The Normals | ✓

S E V E N T E E N

By the time late afternoon falls and I hear people coming home, I've grown bored. Usually I'd be out with someone (probably Lyra) or exploring the neighbourhood, but I barely feel comfortable going into the living room on my own. Being the only person in the house is quite unnerving when you're not even supposed to be there.

Lyra and her father come home first. I hear the door open and their voices fill the house. They're having a happy-sounding conversation which makes my chest hurt. I miss having normal conversations.

Arden comes home about half an hour later, shouting a greeting at his family from the front room. I lie on the bed, facing the ceiling, and listen to the sounds of a family coming through the room's door. I want to be part of it. I want to get up and open the door and join in. but Lyra hates me and Arden's upset by me and his parents don't even know who I am, let alone that I spend my nights in their house. So I can't. I have to stay here and listen to the sounds of a beautiful neighbourhood come in through one ear, and a happy family through the other.

At one point, though, their conversation quiets down because the bell, that I've now understood is called a doorbell, rings throughout the house. I hear their father say he'll go get the door and Lyra and Arden continue whatever it is they're doing.

But their conversation slows to a stop when more than one pair of shoes comes back into the room. I count four, as I lie on my back and stare at the ceiling. Let's hope it's someone important, off to take Arden and Lyra away so they never have to see me again.

"Gwen?" I hear Arden say. If she's there, she doesn't reply.

"They want your mother to come back here," his dad says, after some muffled conversation that I don't pick up. "Apparently it's urgent."

"Mom's at work," Lyra says. "She'll be finished in like, two hours."

"Call her," says someone in the room. It's a deep male voice, and I've never heard it before.

"Why?" says Arden.

"Just do it," the voice replies. "We will explain everything when the whole family is here."

There's a pause, and then Arden's dad starts speaking. "Marcela? Hi. We need you to come home now, is that alright? There's some people here saying they need to speak to us but won't do it unless you're home too. No, we've already asked them that. I mean I'll try telling them, no promises though. Excuse me, sir? My wife is pretty busy right now with her job. Can you come back some other time?"

It's Gwen that replies this time. "Just get her to come home, Cassius. Like we said before, we'll explain everything when she gets here."

So Gwen is here.

I want to open the door and thank her for the help, but something tells me this isn't the right time. Probably because there's random people that I don't know in the house.

"Yeah, they won't budge," Arden's dad -- Cassius -- continues. "I think it's just better if you come back now--"

"--And quickly!" the deep stranger's voice interrupts. "We have no time to waste!"

"--And quickly," he says. "Come back quickly. Okay. See you then; love you." There's another pause and then he speaks again, this time addressing the people in the room. "She's taking the train back here so she won't be long. Would any of you like anything while we wait?"

"Yeah actually," Gwen replies. "I believe you have something of importance in your guest room?"

My chest tenses up. Surely she doesn't mean me. Gwen wouldn't expose me in front of Arden's parents and some random strangers, would she? I refuse to believe it. I sit up and start looking for a place to hide. Maybe she doesn't realize I'm in here.

"I-I don't think so..." Cassius stammers. "I don't even remember the last time we used the guest room."

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Gwen says with an airy laugh. "Go open the door for me, will you?"

I hear footsteps coming down the hall and I go into panic mode. The window is open, but could I fit through it? Maybe I can hide under the bed? Behind the shelves?

The handle of the door turns but the door doesn't open. I mentally heave a sigh of relief that I remembered to barricade the door after I had taken that one trip into the rest of the house. Deciding the window is my best option, I get off the bed and start cramming what little of my possessions I have into a small backpack. I want to come back here, but I have no idea who these people are or even if they know I'm in here. If they find me, they might take me away, so I have to be gone before they have the chance.

"The door's stuck," says a voice outside the room. Not the deep one; maybe a friend of his?

"Then unstick it, idiot," Gwen replies. "And quickly!"

The door handle turns again and I hear a thump. A buzz of adrenaline shoots through me as I finish stuffing all that can fit into the bag and I head for the window. It's not big, I realize. I might not be able to fit through it. But when another thump on the door resounds through the room, I tell myself that I will make myself fit no matter what, and start sliding the window open.

A third thud hits the door, followed by a cry of protest from Cassius. They're probably going to break the door in if this keeps up. The window is now halfway up, a large enough gap for my backpack to fit through but not big enough for me. And it's stuck. Frantically, I fumble around with the sides. Maybe there's a lock or something? Finding that there isn't, I start hitting it with my elbow, trying to unstick it. Another thud, more powerful than the last few, sounds in the room. I think I hear wood cracking.

"Do it faster, you idiots!" Gwen screeches. She sounds nothing like the girl I talked to just this morning. Either there's something really valuable in this room or she's completely lost her mind.

But then it comes back to me. Arden's words. My memory pulls up our argument from just after I had gotten home this morning, to what Arden was saying to me. She'll act all sweet one moment and the next, she's about to stab you in the back! She'll twist your words, Arthemis. Trust me, she will.

A shiver runs down my spine as I remember his next words. And the next thing you know, they'll be shipping you off to Pacifica again.

Me. Gwen is looking for me. They're breaking the door down for me.