I'll Be Back

Four

"John, that is no way to speak to a guest." Sighing I took off my sneakers. Glaring up at the figure on the stairs I only broke my stare when Mimi spoke up. "I'll show you to the parlour." I looked at Nana, confused. "Mimi's fancy word for living room," she whispered. I nodded, and 'John' soon followed behind us. Really, this was the worst scenario to happen. I had to make friends and was forced one. Seriously, what dumbasses force people to become friends? I think I know. But Nana really isn't a dumbass. Besides, she's my only family. My parents are dead, and my older brother, well, none of us have any idea where he is. But this whole story is not one I'd like to tell. I sat down on a stiff couch next to Nana and Mimi sat across the small room from us. The couch somehow was big enough for this 'John' character to fit too, so I simply scooted closer to Nana once he had sat down, glaring at him. I turned back to Mimi. "So, what is it like in... France you say?" I nodded. "It's nice." Mimi looked at me oddly. "So where did you live? Paris?"

"No, the outskirts of Paris." I was a quick liar.

"Ah."

Then 'John' spoke up. "I hear the outskirts are nasty. So then what are you? Some tough-as-nails bird?" I clenched my fists, wanting to punch his skinny nose right back into his skull, but I stayed there, flexing my fists. Then I heard laughing. First from John, then Nana, and lastly Mimi. They were laughing at me. They were.. Making fun of me. Mocking me. This is Seth all over again. I can't- I won't take it! Clutching my head I ran out of the room. Sitting down around the corner I stared at my hands and wrung my arms. Tears were threatening. But tears show weakness. And that is a bad thing. I sat there for a few minutes until John came around the corner. "Hey- Can't you take a joke?" he said, lightly kicking my shoe. "Don't touch me." I muttered.

"Oh come on."

He kicked me again. That did it. I got up, my icy blue eyes cold and locked on his brown ones. "I said, don't. Touch. Me." He stared at me for a few more seconds and then started laughing. He's not intimidated. How could he not be? I looked around the house, the sights confusing me, and I slid down the wall, my eyes locked on nothing. I hit the floor, my head still spinning around the room. I hid my head in my legs and covered the top with my arms and didn't move.

The laughing got louder. He was laughing louder. I hid myself within my limbs more and stared at my knees. "Stop. Just please, stop!" I got up, shoving him to the side, and running out of the door, tears still threatening my eyes. Luckily we were right next door, the houses only split by a meagre fence. I tried the door, only to remember I had no key and Nana had locked it. I grunted in frustration and kicked the door softly, stomping down the concrete stairs and down around to the other side of the house to try the back door. I tried that one too, only for it to be locked also. I grabbed a rock and slammed it into the ground of the backyard. "Roxy?" I heard John's voice from the front yard. "Never call me that! Nobody will ever call me that except for my Nan- except for Mary!" I growled at him, stepping out into view. "What do you mean, Nan?" He asked with a smirk on his face, leaning against the house. "I said Mary, are you deaf?" I replied.

"Now now, don't take this out on deaf children. What have they done to you?"

I clenched my fists and stared at him.

"Did you hear Mary or not?"

"Oh, I heard Mary, love. But you said Nan before that. Nana perhaps?" He asked. I wanted to punch him in the face. "I do not tolerate and names besides my own. Call me anything but Roxanne and I'll punch you in your pretty-boy face." John narrowed his eyes at me.

"You're different." he half-asked.

Not expecting this, I hesitated on my reply. "Nah, you're not like the others. They'd be swooning all over me like the birds they are." I was not sure if that was a compliment or a insult.

"What're you just standing there for?" He asked, finally. "And who is 'Nana'? I thought you had nobody back in France." I scoffed. "Do you really think I'm going to tell you that?" He smirked. "I will someday." He winked and walked closer to me. I froze up, afraid he would laugh again. "Then come on, Mimi sent me out here to get you." His voice hardened like it had been when I first met him. I studied his face as we walked. It was focused on nothing , although the features were troubled. He was probably thinking about 'birds' or whatever. He opened the door back up and walked inside, and I hesitated. "What are you waiting for? Me to drop dead and die?"

"No." I mumbled.

"Well, that's the look you're giving me."

I grumbled under my breath and walked behind him. "Mimi, I got 'er." I heard Mimi huff from the other room, which was a little amusing. I didn't show it, though. I can't. "John, speak with proper grammar!" she scolded. "Ah, but would I be as fun then, Mimi?" I heard her sigh and Nana laughed. I never remembered seeing Mimi like this before. But of course, she is much younger now, and she's living with... John. He's quite the character, if you ask me. Although nobody ever will.

After eating and staying for another hour or so we went back next door to Nana's house, which in many years from now will also be mine. But it is already, even though it is nearly 70 years before I was born. "So, got any fancy futuristic gadgets from the future you want to show me?" Asked Nana, snapping me out of my deep thought, and breaking the silence. I nodded and snatched my bag from upstairs that held most of my possessions. "This is a cellphone. It's like a phone, but without any wires, and it has a screen that reacts to touch." I showed her and turned on the screen. "Wow." She mumbled. "It does all kinds of things, too. It can take photos, watch videos, compose stuff, browse the- nevermind, and play music." Nana's eyes shone with wonder. I stared at myself in the camera and back up at Nana. We did look very much alike, the same icy blue eyes, and auburn hair. Mine, though, was dyed dark purple at the moment. I hated my hair. Truthfully, I hated a lot of stuff. I guess I was a happier kid before my older brother, Seth, left with his girlfriend. He was to stay in charge of me, whatever happened, that night that my mother and father died. It was a rainy day, visibility was bad. They swerved off the road, crashing into a building. It really did not bother me, I was too young. Only three. Seth did take care of me, for a month, maybe. He was much older than me, but younger than my oldest sister, who was away in North America for some business or something. But Seth, he was 17 at the time, I think. Or at least that's what Nana told me. He had a girlfriend who hated me. Eventually she got him to leave. I hated Seth, so it was for the better. He would not let me watch anything. I could not cry. I could not smile. The only thing I could do was sit quietly in the kitchen while they had 'alone time' upstairs. They mocked me and laughed at me more than daily. Yet one day they just left. I called Nana, and she came. She drove me away, never again to see the house. It's still abandoned, I suppose. "Uh, hello? Mary to Roxanne, do you read me?" Nana asked, yet again snapping me out of my life story. "Yeah- sorry." I need to stop this. One day I'll accidentally spill. "I don't know what else to show you. And I know everything you have, I will live here years from now." Nana nodded. "Can I ask you something? -You don't have to answer, I just want to know. If you weren't stuck here- how long would you stay?" Her eyes burned into mine, and I closed my eyes, gathering my thoughts. "I don't know." I sincerely did not.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning, then." She said, and walked out of the room, turning off the lights. I stared at the ceiling, confused and unable to make up my mind about John.

Also making up my mind about 1956.