Chapter Six: Wonder bread

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I locked the door, and turned around, pressing my back to the door. This guy was bizarre. I could hear small squealing sounds behind the door, like a small child was doing everything in their power to not scream. What was his deal?

I slowly slumped down to the ground, still against the door, barely breathing to stay quiet. After what seemed like forty years, I heard his footsteps fade as they left my porch. I finally breathed. Sebastian was a strange guy. He seemed like he was one of those desperate people, although I never knew what he was desperate for. Wendy says he's a fun guy, but I have different thoughts.

I sat there on the floor for a second, listening, when I heard the clink of a dish being taken out of a cupboard. I slowly walked into the kitchen. "Dad!"
I ran up to him and nearly knocked him over with a hug. "Hey, little ray." he chuckled. He had always said I was his little ray of sunshine, and so my middle name was given to me as "Rae."

"What are you doing here? I thought you would be at your conference thingy." Before he could answer, I remembered how I wanted to impress him. "Your Annual Oregon Bar Association Conference, right?"

He chuckled. Not exactly the reaction I was expecting, but good enough. "Yeah, but they canceled. I got to San Francisco, but then I got a call saying I could just head home. Unbelievable, right?" I laughed. Dad always had a rough job-or at least he always had the bad end of it. I let go to look him in the face. "Well, at least your home." Dad sighed as he walked farther into the kitchen to grab a cup from a cupboard. "I'm glad I'm home. How's school? Where is everyone?"

"Mom is out shopping I think with the twins. Cole's probably in his room doing homework."
Dad filled his cup with water, and took a sip. Then he glanced at me, like he normally does when he's in the middle of doing something, but trying to say Yeah, I'm still listening.
"...Probably? You think? Do you not know where they are?"
"Well, um...I haven't been home since I left for school."

My brain relived it all. The note Wendy and I passed, the call from Sebastian, the argument with Ms. James, and then I hugged Wendy....something had happened to me. Wendy was shaking, her hands were fluorescent purple, and she shot me...she shot me. From her hands! Like lightning! And she didn't even seem to care! Then again, it was because the doctors said she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. She was never going to be the same again, and neither would I .  We would never be the same again.

"Claryn?"
I snapped out of my little trance. "Sorry," I said, looking at the floor. "It's just, um...been a long day." Dad stared for a minutes, I could feel his eyes reading my posture for answers. Finally I looked into his eyes, and tried to silently communicate and say I'm fine, really. 
But when I looked into his soft, gray eyes, I watched concern fade into fear. Even astonishment started back at me. His head tilted a bit, as he stared, and very quietly said, "Why don't you...get some rest, m'kay sweetie? Tomorrow can be better. I'll try to get a hold of mom."
With one hand, he took the side of my face and tilted it downward, so he could plant a loving and quick kiss on my forehead. Then he left. Without a hug, without looking at me, without a goodnight.

I could hear his footsteps moving up the stairs. Maybe he suddenly didn't feel well. He was tired from working and traveling anyway, so I shrugged off the strange and eerie mood he'd exposed. I grabbed a slice of wonderbread, spread on some butter, and ate it, deciding that would be my dinner. I giggled a little. wonderbread always made me think of a few things. One, a book I once read as a child, the part when one character was on the floor, moaning, and another character was feeling so annoyed at him he considered throwing a loaf of wonderbread at him. It also reminded me of my mother, and a song she loved. My mother had a wonderful taste in music, but also strange. Some singers out there that she adored were just  different in my opinion. That song played in my head, and I could hear Regina Spektor's voice singing softly.


You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first, I loved you first
Beneath the sheets of paper lies my truth
I have to go, I have to go
Your hair was long when we first met

Samson went back to bed
Not much hair left on his head
He ate a slice of wonder bread and went right back to bed
And history books forgot about us and the bible didn't mention us
And the bible didn't mention us, not even once

You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first, I loved you first
Beneath the stars came fallin' on our heads
But they're just old light, they're just old light
Your hair was long when we first met


Oh, if only I could return to the days when I was a child who took naps. The days when I listened to those silly songs with mother. When I could play with her makeup, get messy, eat without worry, and live a life I never signed up for.
But now I had my own problems to solve.

Soon I went upstairs, too. In my bathroom, I started my face wash, softly humming. My imagination took me away to a place where things were okay. Wendy was fine, Jefferson was back. Dracen was mine, and I wasn't going anywhere, moving away was not an option.

Moving...

Wendy was going to fall apart. Everything she knew and loved, going away. Her lover, her memory, and me...Was I falling apart too?
Din't my heart break when I hugged her, and she had nothing but rejection to show me? Din't I hurt from the pain she'd caused me?

Then I heard it. It sounded like wind was blowing inside my house. Gentle, but whistling. "Dad? Did you take out the garbage?" I listened, but no one responded. I heard another noise, a terrifying one. Screaming that followed crashing. I knew that scream came from him.
"Dad! DAD!"
I bolted across the floor, into my parent's room. I found my dad lying on the floor, blood trickling from his jaw. I thought I heard another whish of wind somewhere. "Oh my gosh-Dad! Daddy, what happened-"
"Stop. Don't move."
The voice behind me wasn't mother. Cole's voice was never that rough, and there was no way It was little Charlie or Chase. I froze. Someone had broken in.
Slowly, I turned around. A man stood there, surrounded by what looked like tiny storm clouds that were quickly fading into fog, then into nothing. He was tall, and very well built. His age was impossible to tell. His trench coat billowed around him slightly, and his hands remained at his sides, balled into relaxed fists. I couldn't see any color in his eyes, and his snarl told me he wasn't here to talk. He had slightly shaggy hair. It was dark, and it looked as if his hair had been very well groomed a week ago, but hadn't showered since. But there certainly wasn't a stench on him.
"Now this,  I have been waiting for."
 I didn't realize until that moment I had been holding my breath. I gasped, and swerved my leg in a large circled across the floor, attempting to trip him and catch him off guard.

I failed miserably.

The man grabbed my leg as it swung towards him and thrust his arm inward, dragging my body to him, away from dad, who was out cold. I couldn't find my voice, and couldn't even scream. Next thing I knew he was holding me, gripping my arms hard, as if I would slip and never return.
"She has risen. I will be the one,"  he said with a greedy grin. he raised an arm high up, and it began to be circled with those small storm clouds, "To rise above her!" I was going to be hurt. Filled with fear, I practically braced myself for death, when suddenly, he dropped me. His arm went down, powerless, and his face in shock. He observed me closely, like a never before seen thing. He started directly into my eyes. I felt like he was reading my deepest secrets. Not I even had many.

His snarl returned, worse than before. "Oh, you're her Cripner, aren't you?" he whispered. "Different...but perfect."He grabbed me again, whirling me around to hold my back to his chest, with one bulky hand covering my mouth. Screaming and kicking the best I could, dad's hand simply twitched a bit.

I could see dark storm clouds surrounding me and the man. The room began to spin, and I couldn't move. I shut my eyes. Feeling dizzy, I felt my feet pulled pulled away from the ground. I heard screams and muffles, all coming from me. I realized I had started crying, and I tried to stop immediately. I hated crying in front of people, it was just weakness. I couldn't wipe my tears, so I just tried to pace my breathing. Finally it seemed we landed, and if we'd been flying, even though I never saw where we went.

I wasn't in my house anymore, that was for sure. The man let go of me, and my body went limp and fell to the floor. I fought for the strength to stand, but could only manage to crawl a minute, when I froze. I looked around to see a cave like place, lit by multiple torches on the walls. The walls were wet, dripping with water. There must have been a waterfall or something somewhere near by, but I couldn't hear it at all. Moss cover the walls while sand and rocks and twigs and straw were all over the floor. Then it took me only a second more to see the bars or thick, rusting metal surrounding me.

I flipped around onto my butt, half way in a crab-walk position, and looked up at the man. His face ever shadowed, I could hardly see that snarl that promised nothing but harm and misery.  He thrust out a hand, clutching my throat. My hands flew up to his in response, desperately trying to pry it off as I choked, gagging for air. His arm lifted, raising me off the ground. He held me above him, glaring at me.
"Show me once more," he said. His grip tightened. I could feel my head pounding, my eyes began to black out. Lightheaded and without oxygen, I made one last attempt to kick him before passing out.

I thrust out my leg, but once again, it failed. He simply laughed, deep and menacing. I looked back into his black eyes, filled with power and satisfaction. As I did so, his eyes grew wider, and he laughed again, much louder. "There it is!" He let go, dropping me. I gasped for air, but it did no good. I was still blackening out, hearing the laughter echoing in the cave. The last thing I saw was those clouds circling once more, and before I knew it he was gone.

And my eyes were closed.

~~~~~~      ~~~~~~      ~~~~~~

I sat up straight, my head pounding. I had a horrible migraine, and my entire body felt sore. Coughing, I observed my environment again, hoping what I'd seen last time was a dream. 

I was wrong.

I was still caged in by bars. My wrists were shackled by cuffs and chains. Strands of my red hair were in my face. I blew them away, but they always returned. The most I could do was stand, and take just enough steps to hold two bars in my hands, pressing my face between them, trying to see farther in to cave. I huffed. What the heck did I just get myself into? I looked around and grabbed a stick from the ground. I went over to the door of the cell, and began to search.

"There's isn't a lock."

My head whipped around to find the source of the voice. If I got a dollar for every time an unknown voice spoke from a mysterious location...well, today I would have two dollars. Which isn't much, but something. Then I saw another cell, right next to mine. I hadn't noticed it before.

My eyes found a young girl, about my age, sitting on the floor against the wall. Her hair was long and straight, and a beautiful chocolate brown, although it was a little frizzy and messed up, as if it hadn't been groomed in a couple of days. It had soft highlights at the tips, creating a fading ombre effect. Her round face was directed toward the ground, but I could still see the freckle on her left cheek. Her lips were wide, but beautifully shaped, and just a little plump. 

I stared, not saying anything. 

"Oh, so you are awake. I was starting to think you're one of those people who does stuff in their sleep. Did you hear me? There isn't a lock to pick. Believe me, you're stuck," she said, looking up at me, sitting up straight. She had bright clementine-golden eyes, which matched perfectly with her neutral tan skin. 

"What do you mean?"

"Do you believe in crazy things? Like, has anything weird ever happened to you?" 

She was mysterious, random, and nosy. I didn't trust her.

"Crazy, weird...those are relative terms."

"Well, what do you call this place?" she said, motioning her hand around the room.

"...what do you want?"

She sighed, and slumped against the wall. "A friend. Some company. Food would be nice too, but I doubt you've got that. I mostly just wanna get out of this frickin' dump. But no, I'm stuck here." 

I snorted. She was a regular teen, judging by the words she using, and the inflection in her voice. She continued to grill me with questions.

"How did you get here? Was it the same way I did? Do you got a phone on ya?"

I turned away to ignore her questions. I fiddled with the stick in my hands until she was quiet. Finally she stopped, and I was about to think of a way out when she started again. She stood up and walked over to the wall of bars that our cells shared.

"Hey, um, I don't know how long we'll be here. Probably forever, so...who are you?"

"None of your concern."

"Oh, come on. I'll start. I'm Isabelle Palmson. You can call me Izzy," she said, stretching her hand through a bar, inviting me to shake it. I rolled my eyes, and walked over. I shook her hand.

"Claryn Esters. Can I just call you Bella instead?"

"Mmm...Belle sounds prettier."

"Fine. Belle. How long have you been here?"

"Oh, you're a right-to-business kinda girl, aren't ya? In that case, I've been here for a few days, maybe a week. I've lost track. And-"

"Have you eaten?"

"A little, but-"

"How'd you get here?"

"Some weird dude brought me here. He didn't look like the guy who brought you here, though. He-"

"Did he talk to you at all? Tell you why you're here?"

"Hey! How about  I start asking some questions, hmm? You need to chill. How old are you?"

I stared in awe. This was ridiculous. She was being held hostage, starving, and poorly groomed, and here she was trying to have small talk and become buddies. Something told me she'd get along with Sebastian. 

"You know Belle, I've got a headache. I might throw up in a bit. Think I can just...get some rest?

She looked hurt. Her pretty lips made a little pout. She backed away from the metal bars, back to her spot by the wall. "Yeah, ok."

"Thank you. I'll talk later, we'll figure something out."

I took off my jacket, rolled it up and set it down resting my head on it like a pillow. With no blanket, I curled up into a ball to try and keep warm. I really wished I has more of that wonder bread. The song came back to my mind, as if to sing me to sleep.

Samson came to my bed
Told me that my hair was red
Told me I was beautiful and came into my bed
Oh I cut his hair myself one night
A pair of dull scissors in the yellow light
And he told me that I'd done alright
And kissed me 'til the mornin' light, the mornin' light
And he kissed me 'til the mornin' light

Samson went back to bed
Not much hair left on his head
Ate a slice of wonder bread and went right back to bed
Oh, we couldn't bring the columns down
Yeah we couldn't destroy a single one
And history books forgot about us
And the bible didn't mention us, not even once

You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first

I lay there, listening to water drips off the cave walls. With heavy sighs, I lay waiting for everything to be solved. Waiting to get. Waiting for time to pass. Waiting for someone to find me. Waiting to dream. 

Waiting. 

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Let's see you you've got now, Lindie. 

-Maddie