Final Departure

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Jamie slammed the door of her small two-family house.  The sound reverberated through the living room.

            "I'm home!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, to no one in particular.  She was greeted with dead air and was relieved at the silence.  She looked forward to grabbing at least a moment of peace before her sister Jenny arrived home.  Jamie lumbered down the hall to her room and flung open the door. "Hello, room." she greeted, tossing her book-bag onto her bed.

        Jamie crossed to her mirror to take a look at the mess that was her hair.  At the end of a school day (especially a humid school day in June) her hair knew only one style: frizzy and wild.  She sighed and rolled her eyes at her own reflection.  For the most part, she was content with her own appearance and didn’t waste much time fussing over her looks--but her hair was another story entirely.  What she wouldn’t give for the perfect, stick-straight, glossy strands that some of the other girls at school flaunted.  She ran a brush through her hair, but it hardly helped matters.  Stuck to the mirror was a Post-it note in the most hideous shade of green Jamie had ever saw.  She pulled it down and squinted to understand her mother's disheveled penmanship. Jamie, going to a work event with the Roberts' after work. Luv M.   Jamie groaned, crumpled the note and tossed it to the floor.  That was pretty much the extent of her mother’s communication lately.  Notes in the morning when she woke up, notes when she came home, sometimes even notes on the weekend.  To be honest, she didn’t mind being left alone and certainly didn’t fault her mother for working late or trying to have some semblance of a social life.  It was those damn Post-it’s that bothered her.

 Jamie moved on from her hair and was changing into torn jeans and a comfortable t-shirt when she heard the front door slam, followed by her sister’s voice.

            “Mom!”

      "She's at a party, you numbskull." Jamie screamed back, helpfully. She opened her bedroom door and stood in the hallway.

There was a moment of silence while Jenny considered whether or not she was truly miserable enough to trust Jamie with her feelings, but while she was considering this, her tears got the better of her and she suddenly burst into painful sobs.

            “Hey.”  Jamie said, rather unhelpfully as Jenny flung herself at her, burying her face in Jamie’s clean shirt.  Jamie tried her best to sound sympathetic, but she mostly wanted to ask Jenny if this was an actual crisis, or if she was just having another second-grade playground problem.  She waited.

Jenny was so shaken with sobs that even if she had wanted to, she wouldn't have been able to be forthcoming with information.  In a rare display of big-sisterly affection, Jamie led Jenny to the kitchen and sat her down at the table.  She poured two glasses of grape juice, one for each of them, and sat down across from her sister.

            “Jenny,”  She began, as soothingly as she could muster.  “Please tell me what’s wrong.  Is someone bullying you?”  

Jenny sighed and tried to quiet herself down.

            “No.”  She said finally, taking deep gulps of air through her tears, which were slowing.

            “Are you hurt?”  Jamie asked.

            “No.”  Jenny replied.

            “Jenny, what’s the matter?  What would make you cry like that?”  A sudden thought occurred to her then and she cringed.  “They didn’t decide to hold you back a year, did they?”