Powerless

***

  For the next three months life was pretty normal. I went to school, I did my homework, and I stayed out of trouble with Max. I was an average girl, living an average life in a Minnesota suburb.

The only abnormal happening was when we received a phone call telling us that our Aunt Elaine had passed away when her house was crushed in a landslide in the Appalachian Mountains. It was kinda of a shock to us all. But Dad was the only one who was that sad about it. The rest of the Jenson family had never meet her, so all we could do was comfort him and go to the funeral. Since my aunt had left everything that she owned to my Dad and his family, he had to head to the police station before the funeral to gather what was left. Mom and us kids waited at the hotel until Dad came back with the boxes in the car.

"Should we help him take the stuff inside?" I asked mom from the window.

"No," she answered, turning away from Dad parking the car outside. "We'll deal with all of that when we get home. Come on, we have to get ready for the funeral."

"I don't want to dress up," Nate groaned with his face in the hotel pillows.

"Nate, quit complaining," I hissed.

Nate's head popped up before sitting up to face us."Well it's not like we ever meet her! I honestly forgot she existed until two days ago!"

"How could you forget?" Aaron questioned as he unzipped his suitcase. "She was our only extended family,"

"Did Dad ever talk about her? No. Did we have any pictures of her? No. Did she ever send us Christmas cards?"

"Nate, she was a very solitary person and was focused on her work," Mom cut in.

"So focused she didn't bother to send birthday money?" He grumbled.

"Grow up Nate." I said, irritated by his self centeredness.

Soon, Dad walked into the room. He set down the keys on a table without looking up at us. No one said anything until he had taken his shoes off and set them by the door.

" I stalked out of the room and into the hallway. Pulling my key out, I jammed it into lock to the door of my room. Movement caught on the corner of my eye. I looked to the right, but only saw the tail of a suit coat you would see any normal businessman wear.

We were all quiet on the drive to the church. Dad's knuckles were white on the steering wheel the entire time. He was trying to hold in his grief so we wouldn't know how he felt, that much was obvious.

bla

"Help me with his box, would you Aaron?" I heard Mom ask while we all unloaded the vehicle. Carrying a box of my own, I set it down in the living room with a huff. That way we could all go through the stuff together.

"No Jessie," Dad instructed sternly from behind. "Put it in my room," Then he walked past me and around the corner to open his door. Moaning, I went to pick up the heavy cardboard box one last time, when one of the flaps came open, exposing the contents within. A small, pretty jewelry box held my attention. I lowered the box back to the carpet, and slid the deep red container out from under the lid.

Suddenly, the door of Dad and Mom's bedroom creaked open. I hurried to shove the jewelry container between my stomach and the box of Aunt Elaine's things. I almost collided with Dad as he came around the corner.

"Sorry!" I blurted and went into his room without meeting his eyes.

He didn't say anything back, but kept walking to the car. I hastily set my box next to the one Dad brought in. As the jewelry box fell to the floor, its top popped open to show a necklace hanging neatly inside.

It was completely silver, except for the rings that wrapped around the glass sphere that held a swirling white fog inside. Surprised at the strange jewelry, I picked up the box and held it at eye level so that I could get a better look at it. But when my fingers grazed the rings on the outside, a spark went through my body that left my skin tingling and hair standing on end. I gasped and dropped the box.

"Jessie?" I heard Mom call from outside the door, her voice was muffled by the barrier. I pierced my lips to try and instill some color back into them, and shoved the box in my pocket.

"Coming!" I replied and rushed out the door. I immediately ran into Dad, who was trying to open the door with a heavy crate in his arms. I was quick to open the door wider so that he could get in, but I rushed to Mom's voice before he could look at my face.

"Jessie, we still have things to unload." Mom scolded when I met her in the kitchen.

"Sorry," I muttered and rushed outside to gather my things from the car. Nate was grumbling about his leg, which had fallen asleep during the trip and was only now waking up. We all ignored him and kept busy. I secretly slipped the necklace and it's container into my purse from the shelter of the car's interior. I would have to look at it again later in my room, with no one to bother me.

"Do you need me to help you with that heavy box, little brother?" Nate's voice carried from the back of the car. Dad stepped into the garage.

"No, I got it," Aaron grunted, but shifted his weight anyway so that he could kick Nate in the shin.

Nate only wore a mocking smile. "Oh, such a little weakling,"

"Nate, stop picking on my favorite baby brother!" I scolded, only somewhat jokingly.

"I'm not a baby anymore Jessie," Aaron said grimly, wobbling towards the door. "I'm almost in seventh grade,"

"You'll always be my baby brother." I said with a smile. He returned the statement with a roll of his eyes.

"I remember seventh grade," recalled my dad. "It was a very interesting year, it was the year that Aunt Elaine went to college. She was on 16 years old." Dad smiled sadly at us. "She drifted away from us after that. More interested in her school work than to her family."

We all looked at each other. We all knew that dad and Aunt Elaine were close when they were little but something had happened that split them up. We felt like we had inadvertently touched a nerve.

"Where did Aunt Elaine go to college?" Nate asked stupidly. I glared at him to try and get my point across, of course he wouldn't look at me.

"Oh, just some private school near Canada." Dad replied before returning to car to unpacked some things. I silently returned to our jobs without looking at dad or Nate. I just wanted to forget the conversation for some reason.

***

Later that night I pulled the jewelry box out of my dresser drawer. I turned it over in my hands. The red case felt soft in my hands.

Da-dump Da-dump Da-dump. I could feel my heart, the blood in my veins moving faster and faster.

Open it.

Open it.

Open it.

Over and over in my head, like a whisper in my ear.

Open it.

Open it.

Open it.

My hands shook as I put my thumbnail under the lid under the crease where the lid hit the bottom. Then I was brought back to earth.

"Jessie? Are you in there?" questioned my mom, through my bedroom door.

I awoke to find myself on the floor of the room, arms and legs sprawled out. The box was clenched in my right hand so tightly I was surprised it didn't crumple beneath my grip.

"Yeah, I'm in here. Why?" I answered, trying to steady my voice, while sitting up on the floor.

"Are you sure? I heard a crash."

"Yeah, yeah. I just tripped."

"Okay, well be careful." And she walked away.

I leaned against my bed and tried to catch my breath. What happened? I looked at the box in my hand. Why did the attempt to open it cause me to faint?