Young Writers Society

Merry Christmas! Reviews much appreciated

Just then I realized I had no place to stay, and I looked uncomfortably around, wondering if there was a place I could stay in exchange for doing the chores or something. A girl who appeared to be a couple years older than me came over and tugged on my sleeve.

“Come on! You’re Ash, right? My dad was just telling us about how you saved his life! Thank you so much! My name is Chloe, and my dad told me to tell you that you are staying with us.” She grinned at my startled look. When I hesitated, she rolled her eyes. “Come on, it isn’t like you have anywhere else to go, is it?” She demanded. She had a point, so I smiled at her.

“Yeah, I’m Ash. I’d be glad to stay with you.” She pulled me along, chattering about everything. She talked and I listened to what she had to say and found that most of it was really very intelligent. She was talking about how horrible the food on the yacht must be for the crew’s health, and how her and her mom had made some really good stuff to eat.

“It’s got all the right vitamins and proteins in it, I made sure of that. It’s really fun to look things up on the internet, you know? I mean, it has so many things on it, and if you know how to use it right you can get everything you need! I’m going to be a doctor when I grow up, so I’ve been looking up a lot on the human body and its processes and everything. Every simple thing you do is actually an amazing miracle! Just look at you, breathing like that! Imagine all the work that goes into that—“

A voice cut her off as we joined Kyran and the rest of the family. “For goodness sake’s, Chloe! His ears are bleeding! Lay off the talking for a little, why don’t you?” An older boy demanded, grinning at me. “I’m Claude. It’s nice to meet you.” He offered his hand, which I gratefully shook.

The younger boy walked up to me solemnly, extending his hand. “Hello. I’m Brandon.” I shook his hand, smiling.

“Hey Brandon. As your dad apparently already told you, I’m Ash.” I glanced up at Kyran to find him smiling at me.

“You didn’t really think I’d let you wander around looking for lodging, did you?” He demanded in the same exact tone as Chloe had when she had asked me if I had anywhere else to stay. I shrugged and he rolled his eyes, turning to the sweet faced brunette who had an arm around his waist. “This is Samantha, my wife. Sami, this is Ash.”

Samantha came forward and hugged me tightly, much to my surprise. “Ash, welcome. Kyran just told us how you saved his life, and I’m forever grateful. I hope you find yourself comfortable in our home.” She told me softly. I smiled at her, embarrassed.

“Kyran obviously didn’t tell you that he was the one who actually killed the bear, saving my life.” I told her, trying to get the spotlight off me. Samantha smiled at me as said nothing as the silver haired woman came forward. Her long white hair was braided and slung over one thin shoulder, and her features were very sharp.

When she smiled, her whole face lit up and her face softened. She had a perfect hourglass figure, though she had to be at least sixty five. “Ash. It is a great pleasure to meet you.” She didn’t offer me her hand but nodded regally instead. I nodded back at her, not knowing what to say. She turned around and began to walk, calling over her shoulder, “Come along everyone. We mustn’t let the food go cold.”

Chloe laughed and began to tug on my hand again, chattering about anything and everything until Claude finally told her to be quiet, and they began to sarcastically insult each other. Brandon walked along in pensive silence, taking everything around him in. I saw him look curiously at the outline of the knives in my sleeves and the gun that was hung in my belt, but he didn’t comment.

Kyran and Samantha walked slightly behind us, murmuring softly to each other and occasionally laughing. I joined into Chloe and Claude’s debate on Claude’s side, and then switched to Chloe’s side, much to both of their amusement. It felt incredibly odd to be around people my own age again, but in a good way. I felt happy and almost as if I belonged in this family.

When we got to the house, I saw that the house was a crème color, with big glass windows and light, airy rooms. In the dining room was the biggest feast I had ever seen. There was pork and beef and steak and chicken, carrots and green peas and mushrooms and peppers and whatever else you could imagine, set on a table that glinted with fine china and crystal.

My jaw must have been hanging almost to the ground because Chloe let out a bell-like laugh as Claude slung an arm over my shoulder. “This is what happens when you let the women in this family cook all day. Not that I’m complaining or anything.” He patted his stomach as Mackenzie directed us all to our seats with a regal wave of her hand, smiling genteelly at me as I gawked.

“Please, Ash, we don’t need to see all the way down to your socks.” She commented. I blushed and snapped my mouth shut, taking the seat she indicated while Chloe and Claude muffled their snickers. Brandon sat on one side of me, Chloe on the other. It was almost like they were polar opposites: Bright and happy and chatty versus solemn and contemplative and silent.

We said grace, something I had never done before in my whole life, and then we dug in. Claude grinned at me as we filled our plates. “I bet I can eat more full plates of food than you can.” He challenged. Chloe made a disgusted expression and muttered something about ‘pigs’, but I accepted his challenge.

I admitted to him that he did indeed eat more than I had ever seen anyone eat before, but he couldn’t beat being fed porridge every day and sometimes not finding the time to eat. I beat him by two plates before I was so full I couldn’t even lift my fork. Mackenzie smiled approvingly at me.

“I’m glad to see that you enjoy our cuisine, Ash.” She said, only allowing a touch of sarcasm to enter her voice. I blushed again, embarrassed at having pigged out, but she laughed and turned away. Afterwards I helped the other kids take away all the plates and wash them, even though I was surprised I could even get out of my seat after everything I had eaten.

When we finally finished with the dishes we joined the adults in the living room, where they sat with the windows open, listening to Kyran’s stories of his time abroad. Brandon listened with rapt attention, taking in everything that was said, and I remembered when Kyran had told me that he wanted to join JB’s crew. That wish shown fervently in his eyes, and I wished I could tell him how much I would give to switch places with him.

By the time Kyran was done with his stories it was almost midnight, and Brandon and Samantha had gone to bed already. Mackenzie interrupted another one of Chloe’s ramblings with her quiet voice. “Ash, how would you like to have your palm read?” She asked from her place in a rocking chair. I looked at her in surprise for a moment before glancing at Claude and Chloe, who were looking at me perfectly seriously. Did they really believe this sort of thing?

I couldn’t refuse, not without being rude. “Um… I would love that, thank you.” I said uncertainly. Mackenzie let out a peeling laugh.

“Well, you have good manners, boy. Come sit by me and put your hand under the lamp where I can see well.” She commanded, beckoning. Claude and Chloe came silently to sit on either side of the lamp as Mackenzie peered at me. “Give me your less used hand.” She ordered. I stuck out my left, and she gently took it looking intently.

She sat very still for a moment and then she laughed so suddenly I jumped. So did Chloe and Claude, who looked at her in confusion. “Ash, darling, you have a most interesting future.” She laughed again before growing serious and looking at my hand again. “Something is going to happen in your near future that will change the course of your life. You won’t have a choice in this matter, but it involves the one you hate most in this world.”

She looked up at me seriously, eyes glinting in the firelight. “Do you know who that is?” I nodded. JB. “Good. Now… on the night when it matters most you will be ready, though others will be completely unaware of what is happening. You will avert disaster.” She frowned at the lines in my palm, and I shivered in spite of myself. I had never believed these kinds of readings, but she was perfectly serious. Still, I was cynical enough to realize that she never used specific names, and she was vague about everything.

“Soon afterwards there will be unrest in the souls of the people around you, but that will die down. You will be forced to make a tough decision, and according to this you follow your heart in the end. I cannot tell if you will regret the decision.” She murmured, leaning closer to my palm.

“There is a moment of relative calm in your life before you are thrown into the middle of a mess that will affect everyone around you… I cannot see what you do or whether you succeed…” She trailed off and then laughed again, breaking the stillness of the moment. For some reason, I found myself really listening to her. Maybe it was because Mackenzie was so sure of herself.

“Oh, Ash! According to your lines, you split with the one you love not too long ago, and from then until maybe a few years from now, you go separate ways. Then you are suddenly brought back together.” She looked up at me intently as I took in what she was saying. Liz and I would meet again, possibly a few years from now.

I took that in two ways. A few years! That was like forever. And yet the part of me that had already accepted that I would never see Liz again was celebrating, and I couldn’t stop the smile that broke across my face. “Can you tell what happens after that?” I asked eagerly. I firmly told myself that this was hodgepodge, but then I realized that I might as well believe it: that way I had something to look forward too.

Mackenzie smiled. “At that point, there are about twenty different ways your future could go. It’s impossible to tell which way you will choose now.” Disappointed, I sighed.

“Well, thank you Mackenzie. This has certainly given me food for thought.” I told her, smiling. Chloe grinned.

“Ash, you’re in love? Please tell me what her name is, please!” I looked at her and laughed.

“What does a name matter? It’s not like a name will tell you anything.” Now she grinned wickedly at me.

“It’s called the internet, friend of mine… I can look her up on facebook, see what she’s doing. If she’s won something recently or posted something on the internet, we’ll be able to see.” I stared at her, amazed at the obviousness of her words.

“Do you have a computer with you now?” I asked. Chloe nodded, and Claude and I followed her to another room, where a laptop rested on a wooden tabletop. “Can I look her up?” I asked, curiosity burning inside me. Maybe I would be able to see what she was doing now.

Chloe nodded and I typed Liz’s full name in the Google search bar: Charlize De Contra. Hundreds of results popped up, most of them news articles. Claude and Chloe gasped in unison as they began to read the news articles about our kidnap, but I ignored them, scrolling down till I found the headline I wanted. “Girl lost as then found at sea!” I read breathlessly with Chloe and Claude peering over my shoulder.

There were pictures of her just after the rescue, and I winced at how she looked. She was crying bitterly in most of the pictures, or looking at the camera with a haunted gaze. I had done that to her. “What happened to her?” Chloe asked, shocked. Silently, I read the article with them.

The newspapers interviewed her, but she didn’t say much about anything. People asked her questions, but she refused to answer them, except when one reporter kept interrogating her about me. Apparently she had broken down in sobs and said “He died. They shot him. They shot him because I couldn’t get back to the boat.” We all watched the short video clip where she spun to face the reporter, and she looked breath-takingly beautiful even as she glared in heartbreaking sadness and anger.

“You wanna know what happened? Fine! They told me he was dead, I demanded to see him, they tried to kill me, and I was thrown over board by a man who was trying to save my life. He was killed because he saved me, and I began to swim to that god damn coast guard boat. Then they threatened to kill him if I didn’t come back.”

Now she was beginning to cry, and I felt myself reaching uselessly towards the screen as though I could wipe away the tears I had caused. “I turned around and saw Ash on the boat, a gun to his head. But the coast guard wouldn’t let me swim back, and they shot him in the head. Okay? They killed him! Are you happy now? They murdered him because I couldn’t get back! Is that what you wanted to hear?”

The clip cut off as the harried reporter tried to calm her down, and I felt my hands shaking at the pain in her voice. I had caused that pain. Both Chloe and Claude were staring at me now, silently shouting out a single question. My voice was unexpectedly rough as I spoke. “I had them fake my death so that they wouldn’t kill her. I traded myself in. And I caused all that pain.”

Chloe looked back at the screen, reading the story again and looking at me. The happiness and light in her eyes was momentarily put out as she put a comforting hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” I put my head in my hands as she looked at the table top for a second before looking up at me again. “Grandmother said that you would meet her again, remember? So you’ll see her again.” I shook my head at her words, lifting my head again to stare desperately at the video clip, frozen on Liz hiding her facing in her hands and shaking with a sob.

“So what? How could she ever want to see me again after I caused her all that pain?” Neither of them had any answer to that, and I silently went back a window, clicking on Google images. I never wanted to have the details of Liz’s face disappear. I clicked on a link that took me to the school’s class photos. Liz was smiling brightly for the camera in this year’s picture, but the smile was fake.

Even in this picture I could tell that the smile wasn’t real, but I was pretty sure no one else would be able to tell. When I looked closely at her eyes, I saw that they weren’t sparkling the way they always did when we looked at each other or were laughing. Her eyes were almost… flat, the way we had both trained ourselves to look on the ‘Fire on Water’, even when we wanted to laugh. Only this time the flatness didn’t seem fake.

Closing the window, I faked a smile at Chloe and Claude, who were looking worriedly at me. “I feel kinda like a stalker, looking up her pictures on the internet. Is there a place I can sleep?” I asked, forcing some humor and lightheartedness into my voice. Claude raised an eyebrow but pointed to the big couch in the room while Chloe narrowed her eyes at me before leaving the room, not believing my act for a second.

“Yeah, you can sleep on the couch for tonight. Tomorrow we’ll set up the guest bed. Is that okay?” I nodded wearily. I just wanted them to leave. Claude hesitated uncertainly, sensing that I wanted to be alone but feeling a need to help me. “I… my room is right next to this one, and Chloe’s is next to mine. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to wake us up.”

I nodded appreciatively as Chloe reappeared with a pillow and blanket. “Thanks guys.” They hesitated in the doorway for a moment before closing the door behind them. As soon as the door clicked shut I let a sob escape me, and then I bit my lip, not sure whether they had heard.

There was silence on the other end, so I quickly made my bed before falling onto the couch, tired beyond belief. Liz had looked so… drained. It was like her spirit had been sucked out of her in those photos and video clips. That was the last thing I wanted, for her to be hurting like that.

I felt like a monster, but I had to keep telling myself it was for the best. They would have killed her, I knew, but when I had watched those videos it had hurt more than anything else in the world to know I had done that. I had always been the one picking her up when she fell and reassuring her when things got bad, just the same way she did for me. I don’t think either of us would have guessed that I would be the one to hurt her this badly.

Turning over on the couch, I decided I wouldn’t be getting sleep any time soon and got up to go the computer again. I drew up images of Liz, but this time all the pictures were from before we were taken. Liz’s mom had a website where she posted pictures and things like that, and I accessed that.

I didn’t know what hurt me more, the fact that the Liz in that picture was so much more alive and happy then the Liz I had just seen, or the fact that most of the pictures of Liz had me in them too, and we were usually sharing some inside joke or something. I had been her best friend, the one she always counted on, and I had also been the one who almost tore her down.

Clenching my fists, I scrolled down the pictures. There were recent pictures of Liz too, and I couldn’t help but look at them. At first they really hurt: Liz was stick thin and looked sick. Then slowly the pictures got better as she put some weight back on and got some of her healthy glow back.

There were other people in the pictures too: Liz with four other girls, Liz at a party, Liz swimming with her parents, and Liz with a guy. The last ones were like a punch in the stomach to me. Liz and the boy were always laughing with each other, even though Liz still had a haunted look around her. I didn’t even know what I was feeling.

I wanted her to be happy, I knew that. And being happy meant that she got over me and moved on to other guys. Including possibly this guy. So why was my stomach churning and my breath coming faster? How could I be jealous, especially when this boy was obviously making her happier? I knew the answer. I was a selfish bastard.

Gritting my teeth, I closed the laptop and went back to the couch, trying to go to sleep. It didn’t work, and I spent most of the night thinking about Liz and wondering, hoping, that somehow she was completely back to normal now. Even if that meant she forgot about me. It didn’t matter. It was all about her. Therefore, even if it hurt me, she was going to forget me and be happy. Without her best friend, her confidante, and the person who needed her most in the world.

*sniffs* aww... Anyways, Merry Christmas! I've posted early as a present