Agnes in JackieLand

Chapter 10

I woke to the twin fire trucks racing past my bedroom door. The sound of wailing sirens had pierced through a dream that I had been having. As I entered the waking world, I tried unsuccessfully to grasp its fragments. I felt I needed to remember something about it, but as hard as I tried, I only drew a blank.

Yesterday's events, first with the Barbie twins, then Quincy ramped up my resolve to fix Jackie's family and get the heck out of her body. The more I was in it, the less I liked Jackie's life.

Quincy was a whole new territory for me. Considering I had never had a boyfriend before, I had zero experience dealing with boys. Minus Graham, of course, and he was different. I didn't have to fend off kisses from him. The most touching we did was when we had tickle wars.

This was unfair because I was ticklish everywhere, and Graham only had ticklish feet. It was hard to get that spot when someone was six inches taller than you, especially if they had you pinned down. The memory of it made me smile but feel sad. I missed Graham. The easy banter of two friends, silly texts, movie nights, everything. Why do things have to be so complicated right now? I needed my best friend.

Allowing myself a five-minute pity party, I mourned my dad, Graham, and even my brother, Liam. Now that was over with. I motivated myself to get up and try working on Jackie's dad today.

Mrs. Franklin had been a loss yesterday, but maybe Mr. Franklin would listen. Jackie seemed to be the only one he talked to, even if it was to bark orders at me. It was worth a try. Anything was worth trying to get out of this body.

Dressed and downstairs by seven, I headed to where I knew Jackie's dad would be. His office was where he seemed to reside when he was home. I knocked on the door once, twice, then walked in. Upon entering, Mr. Franklin put a finger up for me to wait while he listened to whatever the person on the other end of his Bluetooth was saying.

I took a seat opposite him at his giant, gorgeous desk. I didn't know my wood types, but this was a deep reddish color and beautifully glossy. It made me want to run my hands over the smooth surface. Yet I was fearful I would get fingerprints on it and be executed.

The room itself was beautiful. It had wood paneling and a fireplace built into the wall at the far end. Opposite the fireplace was a black leather couch set. A small mini bar sat off to the side of that. I assumed that it was stocked.

Behind Mr. Franklin sat a wall filled with books, from top to bottom. The wall on my right was a pinboard wall. It had various properties and houses attached to it. That must be what he was into, real estate.

"What do you want, Jackie?"

Startled, I saw Mr. Franklin leaning back in his chair, watching me. I hadn't even realized it when he stopped talking on the phone. "Oh, I'm looking for a nice piece of real estate. Thought you might be able to help me," I said, trying to joke with him to lighten the mood.

Not a smile cracked his face. Clearly, he wasn't a joking type of person. "I don't have time for this, Jackie. What do you want?"

"I was hoping that you knew what to do with mother?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she won't get out of bed. Her bedside is littered with booze bottles and pills. Shouldn't we be doing something about it?"

"And this is news to you, Jackie? Your mother has been like this for a year now." Mr. Franklin looked amused.

I was shocked. How could Jackie's family let her be like this for so long? "What about the boys?"