"Hey Acorn, I've been waiting for you," my mom smiled. Well, not her in real life, but you get the point.
I stared in wonder. "How did you get here? Aren't you supposed to be in heaven or something?"
Mom shook her head. "Maybe, but I wasn't sent there because I still have a job to do. I died too early, Jacob. And you need to set my spirit free."
I didn't have much time to ponder her words, but I added, "You said you were waiting for me?"
Without regarding this, she floated off to the side. I decided to follow her. When she reached the edge of wherever we were standing, she looked up and spoke. "I've been watching you and your sister. You both have actions that are uncalled for."
I laughed bitterly. "Well, she abandoned me and decided to have nothing to do with me."
Mom frowned. "You and I know perfectly well that is not completely true, and even if it is, she had her reasons. I'm not going to blame you Jacob. Because it isn't your fault. I just want to say that your sister has the answers. Go to her. Stop being so horrible."
I mean, when you get answers from a spirit, you don't really want to ignore her, especially when she's your mom. So I agreed.
"Oh! And one last thing, did you get my poems?" When she was asking me this, the room held its breath. Then Mom screamed and vaporized on the spot.
And after that, of course I passed out and left school early, escaping the "crazy" taunts and taking a detour.
I woke, thrashing. It was a recurring nightmare, even during the day. Evelyn was in her room, which I could hear. But I wasn't in the mood to listen just yet. So, I pulled on a sweater and headed into the chilly evening. There were clouds rolling at a distance, gray faces mocking me. I felt so close to the truth, but so far. Something was off.
I turned a corner into the garage and promptly crashed into Andrew. He let out an 'oof' and I, horrified, said, 'Oh no, I'm so sorry I-'
He just grinned. "Relax. I was going to talk to you anyways."
"Oh. Oh, alright."
He grabbed my arm in a rather vicelike grip and led me into his room downstairs. Dang, he was strong asf. (I'm so sorry skjaakjskd) It was a normal room, like every other parent room I'd seen. Even boringly so. But what he pulled out seconds later was not.
He set an album in front of me and asked me to look through it. On the first page, there were my parents. They had their arms around each other and were beaming at the camera. On the next, I saw Andrew and Millie with my parents, laughing or making goofy faces. They looked so happy I almost believed they were still alive. By the time I finished, I had passed into a different time. Shaking it off, I looked back at Andrew.
"Why did you show me this?"
Andrew ran a hand through his hair. "Ah, well. I made a promise to your mom. To take care of you. She said 'Andy, promise me to take care of Jacob and Evie.' And of course I was her best friend. So, clearly, I had to show you this."
Only one piece of the information had processed through me. "Wait wait. Why would you have to take care of me? I thought mom would have said dad should take care of us. She didn't know he was going to run away." Or did she?
Suddenly the room lost all its shadow. I sensed something different within the tall shadow in front of me again. "Uh, you know what nevermind. I'm just gonna go do some homework."
I wandered off to my room again, thinking how real this sounded but as if a huge chunk was broken off. When I flopped back onto my bed, something crunched under me. I winced and turned to face it. Another piece of paper. Yay. Like that was going to help now. I figured I should unfold it, but not at the moment.
Thud.
Oh no.
Backing out, I was about to make a mad dash for it, but I remembered mom's words. just want to say that your sister has the answers. Go to her. Stop being so horrible.
So I changed course and knocked on Evelyn's door. A small voice replied. "It's open, Andrew."
I twisted the knob and answered. "It's me, not Andrew. How did you know he was back?"
Evelyn was sitting facing the other way. "I saw from the window. His car pulled in."
I approached her. "Hey, I- uh, I'm not here to argue. I found something else."
She turned to face me, and I recognized the expression she rarely wore. It was fear. "So did I. You can go first."
So I started. I told her about the vision of mom and Andrew's chilling words and the general suspiciousness of the whole situation. When I got to Andrew, she looked like she wanted to pass out. I lastly added the piece of poem I had found on my bed.
"Jacob... that's not all there is to it. But first open the poem," Evelyn whispered. I gingerly unfolded the paper and looked over the words.
Priceless look on your face, won't it be? When one of my kind will unveil your
Ruthless doings.
Opponent? Never.
Miss you? As
If anyone ever would. But for now, I am trapped in this forest of
Secrets. It's up to them to
End it.
And it cut off right there. "Now add it to the rest of the poem," Evelyn instructed. I went over to the long piece of connected paper and added it to the bottom.
It looked somewhat like this:
A soul I thought was different but was
newly led astray. An enemy close to my heart, a
dear friend to betray
yearning, shadowed, it didn't matter to me anymore, because
It was too late to fight back.
They had won.
How they knew? That, I hoped I would never know, and that the
other one never found out
Unless. Unless I made a move. Ripped it to shreds. You
heartless soulless shadow of the one you used to be, why? Make or break? I never
Thought you would choose the latter
Yearning, shadowed, it won't matter to me anymore because my
Only hope is gone. Wish me luck. They will
Uncover what you buried.
Priceless look on your face, won't it be? When one of my kind will unveil your
Ruthless doings.
Opponent? Never.
Miss you? As
If anyone ever would. But for now, I am trapped in this forest of
Secrets. It's up to them to
End it.
I stared, befuddled. "What the hell? It still looks like a jumble of words.
Evelyn rolled her eyes. "No shit, Sherlock. Oh my goodness you complete idiot. Here, hand me a pen."
I reached over to her desk lamp and tugged out a black pen. Evelyn took it from me and set to work. She seemed to be tracing over something. Now, she shoved me towards whatever she was working on.
It was the exact same poem, but a little bit different. The sky seemed to lower. Whispers coming from the basement closer.
A soul I thought was different but was
newly led astray. An enemy close to my heart, a
dear friend to betray
yearning, shadowed, it didn't matter to me anymore, because
It was too late to fight back.
They had won.
How they knew? That, I hoped I would never know, and that the
other one never found out
Unless. Unless I made a move. Ripped it to shreds. You
heartless soulless shadow of the one you used to be, why? Make or break? I never
Thought you would choose the latter
Yearning, shadowed, it won't matter to me anymore because my
Only hope is gone. Wish me luck. They will
Uncover what you buried.
Priceless look on your face, won't it be? When one of my kind will unveil your
Ruthless doings.
Opponent? Never.
Miss you? As
If anyone ever would. But for now, I am trapped in this forest of
Secrets. It's up to them to
End it.
It was incomplete. But. It meant something. And when I finally realized, we were almost out of time.