No Happily Ever After

Chapter 13

Christmaspromised to be utterly horrible; Aspen Briar's worst ever.

It was ChristmasEve and things couldn't seem bleaker. Faraway High seemed to befalling apart at the seams. One student had been caught burglarizinglocal families. Another caught up in a terrible family drama hadturned up missing. Yet another classmate was hospitalized foralarming self-mutilation and her foster brother and sister; morefriends of Aspen, had either been abducted or runaway. Now thatschool had dismissed for the winter holiday, students were all kepthome under their parents' watchful eye with a sense of mass hysteriabrewing. Not that anyone felt like doing anything, anyway. Thewhole sad business made Aspen wonder what exactly went on behind theclosed doors of Faraway. She'd been hearing a myriad of disturbingrumors describing the twisted goings on that absolutely no one hadbeen aware of. It made her grateful she didn't have to worry aboutsuch madness from her parents.

Of course, shehated them, nonetheless.

Aspen's ownpersonal life had hit a sudden downward spiral as well, and shefirmly and resolutely blamed her parents for it. Just that morning,they'd informed her that they were leaving again. Picking up andmoving away from Faraway, midnight, the very day after Christmas. She wasn't allowed to know where they were going, or tell any of herfriends goodbye.

She couldn't evenaccurately recall how many times they'd moved. As far as she'd beentold, even as an infant her family had moved around a lot. Herparents' explanation was that they had to move a lot because of herfather's job. Which seemed legit for a long time. Until Aspen grewup a little and realized her dad was a tax accountant. And actually,tax accountants usually don't need to move a minimum of twice a year.

The first timeAspen could actually recall moving, she'd been four. She'd gone tosleep in a little bed situated at the foot of her parents' bed in thetiny apartment they'd shared at the time in a small town in Ohio. But, when she woke, she was laying on the backseat of their car, andout the window, she saw trees and mountains looming. Go to sleep oneplace, wake up some place else. That was basically how Aspen's lifewent.

Now that she wasolder, they did sometimes give her a slight heads up that they wereleaving, but never much. The thing was, they'd been in Farawaylonger than they'd ever stayed someplace else. And Aspen loved itmore than she'd ever liked anyplace else they'd stayed. They'd beenthere long enough that Aspen had actually begun to think perhaps theywere home. Perhaps whatever roaming spirit possessed her parents hadfinally settled down and they would... Just. Stay.

But that morningthey had dropped the bomb that she had a little over twenty fourhours to pack up whatever might fit in the car.

Aspen lay on herbed, tears sliding down her temples and gathering in her long blondehair, which splayed out beautifully upon her pillow. She'd arguedrather valiantly with her parents, and though they remained patientand calm, they'd sent her to her room. So instead of packing, shelay there thinking back on all the moves before. The day afterChristmas would be Aspen's fifteenth birthday. Something told herthat the fact they were leaving on her birthday was not coincidental. She was old enough to realize once and for all, her parents werelying. And they were hiding something very serious.

She finally beganto suspect that their secret was her.

Her mind keptreturning to an incident when she was eight years old. Her parentsnever spoke of it, and she suspected that they thought she didn'tremember it. But she did. And she thought of it often. Especiallythat particular Christmas Eve when she was so desperate to finally,once and for all, solve the mystery of her secretive, gypsy life.

They'd lived in asmall town in West Virginia. They'd been there for several monthsand the entire Briar family was pretty happy there. They lived aquiet, solitary life. Mr. Briar went off to work each day and Aspenstayed with her mom and was home schooled.