SHATTERED

Chapter 6

The first thing that popped into my head was Marcy's voice telling me she wasn't was she seemed. Boy, was Marcy right.

A blanket of uncomfortable silence fell upon us. I didn't know what to say and she was lost in her own world.

Should I say I'm sorry? Nah, what's there to be sorry about and she clearly isn't gonna take my pity.

Should I ask about it? No way, she already seemed so upset I didn't wanna upset her any more.

I ordered myself to think. Think, think, think.....you fool think. But I came up blank all I did was stare at her dumbly. As if her statement had changed her, right then and there.

"I know you must have a lot of question and doubts, but don't feel sorry for me. I'm okay. Or at least I will be okay." She smiled sadly at me, resisting so hard to cry.

Thank God she didn't cry, I couldn't have comforted her at all right now. "But.....how...you...and..." I wanted to ask so much that it all tried to come out at one. She took a big sip of her drink, finishing it off. "C'mon lets go for a walk." I finished my drink too, paid and followed Sally out the door.

We took the route to Central Park. I stopped at a pay phone to call mom. "Hello?" She asked in a tired voice. "Mom, its me. I'm with a friend so probably I'll be late so don't wait up for me" I knew mom was gonna freak. "Where are you and with whom? Do her parents know that's she's out too? Does she have cell phone?" Mom yelled into my ear. Apparently, mom believed that if a kid's parent allowed him cell phone at such a young age, it was a sign of bad parenting. That's why I didn't have one and was using a pay phone

Sally could probably hear everything so I replied quickly "No mom, she dosen't. And her parents know. I'll be safe. Bye. I love you!" And I hung up. If I hadn't she would have lectured me for an hour straight.

Sally raised an eyebrow, I shrugged in response. We walked from the mid of traffic. The traffic was slow as the peak school hours were over.

"Here's the thing, my family is definitely not like any other family. I've accepted this a long time ago and I think you should too. My dad, he was involved in these activities way before I was born or my sister was born." She looked right ahead, her face void of any emotion.

"My mom got to know this after she got married. She was baffled, but stuck around for granny and gramps. You know, I wasn't born in America, I was born in Canada when dad was on the run from law. I was only in second grade when he taught me to shoot."

"No one told me about what he really did, until we left. Gramps were altering his will, when he said "I have no child in this world to leave all my property to, my only son is in jail." Mom told him that she was just like his daughter. Then he said "No, you're not. You're nothing to us."

"Mom decided then and there we were to leave. She packed our bags and just left without a word to anyone. Mom took us to our uncle's place and that's where we are currently staying."

WOW! I really hadn't expected that when she said she wanted to tell me something. God, her life was.... Messed up. Totally. I couldn't muster up anything to say to her. I mean, what should I say? "Hey! Great story!" Or "I'm so sorry about this" Or "I can understand what you're going through"

How can I possibly understand what she's going through. I can't even begin to comprehend that kind of information. All I could come up with was "OH!" We both entered the park and sat on the grass.

We sat quitely, both lost in their own thoughts. The sun was almost down. "Its getting late, we should head home." I said. "Yeah, we should." We both got up and brushed the earth off our clothes. Her clothes didn't fit her perfectly, it looked as if they were hanged on her.

"Why are you so skinny? Chopsticks" I asked, trying to lighten the mood. "Actually, I was really depressed after all my home drama. It was so sever that I had to be admitted. The anti-depressants they gave made me skinny."

After that, I didn't try to humor her as she had enough flash backs of her sadness today. We parted ways, as she lived northeast, I lived in northwest. On my walk home, I promised my self that I will make this girl happy, no matter what.

When I entered my house, I was greeted with a furious mother. It took me full half an hour to tell my mom everything. "I know you wanted to help, but you will never inform me. You're 13, you're supposed to ask me."

"Yes, Mother" I answered. I had the leftovers from dinner and then went to my room to finish off my pending assignments to submit them before the summer break.

Mom called me to have dinner, but I declined as I was full on the leftovers. The night went away with me working.