Tuesday, 31 January 2017

A 14-Year Old

In the car I whispered to Hannah, “I met Emily on the way to the ground floor.”
“Congrats, kid,” she whispered back.
“No, just shut up and listen. I told you about how I thought that Brydon was weird. Well, he is the guy Dad is switching places with.”
“What does that have to do with him being weird?”
“Nothing. But still, you know.”
Hannah finally gave up and whisper-shouted, “You’re not making any sense. That Brydon person is a normal human being and you should stop your detective agency right now. And I don’t care what you do but I don’t want any of this non-sense again!” Saying this she turned her back at me. I didn’t give up, I tried to talk to her and in this little fight I pushed her. Suddenly there was a jerk. I guess Dad must’ve noticed us. He looked back to set things right but was too late. The car door had already unlocked, it had already opened, Hannah had already fallen out, she was already lying there because a motorbike had already trampled over her hand and it was already bleeding like crazy. All because of me. Because I am nothing but a stupid and empty-headed ass.  All because I don’t think before I do something.
I put my hands on my mouth but quickly recovered and jumped out of the car to help her up. I think Dad was too busy trying to get her back in the car that he forgot to scowl or glare or even scold me. I very gently held Hannah’s wounded hand and helped her in the car. Dad made a U-turn and sped towards the hospital. When I looked back from the window I could see that people were crowded. Some were going back to their work but some were still standing there, either staring at our car or talking to each other. The whole ride I felt guilty every time I looked at Hannah. Dad was silent all the way. Well, only to me. He kept asking Hannah if it hurt much, if she wanted him to slow down the car, how it happened and if she would please wash the wound with some water. Hannah just kept nodding and in the end got courage enough to stick her wounded hand slightly out of the window and wash it with some drinking water. All washed we realized how small the cut was. Not actually small but small enough that it could be bandaged easily and could be healed. The cut stretched from her middle finger to her wrist. When we arrived at the hospital Dad rushed us to the emergency room. When we were inside, the doctors told Dad that Hannah should just rest for an hour or two in the hospital before going home. “It won’t be too healthy for her to travel right now,” one of the nurses had said. They also said that even though the scar looked small, it was pretty big as Hannah was young. She had lost some blood and they had to keep her in the office so they could keep an eye on her and give her the right food. When I inquired about the last part the doctor took off his spectacles and said, “Kids, you never know about them. Drinking or smoking or things like that. Not exactly pointing at your sister but in general.”

Since the emergency room was very crowded the peon told us that only one person should stay with the patient, the others should wait outside. So naturally, I ended up sitting alone in the waiting room. The only good thing that came out of it was that the waiting room was slightly warmer, which didn’t even begin to cover it up. I crashed down on a sofa nearby, took off my shoes and curled up on the sofa with my head buried underneath a pillow. I didn’t care whether I was at home or in a hospital, all I wanted to do was hide my tears.
In the same position I got a really good CRY!!
Suddenly, I felt it had become darker. I raised my head and saw Dad.
“What were the two of you thinking?” Boy, he sure looked mad!
“Nothin’ Dad, we were just playing around and somehow the stupid door unlocked.”
“Playing around in a moving car? You’re 14 for God’s sake! How could you do such a childish thing?”
“No Dad, it was nothing. Believe me, no harm done.”
“No harm done? NO HARM DONE? Look at what you’ve done. THAT is harm, kid.” Okay, so Dad was totally putting up a show. A woman and two men were already staring at us. Dad yanked me up and asked the doctors to excuse us. Then he drove me home and made me stay there.
Wow!
I have never seen Dad that angry. Never in my 14 years. At home I got some relief as Dad was still at the hospital, Mom wouldn’t talk to me. At least they left me alone. Rose and Jess listened to my story then went downstairs. They weren’t too happy with me either. I mean, yeah they shouldn’t be happy with me but why don’t they talk to me? Well, I wouldn’t talk to myself either.

Since I was really stressed and needed a break from myself I just updated Scott on the news. I was about to text Crystal too, but she replied me with a “Sorry. I’m at a funeral of my Dad’s friend’s father. Can’t talk right now. Will talk later. L” So I ended up talking to Scott for like half an hour. He said he was really sorry about Hannah and also gave me a lecture. He scolded me that I should at least have saved the push for later and did it at home. I told him about my Dad’s job and Brydon but very conveniently left out the part about my ‘weird’ feeling. I wanted to be sure before I broke it to someone else. Soon we had to put down our phones. Mom called me downstairs for dinner but the mood was gloomy. I didn’t enjoy dinner much, which is big because I like to enjoy my dinner. Rose and Jess were quite of course. The doctors had sent Dad back, I didn’t even hear him come. We ate in complete silence. The empty chair right in front of me kept reminding me of Hannah. The whole time Dad was frowning and shooting me dirty looks, at least Mom was not the same.

Friday, 27 January 2017

A 14-Year Old

We ran till the end of the frozen food aisle. When we looked back, it looked like we had lost him. I turned to Hannah for an explanation. “Who was that, Hannah?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why did you make us run?”
“He looked dangerous. Sort of.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I am. Very sure.”
“You don’t look sure.”
“Well I don’t, but I am.”
“You can tell us if anything happened or if you know that guy.”
“God! Jean! I don’t know anything. I just ran and I just ran. Okay?”
“Okay!” I shrugged. She turned and started going back and motioned us to come too. I flung an arm around Crystal and the three of us went with her. The day didn’t go like we thought it would, with the misunderstanding in between. We actually had some fun. We had a few fun stories to share with Jess and Rose.
At night I had called Scott and we were discussing about the guy we had seen. We figured that definitely Hannah was lying to us. I made a mental note to squeeze it out of her someday.
End of Chapter 3.
Chapter 4: R&K Communications.
“You can’t be switching jobs! This is not fair!” I exclaimed.
“What? Everything is fair, Jean. Why does it matter to you so much?” my Dad answered with a weird expression on his face.
We had been arguing with Dad for a few hours. What had happened was that Dad had switched jobs. But since my siblings and I loved his previous office too much. We even had a few friends there like Sir Robin. Also Emily the assistant. Right now we were in Dad’s office and had reluctantly agreed to help him clear his stuff and throw the junk in an empty carton. It was just me and Hannah. It was very boring until someone knocked on the door. “It’s open,” Dad called out. A man entered and when he saw Dad he put on a smile. His eyes were wrinkled when he smiled. He wore a cardigan and pants and looked like he was in his 30s. He was looking uncomfortably familiar too.
“Oh, Sir I was wondering when I would see you,” he spoke with a surprisingly soft voice.
“Yes. Brydon… was it?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Oh I’m glad you showed up. I was having trouble understanding this,” Dad motioned to a pile of papers then he looked at us and nodded. “Excuse us kids.” The strange man nodded at us to and left us alone in the office. I slouched into my father’s chair and sighed. Hannah smiled at me and pouted. “C’mon Jean. It’s not much of a big deal.”
“That guy sure was strange.”
“Who? Brydon?”
“Yup.”
“No, no. Not to me. He was pretty okay.” I wasn’t too convinced. I told Hannah that I was bored and wanted to get something from the vending machine. I asked for a few dollars. She rolled her eyes and gave me $3 from her pocket.
“Tell Dad I am near the ground floor machine,” I called out while leaving. As I made my way towards the lift my hands touched something in my pocket. I pulled the ‘something’ out. It was a key. Not on a ring but just a single key. I tried to remember what lock it unlocked. I was still staring at it when a voice said, “Jean?” I jumped and flipped, it was Emily. She smiled a little and said, “Did I scare you?” I shook my head.
“Why are you standing here alone?”
“I was just on my way to the vending machine,” I explained.
“You should have brought Hannah with you. If someone saw you alone you’d get fried up. C’mon I’ll escort you.” She motioned to the lift. When we stepped in there was a woman in it. She smiled at Emily and Emily nodded back. She got off on the 13th floor. When we were alone I asked Emily if she knew about Brydon. She nodded and replied, “Yes, I do. He is the guy your Dad is switching places with. He is taking your father’s place here in R&K Communications and Mr. McCollister is taking his place,” I nodded and then waited for the lift to stop. I took a coke for Hannah from the machine and a box of chocolate milk for myself and headed back. When I got back Dad was already in the office. Hannah looked at me and grinned, “You took forever. I was convinced that you had finally dropped dead.”
“That is so lame and five minutes is not forever.”