“…you told me nothing happened…” I say as I look at the both of them both with surprised looks on their faces. Sydney turns to look at Rydel to see what move she is going to make.
“..uhh..” Sydney lets out “Over to you Rydel!” She turns and smiles to me as if she was a sports caster and I was the camera. I look over to Rydel.
“Okay, okay! I guess something did happen… but it’s not like either of us got hurt from it...” Rydel reluctantly admits.
“What about Sydney’s feet! They are a bloody mess!” I yell out forgetting that everyone else in the house is asleep.
“Ross.. shh!” Sydney demands as she leans forward whispering “This is just from running back from the beach…”
“Running? What?”
“Well you see after I tackled Derek—“
“WHAT?!” I give her a big hug and pull back “Awesome!”
“Well… I guess in that sense it was awesome, but I didn’t know it was him, heck I didn’t know it was Rydel he had his hand raised to until after I tackled him. Then when I saw it was Derek I snatched Rydel’s hand and started sprinting with it”
“His…his hand was raised at you?” I turn to Rydel, trying to hold back my tears. If Sydney can then so can I.
“Yes, Ross yes! But please don’t do anything crazy! I’m fine! Thanks to Sydney.” There that damned word again FINE. Uh, that’s probably my second least favorite word right now, first up is DEREK.
“What’s up with you two and using that word? Fine. Pshh, I’d figure Sydney would at least finally realize what being ‘fine’ can lead to, let me tell you BOTH what it leads to. It leads to losing your sense of security, leads to becoming best friends with doctors and nurses, because you see them DAILY. It leads to poverty” I turn to Rydel and talk to her directly “I bet if you ask Sydney what her blood smells like she can vividly describe it in no time flat. Being ‘fine’ leads to cuts, bruises, scars. Worst of all? ‘Fine’ leads to DEATH.” I stop and glance over to Sydney. She holds eye contact with me but doesn’t say a thing. That’s when I realize what I just said. Hello Ripley’s Believe It or Not? Yes, put me down for Worlds Worst Boyfriend. Rydel interrupts my thoughts.
“Ross you have no place to be lecturing me about this! You don’t know! Sydney, she kno—“
“No” Sydney cuts her off.
“What?”
“He is right Rydel, right about it all. I’ve always claimed to be ‘fine’ and everything gets worse.” I—I can’t believe she is saying this, I look at her with a confused puppy dog look “Rydel... You need to let your family know. It will never get better if you hide it. They really just need to be aware of the situation, but you know you can always talk to me about anything right?”
“I—uh yes, I guess” She begins to fight back but quickly decides against it.
“Good” Sydney flashes that winning smile and hugs Rydel. There she goes again. Already happy again, after this crazy stuff, after me basically screaming at her. Her brains gotta be configured differently than everyone else’s. “Okay I guess I should get bandaged up. Can one of you grab the first aid it?” I reach under the sink and hand the box to her. After drying her feet off she skillfully wraps them. She clearly has experience. Once she is done she stands up wincing a bit. “Well I think it is way past my bed time, let’s hit the hay!” Rydel trots down the hall to their room and I stop Sydney before she has a chance.
“I’m glad you’re okay” I smile.
“See I’m fi—I mean uh, of course I am! Derek doesn’t stand a chance against me!” She shoots me an egotistical wink.
“Never thought he did” I shoot one back and kiss her gently on the forehead goodnight.
*Sydney POV*
After Ross left to go to bed I stayed in the bathroom a few more minutes, brushing my teeth and what not. But I couldn’t get them out of my head. I mean they are the most important things in my life. In the morning Sydney, it can wait, they aren’t going anywhere. Get a good night’s sleep first “You are right inner Sydney” I whisper to myself as I leave the bathroom. Just as I’m about to take a step to the right toward my room I redirect myself and take a stride to the left instead, heading outside. “Or not” I can’t get them out of my head, I don’t know what I’d do if I ever lost them. I feel tears coming just thinking of it. I think back to when I first got them.
-2 years ago, back in northern California-
“Jess! Hey Jess! Get up! Big big day!” My eyes flutter open to find my mother hanging over me.
“What time is it?” I groan out, rolling over in my bed covering my face with my pillow.
“5:30” she frankly replies.
“Why in the world did you wake me up so early?!”
“I’m leaving for work and I won’t be back till late, and I wanted to wish my daughter happy birthday!” She smiles, acting as if she actually cared. “I bought some eggs so you could make yourself a breakfast omelet!”
“Oh, how thoughtful” I say sarcastically, you’d think on my birthday she could at least make me one, but then again, I never expect her to do anything for me. She leaves my room and a minute later I hear the car outside turn on and drive away. Well I guess I should get up. I walk down to the kitchen and flip on the small TV in the corner of the counter; I then begin to make myself an omelet as I listen to the TV in the background. As I whisk the eggs together in a small bowl I hear my voice on the TV. I stop what I’m doing and I watch the TV and turn up the volume.
“Hey! You guys probably know me, but in case you don’t my name is Jessica Anderson. Well anyway if you guys are hungry come down to Jessica’s! We have award winning steaks and everyone’s apart of the family over here! Love you all! See you at dinner!” I smile at the commercial I made for my dad’s restaurant a few months ago, when my dad opened the restaurant he offered me one of the head chef positions, I’m an exceptional cook, but I declined it, I wanted to follow my dream of becoming an actress. So my dad settled for naming the restaurant after me. Whenever I have free time I’ll go waitress at Jessica’s but that’s it.
I go back to my omelet and place it in the pan. I wait a moment then I fold it. I then plant my feet firmly and lean back lifting the pan. I swing the pan up but swiftly bring it to a halt, sending the omelet flipping through the air. Gravity brings the eggy dish down and it lands in my pan with a sizzle. Just then I hear clapping behind me. I see a tall brown-haired man with tan skin and dark eyes; I got none of his genes, except his personality.
“You still got it birthday girl” I run up to him and give my father a hug “Happy Birthday sweetie” He smiles.
“Thanks daddy, love you” I smile back
“Love you too” he walks over to my omelet and places it on a plate. “Thanks for making me breakfast” he smirks.
“Ha! You wish, I worked too hard on that to just give it away” I snatched the plate from him.
“Haha okay you win. So you want your gift now?”
“Yes please!” I beg as I scoop a mouthful of omelety goodness into my mouth.
“Well too bad you’ll just have to wait!” He shoots me a wink.
“Awww man pleaseee?”
“No, no, and besides I still have to go pick them up.”
“Darn!”
“Don’t worry, you’ll get them soon enough” he ruffles the hair atop my head. “Now I’ll be at the restaurant you coming?”
“I’ll probably head down later.” I reply to my father as he gives me another hug.
“Okie dokie, Love you Darling” he kissed the top of my head.
“Love you too dad” I smile as he heads out the front door.
Ring ring. Ring ring Ring ri—I grab the phone after seeing it’s my mom.
Me: Hey what’s up?
Mom: Jess I left my purse at home could you bring it to the office?
Me: Yeah, I’ll be there in a little bit.
Click.
I jog up the stairs to my mom’s room and grab her purse, but something accidently falls out of it. I turn back and grab it. It’s a Ziploc baggie with a couple white pills in it. There is sharpie written on it, it says ‘E $50” I’ve seen this type of shit in her purse before. It’s ecstasy, I look through the rest of her purse and I find a few more pills that were unmarked. I take all the pills into the bathroom and start running the bath unplugged. I open the baggies and dump out all the small pills into the running water and down the drain.
I grab a pen and paper and start writing a note to my mother ‘Next time you think about popping pills try and remember that you do have a daughter at home who you are “Supposed” to be taking care of’ I fold up the paper and put it in the Ziploc bag and place it back in her purse. I head out the door and hop on my bike pedaling to my mother’s office.
I step into the building and take a right, passing the front desk.
“Hey Larry! Do you know where my mom is at right now?”
“I’m pretty sure she is just in her office” he says as he buzzes me in.
“Thanks Larry” I step through the doors of my mother’s office and throw her purse on a chair.
“Thank you Jess” My mother says grabbing it.
“No problem gotta go” I really didn’t want to be there when she found the note and no drugs to compensate.
I jump on my bike and pedal down to my dad’s restaurant. When I reach the back door I push it open and drag my bike in after me, propping it up against the wall of the supply room. I take one step into the kitchen and all I hear are people yelling at me.
“Jessica! Hey! Happy Birthday!” All the staff say in unison. I laugh at them all.
“Thanks guys! Love you!” I yell back chuckling. My father’s apprentice chef Ike walks over to me. He is a year older than me, just like Derek. Ever since I broke up with Derek a few days ago Ike has been… well, to put it frankly, Ike has been putting the moves on me. I’m not saying I wouldn’t date him, it’s just I need to get over this whole Derek thing first; my self esteem is a little low.
“Hey” he smiles “You look beautiful” I look down at the pj’s I slept in last night.
“Uh.. thanks? I try…” I say sarcastically.
“Your dad and I set something up for you, come on follow me” He grabs a hold of my wrist and drags me along behind him. He takes me out to the dining area and I’m even more surprised than I was when I walked into the kitchen. There’s streamers, balloons, a big banner with my name on it, a cake, and half the town was in the restaurant. As I attempt to pick my jaw up from the ground the town begins to sing an off key rendition of “Happy Birthday” to me. Once they are done they all start clapping and I join them.
“Ahh! This is amazing! I can’t believe you guys did this for me!” I shout out to everyone, but mainly directing it to Ike and my dad. So I had my party and made a lot of small talk. People began to disperse, most of them were gone by four but some stayed for dinner.
“Hey Jessica,” I hear my dad’s voice and turn to him “Can you run to the store real quick and get some laundry detergent? We ran out of it in the kitchen.”
“You got it Dude” I wink while snapping and pointing my fingers. I jog to the back and take my bike out and ride it up the hill next to the restaurant. It takes me about twenty minutes to get to the store. I prop up my bike stand right outside the store and I walk in.
“Carl! Hey what’s up?” I say as I begin searching the small store.
“Hey birthday girl, nothing much has happened lately, living a dull life haha!”
“How are the wife and kids?” I ask while grabbing the detergent I want off the shelves.
“Oh they are good, Sophia just started the 6th grade, I’m hoping to get her to follow in your footsteps and graduate early.”
“Well Sophia’s a bright girl, I’m sure if I could do it she can.” I flash a smile at him while putting the detergent on the counter.
“Well I hope you have a great bir—“ Sirens cut him off as they begin wailing outside, both mine and Carl’s eyes widen and we turn and watch an ambulance and three cop cars zip past the store. In our small town we have almost no use of our emergency vehicles, so this is weird. Carl and I turn to look at each other. I take the detergent I just finished paying for and I sprint to my bike and start pedaling toward the sirens. In about fifteen minutes I reach the top of the hill next to my dad’s restaurant. What I see puts a block at the bottom of my gut. There is a police line sectioning off the restaurant. What could’ve happened? A kitchen fire? No, then there would be fire trucks. I pull up and push through the crowd. When they notice me they all start acting weird.
“Hold her back!”
“Cover her eyes!”
“Someone take her home!” They are all yelling, but then I hear one whisper.
“This has got to be the worst birthday ever” With that I gained adrenaline enough to push through the crowd that was holding me back. I reach the police line and I start wrestling with it. I get a little tangled in it but I free myself and rip through it. I walk onto the scene and start toward the restaurant. Only to be stopped by Officer Wilkins.
“I’m sorry Ms. Anderson, but this is a crime scene, I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to step behind the police line.” He blocks my path.
“Screw that, this is my restaurant. I need to know what’s going on.”
“I can’t let you do that.”
“Fine, fine…”I turn around and walk back to the police line. Out of the corner of my eye I see Officer Wilkins walking to his squad car. I take my chance and make a sharp turn and take a sprint to then front doors. Behind me I hear someone yell.
“She’s making a break for it!” Shoot! I turn while running and I see Officer Wilkins jump into action and run after me. Well too late, I’m at the door now. I step in and I’m immediately disarmed. On the ground I see a body with officers and paramedics gathered around it. The body is long, tan, and its face has a towel covering it. The towel has blood seeping through it. The clothes he is wearing are so familiar to me, because my father was wearing the same ones. I feel the fiery hot tears stinging my face. No, I’m, I’m dreaming. This isn’t real. I walk over to the body and the emergency responders disperse. There is no point in stopping me now. I kneel down next to his head.
“How, how did this happen? You never did anything to anyone. Why? WHY!” I scream out as I drop my head on his chest and sob. After a few minutes I lift my head up, I grab the towel and throw it off. Speechless, and yet the first thing I think of is that he won’t be having an open casket.
“Jessica, we need to take the body now.” Officer Wilkins comes up to me. I step back and the body is evacuated. I just stand there, alone, until I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn and see Ike holding a present, his eyes are puffy.
“He was going to give this to you once you got back” Ike hands the gift to me, gives me a hug, and then leaves. I grab the card off the top and read it.
‘Fourteen years ago the best thing that ever happened to me came into my life, YOU. I can’t wait till we move to LA and open a restaurant down there, just us in LA, against the world—‘ My dad told me about how he was planning on divorcing my mother, I completely supported him, just like he supported me and my quest to become an actress “—I can’t wait to see your career take off, to see you in your first movie, to see you get married (and then after the appropriate amount of time, have kids)’ I smile for a moment at my dad’s humor ‘I can’t wait to see you grow up. I Love you forever baby girl.’
“I Love you too” I say to no one. I open the gift and find a pair of yellow Converse, I’ve been begging for them for ages. I immediately lace them on and start to clean.
-Flashback over-
That night I checked our security cameras, I saw my father’s death on those tapes, and I still remember exactly what the man with the gun looked like. The next day I started telling people to call me Sydney, and I moved down here with my uncle. I arranged for my father’s body to be brought down to LA to be buried, so we could live down here, Together.
Whoo good chapter am I right? Hahaha of course I am ;). I just wanted to say, one of my favorite things about my story are the names of the chapters, I mean when I find the perfect lyric for a chapter I just get so excited :) Anyway I’d love some feed back! Vote/Comment/Fan.