I'm the better psychic," Maura teased following her into the other room after ensuring Blue was alright.
There were a few moments of silence as Persephone carefully cleansed Dick's wound, dabbing away most of the blood so that the cut looked less gruesome. Blue watched with lame curiosity before turning her attention to her "aunt."
"Auntie Persephone," she asked. Persephone perked up an eyebrow to indicate she was listening. Blue continued. "Are Momma and Auntie Calla actually psy- phy-" she struggled with a moment with the world.
"Psychic?" Persephone asked, a small smile playing on her lips. Blue nodded. Persephone dropped peroxide on Dick's wound to sterilize it and then turned some of her attention back to Blue.
"Of course your mother and aunt are psychic," she said softly, gently placing a band aid on Dick's cut, "Why would they lie to you about such an extraordinary thing?"
Blue considered a moment before answering.
"Because they want me to think they're cool?" Blue suggested. Persephone grabbed the garbage from the band aid and escorted it to the trash bin.
"I think it's cool," Dick murmured to Blue.
"It's just a fib,"she said, "It's not real."
"Of course it's real," Persephone said, crouching back down to join the conversation. "It's very complicated, but," she paused as if she was looking for the right words. Finally she spoke.
"Being psychic is fate's way of giving you subtle hints about your future. Your hint's just happen to come from your mother and aunts." Persephone winked.
"What are my hints?" Dick asked, his eyes shinning with wonder and curiosity. Persephone chuckled in a light airy way.
"That's for you to decipher yourself. You see, fate and destiny are very mysterious things, and work in mysterious ways. Who we are and what we shall become all rely in our path of fate that guides us to our destiny." Blue rolled her eyes and Dick continued to listen with awe.
"For some people," Persephone said, "Those hints are more obvious than others. Like your mother and her gift." Blue sighed and crossed her arms. Persephone smiled at the child and patted her head as she stood.
"You'll understand one day, Blue," she said, rising and picking up the first aid box she had previously retrieved from upstairs. She then turned to Dick.
"I hope your knee feels better soon," she said with a knowing smile. With that the graceful, puffy haired woman retreated back upstairs.
Dick hoped down off the not terribly high counter top with the aid of Blue. It was just the two of them now. Once back on the ground Dick grinned at his friend.
"Your mom is so cool."
"Please," Blue snorted, "Don't be silly. Psy..phy..ugh whatever-and fate are totally dumb and not real." Dick shrugged.
"I think anything could happen," he said with a devilishly cute grin. Blue smirked. She knew what he was thinking.
"Race you to your house!" Blue squealed and with a head start busted out the door.
It was long after Blue had fallen asleep in her big, cushy bed that Maura had had a vision. She had been reading in her bed, (some romance novel about a vampire and a werewolf that both fell in love with the same human girl) when she'd had the vision. Now, for Maura, being psychic was very different than the cliché characterization that every book and movie assigned to seers. When she had visions, it wasn't a clear view of what was to come. And she certainly couldn't choose what she wanted and didn't want to see. For Maura, being psychic meant getting small, sometimes insignificant fragments of the future-and sometimes these fragments sometimes didn't happen. Sometimes the were hints of things that could happen, and things that could not. The biggest 'side effect' for her though, was feeling like she was living the vision, so when the vision actually happened (if it did) then she could be haunted with a sense of deja vu.
Sucked from her book, Maura had a vision of her daughter. It was maybe five o'clock in her vision, and sunlight was gently filtering through the window in the kitchen. Maura was cooking some sort of sweet-possibly muffins. She was humming a little tune to herself, a song from The Sound of Music. She had just pushed the sweet into the oven when the door came flying open. Blue stormed in, eyes puffy and red like she'd been crying. Startled, Maura asked her what had happened. Blue ran to her mother and threw her arms around Maura's legs. She cried, taking deep heavy breaths and Maura stroked her hair. She repeated her question and this time Blue looked up and answered.
"Dick."
Maura was pulled out of her vision. A shiver ran through her body, as usual when she had a vision. Another thing about the visions was that she could never be quite sure when the event would take place. She just knew it would happen exactly as she'd seen it. A tight feeling pressed in Maura's gut. She didn't have a good feeling about this.
The sun was hidden slightly behind the clouds the next morning, and had it not been for Calla making a ruckus in the kitchen, Blue would have slept longer in the semi-darkness of her room. Blue sleepily rubbed her eyes and with a yawn extended her arms over her head for a stretch. It was a good morning for the most part but she couldn't help but feeling something different was going to happen today. Shrugging off the immediate feeling she jumped off her bed and descended to the lower level of her house. The savory smell of bacon wafted through the kitchen door, automatically displeasing Blue.
"Momma," Blue asked Maura whom was standing on one side of the stove next to Calla, "What's for breakfast?"
"Bacon," Calla answered immediately causing Blue to wrinkle up her nose in distaste. Maura chuckled and flipped some large amount of butter in a pan.
"What do you want for breakfast?" Maura asked, throwing a dash of pepper into her pan. Blue shrugged. She wasn't keen on the idea of eating bacon..or whatever concoction her mother was creating.
"I'll just get yogurt," she replied, padding over to the fridge and retrieving a cup of vanilla greek yogurt. She attempted to reach the drawer that held the spoons but Calla's bum was in the way. She pinched her aunt's bum as hard as she could which caused a disastrous chain of reaction.
"Ow!" Calla screeched, jumping out of the way and straight into Maura. Maura made a noise of protest before they were both knocked to floor; Maura grumbling at Calla to get her 'fat bum' off of her and Calla hissing and rubbing the spot where she'd been assaulted. Blue giggled a little and retrieved her spoon from the drawer, jabbing it shut with her elbow. Just then, there was a rapping on the door.
Blue stepped over her relatives still tangled and arguing on the floor, and answered the door. It was Dick.
"Hey," he said. His smile looked perfectly normal, but Blue noticed there was something off about it. "Can you come to play?" he asked, holding his arms behind his back.
"Momma," Blue called behind her, "I'm gonna hang out with Dick." She didn't wait for an answer before joining Dick outside and closing the door.
"I have bad news to tell you," he said, his polite smile faltering. Blue's brow furrowed. "Follow me I'll tell you at our secret fort."
Blue and Dick had a very special hide out in the woods behind their neighboring houses. It wasn't much really; just a cluster of thick, green trees that formed into a half circle that rested a half mile from the back porch of the Gansey's house. The pair had discovered it the previous year and had decided it would be their secret place. It was a twenty minute hike and they walked in silence, except for the sound of Blue slurping her yogurt. When they reached their hide out, Dick plopped down on the huge, withered tree stump that the other trees encircled. Blue followed it suit.
"So what's wrong Dick?" Blue asked, licking the last of her yogurt off her spoon. There was silence then Dick spoke.
"Blue..." he trailed off. Blue felt a tight pinch in her gut. He never called her by her first name unless it was something really important. Something that she would consider bad (because bad to Dick could mean forgetting to return a library book). She gave him her full attention and noticed that he looked like he was going to cry. Blue opened her mouth to say something but couldn't find the words to say anything.
"I'm moving.." Dick said a nasty frown playing on his face. Blue felt like she'd been slapped. Could she have heard that correctly?
"What?" she asked, desperately hoping that he was just trying to play a joke on her.
"I'm moving," he repeated, this time a little clearer. The chasm in Blue's stomach grew deeper. She blinked again before laughing. Dick stared at her in confusion; hints of tears still in the corner of his eyes. Blue laughed for about another thirty seconds, pounding her hand on her knee. It took her another thirty seconds to calm down. She took a deep breath and looked at her friend.
"You're really funny, Dick," she laughed, "You really tried to scare me with this joke." Blue slapped Dick light heartedly on the shoulder. His brows furrowed in an angry point.
"This isn't a joke, Blue," he said, his voice shaking with tears. Blue frowned. There he was using her real name again. Not his special name for her. All of a sudden Blue couldn't contain her anger.
"LIAR!" she shouted, jolting up to a standing position.
"Blue.." Dick tried, his face full of melancholy.
"I HATE YOU," Blue shouted, several tears now streaming down her cheeks. Dick might have said something else but Blue didn't hear. She tore from the hideout and sprinted away, leaving Dick and her yogurt at the stump.
Blue didn't immediately go inside her house. Instead, she quietly snuck into her backyard and climbed up into the highest branch she could reach of the tree. She crouched up there and cried and cursed Dick Gansey for all it was worth. She was so angry and frustrated that her best friend-her only friend-was leaving her. She had so many questions, and was now to clouded with anger to get answers. She sat in the tree and sobbed. What was she going to do without Dick?
It was about five o'clock and sunlight was gently filtering through the window of the kitchen. Maura was cooking muffins, the kind the Blue specifically loved-blueberry and oats. She was humming a little tune to herself, a song from The Sound of Music. She had just pushed the sweets into the oven when the door came flying open. Blue stormed in, eyes puffy and red like she'd been crying. Startled, Maura asked her what had happened. Blue's bottom lip quivered before she ran to her mother and threw her arms around Maura's legs. She cried, taking deep heavy breaths and Maura stroked her hair. Her mother repeated her question and this time Blue looked up and answered.
"Dick."
Maura felt a tingling in her stomach. She had foreseen this.
"What about him sweetheart?" Maura asked, gently picking up Blue and carrying her to the couch. She set her daughter on the soft cushions. Blue was still sniffling and her eyes were completely puffed now. She wiped snot off her nose and cleared her throat a little.
"Dick's moving.."she mumbled.
"Where?" Maura inquired handing her a tissue from the side table. Blue accepted it and blew her nose.
"I don't care," Blue pouted. Maura furrowed her brow.
"Why don't I call Mrs. Gansey and see what this is all about?" Maura suggested.
"I don't care," Blue repeated.
"Honey..." Maura tried.
"I hate him! He's leaving!" Blue, shot up and stormed up to her room, slamming the door in the process. Maura sighed.
"I thought they weren't supposed to be like that until they were teenagers," Calla snickered as she fished food out of the fridge. Maura shot her a dirty look and Calla stuck out her tongue and exited the room. Maura sighed again and stood up from where she had been crouching in front of Blue. She walked over to the phone that hung on the wall next to the front door, picked it up and punched in Mrs. Gansey's number. The phone rang three times and then there was a click.
"Hello?" said a voice as smooth as silk.
"Teresa?" Maura said, "It's Maura."
"Oh Maura!" Teresa cried from the other end, "How are you?" Maura smiled a little.
"I'm good," she replied to Mrs. Gansey, "Listen I called to ask you about something Blue told me." There was a moment of silence.
"Yes?"
"Blue tells me that Dick told her that you're moving. Is this true?" Maura asked cautiously. Teresa laughed a little.
"That's true," she replied.
"Oh," Maura said, "You see Blue's very distraught and I don't think Dick gave her much detail."
"I understand," Teresa replied, "Let me explain."
It took Teresa at least forty-five minutes to explain why they were moving and where to. This was because Teresa had a bad habit of getting distracted when she spoke, especially over the phone. Maura was convinced the woman had attention deficit disorder, but she'd never say it. Teresa described how Mr. Gansey had gotten been asked to transfer his job to Paris. Of course they couldn't refuse it would do so much for their finical situation. (Maura had rolled her eyes at that statement considering the Gansey's were much more wealthy than the Sargents. But that was irrelevant.) They would be moving in a couple days and Teresa promised that they would visit and say their goodbyes before they left.
"Thank you," Maura said when Mrs. Gansey was finally done, "I'm sure it will make Blue feel better to have an explanation."
"Of course, Maura," Teresa said, "I hope she understands. I understand Dick came home quite upset that he'd upset her." Maura nodded, and then realized that Teresa couldn't see her.
"Tell him not to worry," she said, "Blue's just unsure of how to handle this change."
"Oh I'm sure Dick is too," Teresa laughed, "But they'll understand when they're adults."
"Hmm," Maura said. There was a moment of silence before Teresa yelled at someone in the background.
"Well, it was nice to chat, Maura," Teresa said, "We'll have to catch up after the move. Tata!" There was a click and then the line was dead.
Hours after the phone call, Maura tired to explain the situation to Blue but she wouldn't listen. She didn't care. She wouldn't admit it, but deep down, she did care and it hurt.
A couple days later, the Gansey's moved. Before they left for the airport, Dick had tried to speak to Blue, but still hurt, she refused. And with that, Blue's best friend disappeared form her life.
I apologize now for all the cut scenes and how long this chapter is. But I hope whoever's reading this enjoyed and will stay tuned for the next chapter.
Just as a head's up, there will be a time jump in the next chapter.
Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day!
~Czerny