Chapter 1
"Can you switch me seats? I have to use the bathroom a lot, so it would just be easier if I sat next to the aisle." the man in the seat next to me explains, looking a little embarrassed.
"Oh um, sure" I say awkwardly, before getting up and switching seats with him. As I settle in to my new seat, I begin to think about all the events that happened in the last day or so, leading up to me being put on this plane. Heading to live with my mother, who I've never met, or at least I don’t have very many memories of meeting, and lives on the other side of the country.
I have so many conflicting emotions, first I’m angry that I have to leave everything behind, but then I’m excited because I’m meeting the woman that I thought was dead for so long. I’m sad because I’m going to miss everyone and scared about moving to such a new and different place. I’m looking forward to getting to know my mother and the family I didn’t really know was out there. I honestly just don’t know how to feel, but I promised my grandmother I would be the girl she raised me to be, and that girl would give this new life a chance. At least I think that’s what she would do, and now I’m crazy because I’m referring to my self in third person.
Yesterday
"Eve! ... Eve!" I hear someone calling my name, so I turn around to see my best-friend Kylie running towards me, shoving past some unfortunate middle schoolers. "Eve... did you.... Hear?" she says panting as she finally caught up to me.
I laugh "hear what?" now she’s bent over with her hands on her knees.
She raises a hand signaling for me to give her a minute, so I wait. Finally, she straitens up, pushing her platinum blond hair out of her face, "coach released the roster for the kids who made the team," she pauses before breaking out into a huge grin. "You’re on it, you made the team!"
"Really?!" I ask and she nods, a huge grin on her face.
"That makes you the first freshmen to make the team, in the history of Westbrook High." she tells me, and somehow her demeanor and excitement gives off the impression that me making the team is somehow her accomplishment. It’s one of the things I love about Kylie, she’s one of the most supportive people I know.
I continue smiling for a minute before I remember we're in the middle school and Kylie's supposed to be in lunch time detention. "Kylie, aren't you supposed to be somewhere?"
She frowns "it's so boring there, besides I still don't understand why I couldn't be a teacher's assistant in the middle school, like you? Besides lunch ends in like five minutes anyways." Where she might be right on lunch almost being over, I still get the feeling Mr. Watson who was in charge of lunch time detention today, won’t be too happy about finding out she left early.
"One; if you didn't want detention maybe you shouldn't act up in class, two; you have to get good grades to be a teacher's assistant, and three, all the middle school teachers can't stand you, they threw a party when you graduated middle school remember?” I explain, and her frown deepens, “I’m pretty sure Mrs. Barns only passed you because she didn’t want to spend her summer with you.”
She scoffs, a smile on her face, “What, Mrs. Barns loved me, she only just hides the fact that I’m her favorite by pretending to hate me.” I raise my eyebrows and She sigh’s, "fine, I'll go back." She then walks a couple steps before stopping to turn around "but I can't promise that I'll behave" her signature smirk on her face before she finally turns back around and leaves, I shake my head while laughing and start heading towards Miss. Lands class.
Later that day when I get home my grandmother greats me when I come in. "Hey grandma" Her Curly Dark hair growing greyer by the day, she keeps joking about giving in and just dyeing it all grey.
She smiles, looking up at me from the carrots she was just cutting "Hey sweetheart, how was school?"
I grin "good, I made the team" I’ve lived with my grandmother since I was about five. My father just dropped me off one day, saying that my mother had died and he wasn’t able to raise me. Then he left, never to be heard from again. She doesn’t really talk about either of my parents much, just that she had never met my mother and that her and my father had had a falling out.
She puts the knife down and walks over to me "that's great honey, and before I forget, your progress report grades came in the mail today" she then pulls an envelope out of the pocket in her apron.
I take it, opening it eagerly; I glance over them, before looking up grinning "All A's" I announce, I’ve always worked hard to do my best in school.
"Seems like your day's been pretty good, dinner will be done in an hour, and I’m making a special Chocolate cake, it was going to be to celebrate your grades but now it can be to celebrate you making the team." she informs me before going back to cutting.
I nod a smile on my face before I start to go upstairs “I’ll be upstairs doing homework” just as I say this, the doorbell rings, "I'll get it" I call out, heading back down the stairs to the front door that is probably seven feet in front of the bottom of the stairs.
I open the door to find two men and a woman standing on the front porch, one of the men is dressed in a police uniform, he goes to our church and is only in his mid-twenties. The other man is dressed in a suit, and the woman is wearing a nice blouse and skirt, I’ve seen the woman a few times around West Brooke, but I don’t actually know her. Maybe she’s a mother to one of the kids at my school, I know I’ve seen her there a few times.
The police officer, Harold Green, clears his throat " Noah, is your grandmother home?" He looks extremely uncomfortable, which makes me a little nervous as to why he wants to speak to my grandmother.
I step back from the door for a second "I'll go get her" then rush to the kitchen, which isn’t really that far from the front door anyways.
Grandma looks up startled when I come in "what's wrong sweet heart?" She asks reading the emotions off my face, as she sets the knife down once again, this time wiping her hands and taking a step closer.
"There's a police officer at the door" I tell her, as I look back in the direction of the front door. Wishing that by the time my grandmother opens the door herself, they’ll all be gone.
She gives me a reassuring smile, "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, why don't you go do your homework and I'll call you back down in a bit" she pats me on the shoulder and I nod before make my way up the stairs, stopping every few steps to glance down at the front door. My grandmother had decided to shut it though, so that she could speak to them in private, without me hearing.
An hour later I finish my homework and look out the window to see the cars still there. I'm about to go down stairs when I hear my grandmother calling me down. When I get there, I notice that the two men and the woman are standing in the foyer with her "What's going on?"
I look between the four of them before settling on my grandmother. She gives me this guilty, pained look, "sweet heart we need to talk," she then turns to the people "can we have a second?"
Officer Harold nods, "we'll wait outside.” The other man in the suit looks like he’s about to disagree, but decides against it and follows Harold out.
After they leave my grandmother walks over to me, "honey, they're here because the story that your father told us is a lie, your mother has custody of you." She starts, trying her best not to panic me.
I look at her confused on how to fell, I don’t want to believe her, but knowing that it has to be the truth, "my mom's dead, why would he make that up, it doesn’t make any sense." I just want answers.
She gives me a sad look "sweetheart,” she starts then pauses before starting again. “Your father made it all up, apparently your parents got a divorce and when your mother got custody, your father took you and then panicked and brought you here to me. He kidnapped you," she states.
I shake my head, "That still doesn’t make any sense though, why would he take me here because wouldn't this be one of the first places they'd look? I mean if no one really knew where I was all these years, were they really trying that hard to find me then?" I ask her, still not getting any actual answers.
She lets out a sigh, "that's the thing, your father," she pauses for a moment. "I wasn't going to tell you this until you were older but he's mentally ill, and doesn't like to take his medication. Apparently, he wanted to get back at your mother for leaving him. They didn't know to check here because he told your mother I died when he was young, and he had been lying about who he was, using false paper work, so it didn’t show up on any of his records, it took them this long just to figure out his actually identity."
I put my head in my hands trying to take everything in. I sit there for a moment, not saying anything "So my mother is alive, right?" I look up at her.
She nods, and I can tell from her face that she’s about to say something that is hard for her. "Yes, and you’re going to be living with her from now on."
"No!" I stand up quickly, startling her "I can't leave you; I've lived here my whole life." This can't be happening, I was having a great day, everything was perfect, and now I’m being told that I have to leave my entire life behind.
She frowns a bit, and I know she wishes more than anything that I could stay "Sweetheart, I know it's a lot to take in, but you're going to be okay" she try's to soothe me, but I don’t think she fully understands how I’m feeling right now.
"It's time," the officer say's stepping back into the house "if we're to get everything ready we'll need to be taking her now."
I look at my grandmother, "what does he mean?" I then look back at the officer to see the look on his face, he feels bad, but he has to do his job.
I finally look at my grandmother again as she begins to speak, She looks so guilty while she struggles to tell me, "because my involvement is questionable, they're taking you from me tonight."
Tears start falling from my eyes, "no, they can't do this" I say quietly.
She wraps her arms around me, "Eve I know it's hard, but you’re leaving on a flight tomorrow, so they need you to pack a bag." She explains, holding back tears of her own.
"But I don't want to leave, this is my home" I cry, sounding like a four-year-old while holding on to her as if the idea that if I don’t let go, then they can’t make me leave.
Harold looks at my grandmother, "sweet heart, please, I know this is hard, but it's what the law says, show them the good girl that I raised.” She lifts my face up, so that I’m looking her in the eyes.
I just nod, wiping the tears away and turn making my way up the stairs, how can they expect me to pack my whole life up and just leave at a moment’s notice. Thirty minutes later I'm walking down stairs with a duffle bag containing some of my clothes as well as my back pack holding my chargers, laptop, pictures and other little things I found important, including my stuffed bear "Sir Henry" that I've had for as long as I can remember.
The police officer looks at me with a sympathetic look and I notice that the two other people are waiting outside. "Ready to go?" He says kindly, I just look down at my feet, wishing this was just a nightmare that I would wake up from soon.
Grandma hugs me before we step outside and she follows me out to the side walk "I love you so much." She says as she takes my face into her hands, so that I’m looking her in the eyes, she does that a lot, I’m going to miss it.
I don't say anything, afraid I might break down if I do. The woman walks up to me, "Hi, I’m Sarah Elmore, a social worker, you’re going to be riding with me, we’re going to ask you some questions and then I’ll take you to a place to stay at tonight until your flight tomorrow" she informs me. Instead of acknowledging her, I look up at my neighborhood, just now noticing all of my neighbors outside watching, whispering to each other, wondering what’s going on, and I think, I’m going to have to get used to that.
Then I hear Harold speak “Ma’am, I’m really sorry that I have to bring you into the station” I turn around quickly to see my grandmother getting into the back of the police car.
“It’s alright Harold, I understand that its your job.” Then he shuts the door and I move to go toward her but Sarah stops me.
Her hand on my shoulder, she begins to lead me to her car “she’ll be fine, as long as her story checks out.” She opens the back door for me, and I get in reluctantly. After she shuts it, I just stare out the window, wondering how everything in my life just changed within an hour.
……………………
The other man turned out to be my mother’s privet investigator, and he had informed me that he would be staying in West Brooke during the investigation into my grandmother and her involvement, and since he would be staying, then he would over see that the rest of my stuff got shipped. He had also arranged for me to leave on an air plane the next morning. Sarah had informed me though, that he didn’t think that I was with my grandmother, and he had advised my mother not to come out here while they looked into it. When they had confirmed that it was in fact me, by using a few of my medical records on file, that morning. He was afraid that my mother would fire him, for advising that she stay. Which is why he payed for the plane ticket himself.
I’m pretty sure Sarah’s not allowed to tell me any of that information, but she was just wanting to talk to someone about it, and legally she isn’t allowed to share the information with anyone else, so I guess I was her loophole.
So here I am now, sitting in the middle seat of an airplane, waiting for the pilot to give us the go ahead to get off the plane, and wondering how I went from being a normal kid yesterday to being the girl who was “kidnapped”. Once they finally allow us to leave, I collect my things and head to the baggage claim. After finding my bag, I turn my phone on to see twenty texts from Kylie and five missed calls. I roll my eyes, forgetting about the situation for a moment, when she calls me again. "Hello, Everlie, where the hell are you it's like sixth period! Are you sick or something, I’ll never forgive you if you’re dying and you forgot to tell me?”
"Relax, I'm at the airport, and shouldn't you be in class." I tell her as if we were having our normal everyday conversation. A small pain in my chest at the realization that things won’t ever be normal again, and I’ll no longer be going to school with Kylie.
"The airport!" She screeches and I have to pull the phone away from my ear for a moment "why are you at the airport?!" The flight attendant next to me glances at me strangely for a second, she was asked by my mothers P.I. to escort me to my mother once I got off the plane, and by asked, I mean heavily bribed.
I sigh, thinking back to the last twenty-four hours "it's a long story" I begin walking to the pickup area with my backpack and duffel bag.
"Well, I have time, so you better start talking" she says in a stern voice, reminding me of her mother getting onto her for whatever trouble she managed to get herself into.
"You’re in the middle of class" I remind her as I look around for a woman that I have vague memories of ever seeing in person. I've only ever seen one picture of my mother and it was from right when I was like four or something, and it was supper blurry, so it’s not much help anyways.
I hear the sound of her scoffing, "and when has that ever stopped me, now hurry up and tell me what's going on before Mr. Cross realizes I’m not using the bathroom" I laugh when she says this.
"Okay," then frown thinking about how to explain, it all just feels like a mess, "it turns out my mom's not dead and my dad kidnapped me." Now the flight attendant is staring at me with slight interest, trying to mask that fact that she wants to hear the rest of this story.
"What!" I hear her scream through the phone, and once again have to pull it away from my ear, I swear she’s going to cause me to go deaf one of these days.
"It gets worse, they think my grandmother may have had something to do with it and now I have to go live with my mom because she has custody." I tell her the rest of it, growing more upset about the whole situation, as I speak it out loud, I understand that my mother has custody, but still a part of me had hoped maybe it would be like an extraordinary circumstances thing and they might feel that it wouldn’t be in my best interest to up root my entire life.
She's quite for a moment before she speaks again, soundings sad and a little lost "where does your mother live?" I bite my lip, not wanting to say the words out loud.
I don't know if I really want to tell her, because when I do, it’ll become real for her too, but I have to answer her, "on the east coast." I say it slowly and regretfully.
"But, that's the other side of the country, how are we going to see each other?!" She exclaims and we're both quit for a moment as the reality of the situation sinks in even more and everything feels a whole lot worse than it did before.
"I don't know" I answer honestly, wanting to cry again, I've known Kylie my entire life practically, there isn't a day that went by that we didn't spend together, even the ones where she was grounded or one of us was sick. She’s my best friend, but we’re as close as sisters.
Her tone changes to sound happy, but I know she's faking it, I know her better than anyone else. "Don't worry, I'll figure something out, even if I have to hijack a plane or something."
I laugh, which I'm sure was her goal, "please don't, I don't want to see you on the news, getting arrested as a suspected terrorist." The flight attendant glances at me again, this time a concerned look on her face which makes me laugh more.
"Do you have no faith in me, I'm a very, oh shit, got to go Mr. Cross just found me" she says as I hear Mr. Cross's voice demanding she head to the principal's office.
"Okay bye" and just like that the other end is silent and I'm standing in an airport wondering what to do next.
“So that detective guy is really bad at his job, because neither one of us knows what your mother looks like and what’s to prevent me from handing you over to a complete stranger pretending to be your mother.” The Flight attendant says, a look of “I’m so going to get fired for this, later” on her face.
I sigh, “yeah, considering he didn’t find me for like Nine years, and I was with a relative, I would definitely say he’s really bad at his job.”
