Jeni wasn’t quite sure what to think when Juliearl told her that she was now of flesh and blood. Having her as an endless resource of gratuitous utility was helpful in situations (such as meeting Daniel in the lunch room around midnight). However, Jeni readily accepted that her daughter was real. The two embraced, and they decided to take a walk in the country.
Juliearl held her mother’s hand and looked at everything as if it were new. Her eyes were trying to digest everything as though it had previously appeared different to her. Jeni couldn’t help but smile and look slightly down at her as she observed her surroundings. Not long ago, she had been only an infant. Now, she was just slightly younger than her mother.
Has it really been three years? though Jeni. Three years since my public shame? It didn’t seem like so long since she stood atop that table and took in the ridicule. Three years since Daniel had pawned Juliearl off on her as a bauched FCS assignment. Three years since she and Nic had had a decent relationship. Now everything seemed strained. She was in love with two boys, both ruggedly handsome, but both with very different backgrounds. Would she ever find happiness?
Since Daniel’s resignation freshmen year as the football captain, Nic had stepped up as the leader. He had filled the position well, but he didn’t have his heart in the right place. He was still tutoring Daniel, running his grades into the ground, and telling him it would eventually get better.
The truth was, Nic’s physical appearance was slowly deteriorating. It was not obvious to the casual observer; you really had to be looking at him a while to see it. Bags had grown under his eyes and his clothes hung a little looser over his once super-buff frame. His eyes occasionally glowed red (from allergies, everyone thought), but Nic knew in his heart that it was from his constant belittling of Daniel. Daniel had been the one who was turning Nic into the devil himself.
During one of their study sessions, Daniel had confided in Nic that he was going to pass in due time.
“Of course,” said Nic. “We all do. Now continue conjugating your sums.”
“No,” Daniel replied, suddenly irritated that Nic wasn’t understanding. “I’m dying.”
“At this very moment? What would’ve caused it?”
“My spinal injury. The fact I’m slowly losing my will to live after losing everything I was passionate about. I have nothing to live for. And now my spine is slowly shutting down the rest of my body.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Nic replied softly. “I had no idea.”
“I’m sure you did,” Daniel said. “You constantly asked me if I was okay, and I lied to you. I just really appreciate that you haven’t ever lied to me. You’ve never been anything but one hundred percent honest with me.”
“Gee, Daniel,” Nic started. “You don’t have to—”
“But I want to!” Daniel insisted. “I just thought I should tell you because you’re the person I’m closest to the in world.”
“What would your virgin followers say to that?” Nic asked.
“The girls swoon at me because they know they can’t have me. I don’t want them. I just want to be left alone. I can’t please anyone. Not anymore at least…”
This is depressing, Nic thought. And, indeed, it was. After an awkward silence, the two continued to study until 4:00 AM. Daniel walked doggedly toward home to fall into a deep slumber (he slept numerous amounts these days) and this left Nic alone to cope with his feelings. He thought deeply about the past three years and how they had really affected him. He was the captain of the football team and the most popular guy in school. What more could one ask for?
But there was so much more to it. He walked around his house thinking for hours. He was staring out his window when he had the urge to go outside and be with nature.
It was midafternoon when Nic stepped outside and braced his eyes against the harsh sunlight. His shoes scuffed along the gravel until he came to a culvert, down which he climbed and sat along the banks of a small stream. He started picking the wild daisies and lilies that grew along the steep inclines.
Jeni Hestersee and Juliearl were walking by about this time and could see a neat tuft of dark brown hair bobbing just over the crest of the hill. She bade Juliearl to stay on the road and she slowly approached Nic.
“Mr. Snodingworth,” Jeni said, bowing.
“Ms. Hestersee!” Nic said, his eyes filling with light. “What a pleasure to see you here.”
“I’m afraid I don’t feel the same, Nic,” Jeni said. Over the course of the three years’ time, she hadn’t told Nic that she and Daniel had shared a passionate cliff-hanging kiss.
Nic didn’t ask why. Instead, he tried to change the subject. “That sweater of yours is looking a bit worn.”
“Do not change the subject,” Jeni protested. “I’ve noticed a change in Daniel’s demeanor…”
Did she know? “What sort of change?” Nic asked.
“He seems slight of breath and appears thinner than usual. His eyes are sunken in. He appears the face of death.”
Maybe she didn’t know. I should tell her, Nic thought. It would be almost rude not to.
“He appears this way because he’s dying.” Nic stated bluntly.
Jeni raised a hand to mute her cry of horror. “How long have you known?”
“He confessed to me this morning, but I’ve had my suspicions for about three years now.”
Jeni started to sob. The boy who was the father of her child was now passing away? Oh, how she loved him so! How passion coursed through her veins at the very sight of him! Yet…
Nic started towards her, and they embraced in a tight hug. Jeni was crying, and Nic was slowly patting her back. “There, there,” he said softly. “There’s no need to cry. Poor, poor Jeni Hestersee.”
This comfort felt, well, comforting. It had been years since she had been comforted this way. And, coincidentally, it had been by the same person. Jeni sniffed a little and backed away.
“You know why he’s dying?” she asked.
Nic nodded. He didn’t wish to disclose this information. It might ruin Daniel’s already depleting reputation.
“Are you going to tell me or aren’t you?”
All Nic could do was shake his head.
“This is just like you!” Jeni yelled so loudly even Juliearl looked up from her gravel pile. “Not telling me things I have a right to know!”
“You haven’t a right to know why Daniel is ailing!” Nic yelled, trying to be quiet, but raising his voice nonetheless.
“You know,” Jeni said quietly, “I believe you’re killing him.”
“How could you think that I’m killing him? He’s my best friend!”
Nic was shocked to find that when he said Daniel was his best friend, he meant it. After three years of torturing him and ruining his already terrible life, Nic missed Daniel. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to fully forgive Daniel,, but he was at least going to try and repair their broken friendship. Nic just wanted to be certain that when Daniel did bite the dust, they were on good terms once again.
“You have been ‘tutoring’ him!”
“Oh. I… I didn’t think you knew about that.”
“Of course I knew! Why else would Daniel’s grades have dropped so drastically?”
“I just wanted to make him pay for throwing you under the bus… and… and the kiss.”
“What?” Jeni was shocked to discover that Nic had known about she and Daniel.
“Yeah! I’ve known for a long time!”
“I never meant to hurt you.”
“Oh sure.”
While the “adults” fought, Juliearl discovered a delightful little pool of water near the base of the hill. She noticed that there was a girl in the pool looking up at her… Everything was so new to her little brain. Leaning in to touch the girl’s fingertips, she fell. Instantly, traumatic memories of the bathroom flashed behind her eyes.
Drowning. I’m drowning! she thought.
Luckily for this young, naive child, her mother and Nic heard her fall and rushed to her aid. Nic quickly (yet gently) pulled Juliearl out of the water. Clutching her chest and coughing up water, Juliearl sobbed (she had never felt true fear before this moment). Nic held her close, seemingly no longer concerned with the fact that she was Daniel’s. The sight of this warmed Jeni’s heart.
“Juliearl, you need to be more careful! You could have drowned,” Jeni scolded, “You don’t know how to swim!”
Jeni looked at Nic, realizing that she couldn’t keep the fact that he was lying to Daniel a secret any longer. The man-boy she loved was dying and she was not about to let him leave without clearing the air with him.
“I’m going to tell him,” she whispered to Nic.
Looking up, Nic nodded. “I understand. The secrets I have kept from him have been weighing on my soul for far too long.”
“Daniel and I were planning to go for a walk tonight around midnight, I’ll tell him then.”
Both said farewell and embarked on their separate journeys home. Nic, with passion and loathing. Jeni, with an emptiness in her soul.