S. Bodeen - The Fallout

Eddy said, “Some days it all just seems so frickin’ weird. I’ve got my sisters back, only they’re different than they used to be. And the little kids. They’re cute and all, but, man. I feel like I’m the babysitter that they hate. I’m getting to know them, but it takes awhile. And Eli…”

I froze and held my breath. My heart pounded as I waited for him to go on.

“Sometimes he’s normal. We get along and do stuff. And then other times, he’s, like, my project. Like he’s this foreigner that I am forced to teach American ways.” He breathed out. “I find myself just feeling sorry for him. And some days, to be honest, all that pity feels like work.”

I realized I was clutching the bar so hard I’d lost feeling in my hand. I let go and turned around to head back into Eddy’s room. I didn’t want to hear anymore. I didn’t need, or want, Eddy to feel sorry for me.

But then Tony said, “So you up for it? Should we go?”

Eddy said, “Yeah, let’s do it.”

I turned back as they headed around the side of the house. I quickly ran out Eddy’s door and back to my own room, and over to the windows that looked out on the woods at the edge of the property. As I watched, they walked over to the wooded area, climbed over the fence, and disappeared.

My heart was pounding. Should I tell someone?

I sank down on the edge of my bed.

Eddy had left with someone we knew nothing about. We didn’t know Tony’s last name or where he lived. Eddy could be in danger.

I picked up the phone on the bedside table, and my finger hovered over the button that went directly to the guardhouse. I would call William, who worked the night shift, and tell him to go after Eddy.

But then I set the phone back down.

The reason I wanted William to go after Eddy wasn’t to keep him safe. It was to get him back. To keep him away from Tony.

The truth was I wasn’t worried about my brother; I was jealous that he’d rather be with someone other than me.

While I was hard to be with, work as he put it, apparently Tony wasn’t. And if my own brother would rather be with someone he’d just met, then…

…that was one more thing in my life that was messed up.

Eddy not only told a stranger who we were, he brought that stranger to our house. And then he snuck out.

My hands clenched into fists.

After all his lecturing to Lexie about not making Mom upset, here he was, doing something that would send Mom over the edge.

My heart pounded. Two could play at that game.

I went over to my desk and picked up my cell phone. I hit #5 on my speed dial.

“EJ?” Verity sounded sleepy.

“Yeah,” I said. “Sorry to wake you, but I wanted to ask… can you meet me sometime next week?” I swallowed, and then gathered up the nerve to add, “There’s something I need to tell you.”

Verity and I talked, and made plans to meet the next week. I would’ve liked to choose somewhere nice, where we could get coffee or dessert, maybe go for a walk; something to make it seem like a real date.

But it would be too hard to get out of the house.

Going back to the Progeria Institute was probably the only place I could talk my mom into letting me go on my own. Even then, I’d probably have to come up with a pretty decent lie.

But when I woke up the morning after we talked, I regretted calling Verity.

I lay there, looking up at the ceiling.

Eddy may have been ready to tell someone who we were, but I wasn’t ready to trust anyone like that. No way. And after sleeping on what I’d heard Eddy say about me, I woke up feeling more reasonable about it.

His wanting to hang out with Tony actually made sense.

All I did was worry about things: my sisters, my mom, the little ones. I’d even told Eddy about some of my stranger, more paranoid worries, like the doomsday prepper people following us.

And Phil. Eddy was probably tired of my saying bad things about Phil and our dad.

When it came down to it, I was like an old lady with my constant worrying; being ultra-cautious about everything. Someone like that is no fun to be with.

Not only that, I didn’t even have the confidence to choose my own clothes, instead I copied whatever he had.

With a house full of children, Eddy was already reminded every day of how his life had changed. It wasn’t fair for me to expect him to sit around waiting for me to catch up to him. Be his equal again. Be normal.

Furthermore, why would he want to?

I got up, changed into running gear, and started on the treadmill.

Maybe Eddy felt like I did, that it was never going to happen.

So, of course, Eddy would see Tony as a better choice than me.

But being reasonable about it didn’t make me any less envious. Or curious.

As I ran, I looked out the window at the section of fence they’d climbed over, and the woods where they had disappeared.

Where did they go?

Did they meet up with anyone? Girls maybe?

And how long had they been sneaking out? Maybe Tony had been coming over before then, maybe this hadn’t been the first time.

I pushed the button to increase the speed.

The part that made me feel the worst was that Eddy hadn’t told me about Tony. He hadn’t told me about where they went or what they did.

That part felt like betrayal. Because he was leaving me out.

I finished my run and then went down and poured a bowl of cereal. Sunshine poured in the windows, so I took my breakfast outside. Cocoa ran over to me, wagging her tail.

“Hold on, let me finish.”

A FedEx truck pulled up to the front. Joe went out the small door in the gate and came back with a package, which he took into the guardhouse with him.

I finished my cereal and set the bowl on the ground so Cocoa could drink up the leftover milk. Then I walked over to the guardhouse.

Joe was standing there talking to Sam. They both greeted me, and I said, “I can take the package in.”

Joe glanced at Sam.

“What?” I asked. I was close enough to see the mailing label with Terese’s first name on it, along with Gram’s grandmother’s maiden name, like we used for all the online shopping. I frowned. Usually Gram’s first name was on all the packages, just as an extra precaution.

Sam said, “We kind of have special instructions.”

I frowned. “From who?”

Joe pointed at the label. “Your sister. We’re supposed to call her when she gets a package from there, and then she comes and gets it.”

I glanced at the label again, searching for the return address.

SUGARWORLD, LLC

What the hell?

I picked up the package. “I’ll take it to her.”

Joe started to protest, but I added, “I promise, I’ll tell her you two told me not to.” The package wasn’t that heavy, a few pounds maybe, and made a shuffling sound when I shook it.

I grabbed my cereal bowl and went into the house.

Even though it was after nine, no one but Gram and Els were in the kitchen, so I set my bowl in the sink and took the box upstairs. I knocked on Reese’s door.

She groaned. “I’m sleeping!”

I opened the door and walked in.

She was facedown under the covers, her head covered with a pillow, one dark braid spilling over the side of the bed. Clementine was lying on Reese’s back, purring. “Go away.” Her voice was muffled.

I set the package on her computer desk. “You’ve got mail.”

Her head shot up, eyes wide. Then they narrowed as she saw the box. Reese shoved the covers aside and the cat went flying with a hiss as my sister leaped out of bed, grabbing for the box just as I snatched it up, holding it over my head.

“Give it to me!” Reese jumped up, flailing with her arms as she tried to grab the box away.