Cornerstone

by Misty Provencher

  I gape. Like she just hit me with a brick.

  “You talk to him?” I ask. She goes to the front door and checks to be sure it’s locked. I trail after her, into the kitchen, where she closes the blinds over the sink.

  “Your father and I have talked a few times recently. I didn’t want to bother you with it, but he turned up, knowing you were seventeen and wanting to make sure that our agreement still stood.”

  “Agreement?” As if this is a normal thing. My mom never talks about him and now that he’s popped up like Rumplestiltskin, his phone call sends the entire cavalry screaming back. And we’re closing up the house like a coffin. I can’t imagine them talking, let alone having any kind of an agreement. I follow close at my mom’s heels, into the living room.

  Her eyes dart around the backyard before she closes the blinds on the doors. I pull the curtains over the windows, even though I have no idea why. My mom closes the curtains on her side of the room.

  “We made an agreement a long time ago, Nalena. When you were just a toddler. He agreed to stay away from us as long as I kept you out of the community. And as long as you decided to continue living a normal life.”

  “Wait Mom.” I ask. We climb the steps to the top floor and end up in Iris’s room, overlooking the front yard. “Why does he have to stay away?”

  My mom snaps the hot pink blinds shut before she turns back to me.

  “Your father is a troubled man, Nalena.” she says.

  Before she has a chance to go any further, I hear the front door shake downstairs, as if someone has just tried to walk through it and failed. The two of us gasp. The whirring inside me breaks open and I’m thrown out of myself, standing in front of my mom and my own body. I stare at my mother, hovering beside me, unprotected. I try to reach out and envelope her, but my field works like skin and my mother is outside of it.

  The door rattles and there is a gritty sound, like a knife snaking through the metal knob. My mind is spinning, What did Garrett tell me to do? Believe? Do it? Jump in? I can’t remember. My mom gasps as I hear the door pop open and bang against the wall. In desperation to enclose my mom in my protection, I clasp my hands together and throw the loop of my arm and my cast awkwardly over her head, pulling her tightly to me as I angle my back to the door.

  “Hello?” Garrett shouts from the foyer. The sound of his voice shatters my bubble and I am sucked back into my skin and bones, squeezing my mom to me so hard that the arm inside my cast throbs. Garrett shouts again, his voice dropping to a deep growl, “Nalena? Evangeline?”

  “We’re here.” My mom calls back. Her voice is squeezed as she pats my uncasted arm reassuringly. I drop my arms as Garrett’s footsteps bound up the stairs. He appears around the doorway, his brow smoothing the moment his eyes find me. My mom’s voice, solid now that it’s out of my death grip, assures him too, “We’re okay, Garrett. Just a little unnerved.”

  ~ * * * ~

  I don’t have a chance to ask my mom anything else. Within the next five minutes, the rest of the Reese’s pour in. Mrs. Reese is first, then Sean and Mr. Reese and I am stunned when Mark and Brandon come in, materialized from school as if it is easy to slip out, let alone be excused, and make it home, so quickly.

  “How did you get here so fast?” I ask Mark when he plops down beside me at the table. “You’ve got a Batman-beam or something?”

  He pulls a cell phone from his pocket, holding it up with a cheesy smile.

  “Get in the twenty-first, Nali.” he grins. “You should’ve waited until tomorrow. We could’ve gotten a four day weekend.”

  “This isn’t about you getting more vacation time.” Garrett says as he strong-arms Mark out of the seat. Mark squawks and goes for the seat on my other side, but Sean slides into the spot.

  “Get your own seat, Marky-Mark.” Sean says.

  “You guys suck.” Mark whines.

  “They do suck.” Brandon agrees from across the table. Mr. Reese walks into the dining room and clears his throat with a piercing glance at his youngest son.

  “Stink.” Mr. Reese says. “You guys stink. I expect better language, gentlemen.”

  Mark throws himself into a seat next to his mom. Mrs. Reese turns her attention to my mother.

  “What did Roger say, exactly, Evangeline?” she asks. The room goes silent, waiting for her response. My mother opens her mouth to answer and the telephone rings as if she is doing ventriloquism. Mr. Reese’s hand hovers over the receiver on the wall. He motions to Brandon.

  “Go check caller ID.” he says. Brandon shoots off, upstairs into the Reese’s bedroom. The phone rings again and Brandon calls down, “Nothing, Dad. Out of Area. Same as the last call.”

  “Evangeline,” Mr. Reese says quickly. “I’m going to put it on the speaker phone. You talk first.”

  My mom nods. Her chest expands with a large breath as Mr. Reese pushes the speaker phone button on the third ring.

  “Hello?” My mom says, her tone flat and determined.

  “Evangeline?” The voice on the other end is male, hoarse, clipped. I look at my mother, but her eyes are on the center of the table, concentrating.

  “It’s me, Roger.” she says.

  “Don’t hang up on me again, understand? I’m just trying to talk with you.”

  “You have to listen to me, or I don’t have anything else to say to you.”

  “Oh, but I think you do.” He says with an undercurrent of a dark laugh. It sloshes inside me like the flu. “We had an understanding.”

  “And nothing’s changed.”

  “Oh now, Liar Liar…I’m not stupid, Angie. I know she received the sign. I know she’s been to the Addo’s.”

  Mr. Reese waves his arms to get my mom’s attention. He raises his hands in a question and my mom nods.

  “How would you know that, Roger? You agreed to stay away.” my mom says.

  “Stay away so you can do whatever you want? It’s a good thing I know people that’ll watch out for me and let me know when I’m getting screwed.” my father says.

  “I don’t know who would be saying that. Especially because I’m still honoring our…”

  “Who? What’s it gonna take for you to understand that your little community isn’t perfect, Angie? There’s scum everywhere. Just because you think I’m the only one...”

  “Look, Roger, I don’t…”

  “NO, YOU LOOK!” His shout echoes through the phone. “You ain’t gonna make my kid an Alo, you hear me? I saw her at the Addo’s today. I’m watching! You’re just using her to get at your old man’s memory and I promise you this, Angie, you ain’t never gonna get that! Not after you took my baby away from me for my whole life! You took her and I took him. You’re never gonna get that memory, you got it? I made sure of it!”

  “This isn’t about my father.” my mom says. Her eyes are red with tears, but she keeps her voice steady. “Nalena only went to the Addo for counseling. She’s told me that she’s choosing a simple life.”

  “Liar liar…memory on fire!” His laughter spews out of the phone, rough and raw. My head is spinning with his ugly voice. I rub my temple and Garrett reaches for me but I don’t want to be touched. I scoot back and my chair rubs a tiny squeak from the floor. I hear my father gasp on the other end.

  “You got me on a goddamn loud speaker?” he shouts. “What the hell kind of game are you playing, Angie? Why do you have to make this thing harder than it already is?”

  The words hit me like concrete. I stand and stumble backward, the chair crashing to the floor. My father is still yelling but his voice drains away to static in my ears. Garrett is on his feet, reaching to steady me. His mouth is moving, but I can’t hear him either. The veins in Mr. Reese’s neck are straining as he barks soundlessly into the phone. My mother is staring at me, her skin paler than ashes. Our eyes meet and she asks, with nothing but her wide pupils and the wrinkle between her eyes.

  My mouth forms the words, even though I can’t hear my own sound. I know who he is.
/>   Who? Her wrinkle deepens.

  He’s the man in the woods.

  Chapter 13

  Waxen and colorless, my mother’s face appears dead. Her eyes are open but she has less than no expression, as if her all muscles have fainted.

  She casts her eyes away from mine and the sound of the room comes back in a whooshing blast, an explosion sucked into a bottle.

  “He’s after me.” I say.

  “He’s not in his right mind any longer, Evangeline.” Mrs. Reese says. She leans across the table, placing a sympathetic hand over my mother’s. “Tell her the rest. It’s time.”

  “Let’s give them space.” Mr. Reese says. He begins issuing gentle commands to his family. “Garrett, you go get Iris from daycare. Mark and Brandon, one of you needs to keep an eye on the backyard and one on the front. Miranda and Sean, hop on the internet and see what you can find. I’m going to make some calls and spread the word.”

  The Reese’s dissipate, like air out of the same bottle that was too full only a moment ago. My mom and I are alone in the empty dining room. She stands and comes to me, taking the seat that Garrett leaves.

  I’m on overload to the point where my mind is going numb. I want my mother and I to travel back in time two weeks, safely situated in our old life. I would happily return to the piles of paper, the ostracization at school and only the vague understanding that I have a father. As I’m wishing it, my mom speaks.

  “I’ve told you your father was Alo, Nalena, but that’s only partly true.” her voice quivers. Her back is so rigid in the chair, I am having a hard time focusing on anything she’s saying. “He was Alo. He turned away from it. He chose instead to live a selfish life.”

  “Isn’t that what you wanted me to choose?” I ask. How can she want me to choose it, when she makes it sound like a terrible choice that my father has made? I am hollow. I don’t know how to care anymore. She twists her ring finger so hard that her knuckle seems to twist out of place.

  My mom’s eyes fill and tears separate her features in streams.

  “No. I want a Simple life for you. A selfish life is something else entirely. It’s a slippery path. Your father found it while I was still pregnant with you.” Her eyes are far away, remembering. She returns to the conversation with a sad grin. “Your dad was a man that was easy to like. It’s so hard to see what’s important when you’re young. He told the funniest jokes and everyone seemed to get along with Roger. Your grandpa, my father, used to call your dad ‘A Good Time Charlie’. Wherever we went, everyone knew Roger and I thought it meant that he would be a good person for me. We weren’t married long and he began associating with the wrong people. He began living only for himself. He turned away from his responsibilities as one of the Alo. He stopped recording memories even though we were still living off our community. He wanted a change, a drastic one, and he insisted I go along with him since I was his wife.

  “But I wouldn’t do it.” She sniffs and wipes her nose on the back of her hand. “And he wouldn’t leave the community without me…because of you.” Her grin is miserable. “Roger wanted everyone to see him as the perfect father. He was so concerned with what people thought of him. But the Ianua’s enemies, a community called The Fury, they have a knack for convincing people that ‘perfect’ is attainable. That’s how your father got sucked in. He believed that there was something out there he didn’t already have.”

  “But I refused to follow him into a life with The Fury. I knew what it meant. The Fury doesn’t value marriage or family or relationships. They don’t have commitments to anyone or anything. Each individual lives entirely for themselves and over time, they go insane with it. I couldn’t even be sure that Roger wouldn’t abandon you at some point, when his lifestyle permeated him completely.

  “It finally came to an impass. He wouldn’t turn back and I wouldn’t turn away. I suggested we live apart. The second it was out of my mouth, he became vicious. He wrapped his hands around my neck and told me he’d kill me first. Kill me, and cut you out of my stomach, before he would ever allow me to divorce him.”

  Tears break off in veins down her cheeks. I take a shaky breath, my face wet too. She wipes her cheeks with her fingers and then rubs her neck as she continues.

  “Your grandfather knew what was happening all along. He was my best friend. So, when your dad went out one night, I took my chance and I ran. Grandpa gave me the money to hide. I took it and I hid the two of us.”

  Her face crumples. Her weeping comes harder, as if each sob is ripped from her chest. It panics me. She folds her hands over herself, locking herself in her own embrace.

  “I had no idea what he would do...I had no idea.” She rocks on the chair, sobbing so loosely that I am unhinged. I need her to hold me and say this will be okay. I put my hands out to her, but her eyes are terrified and distant. I can’t seem to reach wherever she is.

  “He killed him...” she moans. “For helping me. He killed my father! I didn’t see it on TV or hear it from the police. I knew it because I was supposed to write him! I was at the kitchen table and you were kicking inside me and the sunshine was coming through the window warming my arms and then...his name was in my head! I was sure there was something wrong with me. I tried to convince myself that I was just thinking of him, the way people think of anyone...not the way the Alo think of memories.

  “For three hours I thought your grandfather’s name and couldn’t write it because I couldn’t let them die! And he knew it.” she growls. “Roger knew how I would find out what he’d done! And then when I did try to write your grandfather’s memory, I couldn’t write any more than his name. His memory was stolen from me. Roger wrote it and hid it away so my father’s knowledge would be lost forever. It was Roger’s vengeance for me leaving him!”

  I am suddenly alone, in darkness, floating in my mother’s grief.

  I am connected to it.

  The descendant.

  Of this.

  Murder.

  This murderer.

  I can’t swallow. Tears stream out of me. My mom pulls me back from the darkness and into the room, her arms looping around me. The dining room lights are too bright. We sob together, convulsing in each other’s arms.

  It’s always been us.

  Just us.

  My mom rubs my back like she used to, when I was little. The slobs slow to sniffles.

  “He trying to kill me now, isn’t he?” My voice is rough and waterlogged.

  My mom pulls in a deep, shaky breath.

  “Over my dead body.” Her words are vicious and sure. A blazing island, away from the sorrow. “He will never get near you again.”

  “But he already has.” I lift my cast and her arms fall away. “And I told the Addo I chose a Simple Life. I told him already. Maybe it isn’t the right thing to do.”

  “Wait a minute. You already told the Addo your choice?” she asks, confused. I nod.

  “Today. I told him right away that I wanted a Simple Life.”

  “What did he say? Didn’t he give you anything? A stone?”

  “Stone?” I ask. “No, I drank tea. And he told me to come back tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?” Her voice is distant, worried.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “I don’t know.” she says. “But if you are going back, you haven’t chosen yet.”

  “But I did, I swear! You can ask Garrett!” I insist.

  “Shh, shhh, shhh.” my mom comforts me. “I believe you. But something isn’t right.”

  Chapter 14

  It feels like only seconds, although a half hour has passed by the time Iris stomps in the door with Garrett behind her. She trails a long white sheet of paper on the floor, slathered with oozy yellow finger paint. Mrs. Reese comes from upstairs, shaking her head at my mom to indicate that the internet didn’t reveal anything useful.

  “It’s Addo’s house.” Iris holds up her runny picture.

  “Beautiful.” Mrs. Reese tells her, clipping it to the fridge. M
r. Reese comes down from his bedroom.

  “VanWeider will excuse Nalena’s absence.” Mr. Reese announces. “But, if she doesn’t take her final exams, her grades will be averaged as they stand.”

  “There’s a bigger problem, Basil.” my mom says. “Nalena said she already told the Addo that she chose the Simple Life. She said he didn’t honor it.”

  “No, he didn’t.” Garrett says, leaning on the kitchen counter. He pulls his hair back from his temples, holds it for a moment, and then lets it fall back to its regular style. “Probably because she didn’t want to listen to the options.”

  It feels like a slam.

  “Wait a minute.” I turn on Garrett. “You said you never discussed any options with him when you were counseled either.”

  “At least I would’ve listened if he’d offered.”

  I narrow my eyes. “I would’ve too.”

  “Enough.” Mr. Reese says. “I’m sure the Addo has his reasons. I guess we’ll know more once you meet with him tomorrow.”

  I cross my arms over my chest. “Fat lot of good being Contego did me anyway.” I grumble. Sean nudges me with his elbow.

  “What do you mean?” he asks.

  “When my mom and I were up in Iris’s room, we heard someone coming in the door and we were flipping out. The spinning happened and my bubble surrounded me, but I couldn’t get it around my mom.”

  “That’s normal.” Mr. Reese says. “The protection only makes you a stronger protector. It isn’t a magical shield that you can throw in front of anyone else. It may not even protect you, if you don’t know how to use it. However, once you’ve been Impressioned, we can teach you how to maximize your abilities to protect others.”

  “Exactly.” Mrs. Reese adds, turning to my mom. “You know, Evangeline, whatever Nalena chooses, she should at least learn to protect herself. Especially after what happened tonight.”

  My mother’s face is grim. She eyes my cast.

  “I agree.” she nods stiffly. “The sooner the better.”