Seventeen
“I can’t believe this,” I mutter, pulling my jacket tighter to my chest. Kelsey reaches for my bare hand and holds it in her mitten. “How did this happen?”
“I know this is the last thing we need right now, Fallon,” she whispers, trying to meet my eyes. Instead I stare at the snowy ground. We walk the grounds of Kelsey’s rehab center together for the second time since she left. She’s supposed to come home next week for Christmas. “But we will get through this. We got through this last time.”
I stop dead in my tracks and narrow my eyes at her. I remove my hand from her grasp and gesture to the park around us. “We didn’t get through it last time, Kelsey. You made things harder than they should have been.”
Her eyes sparkle but she blinks away the tears before they can spill over. “But I’m getting help; I’m getting better. By the time I come home, things will be perfect. That is, if I have a home…”
I run my fingers through my hair, frustrated. “Yes, you do. But only if you stay clean. Besides that, we’re going to have to move. The apartment is going to be too small.”
Kelsey smiles, but her eyes are sad. “It’s going to work out. We’re going to be okay, Fallon. We’re going to be a family.”
I don’t know if I can believe her.
“Eve, wait!”
She rushes away from me on the empty, snow-covered sidewalk. I jog to catch up to her and slip on a patch of ice. Just before I go down, I catch a chain link fence and straighten myself up.
“Eve, please!”
She turns a corner and I jog after her, gritting my teeth as the cool wind gets through my jacket. She agreed to meet me today and showed up at my house, just as Kelsey did. Before I even knew the both of them were outside, they had a conversation which apparently made Eve leave and refuse to talk to me.
“What did Kelsey say?” I beg, almost reaching her. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s not true. And even if it is, I can explain.”
“Fallon, leave-“ She cuts herself off as she turns around. I reach my arms towards her but she hits the ground before I can catch her. I start to help her up but she swats my hands away until she’s balanced on her feet again.
“Please,” I repeat, gently grabbing her shoulder. “Please just talk to me. Let me fix this.”
“It’s too late for that.”
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Sinking Ships
Teen FictionDrugs tear lives apart, and that's no different for Fallon. With his parents two years dead and the girl he loved disapearing and returning, things are pretty eventful. Throw a young child into the mix and he's got himself a complete mess of a life...
