Authors: Christina Leigh Pritchard
“What are you staring at?” Ally followed my gaze. “Oh,” is all she said.
“This is what best friends do,” I whispered. She actually giggled. We followed Michael over to a group of guys from the school. One was Kurt with his long face and there was one with a round chubby face (he wore a shirt) and another short, young guy with braces.
“You know Kurt,” Michael pointed. “This handsome guy here is Big Al,” (chubby face) “and this little guy is Metal Head or as his mom calls him, Anthony” (guy with braces).
“Hi, I’m Lisa and this is Ally.” The guys just stared. It was as if they were seeing a ghost. Ally crossed her arms over her chest and frowned. “We were out kayaking; do you guys hang out here often?”
Metal Head grinned. “Sure,” (his voice was squeaky) “every Sunday. There really isn’t much to do in this town.” He stretched his hand out. “I’m Anthony.”
I smiled. Ally turned her back to us. Was she nervous? Scared? Why didn’t she just try to speak to them? Maybe she wasn’t really as mean as I thought. Did she have a fear of rejection?
“Hi, Ally,” Big Al grinned. “It’s nice to see you out. How’s your summer so far?”
“It’s been wonderful. I’ve had company, as you can see.”
What exactly was wonderful about her summer so far? Me?! I doubted that for sure. Maybe her summer was good
before
I arrived. What did I know? She was more complex than I’d thought. If I didn’t know any better I’d say she wanted friends. What was stopping her from trying?
The sky grew dark. Thunder rumbled above us. This was the wrong place to be in a storm. I’d seen how violent lightning was here in Lynn. “We’d better go,” I decided. Ally nodded.
“Yeah, see ya Saturday. We’re having a bonfire here at the beach. A last big bash before school starts,” Big Al said. “A-Ally, you should come.”
She took a deep breath, “I will try to make it.” I was so proud of her. She was really trying to hold back on her nasty remarks. If only she’d edit herself with me, too.
We climbed back into our kayak. Michael held it steady for us and we began paddling back to shore. “What is it with this weather?” I complained. “It just rains whenever, without any warning.”
“It’s temperamental,” Ally answered. I laughed.
“I was really impressed. You weren’t rude to any of them. Ally, you were even civil.”
“You asked me to be nice, so I was. I know how to be nice, Lisa Brown.”
“Why do you always say my whole name?”
“I don’t know. It sounds more dramatic, don’t you think?”
Lightning flashed behind us. “Where’s Alex?” I surveyed the darkened waters. The water was rough and almost pushed us toward the shore.
“He’s right over there.” She pointed at a lone kayak a few yards away. “Let’s get out of the water.”
Waves rocked us. Our kayak swayed sideways, jerking furiously. I set my feet firmly on the floorboards to balance myself. “Good idea.”
All of a sudden, a huge wave, three times our size, collapsed on top of us. The kayak tipped over.
I was upside down under the water. My throat stung from the salty water and it hurt to hold my breath. I struggled to free myself but my legs were caught inside the seat. I swayed back and forth, trying to lift myself forward.
I really was going to die in Lynn.
Except it wasn’t Ally who was going to kill me.
I was going to drown.
My eyes burned and I slapped the side of the boat. I needed air in my lungs. They were about to burst from the pressure. What would my mom say when she came to get me?
Millie where is my precious daughter? Dead?! You only watched her for three days!
Who was I kidding? My mom wasn’t coming to get me and she wasn’t going to miss me if I drowned.
I still didn’t want to die.
I struggled to free my leg. It wouldn’t budge. I’d caught it underneath the safety bar. Yeah, real security…
Suddenly, the kayak flipped forward and I gasped for air. My lungs burned and I felt as if I were going to explode all over. I coughed up water from my lungs. Ally was coughing, too. She’d been stuck as well. We gagged and spit out salt water.
Alex sat in his kayak with a pained expression. “That was a close one.”
I couldn’t speak. My hands, arms, face and the whole rest of my body trembled and shivered from the cold.
He held on tight to our boat. “I think we should hurry home.”
I looked up at the sky. It was clear, as if it hadn’t threatened to rain just moments ago. The ocean waters were calm and relaxed, too. “I lost my oar.”
Ally laughed. “Me, too.”
Alex tied our kayak to his and pulled us back. He had to pay for the lost oars and he rented towels from the cabana boy so that Ally and I could dry off. We walked back up the road to the house. Our clothes dried some in the sun and when we arrived home there was an old Mitsubishi in the yard.
It couldn’t be!
Nine
The Electrifying Truth
I ran, slipping and sliding in Ally’s flip flops. Amber; she’d come back for me. I knew she couldn’t stay away from me too long! I was going home! It was a miracle. And to think I’d almost given up on her.
Outside, sitting on the purple porch swing was my mom. She saw me and burst into tears. Her long blond hair was cut short, to her ears, and she wore overalls (of all things). I didn’t care; my mom had come to take me back. She really did love me. Amber didn’t say she loved me but why else would she drive across the country to come get me?
“Mom!” I raced up the steps and collided into her arms. She swung me around and squeezed me tight. Tears brimmed in her eyes and she pulled away to get a good look at me.
“You look different. Darker—”
“Yeah, hello to you, too,” I rolled my eyes. “What are you doing here? I’ve been waiting for you to call me!”
“I’ve called you every day since you left. I kept getting Millie’s answering machine and panicked. I thought something happened to you so I got in my car and drove all night.”
“You must be tired,” I said. “Are you hungry?”
“Starving.
Let’s go out to eat some place nice. You can tell me all about Lynn.” She surveyed my wet clothes. “It looks like you’re having fun.”
I forced myself to smile. There was no sense in telling her about my near death experience or about Ally and her practical jokes. I was going home, so it didn’t matter anymore.
Alex and Ally stood a few feet away. They glared at my mother. She waved and smiled. “Who are they? Do I know them? They look so familiar.”
“That’s Alex and Ally. Aunt Millie watches them while their parents are out of town.”
“Well, why don’t you invite them to lunch, too?” I shrugged my shoulders. I needed to change into dry clothes anyway and one more hour with the freaks wouldn’t kill me. At least I didn’t
think
it would.
“Would you like to come to lunch with me and my mom?”
Ally turned sideways and whispered into Alex’s ear. He nodded then looked at me.
“Yes,” he said. It sounded almost like he had to force himself into agreeing. Ally motioned for me to follow her into the house. She closed the front door behind her and locked the dead bolt.
“What are you doing?”
Ally glowered, “I do not like people in my house. I didn’t invite her here.”
Thank goodness I was leaving!
“Can I borrow some more clothes? All of mine are dirty.”
I will mail them back to you. Ha.
“Yes, I’ll bring some out for you.” Ally slammed her door. What was it with the two of them and slamming doors? Was she angry when she was finally getting rid of her mole; isn’t that what she’d called me?
I put on the jeans and tee shirt she gave me. I looked nice. She had good taste in clothes for sure; at least for me, anyway. She wore a long cotton dress that dangled around her ankles.
“Let’s hurry up and get this over with.” Ally crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes. Did she think my mother was going to leave without me?
My mom sat on the porch swing with her hands in her lap. She looked uncomfortable. Alex stood several feet away with his face turned. “Okay, we’re ready.”
I sat in the front and Alex and Ally crawled into the backseat of my mom’s Mitsubishi. My mom looked at me with concern. She leaned over and whispered into my ear, “What in the world?”
We drove along the dirt road and turned onto the main highway. Alex and Ally stared out the window intently. “Look at this place,” Alex sighed. “It’s so different.”
Ally said nothing.
“So, how old are you, Alex?” Amber asked. She looked at him in the rear view mirror.
“Eighteen, I guess.”
My mom turned into a Denny’s and parked. “You guess?”
Alex nodded.
We took a table close to the door. It wasn’t crowded inside the restaurant which seemed to ease the tension a little.
“So, what happened at the ‘you know what’?” I smiled, swallowing. Amber avoided my eyes. She didn’t go to the psychiatric hospital. But, who was I to judge her? If she wanted to lie to me then that was okay. “Did they help you?”
“She didn’t go,” Alex answered. “She never had any intention to really go.”
Amber’s lip quivered. Why did Alex have to be so cruel? Couldn’t he just let my mother lie to me?
“It’s okay, mom. I’m just happy you’re here.” I grabbed her hand. She squeezed me back hard. “Alex can be a little blunt sometimes. I don’t think he means anything by it, though. Millie considers them geniuses.”
My mom placed her hand on Alex’s arm.
She was going to tell him that it was okay; that she understood and that he hadn’t offended her. The truth was always the best policy. Yes, that is what my mother would’ve said for sure…
Alex screamed and smacked her hand away. He stood and picked up his chair. His face burned red and I could see one of his veins popping out on his forehead. He lifted the chair above his head, as if he were going to hurl it at my mother.
“Alex!” I yelled. “What are you doing?”
He looked into my eyes. Alex took steady breaths, almost like he were counting to ten. The chair found its place on the floor again and Alex sat.
My heart pumped and my skin itched. What a lunatic. “Mom, don’t touch Alex, he doesn’t like it.”
My mother sat frozen at the table. “Uh, I can see that.”
Alex nodded and scooted back to the table.
Our waitress inched her way over with a look of horror on her face. “I-Is everything all right here?”
Ally smiled. “Yes, of course. We’re just very hungry.” I almost laughed. She was trying to pass Alex’s fit off as hunger. Who knows, maybe he
was
hungry.
“I’ll ask the kitchen staff to push your order,” the waitress said, backing away from the table slowly.
“That’s a very wise idea.”
“So, Lisa I thought we could leave for home today. I figured since you have your permit you could drive until it gets dark. I would have some time to rest up from my drive here and we could stay in some cheap hotel for the night.”
“Sounds good to me,” I hooted, raising my fist in the air.
Alex narrowed his eyes at Amber. “Why would you want to take her with you? Do you have a place to live? Aren’t you still sick?”
“Leaving my daughter here isn’t going to help make me better.”
“I’m afraid
she
is your
problem
.” Alex crossed his arms and leaned them on the table. “Isn’t that right, Amber? It’s hard to look at her now that she’s older and resembles him so much?”
“Lisa.” My mom stood, banging her knees under the table. “Let’s get out of here. This kid is scaring me. I’m sorry I left you with these freaks.”
I obeyed, pushing my chair away from the table. Ally grabbed my shirt and jerked me backwards. “What’s happening?” Her eyes watered. “Alex, what’s going on? I don’t understand.”
“Nothing, don’t worry Ally. Amber isn’t taking Lisa anywhere.”
My heart stopped. I wasn’t leaving? What was he talking about? Was this another one of his games? Amber grabbed my arm and tugged. She led me out the front door.
“Get in the car, Lisa. Those kids are crazy. That boy is going to kill someone one day. He’s like the next Ted Bundy or something.”
She started the car. I looked in the side mirror. Alex and Ally raced out of Denny’s and stood on the sidewalk. Ally was shouting at Alex, begging him for something. He just stared at our car.
My mom put the car in drive and pressed her foot to the gas pedal. We hit the highway and took a deep breath. My mom blasted the radio and began singing. It was an old song by Cyndi Lauper,
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
.
We merged into traffic. I finally relaxed. They didn’t have super speed. I laughed at this. What did I think Alex and Ally were?
“We’re almost out of Lynn,” my mom squealed.
“Almost free—”
I grabbed the dash and my mom clutched the steering wheel.
She hit her brakes and the car spun in a circle.
A bolt of lightning hit the roadway splitting the ‘Lynn, Massachusetts’ sign into two pieces.
Hurry on home.
The voice, it was back. It had to be Alex. It just had to be! I looked behind us for any sign of him. He was not there.
What about Ally? No. No Ally.
I reached over and grabbed my mother’s hand. We looked at the sky. It was clear; not a rain cloud in sight. Where had the lightning come from?
“Start the car,” I demanded, “I want to get out of here.”
My mom turned the ignition but the car stalled. She tried again.
Nothing.
What was wrong with the stupid car? Did it overheat?
Finally, the engine purred and my mom inched forward. She went around another car that had skidded to a stop as well.
Amber hit the breaks.
The road had a big hole in the center of it. There wasn’t any way out, at least not this way. “Find another exit.” I bit my fingernails.
“Did Millie tell you something?” Amber asked, backing out of the debris.
What
was
she talking about?
“About the night you were conceived?” Amber glanced at me. “Alex knew about it and I don’t remember telling Millie anything about it;
ever
.”
“What are you talking about?” My hands trembled.
“Good, its better that you never know.”
“Know what?” I screeched. “Stop the car!”
My mom hit the brakes. We were half on the sidewalk, trying to get out of the mess of vehicles backed up because of the lightning strike.
“Really, Lisa, it’s not a big deal,” She wouldn’t look at me. “It’s something that only concerns me.”
“Mother.”
“Lisa.”
“If you don’t tell me, I’m going to get out and go find Alex. He will tell me for sure!”
My mother hid her face in her hands. “Jimmy, well, he's not your real father.”
I blinked, stunned. How was that possible? She’d been married to him years before I was ever even born. Did she have an affair and never tell me about it?
“Who’s my father, then?”
“I don’t know.” She wiped the tears from her eyes.
How could she not know? Did she have multiple affairs with men? I thought she’d loved Jimmy.
“I came home after a long night of working; I went to the bathroom to take a shower because I was so dirty from running around at a catering party. When I close my eyes I can still smell the chocolate fondue that spilled all over my apron.”
Amber opened her mouth but nothing came out.