“Nothing is wrong, I just felt like I needed some time off.”
“You’re lying. Joel looked like crap and he was worried sick about you. He said he thinks he scared you on Friday night. What happened?”
“He didn’t scare me. I just needed a break is all,” I lie.
“Are you sure? If he did something to you, I can get Drew to rough him up.”
“Dana, no. Seriously, Joel didn’t do anything to me.” I keep eye contact with her to prove I’m not lying.
“Okay. Although, to be honest with how he looked today, I probably could have beaten him up myself. He looked like crap.”
“Did he?” I can’t imagine Joel ever looking bad.
“Yeah, he looked really unwell and rundown, like he hasn’t been sleeping in days. Are you sure you’re not sick? Maybe you caught something together?”
I lightly slap away her hand as she reaches out to touch my forehead again. “I’m fine, I promise. I just needed to take a break from work.”
“Are you sure?”
“Dana!” I throw my hands up in the air in exasperation.
“Fine, fine, but will you at least tell me what happened with Joel?”
“Nothing happened. I’m just not sure I like him.” I look down at my hands, unable to meet her eyes.
“Trust me, you do.”
“Can we not talk about Joel?” I beg, leading us out of the hallway and collapsing heavily down on the couch I had vacated moments earlier.
“Fine, then let’s talk about your birthday.” Dana crosses her arms over her chest.
“My birthday?”
“Well, yeah; you’ve been able to put off talking about it for weeks, but now it’s here and we’ve got nothing planned.”
“I don’t want anything planned.” My panic is creeping back again.
“You don’t really mean that. You’re just saying that because you’re not feeling well.”
“I’m feeling fine and I do mean that.”
“So, you don’t want a party?” Dana scrunches her face to examine mine.
“Hell, no. I just want to spend the day with you and I’m having a quiet dinner with Mom.”
“So no Joel?”
“No Joel. No party. No guns.”
“Guns?” Dana gasps surprised.
“Nothing. Can we change the subject again?” I stare at the muted television, trying to distract myself.
“Again? To what?”
“I don’t know. What did Drew want with you yesterday?” Drew had made sure Dana had yesterday free and she’d had no idea why. It was all a big mystery.
“It was so romantic. He took me away Saturday night to this little bed and breakfast and he—” Dana’s phone rings loudly from her bag, cutting her off. She fumbles around, trying to find it.
“Hey… yeah,she’s fine… nothing apparently… I do not always overreact, you—… Okay, I’ll pick some up on my way home. Love you.” Dana clicks her phone off and rolls her eyes.
“Let me guess, he wants you to pick him up a mop and bucket since you make everyone around you vomit with how lovesick you both are,” I joke.
“We are not lovesick.” Dana’s roll of her eyes is directed at me now.
“You are so! Come on then, what happened this weekend, prove me wrong.”
“Oh, shut up.” Dana sits on the couch next to me, grabbing the remote from under her since she sat down on it and turns the volume up. She rests her head on my shoulder while she randomly changes the channel.
We sit together in comfortable silence before my thoughts circle back to my impending doom. “Dana, when you and Drew get married and have twenty children, can you promise me something?”
“Yes, I promise that we’ll make you babysit them all at once, every weekend, for the rest of your life.”
“Yeah, right. No, can you promise me that when you’re reading them some magical story that you loved when you were a child that you’ll tell them about me, about us.”
“What do you mean?” Dana turns to face me, giving me her full attention.
“We had such a great childhood growing up, even though I lost Dad and Frank, it doesn’t matter. You were the sister I never had. Tell them about the Christmases we spent together. Tell them about old Mrs. Black who chased us away with an umbrella when she caught us switching up the street’s mail. Tell them about the time we got those markers that you can erase and sketched out a story about a prince falling in love with his princess on our second grade teacher’s walls, only to realize we were using permanent markers by mistake. Tell them about the boy you threatened to smack across the face because he dared to break up with me, even though we were only in fifth grade.”
“Zoe, what are you going on about?”
“They should know how awesome we were together.”
“Well then, you tell them, because I’m pretty sure it’s bad parenting to tell your kids how you threatened to beat another kid up. Besides, why is it me that’ll have twenty kids? Maybe it’ll be you who has fifty kids.”
“I don’t think so, but sure. If I have fifty kids I’ll tell them about the time you wet the bed when you slept over at my place because you thought there was a man under my bed with a knife.”
“One, you promised never to mention that again and two, who on earth wouldn’t be freaked out if they thought that!” Dana pushes me in the arm.
“Fine, that one stays in the vault.”
“How about this? When I publish my first book, it’ll be the scandalous story of Dee and Zee and the bank we robbed.”
“We never robbed a bank,” I point out.
“Well, we have plenty of time to do that.”
I shake my head, but don’t argue back. We sit and watch TV in silence until it gets so late Drew calls again.
“Okay, so I guess I won’t see you at MAY this week?”
“I don’t think so.” I want to say yes, but I know I can’t go back to work again.
“Okay, I’ll pick you up on Saturday and we’ll go out for lunch.”
I nod in agreement. “Drive safely.”
Chapter Six – The Birthday
Saturday April 7th
I have ideas of making plans for my final week alive, to do something meaningful. Instead, I mope around and feel depressed. Nothing I can do now will matter because it’s too late to do something with my life. Two weeks warning just isn’t enough time. It also didn’t help that I’m incredibly afraid to die.
All the questions that no one thinks too hard on, hit me like a ton of bricks. What happens when you die? Where do you go? Is it just lights out and you don’t exist? Is there such a thing as reincarnation? What if I was aware, but trapped in a coffin for eternity? That also brought me to the question, cremation or burial?
My last fear of being trapped in a box underground helps me decide cremation and while I try to subtlety mention that to Mom, as well as wanting to be an organ donor, I’m not sure it went over all that subtlety. I had to call her to talk since she was practically sleeping at the office from all her late night meetings and it was hard to try to find a place to bring it up in conversation. In the end, I had to lie and say a friend of a friend had passed away and no one had known what she wanted. Mom never was keen to discuss death, especially after Frank died, and it’s an easy way to end a conversation with her. Mom still isn’t over Frank and I fear what my death will do to her. If she works this much just to forget about Frank—who passed away nearly ten years ago—then what will she do when I die?
I had vetoed the party idea so maybe I won’t be killed in front of everyone, maybe I will get shot somewhere else? I might be able to make it seem like I had run away then everyone could imagine I was out there somewhere, happy and alive.
It’s an idea that I wish I had thought of earlier. If death is going to follow me no matter what, then I could have left the country and no one would be the wiser. Instead, I’m listening to Dana pull up outside my house on the day I will die. If I live through to tomorrow
, then I will make sure to run. It’s better than the alternative.
Dana pops her head in the front door and calls out to me. “You ready for some lunch? I’m starved.”
“Yep, just let me grab my bag.” I grab my tote bag off the kitchen bench and hope Mom sees the note I left on the fridge about remembering we had dinner plans. She often forgets the plans we made together, but this night is important. She might not get to see me again.
“Like my new car?” Dana wiggles her eyebrows at me as she holds her hands out in the air as if presenting a prize.
“New car?” I gasp. I look over it and it looks nice, but more second hand new rather than brand new.
“Well, technically, it’s my Mom’s new car, but I am allowed to borrow it today. So I’m going to say it’s my new car.”
“Wow, when did she get this?”
“A couple weeks ago, so it’s totally my turn to drive us today.”
“Do you remember how to drive?”
“Yes, silly. Stay on the left side of the road, give way to no one and to work the brake, you just say ‘Stop’ really loudly.”
“Well, now I feel super safe,” I speak sarcastically, but I can’t help laughing.
“Don’t worry; I drove my car here the other night, didn’t I?”
“And did you make it home without so much as a scratch?”
“Well, sort of. The car did breakdown, which is why I’ve got Mom’s today, but it totally wasn’t my fault.”
“Sure.” I roll my eyes, but still open the door and sit down. I make a show of very carefully putting on my seat belt and then looking around carefully. “Does this thing come with crash helmets?”
“Shut up.”
***
Lunch turns out to be at a little place we used to frequent when we were younger. We even have a root beer float to celebrate. I haven’t had one in a really long time and after finishing one, I realize why. It gives me a head rush and a sugar overload. As we leave the restaurant, I can’t keep the smile off my face. I really love Dana.
“Thanks for spending today with me; it’s been great.”
“Don’t even mention it, where else would I be?” Dana is practically bouncing as she walks.
“You never finished telling me what happened the other night between you and Drew. What did he have planned that was so important and top secret?”
Dana literally jumps in the air and smiles. “Zee, it was amazing. He—” She suddenly stops speaking.
“Yes?”
“I can’t say.” Her face falls.
“Why not?”
“Today is your day. I’ll wait until tomorrow.”
“You can’t do that. What if I’m dead tomorrow, I’ll never know what your news was,” I say lightly, but inside me I feel the weight of my words.
“If you’re dead tomorrow, then I give you permission to haunt me for all eternity.”
“I’m going to hold you to that. Seriously, though, tell me.”
“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.” She shrugs it off.
We get into her car and she begins driving me through familiar streets, going the long way back to my house.
“I have a surprise for you.” She changes the subject.
“What is it?” I begin to feel weary. A surprise? Like a surprise party?
“You’ll see!”
I feel queasy and worry about where we’re going. What if she has decided to throw me a party? What if my insistence didn’t work? What if I do die in front of all those people? I fear a panic attack is about to come on. I look over at Dana just in time for her to turn the music up loud and start singing out of tune to the song that’s on the radio. She doesn’t seem to have noticed my heavier breathing or wild eyes. I try to get myself under control and focus on my surroundings. I’m surprised to notice we’re heading towards something very familiar. Somewhere we both had gone to nearly every day of our younger lives. We’re heading to the park next to our old school.
Dana pulls over and stops the car on the edge of the park. It’s then I notice what she is wearing right now. She’s in jeans and a hoody. In my dream, she had been in a cream dress. I look up at the weather and see the overcast day. For most people, today would be considered cold, but I’m fine in it. I love the cold weather, which is why I’m only wearing a light grey t-shirt with my dark blue jeans. Is this what I had been wearing in my dream?
“How long do you think it’s been since we’ve hung out here?” Dana looks like her mind has drifted far away.
I look out at the park and see it’s mostly empty. Further away, there is a small playground with kids jumping all over it, but otherwise, the park is vacant. The thick, tall trees are all still the same, nothing has changed.
“It’s been ages.”
We both get out of the car and I breathe in the fresh air. It’s nice to be able to taste fresh air, after spending most of my time in the city where car fumes are just a way of life.
“I thought it might be fun to walk around here. Rehash old memories since you got the ball rolling on that the other night.” She runs over to a large oak tree that’s on the edge of the park. “Do you remember when we were twirling ourselves around and around one afternoon because we were bored, waiting for our Moms to pick us up after school? You went so fast and quick that you nearly knocked yourself out on this tree!” Dana laughs hard and then runs her fingers over the tree trunk.
I wander over to her and look up at the tree. I used to stare at this tree for hours every week while I would wait for Mom to pick me up. A lot of times, Dana’s Mom would just take me home. Mom was a workaholic even back then. Usually, if she did pick me up, she would just drop me off at home and then go back to work for a few hours, but would be home in time to cook me a late dinner. As I got older, I would simply take a bus home and cook myself a meal.
I reach out and touch the tree trunk, too. “I remember I had a headache for days after that. I’m sure it gave me a concussion.”
Dana giggles. “It was so funny, though! How old do you think we were?”
“I think we were about ten or eleven.” I think it might have been just after Frank died.
“Do you remember in fourth grade, we taught ourselves to read upside-down?” Dana skips around the tree, acting like she is a six-year-old as she speaks.
“I think you were the only one who could read upside-down, Dana. I was still struggling to read the normal way.”
“I taught you, though, remember?”
“Yes, I do.”
“So really, you owe me a lot, you know.” Dana winks at me as I roll my eyes at her.
“Oh, yes, thank you Dana for opening my eyes up to reading.”
“I got you to read some wonderful books. Oh, how I wish I could go back and read all the classics for the first time again.”
“Well, I never quite got your love of reading, so I probably could go back and read them and, since I don’t remember them, it would be like the first time for me!”
Dana pokes her tongue out at me and it really is like we’re back in fourth grade again.
“I remember we somehow managed to lock ourselves in the girls’ bathroom for four hours. They had to call a locksmith to help us get out,” I chip in, feeling a rush of memories coming back to me. I sit down on the bench by the tree, leaning back and looking up at the sky. So many times I used to lie on the grass and look up at the sky, watching the clouds pass over me.
“Weren’t our Moms called and everything?” Dana asks me. She, too, sits on the bench and looks upwards.
“Yeah. My Mom was so annoyed with me. She had a big meeting that day.”
“Do you remember Mr. Lyons?” Dana takes my hand.
“Was he our fifth grade teacher?” I ask her, all my old teachers get mixed up now.
“Yeah, remember how he would always sneeze in eights?”
“Yeah, and he would get so angry when we would say ‘bless you’ eight times afterwards.” I laugh, remembering the angry look o
n his face when Dana and I would do that. I hadn’t thought about that in years.
“Do you remember the hot dogs they had at school, so yummy. I remember eating one nearly every day for a month!” Dana speaks proudly, like that is a great accomplishment.
“Yeah, that was kinda gross.” I smile at her fake outrage. “Food probably isn’t what it used to be, with all that talk about healthy eating at schools. I bet they have only health bars and fruit nowadays.” I sigh dramatically.
“Well, we were pretty lucky we didn’t become obese kids, especially with what you used to eat.” Dana looks serious all of a sudden.
“Hey, I didn’t eat four bags of M&M’s one time for lunch!”
“Yeah, but you drank those five cans of Coke that one day. Now that has to be worse than chocolate.”
I remember the stomach ache I had after so much sugar and caffeine almost like it had only just happened.
“You’re right; we are lucky we didn’t turn obese.”
We continue talking and I try to put all thoughts of a surprise party out of my mind. I want to enjoy this walk down memory lane.
“So, no word from Joel?” Dana looks at me carefully, as if accessing if this is an okay subject to bring up.
“No.”
“Not even today, on your birthday?” She sounds surprised.
“He wouldn’t know it’s my birthday today, Dana. We aren’t close.”
“He came into MAY the other day. He’s looking horrible. I’ve never seen someone look so ill before.”
“Why doesn’t he just go to the doctors or something?”
I feel a cool shiver whenever I think about Joel. I know I should have tried to talk to him one last time, to find out more about his dream, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I didn’t want to know more, not now. The fact that he had dreamt it, too, meant I’m destined to die today and wasting any more time on Joel is pointless.
“I think he has, they don’t know what’s wrong. He’s suffering from bad nightmares or something.”
Nightmares? Is he still dreaming about my death or is he seeing other things now?
“Zoe?” Dana’s voice wavers and I know she’s assessing me. Best to nip this straight away before she notices something is up.
Taken By Surprise (Taken Trilogy Book 1) Page 5