The next morning I awoke to the noon day sun, it was almost 12:00. “Morning sunshine,” it was Carmen.
I groaned; my neck was stiff from lying on the floor. I stood stretching, “Ugh why didn’t you guys wake me?”
“Liz is still asleep and Adam went out for breakfast, I don’t think he got any sleep” said Carmen.
“Today is Monday,” I said, suddenly realizing that we had skipped school.
“Just think of it as a sick day,” Carmen smiled.
We walked into the kitchen. I was in desperate need for some coffee. Unfortunately there wasn’t a coffee ground in sight. “Emmy, Carmen!” it was Logan. He came running into the kitchen arms open demanding to be picked up. I scooped him up and swung him round and round. Logan was three years old, Adam’s little brother. Their mother died in a shooting accident a year ago; one of those wrong place, wrong time situations. Adam had taken care of Logan ever since. He came up to my knees his dark blond hair and brown eyes peering up at me in earnest. He looked nothing like Adam, I thought to myself.
“Hey buddy, don’t you think it’s a little early to be bouncing all over the place?” I said lifting him and setting him up on the countertop.
“But Aunt Emmy it’s almost noon.” he said as Carmen commenced to wipe the sticky juice that seemed to coat the majority of his face. He smiled up at me; it was Adam’s smile, something I hadn’t seen in awhile.
“Your brother will be home in a bit. Why don’t you go and wake Aunty Liz?” We soon heard the sound of Liz groaning in annoyance. Then the sounds of Logan’s high pitched squeals of laughter as Liz tickled him into submission.
Liz came walking into the kitchen with Logan trailing behind her. “Coffee,” groaned Liz, still half asleep.
“Good morning to you too, we’re out of coff…,” I started as Liz was pouring herself a cup. “How…what?” I was baffled. I swore that just a moment ago when I myself was in search of coffee that there was none to be found.
I was left to my thoughts as Adam came strolling through the doorway arms full of donuts. “Ah, I see you vampires finally decided to join the living.”
We swarmed him like vultures who had found their prey. “I call sprinkle!” claimed Liz.
“Carmen, your arm, you’re bleeding.” It was Adam; he had grabbed a cloth and was headed her way. Carmen watched in fascination as the shiny red fluid dripped across her arm.
“I hadn’t noticed,” said Carmen.
“This is a big scratch,” he said as he applied pressure to her wound, “how did this happen?”
“Must have been the rosebushes we ran through last night,” suggested Liz. Just then the sound of someone knocking on the door filled the kitchen.
“Open up! I know you’re in there.” The voice was thick and husky. The sound of his fist banging against the door made it obvious that he was no small fry. Adam went to the door.
Standing before him was a boy. Tall, broad shouldered, his hair was dirty blond cut so that his hair just touched his ears. Eyes shining like the sea. The light from the doorway gave the impression that he was glowing. He had the face of an avenging angel for his eyes screamed of anger and his face was twisted into a grimace. Adam towered over him like he was nothing.
His dark brown hair made him look like a dark serene angel. I weaseled my way past Adam.
“What do you want?” I questioned.
His faced softened at the sight of me. “I called you; you didn’t answer so I got worried.”
I pulled the door shut behind me and walked outside. I knew the others didn’t like him and I didn’t want Derik to have to deal with that. He touched my face. His hands were cool and rough, the evidence of hard work. I knew the strength behind 74 them and yet they were surprisingly gentle; like a cuddly bear, only huge. We had been walking; I realized we had walked about half-way down the block. The air was cool and a slight breeze had begun to wake the leaves. Most of the houses in this neighborhood were old so they still had a bit of that Victorian feel. This was tainted by the sight of grass and plants that had devoured most of the yards. The so called sidewalk we walked on was either overlapped by grass or cracked. Adam’s neighborhood lay just outside the city so any money that came in was put towards factories, transportation, and so on. Another downside was the pollution that towered over the neighborhood.
For the last couple of minutes Derik had been trying to very discretely reach for my hand, failing miserably. I ignored his attempts.
“Emma.” Derik had stopped walking to turn and look at me. “I’m sorry,” he said. I looked at him. He was gorgeous. I turned and resumed walking.
“Emma!” he barked. He grabbed my arm, turning me so
that I faced him.
“We’re over Derik.” I kept my voice even. He wasn’t sorry. He was never sorry. His face contorted, revealing a surge of rage and annoyance. I turned to head back to the house.
Derik held me, his arm clamped onto me like steel. Most girls would have slapped him, but I’m not like most girls. I slung my free arm back shaping it into a fist. I swung, connected, and watched as he collapsed almost immediately onto the sidewalk.
I stepped back in surprise. My fist and arm were encased in a bronzed tinted armor.
I turned on my heel, making a mad dash to the house. I sprinted up the steps two at a time, then stopped. I didn’t want to go in yet. I leaned against the doorway out of breath, slinking to the ground. The cool concrete felt good. My head was spinning. What had just happened? Minutes felt like seconds. I sat there just watching the clouds pass overhead. I fell backwards as the door opened, my head thumping against the floor. “Hi,” I grinned looking up at Liz.
“We’re going back to Carmen’s to get our stuff, you Coming?”
“Yeah,” I answered getting to my feet. I was ready to get out of my pj’s. I met everyone outside.
“Hold up!” It was Adam. He sat on his front steps straightening the wrinkle out of Logan’s shirt. Adam bent down to Logan’s level. “Hey buddy how about we take you over to hang out with Aunt Peg? Hmm?” Peg was their neighbor. She was a nice lady who liked kids. She had known Adam when he was just a boy and although she knew his age she did not give him away. Adam was only sixteen; legally to be able to take care of Logan he had to be eighteen. For Logan to end up in foster care would break both their hearts. Logan’s face lit up immediately, “Aunt Peggy?” he questioned excitedly.
“Aunt Peggy,” Adam nodded, steering Logan towards their neighbors’ house.
We waited, leaning against Adam’s red 1990 Chevy blazer. “Ok, let’s go.” said Adam, strolling up the driveway; keys jangling in his hand. Just as we had hopped in and began pulling out of the driveway Carmen’s cell phone rings. It was her mother. We could hear the sound of her high pitched screeching, a noise that somehow passed for a voice.
“Is everything alright?” questioned Liz. Carmen sighed in that nonchalant way of hers. “It’s always something with her, you know how it is.” She trailed off. We drove past Big Bill’s BBQ, Anna’s Hair Salon, and other various department stores and restaurants until buildings slowly began to dwindle as Adam turned onto a back road. Soon we were cruising along Starlit Avenue. A moment later and Adam was easing us into the driveway.
The kitchen was a mess. Cabinets had been left open and chocolate encased the countertops. Next to the stove was a 78 severely charred pan holding what was supposed to be a batch of brownies. Liz walked to it, poking it as if she were contemplating dissection. Carmen reached for it, tossing it into the garbage, pan and all.
“I’m taking a shower” she announced, heading towards her room. Considering Carmen’s house had three bathrooms, we followed suit. Adam headed for the basement, our cave; a really pimped out cave. Out of habit he snatched up the remote, throwing himself onto the couch.
The water was warm and refreshing, exactly what I needed. I took my time in the shower allowing the water to cleanse me. When I was finished I wiped the steam free from the mirror. I stared at the reflection the little circle of mirror gave me.
I had strawberry blond curly hair that reached to my mid back. I hated my curls. They were so annoying. I wish I had straight hair like Liz. I leaned in closer to inspect my teeth, super long eyelashes and blue eyes. “Gah!” I said out loud, speaking to my reflection. Was that a zit? I groaned. Wrapping a towel around me I headed towards Carmen’s room where I had left my stuff. Upon entering I found Carmen and Liz already dressed and waiting for me. Liz sat on Carmen’s bed attempting to comb out Carmen’s unruly mess of hair, spraying herself with water droplets from her comb in the process.
Carmen’s hair was not curly like mine but was very thick. I found Liz’s bag of clothes and picked out my favorite outfit of her’s for the day. A pair of black jeans, my favorite t-shirt, and boots. Liz and I were an exact match in size. The only part of her wardrobe that didn’t always fit was her pants. Liz was a lot shorter than me so sometimes some of her pants were too short.
Carmen was busy with the hair straightener when Liz had finished combing out her hair. I didn’t feel like straightening my hair today so I decided to leave it curly. I plopped onto
Carmen’s bed waiting for them to finish their hair and makeup. When Liz was done hogging the mirror I borrowed her makeup kit. “You guys realize we have two guest rooms,” said Carmen, finishing her hair. “Yeah but that’s no fun,” answered Liz. I dabbed on some blue eye shadow to make my eyes stand out, eye liner and mascara. I never used foundation although it would have gotten rid of my freckles.
“Besides we’re already finished.” I grabbed my skate board; I had left it at Carmen’s weeks ago. Now that we were finished we headed to the basement to get Adam.
“Alright sleeping beauty, let’s go!” broadcasted Liz, plopping down onto Adam and producing a loud harrumph.
“I was awake,” he growled.
“Good let’s go,” she said hopping up.
He stretched, “Where are we going?”
“I’m going to the library,” said Carmen.
We turned to face her, “Why,” I asked. “I don’t need a reason to go to the library,” she answered.
“But you have one don’t you.” I looked at her and she looked away; there was something she wasn’t telling me. “This is about last night isn’t it? Carmen that man was psychotic, he was speaking gibberish. We do not have magic powers and we are not destined to save the world!”
“I know,” she snapped. “This is just something I need to do, ok?” sounding a bit defensive. With Carmen’s decision to go to the library we had all decided to go with her.
“What did that guy say to you?” asked Liz, totally Confused.
“Nothing Liz, he was just a crazy old man,” I answered.
We pulled into the parking lot and found that the library was closed. I stepped out of the car, “It’s Monday. The library shouldn’t be closed.” The sign on the door listed the hours. Mon-Thurs 9:00am-5:00pm Fri-Sun 12:00pm-5:00pm
Despite the listed hours, the library was closed. This was the only public library within the city limits. “Oh well, ok, ah how bout we head on back to Carmen’s and hang out?”
suggested Adam.
Around the side of the building a security guard headed to his car. His grey hair produced a horseshoe shape on his balding head. Jangling his keys, he shuffled across the parking lot and was about to enter his car when Carmen called over to him.
“Sir! Sir! Do you work here?” she ran over to him.
At the sound of her voice the man stopped and turned.
“Huh? What?” the old man huffed.
“Do you work at the library?” she asked.
“Yeah I do, is there a problem?” he questioned.
“Why is it closed and can you let us in?”
“The library is closed today.”
“We can see that, but why is it closed?” asked Adam.
“Look kids I don’t make the rules I just enforce them.
Why don’t you run along home, come back tomorrow,” answered the security guard. The guard watched us, waiting for us to leave. I had a hunch he was the only security the library had and he was eager to leave. We waited a good fifteen minutes for the old man to leave. We hid behind a few parked cars in the lot. After the purr of his engine had faded and could no longer be heard we stepped out from our hiding place.
“Why don’t we just come back tomorrow like the man said?” asked Adam.
“That is a good question Adam,” said Liz, “But since we’re already here we might as well go in.” she pulled out her lock picking kit. “A minute tops,” she informed us. She jiggled and fidgeted until there was a click. Lock picking was a very useful skill, one of the million reasons we were glad to have Liz around. Not that we made breaking and entering a habit or anything. “Let’s go,” said Liz obviously proud of herself.
“Tell me again why we just broke into a library!” hissed Adam.
“You guys did not have to come,” said Carmen.
“That does not answer my question, and of course we had to come,” argued Adam.
“Adam’s right, you would still be on the front steps if it weren’t for me,” said Liz.
“What do you expect to find?” I questioned.
“Will everyone, please just shut up,” growled Carmen, exasperated.
We decided to split up. A few minutes later I found myself browsing through rows upon rows of books. I saw a few paint cans by the wall maybe they had closed for renovations. I would stop every once in awhile when a book caught my interest. I was skimming through the fiction section when I stopped to flip through a book titled, ‘Wicked’, it was a twist off of ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ With book in hand I continued my search, what I was looking for exactly, I had no clue. Eventually I ended up between the Historic section and the Religious section. Two of which were my least favorite subjects. I was about to leave when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It gleamed and shimmered, but when I turned to look directly at it, there was nothing there. It was a large book on the 85 bottom shelf. When I turned to look for it I couldn’t see it but, when I turned my head it reappeared. I could only see it in my peripheral vision. I bent low to the ground; it was a large old leather bound manuscript. Although when I looked straight at it I could not see it; I reached for where I knew it was. My hand began to tingle and I felt the book in my hand. It shimmered and finally materialized. It looked as if it hadn’t been touched in years. The pages were thick with age.
“Carmen, Adam, Liz, quick come here I found something.” It wasn’t long before they all found me; crowding around my ancient find. I blew the dust off the cover. It was titled, ‘Chosen.’
“There’s something strange about that book, I can feel it,” said Liz.
“Well open it,” said Adam impatiently. Slowly I pulled the pages apart with a loud thud. Quick as a flash I was blinded by an encompassing display of light. Everything felt so open like I wasn’t me, I was floating. I could not get a grasp on my surroundings, nothing felt solid. It felt as if I were falling, forever into an endless void. I could feel myself wanting to scream but nothing came out.