BrookLyn's Journey (29 page)

“I’m
driving you to school tomorrow
,
”
Gabby proclaimed.

“You’d do that for me?”

“I would give you the world if I could.”
The tone in Gabby’s voice and the look on her face said that
she
really
meant that.
“Walk your usual route
to the bus,
and I’ll be there
.
O
kay?”

“
Okay.
”
BrookLyn felt overwhelmed and content all at the same time.
“I really do love you
,
”
she said.

“I know.”

“
Does that mean
you got your car back since you’re picking me up
?”

“
No, but
I have a rental car
that’s
almost like it.
”

“That stinks but at least you know they can fix it.”

“
Yeah
.
”

BrookLyn needed
to explain
something
even though there
was always the possibility that
her
mother might be holding a glass up to
her
door
eavesdropping.
“Can I explain what the deal is for me?”

“I thought you did when we talked earlier
,
but if you need to elaborate, feel free
.
” Gabby moved closer
.

Although BrookLyn
spoke softly
, she had seriousness in her voice.
“
I
’m not
afraid of all
your
extra
stuff
—
I
’m
afraid of
mine.” She took a long steady breath.
“My life here has been miserable for as long as I can remember. Eighteen years doesn’t make me old
,
but imagine spending eighteen years in prison for a crime you didn’t commit.
That’s my life
.
”

Gabby reached out and stroked BrookLyn’s arm. It helped calm her fears and made it
easier to tell
her story
.

“I have had a few friends
, but never
a boyfriend
, never even
been asked to a dance. I
am
bullied at school and
at
home. I’m damaged goods
, Gabby
.
”
BrookLyn tried to laugh off the last comment, but Gabby didn’t seem to buy it. Her face twisted into
a sad, crooked smile.

BrookLyn forced herself to
continue
.
“I sit in this room all day
,
every
day
,
when I’m not in school or at church. Imagine having parents who hated you
just
for being born. It’s not a good feeling.”
Her
eyes fill
ed
with tears
and she tried not to blink so that they
wouldn’t
fall
down her cheeks
.
“I’m afraid to love you
, Gabby
. Everything about you feels right
—
but it goes against everything I have ever known. I’ve always be
en told
that this was wrong. It’s what I was taught to believe.”

Gabby’s face washed over with sympathy.
“I’m not pressuring you to love me, Sweets. I’m just asking you to trust me. Sometimes in life we have to take chances. We have to go in search of what makes us happy. You make me happy. I haven’t stopped thinking of you since the first day
that
you walked into church. I just want you to give me,
give
us, a chance to be
—
something
, anything—even if
it’s only friends
.
I need you in my life.”

“You sound like you’re so grown,”
BrookLyn
mocked
,
but she did.

“I
may be
nineteen
,
but l
ife forced me to grow up
each time
I lost
one of
my parents. I haven’t
really
been a kid since
I was seven—I had to be strong for my mom.
My aunt calls me an old soul. Maybe I am.
But
I just want to be an old soul with you
, BrookLyn
.”

“
Gabby,
I want to be more than friends. I want to be with you.
I
just
need you to be really patient with me
, please
. My father has beaten me as close to death as he can more than once. I don’t want to die at his hands with
my mother
standing
above me
smirking
,
because of us. I need you to understand that I
might
go back and forth with my feelings.
But no
matter what I say, even when I run, know that I love you.”

“Now look whose soul sounds older than mine.”

Gabby
took
BrookLyn’s
face into her hands
and she felt the safest she had ever felt in this room, y
et the fear of
her
mother walking in hung
thickly
in the air.
Gabby
didn’t
speak, just
stared into
BrookLyn’s
eyes
as
tears ran down her face.

“What’s all this, Gabby?”
BrookLyn
point
ed
to
Gabby’s
tears.
This
i
s a first
.

“I missed you
. I was afraid I had lost you
and never want to
feel that way
again.”

“I will try and love you the best way that I can, Gabby.”

“And another thing,
BrookLyn—
you missed my birthday!”

BrookLyn’s
heart sank.
I
t
had
meant a lot to
Gabby
and through
her
own
selfish
craziness,
she’d
forgot
ten
to
even
call.

“
N
ow don’t you start crying
too
. I understand
.
You can make it up to me
.
”

“How?”
BrookLyn
never had any money. How could
she
do that?

“Kiss me and we’re even.”
Gabby smirked and her eyes regained their brilliance.

BrookLyn
wanted to get lost in th
ose eyes
and that’s exactly what
she
did
, until the harsh sound of her
mother banging on
the
door
smacked her out of it.

She
jumped up quickly
,
looked around for Gabby but
she was gone
.
She
could smell her
scent
in the air
as it
wafted around with the breeze coming in the
open window
.
BrookLyn
straighten
ed
her
clothes
,
took a deep breath
,
and
slowly opened the door.
She hoped her mother would not
see
her
shaking
like a leaf
from
the sudden burst of
fear and
adrenaline.

BrookLyn put
on
a sleepy face and cleared her throat as if she had
just
woken up
.
“Yes
.
”
She
rubbed
her
eye
s and faked a yawn.

“I thought I heard some noises. Are you sleeping?”

“Not now
,
but I was.”

“
I know I heard you talking. You think I’m dumb, huh?”

Her
mother pursed her lips and looked at
BrookLyn
angrily. Then she
shoved BrookLyn aside
and huffed
into
her
room.

As
her
mother
s
niffed
around
her room like a bloodhound, BrookLyn’s fingers jumped instinctively straight to her
mouth
. She was rewarded with a ragged cuticle and began the
abuse.

“I know you’re up to something
,
but I’m too tired to deal with it tonight,
huh?
”

Was that
a question
?
BrookLyn knew better than to answer it if it was. Her mother always
assumed
she
was up to something
, even
when
she never was.
In fact, this
was actually the first time
h
er mother
ever
got it right
.
BrookLyn
smiled inside knowing that
she
had finally won a round.

“All I was up to was sleeping.”

Her mother
stared
long
and
hard
before she
turned to leave
.
BrookLyn
didn’t give her the satisfaction of
meeting her eyes.
I
am
so over this inquisition
,
M
other
.
BrookLyn
placed
her
hand on the door
, ready to shut her mother out.
Too bad it isn’t over for you.

J
ust as
BrookLyn
was
about
to shut
the
door
, her mother turned.
“One day little girl, I
will
come in here and find something. I will. You know that,
huh
?” She pointed her finger at
BrookLyn
but stared past
her at God knows what.

“Yes
, ma’am
.” She was probably right. One day she probably would
find something, now that BrookLyn had something to hide,
but that
day
wasn’t
today.

“Go to bed,” she said
,
walking away.

BrookLyn
closed
the
door
while her mother was still muttering something out
in the
hall
, but
she
refused to acknowledge it.
She waited a few moments for the sound of
her mother’s
footsteps to fade away then she
called
quietly
out the window
for Gabby.
As much as she
didn’t want her to leave
, she
knew she had to go.

Gabby was smiling from
the tree
like a Cheshire cat and whispered
through the window
.
“I have to go, don’t I?”

“
Yeah, but
I’ll
see you in the morning
.”

“
Okay
.
”

“
Meet me in my dreams tonight?
”

Gabby’s eyes sparkled with devilishness.
“
Where?
”