Fallen pt 3-5

It had been a whole week since I had seen or heard from J.C. That was not like him at all, but neither was smoking pot. If he won’t come to me, I will just have to go to him. I thought as I pulled my red wind breaker around my shoulders and walked out the door.1

The air was crisp and cool and the leaves crunched under my feet as I walked across our lawn and got into my 1994 Honda. I felt dread rise up in my stomach at the thought of going to Sam’s house but if I wanted to see J.C., that’s where I would have to go. No matter how much I didn’t like Sam, I wasn’t going to let that creep ruin my relationship with my brother.2

The drive to Sam’s only took 10 minutes, but I sat in the driveway, waiting; for what I don’t know; for nearly 5 minutes. I decided I had to get out when I saw someone look out the window. It was Sam, and he had the door open before I even had the chance to knock.3

“Hey Mac!” He said, instantly pissing me off. I hated it when J.C. called me Mac, but when someone I didn’t like called me that, it was even worse.4

He seemed overly eager to see me and stood there at the door smiling down at me. 5

“Is J.C. here?” I asked as nicely as I could.6

“Nope.” He replied, glancing down at my chest. “He should be back any time now so why don’t you just come on in and wait on him in here.”7

Figuring since I had already come this far I should at least wait on him. He couldn’t be gone much longer. I thought.8

Same held the door open and I walked into a disaster area. I didn’t know it was this bad. I thought, remembering the last time I had come, ages ago. I had only been there breifly while waiting on J.C., like now. Only then he didn’t live here.9

I sat down on the old, torn sofa. Sam flopped down beside me a little too close for my comfort. I tried to slide over to distance myself from him, but the big bulky cushions only made me sink into the couch more.10

“J.C. just went to pick up a few things.” He said. His hand lay on the couch, between us, barely touching my thigh. I watched in shock and horror as his hand slowly moved over to my knee and started rubbing it. Creep. “Disgusting creep!” I wanted to yell at him.11

“I really should be going.” I said trying to stand up. Sam stood up and blocked my way, holding my arm tightly.12

He leaned down to where his mouth was just inches from my ear. “How about you and me having a little fun?” He asked. 13

“I don’t think so!” I said. Attempting to scare him as I jerked my arm; but he was too strong. Finally, he let go of my arm as the door burst in and J.C. walked in to my rescue. He motioned for Sam and Sam, red-faced, followed J.C. into a bedroom and closed the door, leaving me alone.14

“I drove all the way over here, put up with that horrible creep and J.C. didn’t even acknowledge me!” I thought angrily. “He didn’t even say hey!” I thought as I stormed toward the door. I was about to open the door and leave, never to come back when I heard them arguing. 15

Hoping that maybe J.C. had saw Sam hurting me, got pissed and wanted to have a talk with him about how he was treating me. I walked over to the door and pressed my ear against it.16

“Just forget it!” I heard J.C. yell.17

“Look, there’s other people and other things to do. Don’t get so pissed man. There will be more times. You will be able to find something else.” Sam reasoned.18

“Easy for you to say! How am I supposed to make it to class?” J.C. screamed at Sam. I knew then that they weren’t fighting over me.19

“It’s not like you have been going!” Sam yelled back. “You haven’t been to class since you moved in.”20

I jumped back as the door suddenly burst open and J.C. stormed out, nearly knocking me down. Sam walked out slowly behind him, stopping to stand beside me.21

“What’s his problem?” I asked.22

He took a long drag from his cigarette and let the ashes fall to the floor.23

“I think you should ask J.C. that.”24

***25

As I drove away from Sam’s house, I couldn’t stop the stream of tears that fell from my eyes. The facts that J.C. had not even noticed me, the way Sam had treated me and the awful lonesome feeling in the pit of my stomach, all seemed like very reasonable answers to having a good cry. 26

I glanced at my red, wet face in the rearview mirror as I waited for the traffic light to turn green. My mascara had run and my hair was a mess. I rummaged in my console for a pair or sunglasses and put them on just as the light finally turned green. I pressed my foot to the pedal and sped away.27

I pulled up the driveway to our middle-class, two-story home and tried to figure out a reason why J.C. had treated me such a way. Actually he had not treated me a way at all, he didn’t even notice me. I saw the kitchen light on and readied myself for mom’s questioning.28

“MacKenzie! Is that you?” I heard mom yell from the kitchen as I tried to quietly open the front door and failed. I heard an explosion of pots and pans come from the kitchen and mom’s usual swear. I walked in and sat down at my favorite seat at the table and watched as she re-stacked pots and pans into the sink. She swiped a hand across her forehead and gave me a look-down.29

“Have you been crying?” she asked as her eyes settled on mine and she took a seat across from me.30

“No.” I lied. “I just had something in my eye.”31

“Both eyes?” She questioned as she raised her brow. She did not know that I had been to see J.C. and I planned on keeping it that way.32

“Allergies I guess.” I mumbled. 33

“Yea. Just teenager stuff, right? Look you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” She smiled her I-have-been-there-before smile which I thought was ironic because she had never been in my position before. She was obviously thinking that I was having a boyfriend problem which was also odd since I didn’t have a boyfriend, but I was not about to tell her the truth. I let her think I was having “teenager problems” and dismissed myself from the table.34

“MacKenzie! I need to talk to you about something!” She yelled as I started to leave.35

I came in and sat back down where I had been sitting before. “You have a minute?” she asked waiting for my reply. When I didn’t reply and remained at the table, she finished.36

“Your aunt Ruth called.” She said, talking about her sister who lived in California. “She and Tom are having marriage problems and she needs me to come stay with her in L.A. Your father wants to go to visit some old college buddies so we’re leaving to go this weekend. We leave tomorrow.”37

I stared at her blankly. “Why couldn’t you tell me sooner?” I asked hearing the panic in my voice. I didn’t want them to leave me here, alone.38

“I just found out last night, honey.” She replied as she tucked a strand of sandy blonde hair behind her ear. “Your dad got last minute airline tickets this morning. Besides, we could use a little getaway, even if it is for only one weekend.”39

I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t say anything. I just sat there and stared at the table cloth with it’s sickeningly sweet bright red and yellow flowers all over it. Mom had always put that cloth on the table during winter to liven up the kitchen and give it a warmer appeal. I got up and started upstairs.40

“You will be okay here, won’t you? If you won’t we could always get another ticket.” She called after me. I knew that there would be no way for them to get another ticket for me on such short notice, so I told her I would be fine.41

“Have fun and send aunt Ruth my regards.” I called down the stairs as I slammed my door. I had gotten into the habit of slamming my door and each time I did it I tried to out do the last slam. I succeeded and paused, expecting mom to yell up to me that it was impolite to slam doors. When she didn’t, I turned my radio up loud, and flopped down on my bed.42

I awoke with a start the nect morning and knew right away that something was worng. Mom and dad had left hours earlier to go to the airport and after locking the front door downstairs, I had crawled back into bed, planning on skipping school. One day from school would not hurt anything I decided.43

I heard a loud sound from downstairs and wondered if mom and dad had come back for some reason. I pulled my bathrobe on and slid my feet into my light pink slippers. I slowly opened my door and tiptoed down the stairs.44

At the bottom of the stairs I could hear two male voices, one sounding very familiar. I peaked around the wall and saw a black-haired guy standing in our kitchen, his back to me. “Bugulars!” A small panicky voice screamed inside my head.45

I tiptoed through the dining area where I could see better, and hid behind mom’s china cabinet. The black-haired guy mumbled something and I saw J.C. walk out into the kitchen from dad’s study. He said something I couldn’t hear and they all laughed.46

My mind started working in over time. Questions with no answers started filling up my head.47

“Why was J.C. here and why had he been in dad’s study? Who were those other two guys and what were they all doing?”48

I held my breath and watched as J.C. started to go back into the study and realized the other guy I hadn’t been able to see was Sam. That’s the voice I heard that I knew was familiar, I thought angrily. The other guy with the black hair I had never seen before. I watched as he stood fumbling with a bag; I couldn’t tell what kind; and was looking around the kitchen with a greedy look on his face. He noticed the china cabinet I was hidden behind and walked over to it. He unlatched the door and started taking mom’s precious china plates out and putting them carefully into his bag.49

“Did J.C. bring this guy here to steal our stuff?” I thought. My head was beginning to spin and I was getting very frightened.50

He walked over to the corner as if sensing my presence and looked down at me. He laughed a weird laugh that seemed evil and I felt uncomfortable wearing only my bathrobe over my thin night-gown.51

“J.C.! Get in here. He yelled. “We have an addition.” He jerked my arm and pulled my out from behind the shelf.52

“What are you doing here?” I spat in his ugly face.53

“What are you doing here?” He mimicked and laughed his cruel laugh again. He shoved me in J.C.’s direction and I watched as the color quickly drained from his face.54

“MacKenzie.” he finally choked out. He eyes were big and he looked scared. No; terrified. He looked like an animal who had been trapped in a little corner by a hunter with a big gun. Or like a little kid whose mother had caught him doing something terribly naughty.55

I folded my arms across my chest and noticed Sam eyeing me up and down. “Damn J.C.! I thought, anger rising within me. I noticed that J.C. was clenching his fists tightly, something green wadded up in his fist, his fingers grasping it for dear life.56

“Why are you here?” I asked letting the anger show in my voice.57

“Uh, well I just, uh... I needed a few things and thought I would stop by.” He said knowing that I knew he was lying. And doing an awful job at it too.58