I am Number Twelve

7

7

I don't dream. I only sleep. And when I wake up, and remember the chest is tucked away, safely hidden behind my mirror. I only sleep for an hour and a half. Its ten to six when I wake and I know that I finally get to open my chest and use a very helpful crystal.

I walk over to the mirror and pull it open. I squeeze the chest out of its hidey-hole and set it on my bed, with Lola already up, she will be packing most likely, so I don't have to worry about her walking in.

I press my palm to the lock and feel a sudden rush of warmth. The lock clicks open and I push back the lid. The feeling is bitter sweet. It proves in a way, that Jack is really dead. The insides are lined with a silky white material, and the outside is wooden, made of the Fesilka tree back on Aquillia.

I dig around, and I find the green stone that Jack used to heal Lola. I've never seen the inside of my chest before. Its amazing. I've only ever seen 2 items out of it, a black crystal in the shape of a cube, and the green healing stone.

I take the black cube and close the chest. I press the cube to my forehead and I feel it warm up. I reach over, touch the chest and think small. The chest shrinks down to the size of a tennis ball.

I touch my bed, and that too shrinks down to the size of a tennis ball. I stop concentrating and I grab a bag. I place the chest and the bed in the bag. This cube, is awesome.

+++

An hour later, packed in my bag, is all of my training gear, all the crap from my bedroom, my chest and around my big toe, acting as a toe ring, is my Aqualite pendant, shrunken down to ring size, and out of sight. I know it was risky going back to the training crater, but it was a risk I had to take. I also found some  pills and crushed them. I put them in the bottom of a tea cup, with a spoon full of sugar and put a tea bag in it. I left it on the bench, hopefully bait for Lola.

I take one last sweeping glance of my bedroom that has been my sanctuary for the past 4 years. I close the door, lock it, and step into the hall way. I walk into the kitchen to find all the papers from this morning are gone, and Lola is sitting at the table, sipping a cup of the herbal tea I made, fixing a bandana onto her head. To hide the damage I did yesterday afternoon, I guess.

I look out the window to the truck. It is packed to the brim. 'Have you packed, Zeda?' She asks, her tone sweet. 'Yes. Have you?' I reply, in the most sarcastic voice I can muster.

'Yes. I have. I'm only taking a laptop and some spy ware codes, computer wise. I packed all of of my clothes though. And I'm leaving my bed here. So can you.'

'Ok Lola, that's fine with me.' I say lamely, already having full knowledge that I will be bringing my bed.

'Alright. Get outside. Everything I want to take is packed, and you need to get in the truck.' She adjusts her bandana and smirks she speaks.

'Yes, I will. I have to check something though, so you should go and start the truck without me.' I say in my most pleasant voice.

She looks taken back by my sudden wave of niceness. 'Ye...Yes, Zeda, good idea. See you so..Soon.' She says, mumbling. I can't believe it. She's trusting me. If I can get on her good side, maybe I can have a little more leverage in this new town.

She struts out of the house, holding a few bags, smiling back at me. I smile, and turn, waiting to hear her high heels click on the concrete stairs. When I finally hear the familiar clack, I run towards the basement.

I flick on the light, and rush down the steps. I'm looking for the thing I heard fall on the ground last night. And I find it. Lying on the ground, right infront of the furnace door, is an envelope.

Paper, just like I thought, but a more meaningful type. Probably inscribed with ballpoint pen ink. Written on the front, is a word. I walk forward and pick it up, feeling its rough texture, taking in its brown colour.

Zeda  is the word. It's my name. It's for me.

I fold it in half, and shove it in my shorts pocket. I mentally say good bye to the house, and race up the steps, down the hall and out the door. 

As I walk out towards the truck, shining red in the sun-rise, I decide that the ride in the truck will be spent asking questions.

My feet crunch along the gravel, my hair, out and long, swishes in the light breeze. It's winter, so its a chilly wind. I reach the truck, and again, its a bitter sweet moment. I'm so happy I'm leaving, but I'm sad I have to leave the house I have spent the last 5 years in.

I hop in the truck and Lola reverses down the drive. She turns and puts it in drive, then heads south.

'So, where to?' I ask casually. 'Alabama.'

'Oh, Alabama, why exactly, Lola?'

'Just a random decision. It sounds fun, in Alabama.' She says the last part in a southern accent, sounding like an idiot. Not that she wasn't already an idiot.

'Yeah, It does!' I say, in my most sarcastic voice, feigning excitement.

Half an hour later, we pass a rugged sign, chipping at the edges that reads 'Welcome to Paradise' 

Some paradise. The sign also says something about Ohio, but the truck whips past to fast to make out the rest. So that's where we've been, this entire time, on the outskirts this little town, this shitty little town, of absolutely no importance. At least I know we're heading south from Ohio.

As we leave Paradise, the feeling of paradise sinks in. My first taste of civilization in 5 years, and its gone in 2 minutes. No fairy tales and no faerie tails remain on Aquillia, so Paradise, is about as close to paradise at the moment. But it's gone, in a fast paced swirl and whoosh past the window, a blurry picture swimming around the truck.

I decide to suck up to Lola and I ask her about her family. 

'My sister, Zeda, was called Whiteny. She was just the best! Oh, painting each others toenails, doing my hair, it was just marvelous when we were girls. She has a beautiful daughter now. We used to ride our bikes, we lived in Wyoming at the time, and we would ride and ride, all the way to our grandparents house. Nana Emily. She came from Ohio, oh, maybe even Paradise. Yes, she did! She always talked of a boy, who had light-hands. They were friends, she used to say. Once she told me of a beautiful girl, named Sarah. I don't remember what it was about her, but I remember Nana talking about her. My Father was named Sam. Grandpa Mark would say he was supposed to be a John, but Nana insisted on Sam. They said they went to school with a Sam and a John.'

As she babbles on about her family, I 'Ooo' and 'Ahh' in all the right places. The names John, Sam, Emily, Mark and Sarah, all ring a tiny bell, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

5 hours later, its just past lunchtime, and Lola has told me all about her uncles, aunties, brothers, sister, granparents and cousins. I have suffered through an entire family history, feeling completely and utterly jealous.

I only spent a year and a half with my family. My grandparents, no cousins, I barely ever saw my parents, and the closest to family I ever had was Jack.

I was one and a half when we left Aquillia. I barely remember. Ugly things running around outside, the air in the ship was musty, possibly a little dusty. I remember taking off, although these memories could have just been stories jack told me when I was older.

I remember 4 years on that stupid ship. The other children, 15 of them. We all had the same birthdate, so we only ever had 4 birthdays. No presents, just thinking about Aquillia. I remember playing with 3 boys. We were about three. All the boys had dark hair, apart from one, who had light ginger hair. I don't remember what numbers they were. One of the boys I remember slept in the bed next to me. I remember there was a group of three girls, one with boofy blonde hair, one with mousy brown hair and another with strait brown hair. Hair is really the only detail of these people I can recall. 

I don't remember when we landed, but I think it was somewhere in America, Canada possibly. 

Lola starts talking about her old boyfriend, the one before Jack. I tune out and wonder what the pills are doing to her.