Who Am I?

New Life

A gentle nudge wakes me up. "Wake up J," a sweet gentle voice whispered in my ear. Zelda licks my foot.

I flutter my eyes open. Gav's face is smiling down on me. He kisses my forehead. "Ready for a new life, Ms.Jackie Doe Reed?" He jokes quietly.

"Of course. Mr.Gavin Michael Reed." I say as Gav puts his left arm around me and lifts me up.

"I hope we can be normal," I say still whispering.

"We'll never be normal, J," Gav says wishfully.

"But we can hope..." I let the subject stop there.

We walk out of the plane. It's dark out. It looks to almost be morning. I look to Sophia. "Are we starting school tomorrow?" I ask. I hope we are. Less time to think....

"If you want. Your both in grade 8. I'm not in charge of you at all. Your technically wards of the state. You can do as you please." Sophia says and gets in a rusty old pick-up truck.

"Do we have cloths and stuff at the safe house?" Gav asks as he climbs in and helps me in. Zelda sits on my lap. I'm sore from the surgery.

"I supposed, and don't call it a safe house," Sophia says rudely.

"Don't tell me what I can do. I'm a ward of the state," Gav says. Good comeback.

We're on an old road in an old small town. Country town. We pass a sign "Welcome to Woodland."

"You will get to go shopping once a week with a budget of $300." Sophia tells us, "For food, cloths, and whatever."

"So we'll basically be taking care of ourselves?" I ask in disbelief.

"Basically," Sophia said, " I'm here to stop the Russian Mofia from killing you. Not babysit you."

This was new. The Mofia? I thought this was about some jack-ass scientists.

I pull out my bag and look inside. I have the painkillers the doctor gave me, what looks like $100 in twenties, one other outfit; Black short-shorts and a tank top, tooth brush, hair brush, shampoo. Looks like I need to go shopping.

"Is there a shopping center or a mall here?" I ask hoping I can pick up some stuff after school tomorrow. Everything here look like its in walking distance.

"No," Sophia said sharply, "This town only has 208 fucking people."

"You don't have to be so rude," I grumbled.

We drove into a driveway. The house was a farm house. It was old, too. It looked to either be two stories or one with an attic. I picked up my bag and walked inside. It was very picture perfect country house. Plaid table cloth, sunflower in the window, old modeled fridge. "Gavin your room is in the basement and Jackie your room is in the attic." Sophia said as she left to probably her room.

"How do I get up?" I asked Gav.

"Here," he said and pulled down a ball on a string by the kitchen table. It revealed a ladder.

"Thanks," I said.

Gav's room was in the basement. I was tired so I kissed Gav on the cheek surprising him and headed up. Zelda surprisingly didn't have a problem getting up. I closed the trap door after I was up, and pulled the string so only I could open it.

The room was extremely hot so I opened one of the many windows. I opened the smallest. the circle shaped on the overlooked the driveway.

The room was hexagon shaped. Outside in the night sky was a cool breeze. My bed was party of the wall. It was built in next to the window as you see in living rooms. It had a quilt on it with the print of flowers. I had a old white dresser in the corner and a green bean bag.

The walls were white wood, unpainted. The floors were a darker, orangish wood. Oak?

Zelda laid down on a multicolored small carpet by the desk and snored softly.

On the walls was a chalk board with colorful new chalks read to be used. Beside it was a small mirror. No frame to it. It was just the mirror.

The ceiling had a window on it, a rooftop. I used the stepping stool next to the bed dresser to reach it. There wasn't a screen on it so I popped the skylight open and used the poles on the side to keep it open. I could hear crickets. I liked that.

I opened the dresser to find simple cloths. I would need to go shopping. I had a pair of jean shorts, overalls (for farm work), a FBI tee shirt, skinny jeans, a gray jacket, and two pairs of socks all in my size.

Beside the dresser were hooks to hang things. I hung up the jacket and bag. I emptied the bag. I put the money under the mattress, cloths in the dresser, tooth brush and hair brush in the bedside table draw and-

The painkillers form my surgery fell out of my bag. A sudden craving for them crawled out of the pit of my gut. I set them in my night stand.

I take off my shoes and place them by the trapdoor. I change into the tank top and shorts, and I climb into the bed. I'm tired, but I'm scared of sleep. I don't want to remember what happened before the cell.

I close my eyes and drift a little... Pain-Fire-Knives! I jump awake again. There is no way I'm sleeping. I shift my body over.

I see the painkillers. What could be the harm of taking just one? A little sleep? I open the bottle and take one. That won't be enough. I take two more. The bottle has around 60 pills in it. I barely made a difference.

I drift a little. My high mind can't think of those thoughts... I think of Gav and me...It's just bliss... I think of having freedom... I... I think of....