In the Midst of Things

IN THE MIDST

OF THINGS

HEIDI WONG

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© Copyright 2013 Heidi Wong.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

ISBN: 978-1-4669-6274-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4669-6275-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4669-6276-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012919850

Trafford rev. 12/28/2012

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CONTENTS

PREFACE

PART ONE (ALEX)

THE CASE

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

TWENTY

TWENTY ONE

TWENTY TWO

TWENTY THREE

TWENTY FOUR

TWENTY FIVE

TWENTY SIX

TWENTY SEVEN

TWENTY EIGHT

TWENTY NINE

THIRTY

THIRTY ONE

THIRTY TWO

THIRTY THREE

THIRTY FOUR

PART TWO (JACKIE)

THE CHOOSING

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

PART THREE (ISABELLE)

THE DIFFERENCE

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

PART FOUR (ALEX)

THE FAITH

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

PART ONE (ISABELLE)

THE INCIDENT

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

PART TWO (ALEX)

IT GOES ON

ONE

TWO

EPILOGUE

PREFACE

P ractically everyone has read a book or watched a movie and then felt either sad or glad that they were or weren’t part of a situation like it.

I used to be someone that always believed that, but life has a way of twisting itself for me, changing and turning everything upside down, and so it has turned impossible things real.

Logic didn’t make sense anymore, simple explanations didn’t match up, and I started blurring the lines between reality and imagination.

I’ve always thought I was special, but I never knew how right I was.

The secret that Taylor never knew.

The secret that Dad never had the chance to tell me.

The secret Mom kept from me for so long.

It wasn’t going to end… was it?

PART ONE (ALEX)

THE CASE

ONE

Y ou have got to be kidding me. "Mom? I don’t think so. You can’t do this to me. This is not fair." I sound about five years old.

No exceptions, Alex. Mom sighed, You are babysitting Taylor on Halloween whether you like it or not. That wasn’t good.

Joyce Chow was her real name, but for the sake of making her happy, I called her mom, or Made Of Money as I sometimes joked. I did like her old name better, but she had changed her last name to Redlock when she remarried.

I could not stand it. Okay then, here’s where my debate skills come in handy, but at the moment my brain was mash potatoes.

"Why can’t you just stay? I stopped, trying to make up a good excuse. Tomorrow is Halloween and I still need to go to school. Come on, Mom. It’s almost nine o’clock right now. Can’t we at least talk about it tomorrow?" That was not the best I could do.

She didn’t pause, obviously not persuaded, Look Alex, he’s only six years old. Your dad is on a business trip, and I have a very late meeting in the office, you need to babysit— Her voice slowly started to calm, and I felt the beginnings of a faint smile on my face.

Was there finally good news?

And take him trick or treating if he wants okay? Please. I’m counting on you for this. My smile vanished.

You have counted on me way too many times.

Stepdad, you mean. "Dad’s gone. You just won’t tell me how or why. Evan’s never going to be my Dad," I argued, knowing it meant nothing.

Don’t say that, Alexandra DesDemonta. She wouldn’t call me by my full name unless she really wanted to get my attention. At least my name didn’t have Redlock in it.

I sighed.

You can’t just ignore the plans I’ve made with Jackie! I almost began to yell. I didn’t know how I’d ever explain this to my friend. This was stupid news. She’d probably expected better. She deserved better.

Lol, Alex, remember the big rule? Serve your mother, then your friend.

We’ve been planning for this night for so lo—

Just this once, she whispered, but I knew it wasn’t true. She was clearly thinking of clever extenuating circumstances. Or you can tell Jackie to come babysit Taylor with you, then you’ll have a friend.

That was something she’d totally agree with. I whispered, making my voice barely audible. It was more sarcastic than I thought it would be.

What?

Fine! I’ll call her right now. My tone had changed.

I dashed up the stairs and slammed my bedroom door shut behind me without meaning to. I ran to my bed and buried my head in my pillow.

I stayed there for a while—more than a couple of minutes.

This really sucks, I thought. But I guess Halloweens here in Edensville weren’t so interesting anyways.

I wondered what was going to happen. It wasn’t like I was a mind reader or a future teller, and there was nothing I could even do about that.

I stood up and walked to my desk. My phone was right there sitting on my desk, waiting.

I hoped I could get something good out of today, if slightly possible.

It thundered as I looked outside. There was cold rain all weekend, and I sat near the window as I watched the raindrops fall down. I could still see that one building piercing the skyline of the whole town, towering over all the other buildings.

The rain was pouring down as if the sky felt my pain and was crying for me. Thinking about it, it’s not really that bad that I need the whole damn sky to cry for me. The sky’s tears dropped on the eaves of my house and dripped down.

I stood up, opened the window and a raindrop fell on my hand. I turned my hand slightly to let it fall off onto the windowsill.

I looked over at the chemistry review test on my desk that looked just as blank as it had been a week ago, when the teacher first handed it out. Never a good sign.

Unwillingly, I turned away and walked over to my phone to call Jackie.

We were unable to reach the server you have called, please try again in a millennium, Jackie said, trying to be funny.

Jackie—

You sound serious. This is bad, she said with the laugh. What’s up?

Joyce wants me to babysit Taylor, but you can still come over. I paused, It’s just that we’ll have to take that little baby around.

She didn’t even wait. Oh noo, Sarcasm again, Jackie? World war three huh? It’s fine. Just get him to bed around seven and then we can stay up ’til ten. Two fourteen year olds can handle a six year old, don’t you think?

I smiled. She was right.

Now I could breathe normally. Maybe my Halloween is only ruined partially.

I don’t know what I’d ever do without Jackie.

Crash and burn?

Something like that.

You’re welcome, she replied, and I could hear the familiar laugh again, through the phone.

I hung up and looked outside the window. Seeing the old coffee store across the street, I noticed it had been there forever. I think I’d even seen it on the first day I moved from Virginia to Edensville.

The walls of the shop looked old and decrepit. The wallpaper was torn and the colors worn. Sometimes it seemed as if it was peeling off the wall.

Even if it was a ridiculously old place, it was where some people who’ve grown up in the area go to socialize.

From my house, I could see the huge sign across the street that no one could possibly miss. In big black words painted carefully, it said "Edensville—A home better than heaven."

Ironic much?

This wasn’t the kind of town where everyone knew everyone else, but we did know most people. There’s a police station at a walking distance from my house, and a hospital not too far either.

As I threw myself back on my bed, I heard someone screaming. It was far from serious. It took me a while to realize that it wasn’t screaming.

It was Taylor talking. Loudly.

I’m going to stay up late! he screamed at my door. Go to bed! I shouted back. I didn’t want to bother to get up, open the door, and then scream. So I just screamed. It was usually loud enough for him to hear.

I couldn’t believe I had to do everything for Taylor.

It had always been take care of Taylor, look after Taylor, and Make sure Taylor doesn’t get hit by a car.

Taylor. Taylor. Taylor. Nobody cared about me. Not sarcastic at all.

I didn’t blame them; it had been hard on everyone.

I felt like my heart was too empty. I felt like something should happen, if it changed my life…

I would let it.

I sat up. I felt something move in my pocket. I reached inside. I could feel the edges of the necklace Jackie gave me years ago.

I took it out, and I looked at it for a while. It was the letter A, made out of silver. It didn’t look like much, but I could still remember getting it when I was younger, maybe around six or seven. Taylor’s age.

I turned to see the clock on the table. Nine thirty. My eyes wandered up, and I saw my ring that my real father gave me.

I didn’t know the truth, only what my mom told me.

It was made with silver and engraved with the words "It always goes on." I never really knew what it meant. I hoped one day I would finally understand.

I was sure Dad gave it to me for some reason. Right now I didn’t know why, I didn’t know how, and I didn’t know anything about him.

It had to mean something that he never got the chance to tell me.

Honestly, I had no idea.

Someone has got to tell me everything about him sooner or later, or I was going to have to find out myself.

Mom never talked about him; all I knew was that he’s dead now. He died in an accident when I was… I didn’t know how old.

I’m home! I heard someone shout from downstairs. I didn’t even have to guess to know who it was.

It was my stepdad. I never really liked him. Somehow he never seemed like he was uncomfortable with me around. Maybe that’s why we have Taylor now.

His name’s Evan Redlock. He wanted me to change my last name to Redlock too, but I refused. First, because it sounds like an exotic breed of bird, and second, because I was going by my birth name, Alexandra DesDemonta. I didn’t care what Evan thought.

TWO

B eep Beep Beep

I woke up, annoyed by the infuriating sound.

Bee-

It stopped. I hated alarm clocks. They were another invention to help ruin your life, somewhat like homework. When I got the courage to slide slowly out of bed, I felt the cold frigid air touching my skin. It was definitely colder than the warm nest of my bed.

I sighed and opened the curtains.

The sun shone straight into my eyes. I felt the light blind me. Everything was blacked out for a second, before returning to normal again. I never hated the light. I just disliked it when it would shine straight in my eyes.

I honestly didn’t see the point of making my bed, but I did it anyways. It was going to get messy every night anyways. I guessed it just made your room look a lot neater, but I didn’t see the point of that either. Everything was normal. I did everything I usually had to before I ran downstairs.

Joyce was at breakfast with Taylor.

Taylor got all the attention all the time. I was probably just jealous.

It was the truth. If he was everything to mom now, what was I?

I remembered now, what she would always say to me, I was unique. That was what she would say, her classic excuse.

I looked around and realized someone wasn’t there. But he never was here, and I was never worried about it. There was a short pause before I finally spoke.

Where’s Evan? I asked. Mom was used to me not calling him Dad. He was never my Dad, and he would never be more than just Evan. I thought he’d gotten back from the business trip the night before. I heard him shout.

Mom cracked a dry laugh as she responded. He went to work early. She paused, Aren’t you going to have breakfast?

I’m not hungry today. I have to get to school early anyway, I said casually as I walked outside onto the lonely, abandoned street. There was never anybody there that early in the morning. Sometimes it felt like it was built just for me. It made me feel more important than I usually felt.

I only saw a few young kids who were around Taylor’s age, maybe a little older, walking far down the street. They were lucky that they got to stay home on Halloween. I wished I could too.

I kept walking.

I looked at the kids again. They reminded me of myself as a child, when the only pain was a knee scratch, and the only problem was choosing an icecream flavor. I wanted to be a child again. I want to cherish every moment of my childhood, because I only have four years left.

I stopped at the place where the bus picked up, and I waited.

I took my iPod out of my pocket.

Music had always been an escape for me. It made me feel as if I was in a whole new world. Headphones in, reality out.

I turned the volume up and put my songs on shuffle, listening until the bus finally arrived. I walked up the steps of the bus as usual, and it was completely packed with only one seat left. It was beside Jackie.

I smiled. This was the normal drill.

I walked toward that seat and as expected, I sat down.

Hey.

Hi.

I was silent for the rest of the bus ride. Most of the bus ride was silent.

THREE

T he hallway was just as crowded as usual when we arrived.

The hallway was the place where everything happened, where we got ourselves ready for the day.

We gave our casual greetings to certain people as we passed them, and others we ignored. Familiar faces were passing me as I walked further into the school.

I swear I am not crazy! someone shouted.

Jackie turned to face me, confused.

I didn’t wait for Jackie to follow, I started to walk toward her.

"Crazy . . ." I repeated.

Is that the right word? Crazy?

Harriet and Angela were staring at her as if she was giving a speech.

What did you see? I asked, trying to sound more amiable than usual.

She turned to me, just staring. She didn’t speak. She was probably thinking I would laugh at her, or dubious that I would ever believe her.

Try me, I thought to myself.

Oh, it’s nothing. She said in an unusually calm tone compared to what she said before. She wasn’t a great actress, and I could tell.

"She just thinks she saw some—" I stopped Harriet from speaking any further.

Jackie. Stay here and don’t move. I turned to let her chew on that for a while.

I paused and turned to the girl, Look, come with me. I took the girl by the arm and walked with her to the back of the school building.

We’re alone now.

Okay, now tell me, I said.

She drew in a quick breath and began talking, There was this—shadow. She shook her head, No, more like smoke. It was rushing through the halls and it— she stopped, clearly thinking back to when it happened.

"It went by me, then it stopped, and then went on. I could even feel the bump