Jumping Trains (Short Story)

Ch. 9

*Recap*

She was like me in every way. Rather than admitting she was nervous, she lied about not being good with words. That’s totally something I would do. We reached a quaint little two-story house on a street corner. My mom pulled into the driveway of the beige house and cut the ignition.

“Ashton is fragile no matter what she tries to make you believe. She gets hurt really easily. Ashton is thoughtful, compassionate, hard-headed, courageous, beautiful, trusting, and broken.”

I smiled blearily and Benson tried to act all manly again even though he was close to tears. Too cute.

*End Recap*

We spent the night at my mother’s house and in the morning she made us breakfast. Everything was going pretty damn great until I got a phone call. Apparently, my dad was arrested. Something about evading the law. Just as I hung up, I watched as a man walked through the front door of my mother’s house and shut the door behind him, dropping keys on a small table nearby.

“I’m back,” he sang. It looked as if he was about to say something else but then he noticed me standing there. “Hi,” he said with a grin. “Are you one of Taylor’s friends?”

“Who are you?” I inquired, evading his question.

“Alexander Quinn,” he replied. “And you?”

“Quinn?” I reiterated. So, that wasn’t my mother’s real last name?

“Babe, you’re back!” A shriek from behind me erupted. I jumped at the sound and watched my mother squeeze by me and jump into this man’s arms. “I missed you. How was your trip?”

“You remarried?” I whispered.

He lifted her off the ground in a bone crushing hug and twirled her around. How sickening. “It was great. I missed you too.” He set her down—this Alexander Quinn—and kissed her.

My mom melted into the kiss and threw her arms around his neck. I quickly looked away. I shouldn’t watch. I went to find Benson instead of staying to watch their display.

“Benson, we should leave now,” I said dejectedly.

I wasn’t prepared for something like this. Sure, she had a kid, but, how was I supposed to know that she remarried?

“What’s the rush? Did something happen?” Benson probed.

“My dad came back,” I said simply.

Benson nodded understandingly. He helped me pack my stuff and we prepared to silently head out but we were caught.

“Did your dad come to pick you up?” my mother called.

My heart stung at her words. “No,” I said with a wince. “He’s in jail.” She had no idea about him stabbing Benson. I didn’t bring it up. It didn’t seem important at the time.

“What?” she shouted, detaching herself from Alexander. She came over to me. “Jail?”

“Yeah,” I said softly. “We should go now. Sorry to intrude.”

“Wait.” I paused again. “For what?”

“Is it important?”

“Well, kind-of, yes.”

“He stabbed Benson in a drunken rage then ran away.”

Silence rang through the cramped hallway. I felt like the walls were closing in on me. Sighing, I scribbled down my number for my mom and told her we’d keep in touch. I left first, feeling like I was suffocating. The last thing I wanted was for her to pity me. Sure, I had no room to be self-righteous considering I had nowhere to stay but I didn’t plan on having her take me in. I searched around in my bag for that map I had brought and located the nearest bus station that could take us to the next nearest train station. I wanted to go home. Not my home, of course. Benson’s home. I felt a strong hand at my shoulder and knew it was Benson.