For Everything

What Happened That Day At Lunch

I gasp again and mutter "No."

"What Hunter? What do you see?" Gale asks again. I scramble back from the children sitting at the tree. This wasn't a vision, this was a flashback. It was real, all of it. Gale walks over to the tree, looks inside, and gasps, stumbling backward, like me. 

"What is wrong with you two?" Alex says, walking to the tree, but he doesn't make it before he stumbles back too, followed by Felicity. We're all seeing it, the flashback. For a second, Rosie looks at me, and then they're gone. The children aren't there anymore. "What was that?" Alex gasps, "What is going on here?"

"It's us," I say, "It's us, and it always has been. We've all been here before, we were friends, and this was where we had met."

"What are you talking about?" Alex says, "I've never been here, and I didn't know any of you, until now."

"But you did," I say, looking up at Alex, "In your dreams. We all dreamed of each other, all our lives, we just don't remember. I remember I used to have weird dreams of a place that never existed, with people that didn't exist, when I was young. Before we had Rosie." Gale looks at me, tears in his eyes.

"What are you talking about? Do you know how crazy this all sounds? You know what Hunter, everything was just fine before you arrived. You've brought nothing but pain and brokeness with you, I'm leaving, don't bother following," and then Alex walked away. I looked at Felicity, who also had tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry Hunter," she says, "I just don't know what to think," and then she was gone too, gone like the wind. That left Gale and me, alone.

"I-I'm sorry," Gale starts.

"Don't," I interrupt, "Gale, so much has happened over the last few weeks, and so much has been kept from us, all of us. If you want me to trust you, you need to explain. Now. Why was Rosie sitting on your lap, and how do you know her?"

"Hunter, I don't know," Gale says.

"Bullshit," I say, "You know why, and you're going to tell me, or so help me."

"Hunter, please, don't do this," Gale gasps through sobs.

"Gale," I persist.

"Hunter, please."

"Gale, why was Rosie sitting on your lap? And how...do...you...know...her?"

Gale breaks down even more, hysterical. "Gale,"

"Rosie," he starts.

"Yes, Rosie, what about her? What do you know about my sister?" I press this on him like lemon juice on a raw wound.

"She- she's, my, sister," Gale sobs. I didn't know what he meant. I always knew that Rosie was adopted, we got her when she was about three or four, I don't remember. But the adoption center never gave us any information about her birth family. We never knew anything about her or her background. I never thought someday I would find out where she was from, but I did. My boyfriend, Gale Aftersmoke, was my sister's brother. I didn't know what to do, so I pulled Gale in close, and hugged him. I began sobbing with him. We never said a word, just cried, for Gale, for Rosie, for everything. After a while, I pulled back, and we stopped crying. Gale's face was red and puffy from crying for so long. 

"I'm so sorry," I whisper, wiping tears from my face.

"When Rosie was born," Gale says, "she was always so happy. I played with her every day, we had so much fun. I loved her with all my heart. She was my everything. Then one night my mother told me we couldn't take care of her anymore. I asked her why but she never told me. She took her to the adoption center the next morning and that was the end of it. My everything was now my nothing. Then you had adopted her and we moved away. My mom wanted to make sure she was well taken care of before we left her for good. When you moved here and brought Rosie with you, I was heartbroken. I instantly knew it was her, how she had grown up, how beautiful she was, and how much I missed her. I couldn't bear to look at her, or even mention her. I felt so guilty. I left her. That day at lunch I didn't know she was here, you had just moved here, so I never would have known what I would have done to her, to me, if you weren't there to interrupt."

"Gale, what do you mean? What happened that day at lunch? What did I interrupt? You have to let me in Gale. You have to, so I can trust you."

"But if I tell you, you won't trust me Hunter," Gale rubs the back of his neck, sobbing again.

"Gale, tell me. You have to be honest with me, or else I can't trust you. What happened at lunch that day?"

"Felicity, Alex, and I, we hate this school Hunter. We hate it so much that we couldn't bear to go to it anymore. That day at lunch, you interrupted us while we were in the middle of preparations."

"Preparations? What were you planning to do Gale?"

"We were planning how we were going to destroy the school," Gale sobs.

"What are you talking about?" I ask, confused.

"Hunter, we were going to shoot up the school."

It takes a minute for me to process what Gale just said. Once I do, I back away from him, tears welling up in my eyes. 

"No, Hunter. It's not like that," Gale tries, "Once I knew that Rosie was here, I would never have dreamed of hurting anyone."

"You," I gasp, angry tears rolling down my eyes, "were going, to murder, innocent people?" 

"No, Hunter. I was angry," Gale wails, "We all were. We didn't know what we were doing. I swear. I would never hurt Rosie."

"But you would have hurt all the other students," I shout, "If I wasn't there that day, you would have, killed, people?"

"Hunter," Gale says.

"Don't call me that! Don't you dare try to make up for this. You were going to take innocent lives, because you were angry?" 

Gale tries to say something but he just chokes on his tears instead.

"You, are despicable," I snarl through tears, "Don't you dare come near me ever again."

"No, Hunter, please."

"I hope you rot in Hell for what you were even considering of doing," with that, I get up and run back into the trees, crying for all of the lives that could have been lost, for all of the lives I think I've just saved.

"Hunter!" Gale calls after me, but I'm already back on the road, squinting in the sunlight through my dried tears. Nothing can make me feel better right now, not after what i've just experienced, nothing except for, Rosie. I need to see Rosie. I look around, I'm on the corner of Salmon Street and Trout Lane, so I start a sprint in the direction of the school. I don't see the woman with the turquoise hair, mostly because I don't care. All I care about is my sister, mine, and I need to see her, now.