Bloodlines: Everything That Glitters (8 page)

Behind me someone tapped my back and I turned slightly around in my seat. “Can I help you?” I whispered, as the teacher carried on with the lesson.

Instead of replying aloud like I had done, the girl handed me a note, lightly kissed with her red lipstick. “For you,” she mouthed.

I took the note from her hand and put it into my pocket, not really caring to read it. No one likes blondes anymore; I preferred red-heads like Corey. My body shuddered at the thought. Corey was sticks and bones- she’d been kept away from a hot meal for way too long. But I had to give her one thing; she had a smile that lit up the darkest room. It was something about the way she talked and the way she moved that toyed with me, her voice was almost rustic and graceful, like an ancient song. I shook my head. No more thinking about Corey, she’s beneath me.

Mighty big talk for a princess. But I’d still bet she has more balls than you do,
Aliza thought.

I clenched my fist.
Wait until I see you, I’m punching you in the chest. Shouldn’t you have clarity right now anyways?             

There was a long bridge of silence before she replied.
I was going to tell you about this place that I just heard about. They’re supposed to have some of the best burgers in town. But, since you threatened to punch me in the chest good luck eating the cafeteria food, loser.

My pulse spiked as I became angry and blood rushed to my cheeks. Aliza had a way of getting under my skin like no other. But I knew that through the blood, sweat and tears we had each other’s backs, and that’s what it really came down to in the end.

I suddenly remembered how she’d squandered her allowance.
How’d you plan on paying for that burger?
I wondered if she could tell I was smirking along with this thought.

Angus House. Ten minutes north. Meet you there,
she replied.

I smiled to myself then went back to paying attention to the teacher.
That’s right, I rule.

Alizarin

Monday August 23, 2010

“Breakfast!” my mom called from downstairs. I rolled over and looked at the clock on the nightstand; it was 6:45 in the morning. By now I should be used to rising with the sun since mom never wanted us to be late. She was our human alarm clock and she never missed a beat.

I threw the blankets from over my legs and stepped out of the bed and into my furry pink bunny slippers.
Wonder if Corey is a hard sleeper
? I thought to myself.

She’s already up and downstairs.
Ash replied eagerly. His voice rang in my head and everything from the day before came pouring in. Things I’d thought I had merely dreamed about.

I heard Ash’s heavy footsteps walk past my door. “Yesterday was show and today is going to be tell. I want to be completely c
onvinced I’m not losing my mind,” I said as I stepped out into the hallway.

“Have you noticed how everything smells differently?
So much stronger
. Everything is stronger- sounds, smells, and sights. I kid you not, I’m looking around this wall and outside the front door.”

“Sure, S
uperman,” I said sarcastically. Believing he was pulling my leg.

“I’m serious, Aliza.”

I brushed past him lightly and jotted down the stairs then walked through the living room and into the kitchen. Corey sat at the table quietly, cautiously looking from my mom to my dad. I lightly brushed past her touching her shoulder. “They’re not as scary as they look, Coco.”

“Coco?” she asked puzzled.

“Yeah it’s my new nickname for you.”             

She looked back into her plate and smiled. “No one’s ever given me a nickname before.”

I grinned and patted her on the shoulder “Well now someone has. Do you like it?”

“I love it,” she smiled.

My mom looked up from the last batch of pancakes and stared at Corey. “So how long are you going to be staying with us?”

Corey looked up from her plate and shifted in her seat to face my mom, “I’m not exactly sure,” she replied confused, “I don’t really have anywhere else to go.”

My dad looked up from his morning paper and looked at Ash and then me.
Picking up hitchhikers is against the law, and dangerous. Maybe she’s not ready for the responsibility of a car just yet
. My dad thought, giving Corey and me a suspicious eye.

I couldn’t make out any more of my parents thoughts as I sat quietly at the table filling my plate with some of the food. Hazy visions played through my mind of what I’m guessing were memories from a long time ago; there was Ash and I as children then Jasmine. My heart grew sad as my dad remembered the daughter he’d lost in the house fire from when Ash and I were barely ten. I put the fork down and looked at my mom then at my dad, this was still an emotionally hard time. We never talked about it anymore but every once and a while mom and dad would leave for a therapy session. I didn’t bother entertaining my dad’s earlier thought and just let him keep thinking what he wanted, I knew there was no chance of him taking the car from me; that’d mean he’d have to drive me around himself and his life was just too busy for that.

“She’s an old high school friend from Hot Springs, her parents were recently killed and their house foreclosed. Like I told mom yesterday, I found her under an overpass sleeping and I couldn’t just leave here there.” I said reassuringly as a small headache began to build. Those around me were suppressing my own thoughts and I couldn’t see myself attending school this morning. 

“Well Corey, you can stay with us as long as you like and if you need anything don’t be afraid to ask either myself or David.”

My dad was usually only home for the beginning of breakfast and the end of dinner, so if there was anything she needed from him, she would have to wait until then to ask.

“Speaking of David, didn’t you have something you wanted to tell Alizarin and Ash?”

My father glared up from his newspaper and looked at me. “Yes,” he put the paper down and took a sip from his coffee mug. “Since we’re in a new place, there are going to be a few new changes. The both of you, and maybe even Corey if she’s here for long, are going to have to start looking for jobs. You're entering adulthood and we feel it’s time for you to start having adult responsibilities.” 

“But I’ve never worked before,” I objected.

“Find something you like to do and go for it, there’s a lot of places hiring around here, pick one.”

I started to debate further on the subject but Ash cut me off. “Your right dad, we’ll start looking right away.”

I turned and looked at my brother then back at my dad. “Anything for you father.”

“I don’t mean to interrupt but may I be excused to go to the bathroom?” Corey spoke up.

“You don’t have to ask permission to use the restroom, Coco, just go,” I said.

“Well it’s nice that she has manners, Aliza,” my mom countered.

I disregarded her statement and got up from the table. I pushed the chair back under the table and headed off upstairs to change. “Hey CoCo, before you use the restroom could you follow me upstairs? I have something I need to talk to you about.”

When we got up to the room I motioned for her to sit down on the bed. “I have school in about twenty or thirty minutes. That ought to be enough time for you to whip up some magic and get the voices to go away. Whatever you need me to do just say so.”

“I think what’s sad is that you still believe this is a figment of your imagination. Were you actually to believe what you’ve seen and what you have heard, instinct would have told you what to do.”  She ignored the bed and walked around the room looking through some of my things.

“This is the part where you begin the elaborate on what you’re talking about. You think I don’t believe? It’s been very real, I haven’t even been able to do any real thinking myself. Truth be told, I’ve never realized how uncontrollably sad my family is.” I looked around in the drawers for something to wear to school.

She shook her head then ran her fingers across the top of the TV, removing some the dust that’d been there for some time now. “I don’t see what it is you want me to do.”

“Just get out of my room,” I replied. After we’d gotten her away from a bad situation she was denying me help in return. When she turned to leave out I softened a little bit. “Wait,” I turned and walked over to the bed and sat down. “Can you just tell me a little bit more about what exactly is happening to me?”

“All in due time Aliza.” She opened the door and walked out of the room.

I got up from the bed and after undressing threw on a pink sleeveless shirt and a snug fit pair of jeans then tossed on my trusty old hoodie. I kicked my slippers off to the side and slid on a pair of black sandals I had lying by the closet door. I glanced over at my clothes in the mirror and gave myself a warm smile of approval before opening the door and walking out. Ash had done the smart thing and dressed before coming downstairs. I ran down the stairs and back into the kitchen.

“Breakfast was good mom,” I kissed her on the forehead and walked toward the door.

“What is Corey going to do here all day?” my mom called after me.

“Watch movies or something?” Ash replied.

“If she’s going to be here, she’ll need to get into school. You and Aliza go ahead and get out of here before you’re late.”

“Alright, I‘ll see you after school.”

“Have a great day,” my dad called after us.

Once we were out of the house I went and stood on the driver side of my car. “Are you riding with me or you taking your own car? I might leave early today, depending on the intensity,” I asked.             

Ash had a new Pontiac GTO convertible with less than 500 miles on it, after the accident my parents got the car fixed but he refused to drive it anymore. That accident was only the second most tragic thing to hit this family. He’d been driving his girlfriend at the time, Deanna, home from a party when he’d blacked-out at the wheel and completely flipped the car, instantly killing her. He walked away with only a few cuts and scrapes but inside of his mind he was never the same. It took nearly a month and a half for him to even begin talking to anyone again and even longer than that for him to date again.

“I’m going to drive,” he called back.

“That’s a first! Do you even know where your keys are?” I said excitedly.

He chuckled then reached into his pockets and pulled out the keys. “I always know where my keys are, little sister.”

“Cool, I’ll meet you there,” I said smiling as I opened the door of my own car.

“You want to know the good thing about living in something like a desert?” he paused then opened his door. “There are hardly any cops around, and I hear that it’s pretty much a straight stretch of road from here to the school…” He let his words linger for a bit and I looked over at him.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” I replied.

“Race you there!”

Entering the student parking section was the moment when I’d realized that my coming here was a horrible mistake. Close to a hundred students were scattered all around and unintentionally causing my body to involuntarily shut down. I tried to pull myself together as I looked around briefly at everyone; I caught the eyes of a girl in a blue top and white pants looking in my direction.

Oh great, more people to not notice I exist. This day keeps getting better and better.
The girl thought before rolling her eyes at me and looking away.

We drove around for a few minutes before finding two open parking spaces near the front of the building and parked. I turned the car off and tried to block out all of the rambling psychotic voices in my head. My own thoughts were once again forced aside and each thought demanded my attention, making it entirely too hard to concentrate. Ash tapped on the window and I jumped.
              “You okay?” he said, talking through the glass.

“Yeah I’m fine, you scared me.”

“You’re hearing them all at once aren’t you?”

“What do you think?” I opened the car door and stepped out.

“This is different. There was hardly anyone just standing around outside at our old school.” Ash said trying to take my attention off of the scrambled madness going on in my brain.

It didn’t help, there was way too much confusion for me to think about anything. My vision blurred randomly, I staggered to a nearby pole and put my back against it, allowing myself to slide to the ground. “This is it, someone just kill me now,” I whispered.

Ash kneeled beside me and put a hand on my knee. “You’re fine Aliza, we’ll figure this thing out together. Just toughen up and pull yourself together. Now get up from the ground before people start thinking we’re weird.”

“A small migraine never killed anyone, right? People don’t die of aneurism’s every year.” I said sarcastically. “You have no idea what I’m going through, I don’t car
e about what these people think because I can actually hear them,” I stressed, “Trust me, none of them are even worried about us.”