Four
The next three weeks actually went very quietly. I enjoyed my Art class, despite the occasional dirty look from across the room. And, despite those looks, The Terrible Two behaved themselves. It might have had something to do with their punishment, it might have been the fact that my mom took the medical bill and presented it to the principal the next day...$2,724.92 total, including x-rays, doctor fees and getting the cast. Mom had them print the bill out the moment services were rendered. Getting your wrist broken was very expensive in this town.
The other classes were fine as well. I stopped wearing all black and people stopped seeing me as some sort of freak. A football player found out I had some prowess in Algebra and asked me to tutor him. I agreed to show him a few pointers, though I honestly doubted he had the ability to retain them. One girl in English class showed me her book of poetry and asked me to critique them, as if my eccentric style of dress meant I was the reincarnation of Emily Dickinson. I was beginning to enjoy myself, and even though I kept waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop, my problems were very few and my status seemed to be climbing ever so slightly.
The best news, as far as my sister was concerned, was that Jessica didn't pay her sister's hysterics any attention. And, as Aurora was informed, there were plenty of hysterics, both from Jennifer and her furious parents. In the end Jennifer was told in no uncertain terms that one more screw-up would see her placed in a boarding school in the Virginia mountains. A solid hour of screaming and the crashing of knick knacks and furniture from Jennifer's room followed. And after that, she emerged from her room acting as if nothing had ever happened. I'm sure the maid didn't consider herself so lucky when she came in the next day and found the room in a shambles. But, either way, Aurora was happy, Mom had gotten her revenge against the "uppity" principal and, other than the bulky thing on my hand and arm, I had fared pretty good as well.
A girl named Peri became my new busmate. She was a Bohemian sort, dressed in a long skirt with a peasant top and looking every bit like she stepped right out of a Woodstock poster, with long, light brown hair that extended down her back, accentuated with one light blue streak. Nevertheless she was the sort of girl who was so vivacious and so beautiful she could dress however she wanted and people would still flock to be around her. That's just the way it was for Peri. Much like Aurora, things naturally worked out for her.
Peri told me her life story the first day she sat down beside me. Her parents were former flower power types who devoted their lives to traveling around with little Peri in a nomadic commune, saving the forests and protesting pollution in big cities. Then her mom got pregnant with her baby brother, at which point one of their tree-hugging comrades told them that two kids would be overpopulating the earth and if they cared at all about the planet she would get an abortion immediately. Disillusioned by their former friends, they settled down in Marshdale, worked their way through the corporate ranks and eventually moved to Camden Hill with their two overpopulating children in one the McMansions they used to protest. But where her parents had completely become all-business, Peri never completely let go of her roots, and still made an effort to be earth conscious without being too pushy about it.
Peri was also a senior in high school, but we scarcely saw each other. She took advanced classes while I considered myself lucky to make B's in the college prep courses. The only times we had to speak were during lunch and on our bus rides. She did most of the talking, which I didn't mind a bit. I didn't have a lot to say about myself that didn't sound like endless droning. I mean, come on. Absentee dad, mom who hated you from birth, evil half-sister and my best friend ever had been my Granddad until he passed away. Talk about a scene right out of a Shakespearean tragedy...or was it more of a Euripidean tragedy? Either way, not worth talking about. All I knew was I finally had a friend in this dump. And she was so accepting of everyone she wasn't likely to turn her back on me. My guard could come down, if ever so slightly.
A month into the school year and all was going well in the Parker household. Mom was excelling at her job, though I think she was excelling more at flirting with her superiors than actually doing her job. Already she had three guys calling the house. All three of them were middle aged and either plumping or balding. One guy was even married with children. Nice.
Aurora was in. I mean, she was really in. She was in Jessica's clique and was ecstatic. She did exactly as I predicted. We were less than rich, she was new and she had to work her way into everyone's favor, but she seemed to succeed flawlessly. I was happy for her, because she loved being surrounded by an adoring public and I preferred one real friend which I had found in Peri. And we had become very close, despite the dark cloud of rumors that continually hung over my head.
I was making educational progress as well. Already Miss Finch had pulled three of my pieces for entry into local high school art competitions. I was able to walk around at times offering advice to the other struggling kids, though I never progressed to the other side of the room. I left that table alone. Better not to stir the pot. My arm had healed nicely, so I didn't have to deal with the cast anymore. And the last doctor's visit was my mother's last reminder to the principal that she was keeping her eye on him, and though I caught him eyeing me suspiciously on many occasions, he had nothing to go on so he never stopped me or tried to catch me doing something I shouldn't.
It was all going so well.
I guess that's why the next dream kind of threw me for a loop.
It came after a long cram session for a big exam in Mrs. Craft's class. It was well after midnight, both Mom and Aurora had retired two hours before, so I stayed in the living room. After a couple of hours of studying the numbers and exponenets were beginning to merge into a blurry mess. I just needed a moment to rest my eyes, to put my head back on the pillows and relax. I must have fallen asleep on the couch, yet my hair was wet and I could feel the grit of the sand in my grip. Instantly I opened my eyes wider, sitting up on the shore where I was quite alone.
It was full morning this time, though the sun overhead did very little to cut through the dense fog. Still I could see ten feet in front of me, and it was enough. I looked around, seeing the now unfamiliar shores that I had not glimpsed in several years. The sight that greeted me was, in a word, unpleasant. The beach was composed of a brownish-green sand, not the normal bright tan color of a pristine shoreline. The smell hadn't changed as far as memory served, but everything else was so altered. There were no birds flying over the water, hunting for their next meal. As a matter of fact, I couldn't see any sign of life anywhere near. The sky, what I could see of it, seemed to be overcast. Once upon a time it was never faded and was always a beautiful blue color, the only exception being the white clouds shaded with rainbow hues. I got to my feet and scanned the beach properly. I couldn't see much of anything for the density of the fog. And I knew Dream Land had to be somewhere nearby. It was never too far from shore.
Slightly worried, I brushed the unpleasant particles from my back and legs and turned in the direction I knew the park must be standing. Where were all the people? I wondered. I couldn't hear the laughter or the delighted squeals of the park patrons. I could hear the hydraulics and the machinery clacking as the coasters ascended the hill, but there were no human sounds to accompany the thrilling descent. My Dream Land was there, somewhere in the distance. And I wouldn't be happy until I found it.
I walked for what seemed to be hours. The beach was only a short distance from the entrance of the park; why was it taking me so long to reach any part of the fencing, the main gate? I couldn't see very far in front of me, so a small, childish fear kept my arms extended before me, sometimes into a foggy abyss. That child chasing the monsters of my past was certain one would jump out of the shadows and grab me by the arm to drag me to my doom. Still, I journeyed onward. After all, this was all in my head. Psitharis only existed in my imagination; in the back yard of an old trailer from long ago.
After several more minutes of walking and stumbling around I finally hit pay dirt. Actually, I hit the chain links of a fence. I tried to decipher where in proximity to the main gate I might be located, but the beach had been so altered there were no landmarks to compare it to, and it had been a lifetime since I had visited this land. Visibility had only improved to five feet in front of me. I played Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe to decide which direction to head:
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe....
(left, right, left, right)
Catch a tiger by the toe...
(left, right, left, right)
If he hollers, let him go...
(left, right, left, right)
Eeny, meeny miny...
Without warning, someone's hand suddenly reached out and grabbed me. I could feel my arm being twisted painfully behind my back. I was shoved up against the fence, and from the other hand an all-too familiar blade found my neck once again. And all I could think to do in that moment was utter one word aloud. "Moe."
