Gone (Parallel Trilogy, Book 1) (16 page)

“How could you not know?” Jen asked, obviously shocked by my carefree attitude.

“I guess I’ve just never worried about that stuff.” I wondered if my dismissive attitude would make them not like me. But somehow I couldn’t bring myself to pretend I was worried about my weight in the same way they were.

“You’re really something, Morgan,” Connor said as he ate the other cookie.

I couldn’t tell if he admired me or felt disdain towards me. Glancing in his direction, I thought I saw a little twinkle in his eyes and it suddenly occurred to me that just because everyone acted so concerned with their weight didn’t mean everyone actually
was
concerned.

The idea was a revelation. I had been so busy assuming everyone had the exact same attitude that I hadn’t even thought that some people might disagree with the way things were in this world. Suddenly I was certain that there were other people like Fred, the man who had given me a ride—people who only followed the rules out of fear and not because they believed in them.

When Jen started to comment again, Connor cut her off. “Let it go, Jen.”

I hid the smile that threatened to blossom on my mouth, then closed the baggie that held the remaining cookies and put it in my backpack. Nibbling on the carrots sticks I’d brought, I wondered how long I could survive on the food that was available at my house. It was nothing like the diet I was used to.

As I half-listened to the conversation around me, I considered ways I could get more food. No good ideas came to mind and I realized I was becoming just as obsessed with food as everyone else was, but my obsession came from the lack of food, not worrying about eating too much. Was that any better?

Chapter Seventeen

At the end of school I stopped by the office to report that I had chosen track as my sport. The woman behind the counter smiled in apparent approval and entered the information into the computer. Once that was done I began the walk home and decided I’d better get used to it since it seemed I would be doing a lot more physical activity now.

When Mom got home that evening I told her I had joined the track team.

“That’s great, Morgan. Do you know what events you’re going to participate in?”

“I know they need another person to run one of the relays, so that might be fun. Maybe throw the discus?”

“Did you know that I ran track in high school too?”

“No.” This was news to me. I thought my mom had been a cheerleader or something in high school, but maybe the mom in this world had different experiences in high school. “Did you like it?”

“Yeah, I did, actually.” Her eyes got a far-off look for a minute. “I was really good at distance running.”

I nodded, not really interested in traveling down memory lane with her. “Well, I’ve got some homework to do.”

“Okay,” she said.

I went up to my room and was glad to see that Amy was nowhere to be seen. It was hard enough to share my room with her without having her actually hanging around too. Though I’d enjoyed spending time with my family the night before, I still enjoyed my solitude.

I worked on my assignments for a while, then decided I needed to make sure I had something to wear to practice on Monday. I dug through the closet and found a pair of shorts that would work, along with a t-shirt and a decent looking pair of running shoes.

Stuffing them in my backpack so that I wouldn’t forget them on Monday morning, I found the baggie with the cookies I’d taken to school and decided I should eat them while they were still relatively fresh. I scarfed down the whole bag, then licked the crumbs off of my fingers.

How am I going to satisfy my cravings? Then I got an idea. I ran downstairs and found Mom helping my brothers with their homework.

“Mom, can I talk to you for a second?”

She turned to face me. “Sure, honey. What’s going on?”

“I was wondering,” I paused for a second. “Would I be able to do some jobs for you around the house to earn some money?”

“Oh, Morgan. I wish I could help you out, but you know how tight our money is right now. You know, with Dad gone and everything.”

“When do you think he’ll be back, anyway?” I asked, hopeful she might be able to tell me something.

“Well, since we didn’t have enough money to pay for his whole treatment, he’ll have to stay an extra few weeks to work off the cost. So it really just depends on how long it takes him to get to his approved weight.”

“Can we at least go and visit him?”

“You know that’s not allowed.”

Of course I didn’t know that, but I did know that it sucked, just like everything else in this world. “Mom, doesn’t it bother you that someone else decides for us how much we should weigh?”

“Well, Morgan, that’s just the way it is. There’s nothing we can do about it, but follow the rules.”

“What if I don’t want to follow those rules? What if I like to eat unhealthy or I don’t like to exercise or maybe I want to be fat? What then?”

“Morgan, stop it!” She glanced at my brothers, who seemed very interested in our conversation.

I didn’t want to stop. I wanted things to be normal, like I was used to. I hated the way this society worked and how everyone was so worried about gaining an extra pound. I hated that we were so poor that I wasn’t allowed to bake any treats. And I hated that I didn’t know if I could actually get back home, to the world where I had come from.

“Fine,” I said instead, as I walked away in a sulk. I went back upstairs to my room, but this time Amy was there, doing something with her hair.

“Hi, Morgan,” she said, a smile on her face.

I tried not to scowl at her. After all, it wasn’t her fault I hated my life. “Hi,” I said, making sure my voice showed that I was unhappy.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, turning toward me.

“Nothing,” I said as I sat on my bed.

“Okay. Well, you can talk to me about it if you want to.” Then she turned back to the mirror.

Her sweetness was unexpected and I experienced a feeling of warmth toward her that I couldn’t remember feeling before. This Amy seemed more mature than the one I was used to. Maybe she’d had to grow up faster because of the way things were here, especially with Dad being taken away.

Maybe I needed to give her a chance, get to know her better.

“So, how’s school going?” I asked.

“It’s okay. It’s kind of hard being the new girl.” She set her hairbrush down and sat on the floor near me.

Wow, I thought. She’s probably experiencing the same things I am. Except for living in different universe, that is. “Are people being nice to you?” I asked.

“Yeah. But everyone seems to know each other, so I kind of stand out as different.”

“Me, too.” I paused. “I’m going to join the track team.”

“That’s cool. I wonder if they have anything like that at my school.”

“Aren’t you guys required to do a sport?”

“Well, we have gym every day, so we don’t have to join a sports team, but we can if we want to.”

“Well, I guess you can find out if they have a track team.”

“I will. Thanks, Morgan.” She stood and left the room, a big smile on her face.

Although I didn’t think I’d done anything worth thanking me, her happiness made me feel better.

For dinner we had a fat-free version of the lasagna I was used to eating in the other world. It actually didn’t taste too bad and I was able to eat the small serving Mom gave me, even though the cookies I’d had earlier had pretty much killed my appetite.

Saturday morning I was trying to sleep in despite the racket my brothers made as they yelled or ran down the hall. Then Mom came in and woke me up. This didn’t surprise me as she usually didn’t let me sleep in very late. “Morgan, I have to go to work.”

Opening one eye, my curiosity got the better of me. “What do you do at your job, anyway?”

She looked at me kind of funny, like the answer should have been obvious. “I help the patients on my floor.”

“Oh, so you’re a nurse,” I blurted out without thinking.

Leaning towards me, she pressed the back of her hand to my forehead, obviously thinking I had become delusional with fever. “Do you feel okay?” she asked.

“Uh, yeah. I was just having a weird dream. That was a dumb question. Nevermind.”

Looking relieved, she straightened. “Okay. Well, I need you to get up so you can watch your brothers.”

Frowning, I turned my head away so Mom wouldn’t see my dismay. “Okay,” I muttered into my pillow.

Mom walked to the door and paused. “Now, Morgan. I need you to get up now.”

Sighing to show my displeasure, I threw back the covers and sat on the edge of my bed, then looked at Mom.

“Thank you,” she said, a smile on her face.

She left the room and I could hear her telling my brothers she was leaving for work and to behave themselves. Like that would happen.

I glanced around the room, wondering where Amy was. Sighing dramatically, I stood and then got dressed, not wanting to bother with a shower, then headed downstairs to see what was going on.

The television was on and blasting some dumb cartoon. I looked at the couch and frowned when I saw Brandon sitting upside down, with his feet on the couch cushions and his head on the floor. Zac was stretched out across the length of the couch and Amy was curled up on the recliner, a book in her hand.

“Is that comfortable, Brandon?” I asked, wondering what all that blood rushing to his head was doing to him.

He didn’t respond and I realized he was mesmerized by the animated figures moving across the screen. My gaze went from his face to the show they were watching and I stared at the screen, my eyebrows drawn together as I listened to the happy song the characters were singing.

Good health, good health, it makes you strong

You will live longer if you follow this song

Veggies and fruits. Veggies and fruits.

We all love to eat veggies and fruits.

You are what you eat and you know that it's true

Eat healthy and exercise, it's what you must do

Veggies and fruits. Veggies and fruits.

We all love to eat veggies and fruits.

Lame. Whatever happened to good old-fashioned violence? Then I saw that this show had plenty of that too. As the animated children strolled along singing their song about the wonders of produce, a hideous creature jumped out in front of them.

“It’s the sugar monster!” the cartoon children screamed as they turned to run. But then a whole gang of the terrible sugar monsters appeared, surrounding them.

“Oh no, what should we do?” they asked, clearly terrified.

Suddenly a tall stalk of celery and a muscular broccoli appeared. “We’ll save you.”

I watched in fascination as the vegetables took out a pair of guns, yes guns, and blew the sugar monsters to bits.

I guess sugar is worse than violence here, I thought, disturbed by the message this show sent.

“Isn’t there anything else on?” I asked, but no one answered. My gaze went back to the program. A jumbo cup of soda wandered to the cartoon children and bent its straw toward them, trying to entice them to have a sip of the sugary drink. One of the children stepped forward, about to take a sip, but then the celery stalk jumped between the child and the soda shouting “No! Don’t fall for his tricks!” A look of gratitude appeared on the child’s face as he said, “Thank you, Mr. Celery. You saved me.”

I rolled my eyes, not able to believe that this was a show children were actually entertained by. But when I looked at my brothers I saw that they were completely immersed in the storyline. That bothered me more than anything. Where I came from, they would have laughed at this program as if it were a joke, but here it was taken seriously.

I stepped toward the television and turned it off. “Okay, that’s enough TV. Let’s go play outside.”

“Aw, Morgan,” Brandon said as he got up from his upside-down position. “I want to watch TV.”

“Nope. I’m in charge and I say we’re going to go outside and play. Let’s go.”

“Do we have to?” Zac whined.

“Yes.”

“You’re not in charge of me,” Amy said, looking up from her book. “I’m staying right here.”

“Fine,” I said.

“That’s not fair,” Brandon said.

“Come on,” I said. “Don’t you want to kick the soccer ball around?”

“I guess.” Brandon said.

“Okay,” Zac said. “Plus Mom said we need to get in our exercise.”

Wow, I thought. It’s hard to get away from this food and exercise obsession. At least it was better for them to play then to watch that bizarre cartoon.

A few minutes later I had gotten them involved in kicking the ball around. They insisted that I join in so I did and found that I was actually enjoying spending time with my brothers.

Chapter Eighteen

Monday morning as we recited the pledge I glanced at the other students and noticed that though some said it with vigor, others were obviously just going through the motions. I found it interesting to realize that not everyone bought into the propaganda. I didn’t know most of the students, but one person who did recite the pledge with energy was Lori. Then I remembered how upset she’d been when I’d taken my home-baked cookies out of my backpack at lunch the previous Friday.

Obviously she really believed in this “Healthy me, healthy world” stuff.

That afternoon I went to the girls’ locker room and changed into the clothes I’d brought for track, then went out to the field where practice would be held. As I approached the other members of the track team, Lori motioned for me to join her. Everyone was stretching out, so I began doing the same.

“I’m so glad you decided to join track,” she said as she bent down and easily touched her toes.

“Me too,” I said, although I wasn’t really sure if I would enjoy the running as much as the chance to get to know Connor better.

“So, are you going to join our relay team?” she asked.

“If the coach says I can, then I will.” I wasn’t certain if he would think I was fast enough to be part of the relay team. Honestly, it didn’t really matter to me what events I did. I wasn’t afraid to admit that the only reason I’d chosen track was because Connor had encouraged it. “Where’s Connor?” I asked, deciding to get busy on my true purpose.