C I N: "Lynn, Lynn, the city of sin. You never come out the way you went in." (The C I N Series) (9 page)

“What happened, mom?” I asked, almost afraid of the answer.

“Some man, with eyes just like yours stepped into the shower.”

“Mom?” My lips trembled. I didn’t want to process this information. She was right. It was better to not know. My heart pounded and I couldn’t breathe. My legs shook uncontrollably.

My father was a rapist.

“He slammed me into t h e
  
w a l l, and then he—”

“Stop, I don’t want to hear anymore.”

Everything made sense. I now understood why Jimmy and Amber were so happy before I was born, why Amber never said she loved me and even why she looked sad whenever she peered into my eyes…

I was the problem.

I made my mother crazy.

“I can’t be near you, Lisa, without thinking about that night, but, another part of me cannot be
away
from you, either.”

“Is that why you sent me away? Because you didn’t want to face me anymore?”

“Millie never responded to any of my calls in the past. I always got her voicemail, then a few days after I’d had one of my episodes, I was fine and didn’t want you to leave. But, out of the blue, Millie called me back two weeks ago. She said she’d help me out just this once. It was very out of character for Millie to do this. She’s never been a very good sister-in-law to me. But, I thought maybe if I had a little break to clear my head, maybe, just maybe I could see
you
for you and not
him
.”

“So, what do you want to do now?” Did she want to be rid of me? Had I destroyed her life? Why had she even given birth to me?

“I want to get you out of Lynn. That’s what I want to do right now.”

She hugged me. “Lisa, I’m so sorry I told you.”

Amber and I got out of the car and took the sidewalk. The Mitsubishi had seen better days and so we figured we could walk to the next town and get two cheap bus tickets to some new place.

We were going to start over.

“I could get contacts. That might make it easier for you to look at me.”

“We’re going to get some counseling together. That would probably be the best thing.”

We crossed the street.

The sky darkened.

My heart raced.
Not again
. What was wrong with the weather here?

“Lisa, I forgot my phone. I’ll be right back.” Amber ran back to the car. I stood inches away from the broken “Welcome to Lynn” sign.

Lightning never struck the same place twice. That’s what I’d heard, anyway.

Thunder rolled above us and ambulances and police cars finally arrived from Lynn and the surrounding city. People climbed out of their cars, shouting and cursing filled my ears and I sat on part of the “Lynn” sign.

Droplets of rain pelted me in the forehead. My mom had been derailed. A policeman had stopped to question her.

“Come on, Mom,” I thought. “It’s going to get ugly.”

Maybe we could leave in our car after all. The police were already getting to work on organizing a detour. I got up and stretched.

Lightning flashed in the sky.

I looked up and saw two lightning bolts heading straight towards me.

Ten
Erase Your Pain

My head throbbed. A thousand different sounds echoed inside my head. I couldn’t see or move my body. It was as if I were frozen in place.

“Is she okay?”

“Two lightning bolts hit her? Why isn’t she burnt to a crisp then?”

Someone picked me up, probably a paramedic, and put me on a stretcher. He spoke into his receiver and slammed the door of the ambulance shut. Two blurred figures leaned over me.

“It’s going to be okay,” a male voice said. “We’re going to erase the pain for you.”

I wasn’t in any physical pain. I couldn’t
feel
anything actually. I tried to move my arm. Either it was strapped down or I was paralyzed. Where was my mom? Was that her sitting there with me?

“Mom,” I tried to speak,” The male voice took my hand. Pain shot through my arm like a bolt of electricity.

“Ally,” he said. It was
them
, Alex and Ally. Why were they in the ambulance with me? What had they done to my mom? Where was she? Had they hurt her? Had she been struck by lightning too?

“I still think she will hate us if we do this,” Ally said.
What were they going to do to me?

“Do you want her to stay or not?” Alex snapped, “Hold her hand. We need to erase the pain.”

When Ally took my other hand, the pain I felt when Alex touched me vanished.

***

I was at the beach in South Florida. The waves crashed against the shore. There were seagulls flying above my head. My mother was there and she was with Jimmy, sitting in lawn chairs a few yards away. They laughed and watched as I built sandcastles in the sand.

The sand was warm and I picked up a bucket and raced into the saltwater.

I filled my bucket…

…and turned around.

Ally and Alex sat in lawn chairs on the Massachusetts’ beach. They smiled and waved at me. I looked down and realized I was holding a kayak.
 
It really was too heavy for me to carry myself.

Ally raced over to help me. She giggled when we accidentally dropped it into the water. One of the oars floated away.

I screeched and chased after it.

Eleven
Donna Denning

Beep.

Beep. Beep.

I rubbed my eyes. Why was I surrounded by noisy machinery? I looked down. There were tubes on my hands. Where was I? I felt my face. There was a tube in my nose, too. Was I at the hospital?

I sat up. A tall, thin man in a doctor’s jacket smiled at me.

“Hello, Miss Brown,” he chirped. “Everyone is calling you Lynn’s little miracle.”

“Where am I? What happened to me?”

“Do you realize how fortunate you are?” He scribbled on his notepad.

“Who are you?”

“I am Dr. Jerkewitz.”

I looked outside the window to see flashes of lightning in the sky. Did it ever stop raining here in Lynn? My heart raced; faster than normal. Why was I at the hospital?

“What happened, Dr. Jerkewitz?”

“You were struck by lightning
twice
. It is quite amazing for me to be speaking to you. You should be dead. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy you are alive but just completely out of my element. I’ve never witnessed such a miracle before. Lynn recorded another phenomenon like this once, I think, in the mid 1600’s. A teenage boy was struck by lightning in one of the old factories before they were burned down. He survived without a scratch, too.”

The doctor was right. I should be dead. I had been struck by lightning twice. I examined my hands and legs. It didn’t make any sense. Why did I feel so great? I felt like I could just rip off these tubes and run a marathon without any training whatsoever.

I brushed my hand through my hair. It was softer than normal and fuller.

“How do I look?”

The Doctor turned around. “What do you mean?”

“Well, did the lightning change my appearance somehow?”

He laughed. “No, you are as clean as a whistle. There wasn’t a single second degree burn on your body! See, you truly are a miracle!”

That wasn’t what I had meant. “Can I take off these tubes? They’re aggravating. Hey, did anyone tell my mom that I was in the hospital?”

“Not yet. We want to monitor you a little longer just to make sure that you’re okay. I don’t know about your mother, sorry.”

There was a knock at the door.

Michael peeked inside. I smiled. He carried flowers in his hand and a balloon. “Well, well, well,” he chuckled. “Looks like that lightning finally got you good.”

“Very funny.” I rolled my eyes. He put the flowers and balloons on a little table across from my bed. There were other flowers and balloons and even cards already there. “Who gave me those things?”

Michael picked up the three cards and read them. “They’re from Ally, Millie, and Alex.” He set them back down on the table. “I hope you don’t mind, but I brought your future roomy with me so that you could finally meet her.”

“You mean I get to meet Donna with tubes in my face? Gee, thanks so much, Michael! You’re such a sweetheart.”

“I try,” he said, patting me on the top of the head. “You look great for someone whose been fried. “Lisa—my little shish-ka-bob…”

I smacked him. This time he didn’t flinch. He almost welcomed it.

A girl with short, wavy brown hair and hazel eyes entered my room. “Lynn’s little miracle!” She held an enormous card, probably almost as large as a poster board. “You’re famous. Everyone can’t wait to meet the girl who defied science.”

Michael sat on the edge of my bed. “This is Donna Denning. She’s a little animated, as you will soon learn.”

“This card is for you.” Donna handed me the gigantic card. There was a picture of a sad little guy in black pants and white, long-sleeved collared shirt.

So you are down in the dumps…

I opened it up and giggled. The disco song
Stayin’ Alive
by the Bee Gees played. The sad man was up in dancing position with has hand high in the air.

Hang in There…You’ll be dancing again real soon!

“Thanks, that’s awesome.” I lay the card in my lap. “So you get to stay in the same dorm room with the miracle girl.”

“I know, right?” Donna bounced on the soles of her feet. “This is going to be the best year yet. I can’t wait until school starts. We need to hit the malls and get a few things. We wear uniforms but there are several dances and free wear days too at our school. Do you like movies? Please,
please
tell me you do! I’m a movie-holic.”

Donna and I were going to get along great. Finally, I had a normal friend.

Aunt Millie barged into the room. She leaned over my bed, her eyes filled with fright. “I haven’t even had you a week yet and you’re getting struck by lightning!”

“I’m still alive, so no worries. Hey, Aunt Millie, did you tell my mom I was in the hospital?”

She didn’t respond
.

Aunt Millie wore a pink dress shirt buttoned all the way up. Was that our uniform; a collared shirt? I hoped not. I couldn’t wait for school to start. Donna was going to be a blast.

“Hello, Dean Brown.” Donna backed up. “Come to the bonfire this Saturday, Lisa! We have so much to discuss.”

Michael made a funny face behind Millie.

I giggled.

“Michael,” Aunt Millie’s voice was thunderous. “Out.”

Dr. Jerkewitz came back into the room with a nurse. “I am going to release you. Your vitals are perfect.”

The nurse took off my nose tube and got to work on the ones in my hands. Millie stood by, stamping her foot nervously. “What is the matter, Aunt Millie?”

“I hate hospitals,” She looked out the window. “Good, the skies are clear now.”

Another nurse brought a wheel chair over to my bed. “I can walk, really, I’m fine.”

The nurse blushed. “Unfortunately, you have to be pushed out so that way, an accident will not occur and make us liable.”

“So basically you’re afraid to get sued?”

She nodded.

I sat down in the chair and put my cards and flowers in my lap. Millie took the balloons in her hand and followed the nurse and me out into the parking lot. There was a news reporter with a camera man, waiting for us.

“They are calling you the miracle girl. What do you have to say about that?” He spoke so fast. “Can you self heal? That’s X-Men stuff, right? Are you a mutant?”

I got out of the wheel chair and jumped into the taxi. Millie climbed in next. “This had better blow over fast,” she responded, buckling herself in. I did the same.

When we reached the dirt road, I spotted Pig. He jumped high in the air and barked hysterically. Had he missed me? How cute.

“Hi, Bipolar Pig,” I hollered out the window. He raced alongside the car. I got out and knelt down. He wagged his tail but would not come to me. I stood up, disappointed. “I could’ve died,” I told him. “The least you could do is let me pet you.”
 

Alex sat on his purple swing. He glanced up at Pig and I. “You’re back,” he said.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Your mom called. I told her what happened and she sent you a card via Fed Ex. It is on the shelf in Ally’s room.”

“Thanks.”

I went into Ally’s room and there were clothes folded neatly on the bed. There was a note on top of them.

“Sorry you got fried; here are some clothes I don’t wear anymore. Ally”

That was nice of her I guess. I shoved them over so that they were out of my way. Pig sat near my feet, panting and wagging furiously. “Well, do you want me to pet you or not?” He raced out of the room. “Figures,” I laughed, putting the flowers on the shelf alongside the photo frames. Amber’s card sat nestled in the shell frame covering up the picture of her and Jimmy. I pulled it out and opened it up.

“Get better, Lisa, as soon as I can I will send for you…

…Mom.”

She really wasn’t going to come back for me. I nearly died and all she’d done was send a card? I crumpled her note into a little ball and tossed it behind the bed.

I rubbed my eyes and swallowed hard. When Amber put me on the train and said goodbye, it wasn’t temporary as she claimed. It was the kind of goodbye that lasted forever. She was never coming back.