Frames

Chapter 1.

     Jessica stared out the window at the sheets of rain that curtained the countryside.  The bleak view matched her feelings entirely.  It seemed to have all happened so fast.  One moment she was happy and carefree, living a blessed life with her family, the next, she was being carted around like a worn out piece of furniture--unloved, unwanted.

     She glanced over at her brother, who had begun to snore, his head twisted awkwardly between his seat and the car door.  What happened hadn’t seemed to affect him at all.  Jessica sighed.  The tragedy was all she could think about.

     She remembered waking up to the sound of an alarm.  Confused at first, Jessica had sat up in her bed, paralysed, gradually becoming aware of the smoke filing under her door.  Dazed, she staggered to the door, instinctively fingering the smooth glossy wood.  It took her a few seconds to register the searing pain as the charring wood burned her hand.

     Unsure what to do, she had looked around the hazy bedroom.  Spying the window, she ran toward it.  She tried to pull up the frame.  It wouldn’t budge!  Panicked, smoke stinging her eyes, Jessica pounded against the glass.  She needed to do something!  Her eyes darted to a potted plant on her desk.  She grabbed it and, praying it was hard enough, threw the pot.  Upon impact, the glass had spider webbed and shattered.  

     Clearing the edges, Jessica had climbed onto the windowsill.  Coughing, bits of glass gashing her knees and sticking into her palms, she stared down.  Her bedroom was on the second story, at least fifteen feet above the ground.  Gripped by sudden fear, Jessica hesitated.  Could she really bring herself to jump?  If she managed to clear the outcropping of roof beneath her window, what would happen when she fell?  Would she get hurt

     She gazed around.  Where was her family?  Her parents' bedroom was on the first level; her brother's on the second next to hers.  Suddenly, she was brought back to reality by a loud popping sound.  She turned and gasped.  The door had collapsed.  Flames were flowing into her room!  Closing her eyes, Jessica took a smoky breath and dropped.  The fall seemed to happen in slow motion.  Jessica felt the warmth on her back as flames licked the ruined window.  She rolled as she hit the ground.

     "Jess!"

     Blinded by smoke, Jessica struggled to find the owner of the voice.  Suddenly, Gavin was by her side.  He practically dragged her to the curb.  They sat there, holding each other , tears in their eyes, watching their lives go up in smoke.  Their parents never showed up.

     By dawn, the fire department was there.  They couldn't do anything to save the house.  The fire was too big.  The police took Jessica and Gavin to the station until their family could be contacted.  

     First, it was Aunt Sarah. That lasted less than a week, the final straw occurring when Gavin accidentally dropped an antique vase on her prized dog, Misty.  Secretly, Jessica was glad to be away from Aunt Sarah.  She was a plump, older woman who hated children.  Jessica felt more like a prisoner than a guest.

     Next, they were shipped to Cousin Ben in Wisconsin.  He had no interest in children and, the next day, called the social worker.  

     It went on like that for months; going but never staying.  Now, they were on their final resort: Uncle Wess.  Jessica hardly knew Uncle Wess, her mother's brother.  He was a lot younger than Mom, only twenty-three.  He had lived in Tennessee with Jessica's Grandpa Davis practically his entire life and, since Mom was in high school when he was born, Jessica and Gavin generally only saw Uncle Wess when they would go visit Grandpa.

     Jessica had never understood why an aging man would decide to randomly take his five year-old son across the country, but Mom would always explain that Grandpa had inherited an estate in a small community in East Tennessee, and so after Grandma died, he had decided to relocate there.  Jessica hadn't seen Wess at all since Grandpa died.