The three of us stepped inside.
“Why do you mess with her like that?” Michael stormed away. His shoes squeaked and water dripped from his jacket.
“Clean up after yourself!” I yelled. My eyes stayed glued to the darkness. The rain didn’t let up. Thunder rumbled in the sky and I watched Lisa’s body flicker florescent blue.
“Let’s go find your stupid 1715 journals.” Ally motioned for me to follow her down the stairs.
AMIE & MATHEW
I still dreamt about Amie. If Lisa knew, she’d be devastated. It wasn’t that I didn’t care about Lisa. She was the first person I’d connected with since Amie, but how do you get over your first love? Pain enveloped my very soul. Before the fire that consumed my sister, I could touch others. When she came out, Jane was different, and so was I. Her once cheerful disposition had altered into the Ally I see today. Slowly, her happiness dwindled. Her trips to her own grave grew each year and now Ally went night after night to cry for her lost self. I could no longer touch anyone without feeling their pain. In the beginning it was so horrible that I had seizures.
“I think there’s another box in the room,” Ally said. She entered, disappearing in the darkness. She’d become dark and sullen. It was as if the fire burned her internally. Sometimes I didn’t care about Ally at all—almost as if the years had torn us away from each other, broken our sibling bond, somehow. She and I were connected but in a forced existence where without each other something awful might happen.
A loud bang echoed inside. Things tumbled to the floor. “Ally!” I shouted. “What are you doing in there?” She grumbled inaudible words.
“All the dumb boxes fell.”
“You act like you can feel pain.”
When Ally was struck she lost her sense of pain. She couldn’t feel anything anymore. She used to take hallucinogens in the old days but that just made the people in our village suspicious and she still didn’t feel much. Maybe that’s why she played games; maybe somehow she got a sensation from them. That at least, is what, I’d hoped. I hated feeling pain when I touched others but not feeling anything at all… Total torture if you ask me.
“This time it nearly did hurt,” Ally said standing in the doorway with another box.
“That’s interesting.”
“Something’s happening to me. Whatever we did to Lisa is slowly making a difference in us as well.”
“Nothing is wrong with me. I feel fine,” I said. Did this have to do with the pain tremors I felt when Lisa pulled away? “Besides, Reginald is looking into it.”
“So you are different! What a dork pretending to not be scared.”
“Where’re my journals?”
“Calm down.” She kicked a box down the threshold. “They’re in here.” She sat on the porch swing. “What do you remember about Amie, anyhow? Do you ever wonder if your relationship was real?”
My fingers twitched. “That’s why I want to read her journals. If she loved me I’ll know by what she says in these.”
“Amie loved you,” Ally whispered. “The day you finally held her hand, she raced to find me and forced me out into the wheat fields. We skipped about giggling for hours and then she sat by the lake and wrote in her journal until the sun disappeared.”
I wiped my eyes. “Thanks, Ally.”
“Do you remember when she asked you to marry her?” Ally frowned. “What were you thinking?”
“I wanted to know what I’d done to deserve someone so wonderful who could love me like Amie did.”
“Alex,” she whispered. “I did a horrible thing to you, didn’t I? Time has kinda brought a rift between us, hasn’t it?”
I didn’t know what Ally meant. “What did you do that was so awful?”
She couldn’t look at me.
“You let Millie keep her secret. So I get to keep mine.”
Maybe this attitude of hers was the reason my heart grew numb towards her. “The past is the past.” She made me sick to my stomach. Whatever she did it would be better to just admit it. What sort of secret could she hold from me? I asked Rat all the time about any secrets she might have, at least I do now ever since Lisa arrived. Sometimes the two of them separate from me and go off on their own and I hate it. “Whatever your secret is, Ally, it doesn’t interest me.”
“I know you don’t really mean that.” She stood. “I’m going to make a pot of coffee for us.”
“Why? You’re not planning to stick around with me all night, are you? You can make coffee and bug me for hours, but not talk about our past?”
She nodded and a smile spread across her face. “I want to be here for the sappy parts.”
“Whatever. Make sure it’s regular and I like my coffee with heavy cream and sugar.”
“I’m not your maid!”
As she slammed the door, I spoke under my breath. If you’re not going to tell me what you’re hiding from me then what use besides being my maid are you?
I grabbed the first journal and sat on the steps. My mind traveled back to when I first touched Amie. We stood outside my house. Amie wore her tan school uniform and stockings that covered every bit of skin. I hated those outfits. Whenever I thought about Amie my eyes burned; was that normal?
“Here’s your coffee.” Ally sat on the steps next to me. She handed me a mug. It was warm and smelled fresh. I shook the thoughts of Amie from my mind. The past was like a whirlwind and Ally knew just what to do to make things suck less; coffee, my second addiction, Lisa being the first.
“Why do you have tears in your eyes? Were you reminiscing?” A smile spread across her face. “You’re such a sap.”
“Don’t you miss Amie?” My eyes set, burning their way into Ally’s soul. She hated when I did this. Rarely did I try to get information from her but, today, I needed to know her thoughts. My hand wrapped around her wrist. A slight tremor of pain shot up my arm. She hated Amie.
“You don’t understand! She was horrible and played dreadful mind games with me and black mailed me!”
“What could she possibly hold over you?”
Ally wouldn’t face me. She stood with her back to me leaning over the porch railing.
“What do you have to hide from me? I thought you and I didn’t withhold anything?”
“Like I said before, you have secrets that you keep from me, and besides, you let Millie have her own secret and so, I shall keep mine.”
“What sort of person are you?” I slammed my hand across a box. “You didn’t even want me to change Amie, did you? Now that I’m remembering, you always hated her. What did you do to her?”
“Calm down, Alex, you’ll start another storm.” She spoke softly. “I did what I had to do, to protect you. I won’t apologize for caring. I won’t feel bad for doing the right thing. If you really loved Amie, then maybe you should’ve let her leave with her father when she had the chance.”
“She didn’t want to go away with her father. She wanted to run away with me and be my wife.”
Ally folded her arms across her chest. “If she wanted to marry you so badly then why didn’t she once you changed her?”
“We had forever to get married.” I was at a loss for words. My heart ached. Why didn’t Amie marry me? It wasn’t because I never asked. “Let’s get to work reading these journals.” I wanted Ally to shut up and stop putting doubts inside my mind. “If you’re not going to help me read these then go back to C I N where you belong.”
“Unfortunately, where I belong is with you.” She patted my shoulder sending violent sparks down my spine. “Come on, brother, and hand me a journal. I’ll read them aloud to us.”
I couldn’t concentrate on the words she spoke. My thoughts brought me back to the day Amie’s father came to take her away.
She begged me to change her.
I did it.
And, with that decision, came a nightmare of consequences.
“Alex! Pay attention!”
It was weird to see Ally with bleach-blonde hair after the hu
ndreds of years that I’d known her with red locks. I’d barely changed, but poor Ally faded decade as if she were on borrowed time. Was she? The thought worried me more than I wished to admit.
“Ally,” I sighed. “Why didn’t you want me to change Amie? Why, the day Dr. John came, were you on the grass sobbing your eyes out?”
She wouldn’t look at me.
“Don’t make me touch you again. If you don’t start answering me then I’ll find your deep, dark, secret and use it against you.” I leaned forward and she jerked back.
“You promised to never use that trick on me. Once is enough don’t you think?” She slapped the journal shut. “I’ll run away if you dare try it again.”
“What’d you do that for? I thought you were going to read them to me? Where do you plan on running away to? I know all the boundaries. There aren’t any good hiding places left.”
“You’re not listening to anything, so what’s the point?”
“Okay, sorry. I’ll listen. Sit down and stop sulking. I won’t try to touch you, okay?”
She pouted and I smiled as she accepted my apology. It was easy to read her, more so than Lisa. Maybe the years we’d spent together made this unity between us possible.
“We had a visitor,” Ally whispered. “That’s why I didn’t want you to change Amie, that and my own personal reasons.”
I nodded. How could I forget that? Dr. John, the destroyer, came that day, to kill my poor Amie. “What personal reasons?”
“I plead the fifth.”
I rolled my eyes. “I need you to be honest with me. This is to save Lisa from the same fate as Amie. Can you please stop holding back? What do you think I’m going to do to you? No matter what you say I’m still going to be stuck with you, aren’t I? We’re linked together till death do us part, remember?” …Without any perks.
“Nice, Alex, really nice.” She crossed her legs. Her eyes blinked repeatedly. “Amie wasn’t always nice, but then again, who is sunshine and rainbows all the time, right?”
“What aren’t you telling me about her?”
“Think back to the day you changed her. I bet it will sink in more clearly. Can I go back to C I N now?”
“No, I need you to stay with me.”
“Get someone else to sit with you. I know! I’ll fetch Donna. She’s very entertaining.”
“Don’t threaten me. Donna’s the last person I want hanging around here.”
“Why don’t you want me here?” Donna stood in the dirt. She came towards us quickly. “What’s wrong with me? So sometimes I talk a lot but who wants to be stuck with someone who never speaks? How boring is that, right? What are you guys doing with all these school notebooks? They look like they’re ready to fall apart. How long have you had these? Who wrote them?”
Donna continued to babble. Ally groaned stomping inside. Donna followed. I lay on the porch holding my head in my hands. The stars littered the sky and I thought back to the day I struck Amie, back to a time that seemed like only yesterday.
ALEX—
I could hear Donna and Ally arguing in the kitchen. My ears buzzed and I had a headache from the constant flashbacks. When was the last time I’d actually had a headache?
Was I changing even more than I wanted to admit? I pushed the thoughts away and went inside. Ally stood over the sink and Donna sat at the dining room table with her feet propped up. Rat waited for his dinner impatiently. He flicked his tail and cried.
“You spoil that stupid cat. Does he even know what a demeaning name you’ve given him?” Donna grumbled. “Can I have another cup of coffee? It’s a good thing my teeth don’t stain anymore. It’s great. What do you like about yourself, Ally?”
“I like being alone.” Ally dumped scrambled eggs into a dish on the table.
“Why would you let that flea bag eat where you eat?” Donna cringed. “That’s disgusting. What if you catch—ha, okay so you can’t catch anything from the cat, but it’s just plain dirty.”
“Rat is family.” He can eat anywhere he likes. You, on the other hand, can take your drink out onto the porch. I don’t like guests in my home.”
“How many times are you going to kick me out before you realize I’m not listening to you or your controlling tactics? You think being melodramatic is going to get you your way with me? Pu-lease! I’ve put up with you waaay too long.”
“I guess killing myself is out of the question.”
“You should be happy that you’ve got me here as a friend. Nobody at C I N except for me and Lisa want to be friends with you. Your tricks and sneaky ways scare everyone else. Do you know what they call you behind your back?”
“A Nazi, right? Can you go back to school? If you don’t, I’ll be forced to tell you what everyone calls you behind your back.”
“They call me a traitor, but I’m not. I don’t even know what they’re talking about. I’m friendly and fun to be around. I’m never shy or at a loss for words.”
Ally snorted. “You can say that again.” She sat on a loveseat and Rat snuggled next to her. “Rat is reminding me of your evil, past ways.”
“I’m not evil. Why does everyone think I’m bad? What did I do to you, anyway?”
“You stole my boyfriend for one.”
“I never stole your boyfriend.”
“Then you tried to blame me for Pig nearly killing you.”
“That’s absurd!” Tears threatened to spill down her cheeks. She didn’t remember any of this. To Donna, everything Ally said was a hurtful ploy to cause her pain. “Why would you say such cruel things?”
“It’s the truth. Come touch Rat and see for yourself.” Ally’s lips curved into a wicked smile.
“That’s enough.” I stood between the girls. Donna’s arm stretched past me. Rat hissed and ran down the hallway and into Amie’s old room, the room Lisa thought belonged to my parents. What would she say if ever she found out about Amie? Would Lisa hate me for never letting anyone else live in that room? Would she accuse me of being hung up on a girl from my past? Was I still in love with her? Did her memory haunt me?
“Alex always ruins my fun.” Ally pretended to cry. “One day you won’t be around to stop me from showing Donna her treason.”
“I am not bad! Why can’t you be nice for once?” Ally and I floated a foot above the ground. “Look what you made me do. I don’t know how to get you down. Why can’t you just be nice to me?”
“Breathe,” I said. “If you calm down, then we’ll gain our gravitational pull once again.” My feet landed with a thump. “See, you’re getting the hang of it.”
“You’re much nicer to me now that I’m like you,” Donna told me. I frowned. Maybe it was because I knew the outcome. Her life would be a tragedy worse than Amie’s. Donna already had two strikes against her. I didn’t know what to do to save her. Lisa had been struck by both Ally and me. To my knowledge, it’d never happened before. What did Donna need to survive? Did she need two links? Were the lightning sources in Lisa going to consume her? Would I be forced to ask for Dr. John’s help? If he came, Donna would not live I’m certain of it. He wanted to banish her ten years ago on his last visit. He didn’t want Frank or Donna to live. I had to fight for them. Frank turned out to be a rapist. Was Dr. John also right about Donna? Did it matter? Was her life doomed?
“Why do I feel like I’m fading?” Ally asked. Her skin was pale in comparison to Donna’s. Ally pointed at me. “You look like you had a fight with a bottle of baby powder.” I looked at my arms. They were white as chalk dust. “What’s happening to us, Alex?”
Donna’s skin glowed dim yellow. “Something’s happening to me, too. What did you put in that coffee? I’m burning up inside.”
“This isn’t because of my coffee. Sometimes your ignorance is blissful but tonight it’s just annoying, Donna Denning.”
“There you go again calling me by my full name. Didn’t anyone ever tell you how annoying that is?”
“Yes, actually, Lisa told me it bothered her, so I stoppe
d doing it.”
“So why don’t you stop calling me by my full name, then?”
“Because, Donna Denning, I would rather annoy you than accommodate your every little pathetic whim.”
“You’re the worst best friend anyone could ever ask for.”
“Whoever said I was your best friend?”
“Ally!”
“Here we go again.” I groaned. Our bodies floated around the living room. Rat hissed. His legs spread wide as he struggled to run. He used his tail as a rudder turning to the left and disappearing into the kitchen. Rat growled knocking into floating pots.
“Ally.” I rolled my eyes. “Rat needs your help.”
“He’ll scratch up my arms. You go get him. He’s your cat.”
Donna grinned. “I thought he was family?”
“Don’t get all technical on us. If you want to be a part of our little group then go pass initiation.”
Donna perked instantly. “Initiation? What do I need to do?”
“Save Rat.”
“Oh, really funny, Ally!” Donna’s skin brightened and we rose higher. Our heads banged into the ceiling. “You think I’m not a part of your clan but I have news for you. We’re linked Ally—you and me. Lisa stuck us together whether you like it or not.”
“No, you’re stuck with Lisa, not me. I could never be linked to someone like you. I linked with Lisa.”
“I don’t feel my link with Lisa, only to you.” She smiled coyly. “You’re stuck with me.”
Something Donna said suddenly made sense. She was linked to Ally. The real question wasn’t whether they were linked, but how this was possible. A sudden rush of fear enveloped me. Why did Ally and I lose strength when Lisa used her abilities? There was something I missed all those years ago. I needed to read Amie’s journals—and fast.
“Look out!”
We crashed into the ground and everything faded to black.
ALEX—
The C I N Series Bundled Page 21