Treehouse

fourteen; megan finley/agnes tennant

Mackenzie didn't give me time to process and organize all my thoughts. She reached for her notebook from her bag and uncapped a pen with her teeth. She jotted down bullet notes quickly. Formulating a plan to figure out who the freckled guy is. As she wrote, her blue eyes darted back and forth at the paper. Hudson and I sat there doing nothing looking dumb as hell. Or maybe it was just me looking lost.

"Since it is a long shot to try and find this guy through the internet," Mack said while pointing at the freckled teenage boy in the picture with my mother, "I've composed a plan!"

"Well I'm sure it's not impossible," Hudson boasted and indicated that he was capable of doing so.

"Yeah because that's the easier way," Mack responded sarcastically.

"I don't appreciate your sarcasm."

"I'm not sarcastic. I am just intelligent beyond your understanding."

Hudson closed his mouth and clenched his jaw. He put his hoodie over his head and pulled tightly on the strings. His hood scrunched up to the point where he is completely hidden and only strands of his light brown hair could be seen. Mackenzie; One. Hudson; Zero. This was amusing but I was completely lost and confused about what was happening.

"Hudson. I need you to find the psychiatric hospital that Megan Finley, AKA September's mom, was sent to. No questions," she paused, watched Hudson type on his computer and then faced me, "September, you're the actress."

"Hey, remember when I was Wendy in 'Peter Pan' and Hudson did the lights and I fell off stage and poor Matt Davis needed a neck brace? He might have deserved it tho-"

Hudson and Mack both inhaled deeply.

"Okay maybe I shouldn't have started off my sentence in such a way but I need you to focus now," Mack demanded.

~

"I'm nervous," Mackenzie admitted. She swooped her black hair behind her ears and readjusted her blouse. We were parked in front of the psychiatric hospital that my mother was sent to when she was a senior in high school. It only took us approximately an hour to arrive. I was just thankful that it was a Friday. We didn't have to rush like before.

"Nervous? We are the ones getting the job done here," Hudson said referring to him and me.

"I'm nervous for you guys, you dimwit!" she clarified while biting her nails. Mackenzie handed Hudson a bottle of silly string. I didn't know we were having a party, too. I was wearing Mackenzie's clothes. A silky button up with leggings. Apparently, it's part of the appeal or something.

"Are you sure your plan is going to work?" I doubled checked. She gave us the head nod of approval. So Hudson and I exited the van.

I approached the entrance slowly as Hudson casually walked behind me. I turned to a tired looking lady behind a glass window.

"Hi, I'm here for visitation hours," I spoke firmly. She lazily slid a clip board and pen under the window. I swiftly swapped the pen with Hudson's disappearing ink pen. If the workers here noticed that we've done something wrong, they'll check the sign-in sheet. But our names would be completely gone in about an hour. Not even UV light could see it. I handed the clip board and regular pen back to her.

"Who are you visiting today?" she croaked. She seemed miserable and loathsome.

"Agnes Tennant," I smiled.

The woman adjusted her glasses and began to type on the computer. She marveled, "Hmm, she was released exactly a year ago."

I began to breakdown into tears. Damn, I hope my ridiculously incredible acting works. Hudson pulled me into a tight hug. I quickly peaked to see the woman's reaction. I was surprised to see that her facial expressions had softened.

"I'm sorry, ma'm. She has a hard time getting over that her grandmother is no longer with us. I thought this would finally be a wake up call," Hudson explained.

I straightened up my posture. "Could I just please gather her belongings? Please?" I choked on tears.

"Of course, sweetie. Of course. Follow me," she replied softly. She gestured a worker to take her place. Hudson sneakily fist bumped me behind our backs. We then followed behind her quietly and I added in a couple sniffles here and there. I noticed many different people pass by us. People who are extremely thin, people who seem to have not slept in 100 years, people who have scars on their arms, people who seem to be very uneasy. To think my "mother" was here was beyond my comprehension. I was so lost in my own thoughts that I hadn't realized we reached the room. Hudson had said something to the lady before she left.

"Alright down to business," Hudson said. He opened his backpack and pulled out the silly string that Mackenzie had handed to him.

"There is no time to party, Hudson! Whenever I invite you to come to parties with me, I always get declined," I groaned. Right after I had stated that the situation was not fit for a party, Hudson sprayed the security camera with string.

"See?" Hudson boasted as he proceeded on his work. He opened his laptop and kneeled on the ground. "I'm cutting through the hospital's security network and putting Camera 17, which is this room, on loop," he mumbled and pointed at the screen, "It looks like we are looking through Agnes Tennant's belongings."

"My hair is huge," I gasped pointing to my wavy hair on screen. I then stood up and searched for a box that has "Megan Finley" on it. My mother left this place a while ago, her things were most likely gone. Then again, the room was so cluttered and unorganized, I doubt her things were removed. Realizing that the shelves were alphabetized, I ran to the "F" section.

"Bingo!" I called out. I ripped off the name label and switched Megan with Agnes. It looked like I was holding Agnes Tennant's box but it was really my mother's.

"Yeah!" Hudson cheered.

"Let's leave this joint."

"Wait, I just have t-"

"Oh yeah, end the loop and take off the silly string."

"Man that would have been really cool if we just busted out of here," Hudson sighed as he typed on his laptop. I carefully removed the silly string.

"Okay. Now let's leave this joint!"

~

"I can't believe that fucking worked, dude. I mean how did you find someone who left the hospital exactly one year today?" I hollered in the back seat of the van. We were driving back to Hudson's house.

"What can I say? I'm a genius," Mackenzie smirked while leaning back in the passenger seat. It was nice seeing her confident.

"September's acting was spot on," Hudson added from the driver's seat. In which I responded with a bow.

"Don't forget, a round of applause for Hudson," I laughed. Mackenzie and I clapped in unison. Hudson fake cried tears of joy.

I stared at the box wondering why we needed this. I guess I should've listened more when we were discussing the plan instead of focusing on how hungry I was.

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Dedicated to sineadocarroll1 and lovebug077 for pushing me to update!