Dangerous Drop
by
Christopher Brian Gibbon
SMASHWORDS EDITION
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PUBLISHED BY:
Christopher Brian Gibbon on Smashwords
Dangerous Drop
Copyright © 2011 by Christopher Brian Gibbon
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
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Dangerous Drop
Following the death of her husband, Joe, a greatly respected Police Officer, Mary Clark and her diabetic twelve year old daughter Rebekah are just scraping by. Rebekah is depressed in school, the kids insist on making fun of her disease and putting her down. Mary is worried about the safety of their home after two gang leaders escaped from prison, murdered her husband and are said to be wandering the streets, back in operation. Rumors of his death trouble the remaining family and friends, was he just murdered or was it something else? No one knew for sure but Mary made up her mind, they were going to move far away. Her rich brother William King has offered to let them stay in his home out away from the big city. Mary and her daughter pack up their things and are convinced they are prepared for the long road ahead. But when disaster strikes, one thing is on their minds. Survival.
* * * *
Chapter 1
Rebekah sat there at her desk amongst her classmates on a warm June day. The air conditioning hummed loudly a few feet behind her as she sat in the back of the classroom, tapping her on the blank math. Despite asking her teacher not to run the air conditioner, she decided it was better to save the rest of her class from heat stroke rather than to allow her Glucose Watch to function properly. Diabetes wasn’t the hardest thing to live with but it made it easier when you could be aware what your blood sugar reading was. For some reason the watch responded poorly to conditioned air and misread her blood glucose level. Of course, if one were sweating like a pig, it would misread than too! Because of these quirks, she humorously gave the device the nickname “the wintertime only watch.”
School wasn’t horrible. She had her good days and her bad days like everyone else. She wasn’t too put out that she wasn’t a friend magnet. There was always that particular gang of kids that went out of their way to make fun of you. It was always for pointless things, too. For example, if you didn’t have the newest and coolest pair of shoes on your feet they would stalk you through the hall or start whispering amongst themselves in class about how uncool you are and how broke your parents must be. Kevin was in her opinion the rudest kid in her class. If he wasn’t ganging up on people by himself he got other disgruntled kids to tag along. Most of the time he would laugh at her homemade lunch as she sat peacefully eating and minding her own business in the cafeteria.
“What’s the matter, Rebekah? Did Mommy make you a nice healthy lunch again?”
After a while, she began shrugging it off. They could eat chocolate and plenty of other sugar filled snacks she often craved but couldn’t have all the time. Those types of treats were reserved for special occasions only and instead of feeling down about it, she figured it made her all the healthier.
Being in the sixth grade was not as fantastic as one might think. A handful of the kids acted like complete jerks most of the time. When did they ever think about growing up? Worse, the alarm went off again and her watch gave a reading of 50 when she knew for sure it had to be a lot higher! She didn’t feel dizzy, hungry or numb at all. In fact, she had quite the headache!
The whole classroom turned around and gawked at her oddly as she hastily unfastened the watch from her left wrist. Tossing it into her laptop bag at her feet, she sighed and brushed her straight dirty blonde hair from her face as the screen saver on her Apple MacBook turned on.
None of the kids or teachers ever said they were sorry for what happened. No condolences whatsoever! Her mother had even considered pulling her out of school for a few weeks. Rebekah honestly didn’t feel it would help her concentration or the awkwardness she felt in class and the kids that liked to pick on her would just make fun of her even more than they already did. Though she didn’t truthfully care, she always had a hard time understanding why she didn’t at least have one friend in school. She considered herself at least halfway decent looking. She just below ear length dirty blond hair that was parted down the middle and cut in a newer fashioned pageboy bob style. Her eyes were a marble like deep blue and she had a thin soft nose. She also had a small amount of freckles on her face but the few people in school that did pay mind to her said she looked adorable. She had a skinny frame with a height at exactly four feet four inches and pale skin. She always dressed in faded blue jeans, white sneakers and a long sleeved shirt. She never wore short sleeves and if it was cold, she had a red hand knitted sweater that her mother had made for her on her eleventh birthday. It always drove her parents insane when she would insist on prancing about in long sleeves on a hot summer day.
Fred, her computer’s voice suddenly announced quite loudly that the machine was now running on reserved battery power. Hastily, she closed the screen to the palm rest to put it to sleep as a few kids in front of her turned their heads and gave her a look.
“Miss Clark, please bring the computer up to my desk, now,” Mr. Harper said in a flat yet cold tone as he locked his eyes on her from his seat.
She felt red with embarrassment as she took the computer under her arm, walked passed her giggling classmates and placed it quietly on her teacher’s desk.
“Now, why haven’t you finished that math assignment? Everyone is far ahead of you, Miss Clark.”
“Mr. Harper, I have a headache. My blood sugar is too high.”
“Excuses excuses!” Chanted Kevin with his grin of pride and superiority.
“Silence!” The teacher spat, banging the ruler down on his desk.
Rebekah looked around the room feeling embarrassed and hurt. She wanted to waltz over to the kid and punch that awful grin right off his face!
“I will allow you a bathroom pass to get it taken care of but when you return, that math paper better be finished before school gets out in the next forty-five minutes. Do we understand each other?”
She nodded, went to her desk, picked up her laptop bag and left the room quietly.
“I have taken enough from that little punk all these years! Enough!” She said to herself as the sound of her sneakers echoed throughout the empty hall.
She pushed the door to the woman’s bathroom open loudly and stepped inside.
It was empty, thank god! She brushed the small tears of frustration from her eyes and reached into her bag. After pulling out a standard glucose test meter she inserted a test strip and winced in pain as needle of the lancing device pricked her right index finger.
“Two hundred thirty-seven?!” She said aloud in shock and disappointment as she glared at the reading on the screen.
She yanked the used test strip out of the meter angrily and chucked it into the trash next to the sink before reaching back into her bag and pulling out a syringe along with her bottle of Humalog. After giving herself a small dose, she placed the insulin and used syringe along with the tester back in her bag before returning to class.
* * * *
Rebekah concentrated as hard as she could on her paper, trying to finish it before the bell rang. Math was her least favorite subject, even though she wasn’t horrible at it. She knew math was important. Many geniuses were great at it. Math was used to create many things, even build! She just never understood how it would help her at all. Her dream was to be a writer, how would math help her do that?
* * * *
She managed to finish up just as the bell rang and breathed a sigh of relief. She marched up to Mr. Harper’s desk and handed in her work as the rest of the kids pushed past her rudely and loudly slammed the classroom door.
“I will grade your work, I hope you start feeling better tomorrow, I know you and your mother must be going through a rough time,” he said with a rare but sweet smile as he handed her laptop back to her.
“Thank you!” she replied, looking greatly surprised as she slipped her laptop back into its bag and threw the strap over her shoulder.
He simply smiled back and led her to the door.
* * * *
She grabbed her backpack along with her brand new Razor cruiser kick scooter from her locker and walked briskly out the door. The sun continued to shine down around her despite reports of rain. She didn’t find it too strange because the rain had a habit of coming and going at the least expected times. She brushed her hair behind her ears and flipped the handlebars up on her scooter before kicking off down the street.
* * * *
Mary Clark stood still like a statue in front of the living room window with the drapes drawn. The school bus came slowly down the street toward the house. It halted at the house a crossed the street and two kids jumped out. Where was Rebekah? She always got off the bus at that stop and ran as fast as she could a crossed the street and to the front porch. Mary bit her lip nervously and glanced at the phone hanging on the kitchen wall a ways behind her.
“I’m paranoid.” She said aloud and turned her gaze back to the bus outside.
Ever since that dreadful phone call announcing that her husband had been killed in the line of duty she resorted to being a nervous wreck. If Rebekah were even a fraction of a second late she would begin to worry. She swallowed hard as the bus started down the street again. Did Becky get off and she missed it? She waited for the knock at the door but it never came. Where was she? If only the car hadn’t broke down she wouldn’t be worrying. She could have driven to the school and picked up her daughter and have her home safe and sound.
The phone in the principles offices rang loudly and the secretary snapped out of her doze with a start!
“Amberwood School! How may I help you?” She asked just as the picked up the phone.
“Hi, It’s Mary Clark. My daughter, Rebekah, goes to your school. Did she get on the bus today or is she in the office?”
The woman paused, feeling slightly thrown off by the question.
“She isn’t here Mrs. Clark. If she didn’t get off at her usual stop she may have gotten on the later bus. We had two today because of all the new students.”
Mary sighed.
“Okay, thanks.”
The worried mother carefully hung up the phone and glanced at the broom in the right hand corner of the kitchen. Sweeping the floor never failed to calm her down so she did this even if the floor didn’t require any sweeping.
“Wait five more minutes before freaking out, Mary. Just five more minutes!”
* * * *
Rebekah didn’t mind too much that her mother couldn’t pick her up from school that day. It wasn’t a very long walk from the school parking lot to their street and she enjoyed riding her scooter whenever she got the chance. She figured her mother was showing someone around the house, perhaps someone who would be interested in buying it.
As she rolled down the street, dodging pedestrians and glancing over at the many passing cars, she began to wonder where they might move. Where they lived now, all the houses and apartments were so close together everything looked much too cramped. They hardly had a back yard or a yard at all on their street, and they lived in a smaller house compared to most!
Simply put, she was sick and tired of the big cities. Everywhere she went, even if to visit her Grandparents or get out of town, she always ended up in a big city. Because of this, she hoped to have at least a little say in where her mother was going to buy the new house. Hopefully it would be in a smaller town somewhere! Then again, her mother might be desperate for a job and if living in the big city meant making a good living, she wouldn’t put her mother through all that stress just to live in a small town out in the middle of nowhere. If there was one thing they both agreed on that was good about living in the city it had to be that everything was so close, church was only a few blocks away and so was the police station at which her father had gone to work every day.
She turned the corner off one street and went down hill, away from the tall buildings and onto the street with all the smaller houses crammed together.
Just like school, she didn’t attract the kids on her street and make friends with them. She had a few friends in earlier grades, but they had all moved away or decided to go to a different school. She didn’t mind being a loner though because it meant she could just go to school, concentrate on her work and return home to be with her family. She felt that being there for her family was what she was best at doing and besides, who needs peer pressure anyway? She was only twelve years old but for all she knew, her “friends” could pressure her into boyfriends and all kinds of other shenanigans that could harm her future life and grades! No, she didn’t need any of that at all and she knew her mother needed her. They needed each other more now than ever before.
She placed both her feet firmly on the scooter deck and felt the wind blow through her hair as she began coasting down the hill. The tiny pebbles scattered about the road vibrated her body and rattled the wheels as she sped over them.
* * * *
When she arrived at home and rolled into the driveway she didn’t spot any cars parked there and she knew her mother’s car sat silently in the garage awaiting repairs.
“Maybe someone had already come and looked at the house,” she thought as she hopped of her scooter before folding it up and walking up the steps to the front door.
* * * *
“Mom, I’m home!” She said as she stepped onto the rug inside and closed the door loudly behind her.
Her mother, Mary, came running out of the kitchen with a very worried look on her face. She was a tall and skinny woman, towering at six feet one inch. She had pale skin much like her daughter’s, long light brown hair, and pink frowning lips, brown eyes and a thin and soft nose. She had just turned forty-one on the nineteenth of March. Her husband, Joe, had turned forty-two on the fifth of February, just a day before Rebekah’s twelfth birthday. He had deep blue eyes just like his daughter and he was tall and well built, standing at six feet and three inches. Unlike his wife and daughter, he was the only member of the family to have jet-black hair. The report said that while he was on duty, he was abducted when a gang of criminals stole his car and later murdered. Rebekah and Mary had been struggling every since and even though it had only been a week following the tragedy, it felt like a lifetime.
“Where were you, Rebekah? Do you have any idea how worried I was when I didn’t see you get off that bus?”
“I-I rode my scooter home, Mom.”
“Didn’t the principle tell you I called and told him to either give you a ride or have the bus take you home today?”
“Mom, I’m fine, okay? It isn’t like I can’t walk from school to here … I rode my scooter really fast, I’m not a baby!”
“Listen young lady! Riding your scooter or walking, what would have happened if some stranger pulled up and forced you into his car?”
“Mom, I’m sorry! Nobody told me anything; it’s not my fault. I’m going to the bathroom,” she said apologetically while also trying to drop the conversation.
* * * *
She stood and looked into the bathroom mirror as the toilet flushed, giving herself the evil eye. She knew her mother just wanted her to be careful, especially after what had happened with her father.
“Why do I have to be so short with her?” She asked quietly as she washed her hands, dried them and left the bathroom.
* * * *
Mary sat at the table, leaning on her elbows as Rebekah entered the kitchen.
“I’m sorry, Becky. It’s not your fault I just want you to be safe. It’s what moms do and I know it can be annoying how much I love you.”
“No … I’m sorry.”
Mary smiled at her daughter as she sat down in the chair next to her and took her hands, giving them loving squeezes.
“How was school?”
“Fine … Did anyone come to look at the house?”
Her mother shook her head and laughed.
“Yes, an older single fellow. He didn’t seem too impressed with it. I think it might be a little big for a guy living all by himself. He probably doesn’t have a need for three bedrooms, a big kitchen, a big living room and two bathrooms.”
“Are you sure we aren’t just asking too much for it?”
“I don’t think so. One hundred and twenty-five thousand would be considered a dream come true to a lot of people for a house this size and condition. I don’t plan on making a bunch of money on it but I don’t want to give it away, either.”
“Someone will buy it, Mom, don’t worry,” she said with a smile as she gave her mother a big hug.
“Let’s hope so! I’d like to get it off my hands sooner rather than later.”
* * * *
As night fell and Rebekah concentrated on her homework, Mary began preparing dinner. Upon finishing a good amount of her homework, she put her computer to sleep and sat down at the kitchen table as her mother flipped through the logs on the glucose meter, looking at past test results.
“Rebekah! You had a two thirty-seven at school today?”
“Mom, I-” She started.
“What on earth happened?”
For a moment Rebekah was sure she was in for a bout of lecture from her mother as she sat down in the chair next to her and looked straight into her eyes.
“I-I don’t know, Mom … My teacher had the air conditioner on so my watch wasn’t reading my blood sugar right.”
Mary just put her head in her hands for a moment and sighed before brushing her hair out of her face.
“What is it now? Check it, please.”
The child sulked, took the meter over to the counter, got a test strip from the nearby container and pricked her finger. After allowing the drop of blood to soak into the inserted test strip the reading popped up on the screen.
“It’s one hundred and eleven, Mom.”
Her mother shook her head, smiled and walked up behind her child, kissing her cheek softly as she put her arms around her.
“Just be extra careful next time, okay?”
* * * *
Rebekah poked at her chicken soup with a spoon as she sat at the table, looking down into her bowl.
“Becky, is something bothering you?” Her mother asked as she carefully shook some salt into her own bowl.
“I’m just tired. I’m not sure why I feel so awkward at school lately and I don’t know why my teacher keeps forgetting about that stupid air conditioner. It’s almost like he thinks my Gluco Watch is a joke or some new fancy gadget for cool kids that doesn’t really matter.”
Mary frowned.
“We wont be here much longer I hope but, do you want me to talk to your teacher or the principle?”
She shook her head.
“No … I thought you did that already anyway.”
“Well, go ahead and take your shot now and finish some of that soup. I’ll cut you another piece of bread so you can at least finish that if nothing else.”
While Mary returned to the cutting board, Rebekah headed for the refrigerator and got out her bottle of Humalog, which had already gathered a slight chill. She took units of the insulin to cover her food and Mary placed the slice of bread next to her bowl.
Not much else was said throughout the rest of the meal but to her surprise, she did end up eating the extra slice of bread and finishing her bowl of soup.
“Good girl, Becky!”
She smiled and gave her mother a hug.
“I’m gonna go to my room for a while and maybe try to write something.”
Mary nodded.
“I’ll come in later to check on you and make sure you take your bedtime shot.”
* * * *
She shut the door and tossed her backpack in the corner of her room before setting her laptop bag on her bed. After walking over to the window and closing the curtains, she sat down on her bed to let her thoughts flow through her mind.
“I want to write a book, I just don’t know what kind of book, what do I want to write about? Something goofy like a giant evil mushroom that tries to crush a city?” She thought to herself as she took her Gluco Watch from her laptop bag. She took a fresh test strip and put it into the watch. After pricking her finger, she fed the drop of blood into the strip and placed the watch on her pillow and awaited the fifteen-minute or more warm-up time.
Carefully she placed her laptop onto her desk, woke it up and sat in front of a blank word processing sheet.
The computer’s Fred voice announced that the time was seven-thirty P.M just as there came a soft knock on the door.
“Becky, are you decent?”
“Yes, Mom,” she replied as she grabbed the bottle of the cloudy twenty-four hour Novolin N from her desk and rolled it carefully in her hands exactly twenty times to mix it.
“What are you writing, sweetie?” Her mother asked as she walked into the room and peered over her daughter’s shoulder.
“Nothing, I don’t know what to write about,” she replied rather glumly as she pulled the needle from her skin, put the cap back on and chucked it in the used syringe bin in the corner of the room.
“Do you remember those books you wrote about the mail man and his super cats?” Her mother asked with a smile.
“God, those were lame, mom.”
“Well, I liked them very much!” She replied with another smile and a small chuckle.
Rebekah rolled her eyes, shut down her computer and quickly climbed into bed.
“You didn’t put on your pajamas … You’re going to sleep in your clothes?”
“Uh-huh.”
“You’re going to get too hot.”
“No, I wont.”
She sighed and kissed her daughter on the forehead.
“Goodnight, sweetie, don’t forget to say your prayers. I love you.”
“Goodnight, Mom, love you too.”
Mary turned toward the door and started her way out.
“Mom!”
“Hm?”
“Don’t forget to turn the nightlight on.”
She smiled and flipped the nightlight switch on by the door before blowing Rebekah a kiss and softly closing the door behind her.
After a moment, the child turned over on her side, said her prayers and went to sleep.
* * * *
Chapter 2
Rebekah entered the kitchen the next morning at seven A.M to see her mother making lunch.
“Good morning, sweetie!”
“Morning, Mom! I set up my watch and let it warm up while I brushed my hair and my teeth and it seems to work but I need some more gel cartridges for it, I’m almost out,” she said as she sat down at the table and took a long drink from the fresh glass of water that had just been placed there.
“How are the test strips and lancets doing?”
“You mean those little sharp pieces of metal that go in the pricker?” Rebekah asked with a grin.
Mary chuckled.
“Yes, those.”
“I have a lot of those left.”
“Okay, good. I’ll take the taxi into town and stop by the pharmacy today before you get home from school. It’s too bad the car failed again, I’d sure like to drive you to school myself … I really don’t know what we are to do with that thing.”
“So can I ride to school?”
“No, you’re taking the bus there and home. Don’t let me catch you trying to leave the house with your scooter, missy,” she replied, giving the child a serious look as she set a plate of eggs down in front of her.
She sulked and groaned a little while eating but by the time she had finished her meal, it had subsided and she decided to leave for school on a positive note thus she gave her mother a big hug before heading out the door and toward the waiting bus.
It wasn’t even worth her time to ask if she could sit next to anyone so she just took the empty seat in the back; it left enough room for her backpack and her laptop bag. It was awkward to sit next to someone you didn’t have a friendship with. You wouldn’t really talk to them so you would sit there in a silence while holding your backpack on your lap. The thought crossed her mind to give it a try more than once but then she always chickened out. She often wondered why she had difficulty making friends. Maybe it was that she didn’t really want any. Of course she humorously told herself that all the kids’ parents were secretly criminals and the fact that her father was a policeman made friendship with any member of the Clark family forbidden. None of it was true but it gave her a small laugh just the same.
* * * *
The moment the bus stopped in front of the school, she piled out with all the rest of the kids talking amongst themselves and made her way to the classroom. She looked forward to the weekend and thought she would at least try to do her best during class, as it might be her last day attending the school. Having a good name among the teachers seemed like the perfect farewell for any school in her mind.
* * * *
The classroom was a bit warm, though not warm enough to make her Gluco Watch miss a reading, it was warm enough to make everyone including herself, feel a bit agitated. Nonetheless, she ignored it and continued typing away on her computer, desperately trying to complete her assignment. She was so preoccupied that she didn’t even notice Kevin standing directly in front of her. She noticed him just as he reached for her laptop and pushed it closed on her fingers! She screamed in pain and bolted from her seat in anger.
“What the hell did you do that for?” She shouted.
“Oh, that is for making us sweat our socks off,” he replied with a smirk.
Mr. Harper slammed his ruler against the desk loudly just as she contemplated raising her fist in the air and giving Kevin a hard punch in the nose.
“Enough! Principle’s office! Both of you!”
* * * *
She couldn’t believe her ears at first. It could be her last day at school and Kevin decided to be a complete jerk by smashing her fingers, possibly damaging her computer in the process and to top it off, get them both sent to the principle’s office!
Still in a rage, she plopped down in the chair next to him and didn’t say a word. It took only a minute or two before the principle, Mr. Campbell, came into his office and sat down at his desk while eying them both curiously.
“So, what were you two sent here for? Nice to see you again by the way, Kevin.”
Kevin rolled his eyes sarcastically.
“Miss Clark, would you like to start?” Mr. Campbell asked as he put on his glasses and picked up a notepad and a pen.
“I was sitting at my desk minding my own business, typing my work on my computer when he came by and slammed my laptop shut on my hands!” She said as she held up her hands, giving Mr. Campbell a good look at the red marks on the back of her hands.
“So, Kevin, do you wish to tell me why you did this?”
Kevin rolled his eyes again and slouched in his chair.
“I am tired of suffering the heat in the classroom because her stupid watch wont work with the air conditioning on,” he replied, quietly.
“What?! I got a headache and high blood sugar yesterday so my class didn’t have to die of heat stroke! I decided to put up with my “stupid watch” not working rather than let my classmates suffer!” She shouted, loud enough that both Kevin and Mr. Campbell flinched.
“That is quite enough of that! Now, why do you suppose Mr. Harper sent both of you down here?”
“I guess to make sure Kevin didn’t tell you I have him a dirty look or strangled him. But I should have!” She said as she glared at Kevin with anger.
“All right, Kevin, detention in the cafeteria, now.”
He shouted angrily as he bolted out of his seat and kicked the corner of Mr. Campbell’s desk before slamming the office door loudly behind him.
He sighed and rubbed his brow.
“Now, Rebekah … Next time someone bugs you or attempts to pick a fight, just control yourself and head straight to my office and report it. Don’t shout or get violent, it only makes matters worse.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. How are your hands?”
“They’re fine.”
“How about your computer?”
“I’ll check it when I get back to class.”
“Okay, you’re free to go, Miss Clark.”
* * * *
After returning to her desk quietly, she opened her laptop. It awoke from sleep and nothing seemed amiss. She wasn’t surprised, after all, she had dropped it many times and the worst drop only resulted in a dead hard disk drive. It could have been worse but ever since that incident, her parents insisted she be more responsible.
* * * *
The rest of the school day seemed to drag on. She did the best she could on her work, then climbed onto the bus, taking the same empty seat in the back row that she had arrived in.
One last look at the school building flooded her mind with memories. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t a care for her classmates. The playground was fun even when she swung on the swing set and blasted her iPod in her ears or played kickball against the gymnasium wall by herself. Beating at a tetherball by her lonesome proved to be entertaining during some days as well. Among some of the classes she enjoyed were gym class and survival. She learned basic skills like how to start a fire with moss or something else in the wild dry and flammable and rubbing two sticks together. She learned mouth-to-mouth resuscitation from books at the local library. Some of the things she felt she would never use but it wasn’t a bad thing knowing how to do them just in case. Originally she hoped that the survival class would help her overcome some of her fears but it hadn’t worked yet. The very thought of being stuck in the water scared her to death as she never learned how to swim. The other fear was painfully embarrassing to mention. Being afraid of the dark had to be the silliest thing to be afraid of for someone her age. She was just happy none of her survival class assignments involved going into a dark tent like structure with her fellow classmates. Surely Kevin would have a heyday if he knew.
* * * *
The bus pulled away from the school and began its short leg past the buildings and toward her street. Many cars drove by and her heart sank when she spotted a police car pass by. For a moment she thought she saw her father behind the wheel but after a closer look she found the man looked nothing like him.
Just as the bus stopped and she jumped out, the sky filled with clouds and it began pouring down rain! She ran for the front door and opened it, stepping inside to see her mother sweeping the floor.
“Hi, sweetie! I met a nice family at the pharmacy today! They live in an apartment not far from here. They want to take a look at the house, it seems like they may buy it. I told them to come by after school got out so they should be here any minute! How did your day go?”
“Horrible. The bully, Kevin, slammed my laptop closed on my hands and we both got sent to the principle’s office.”
“Come here, sweetie, let me see your hands.”
Rebekah groaned.
“Mom, I’m fine! Don’t worry about me, and before you ask, my computer is fine too.”
Her mother sighed and set the broom in the corner of the room.
“All right, Rebekah, go to the bathroom and wash up. Don’t forget make sure your room is tidy in case our guests want to take a look at it.”
“Aw Mom, do they have to see my room?” Rebekah whined.
“If they buy the house they are buying your room too,” she replied sweetly, giving her a kiss on the cheek as she walked by.
Rebekah did as she were told and went straight to the bathroom to wash up, leaving her backpack, along with her laptop bag right outside the bathroom door.
She had to admit to herself that she would miss the house. It was filled with windows, high ceilings, all of which had many lights on them. The kitchen was spacey with a big counter and a good-sized table in the middle with many chairs around. The kitchen itself had four small windows. The floorings were lovely hardwood with a smooth finish. She remembered learning to ride her first scooter in the house when she was seven. It seemed like a few days ago rather than four years. She also remembered the first time she turned too sharp and fell, hitting her head on the stone fireplace in the living room. Her parents laid her down on the long and comfy black leather couch. It was the first time she remembered seeing them in a real panic.
The bedrooms were the smallest rooms in the house. Both her room and her parents’ bedroom were the same size, with the extra bedroom or “guest room” as her father called it being the smallest of the three. It had its own bathroom though so it seemed just as big.
She would have preferred the guest room as her bedroom if it weren’t for the bathroom window facing directly out onto the house next door. The thought of someone looking in on her gave her the creeps!
Even though she had at times wished to paint her room another color, she didn’t mind the walls and ceiling being white. It did match the rest of the house, after all.
* * * *
She brushed her hair back and tucked it behind her ears before leaving the bathroom. Just when she dropped her bags on her bed, she heard the front door open and the sound of her mother greeting their guests.
She ran into the living room as fast as she could, her sneakers squeaking on the hardwood floor.
* * * *
The family was indeed quite cute. The husband was a tall and plump man with greying hair and a balding spot on his head. He wore glasses and a fancy looking suit; very fancy in fact, they looked like they would consider the house a steal!
The wife looked about her husband’s age, though, much thinner with straight black hair and a glowing face. She wore a long red dress, complete with fancy black dress up shoes and a nice big hat. A stroller sat in front of her with a little baby girl sleeping soundly inside. Their clothes made her mother’s black jeans and plain white tank top look boring though they didn’t seem the type to judge people by how they dressed. Even if they did care, they surely wouldn’t say so.
“Oh! Where are my manners? This is my daughter, Rebekah. Rebekah, meet Don and Nancy.”
“Nice to meet you both,” she said politely while shaking their hands.
“This is our daughter, Lisa,” Nancy said as both Mary and Rebekah gave the baby’s hand a little tug.
“Did you name her after the computer?” Rebekah asked with a curious look on her face.
Don chuckled as his wife gave her hosts a confused look.
“Never mind,” Rebekah replied quickly, looking quite embarrassed with herself.
As Mary followed behind her guests to show them the rest of the house, she turned and gave her daughter a goofy smile.
* * * *
“This is a lovely house, don’t you agree, darling?” Don said delightfully as they approached Rebekah’s bedroom door.
“Yes, quite! How much are you asking for it again?”
“We want one hundred twenty-five thousand, total.”
They both stopped in shock!
“Is that all? Are you sure?”
Mary nodded and Rebekah brightened.
“See? I told you someone would buy it, Mom!”
“If that’s really all you want, we’re sold! If that’s okay with you, Don.”
“Quite all right with me, darling! It may be a day or two before we can get everything arranged to move in. If you plan on moving out before we can move in, just give us a call and we’ll set everything up. Remind me to give you our phone number before we leave,” Don said with a smile.
“What is beyond this door?” Nancy asked.
Rebekah turned and looked at her mother who just gave her a nod.
“This is my room,” she replied quietly as she slowly opened the door, allowing them to step inside.
“Oh, this is just beautiful! You keep it very clean! Oh, how cute! Do you collect beanie babies?” Asked Nancy as she eyed the shelf on the wall over the desk that had all sorts of beanie animals placed neatly along the lengths of the shelves.
“Yeah I uh … I do,” she replied in a shaky voice, feeling a little silly.
“I think it’s adorable!”
Suddenly Rebekah’s watch made a loud beep and Don turned on his heel just as she stumbled backwards into her door!
“Rebekah!” Mary shouted in shock as she immediately ran over and put her arms around her as she checked her Gluco Watch.
“What’s wrong?” Both Don and Nancy asked in surprise as Lisa awoke and began crying.
“Thirty-seven?”
“S-Sorry, Mom … I d-didn’t eat l-lunch,” she stammered in reply as beads of sweat began to form on her face.
“What’s going on? Is there anything we can do to help?” Don asked as Nancy desperately tried to hush Lisa.
“She’s a diabetic. She has low blood sugar. Here, just watch her for me … I’ll be right back, Rebekah!” She said as she placed her trembling daughter on her bed, giving her a quick kiss on the head before running out of the room.
Don’s words were muffled and incoherent as she tried to keep her eyes open. The dizziness she felt became more powerful and it seemed like forever for her mother to return and feed her a glucose tablet along with a big glass of water. Her lips had quickly grown numb and she spilt most of the water down her shirt.
“Sorry about that! Excitement makes her blood sugar drop really fast sometimes, it’s not your fault … she should have eaten lunch. We’ll be fine, thank you,” she said with a smile as she calmly stroked her daughter’s hair.
* * * *
After much convincing that she would be fine, she decided to lie down and rest while her mother showed their guests the rest of the house. They agreed right away to buy it, in fact, they had more than enough money to pay it off! When Mary asked them why with all the money they have they didn’t want a nice quiet place out in the middle of nowhere. Don simply replied that they loved living in the city and when Lisa was old enough the school would be very close by.
* * * *
It was a whole half hour passed normal dinnertime when Rebekah finally got out of bed and came into the kitchen. Mary sat at the dinner table eating, with a very happy look on her face.
“Are you feeling better, Becky? How is your blood sugar?” She asked, looking up from her plate of corn and mashed potatoes.
“I’m feeling okay, I have a small headache. My blood sugar is one hundred seven now,” she replied, joining her mother at the table.
“You will never believe who called,” Mary said with a smile, placing a plate of food in front of her child.
“Who?”
“Your uncle, Bill! He wants us to come live with him for a while. You might not remember the house but its a beautiful one up in the mountains a few miles passed Aaron’s Point.”
“When are we leaving?”
“Well, we could start packing up tomorrow. The main things we want to keep, our beds, your scooter, pictures and things like that. I called a moving truck just a few minutes ago and they’ll take it to my brother’s place first thing tomorrow after we get it sorted out. I’ll arrange for us to leave sometime Sunday evening after church or Monday morning, depending on when I can get the car fixed, sound good?”
“Mom … You know that car is just going to break down on the road again somewhere, remember summer camp?”
“Ugh, I know honey but honestly, don’t you think that was just the good Lord’s way of helping us decide not to make you go? You didn’t really want to go that year anyway, did you?”
Rebekah paused in thought.
“No, not really.”
“Well, make sure you take your dinner shot after you’ve finished eating and then you can help me take some of these pictures off the walls.”
“Mom, do you really gotta do that tonight?”
“Well, why not, Becky? You don’t have to help but it would sure be nice if you did! Why didn’t you eat lunch at school today?”
“After Kevin got me sent to the principle’s office with him the last thing I wanted to do was sit in the cafeteria where his two bozo friends could make fun of me,” she replied, looking down at the last bit of her potatoes.
“Well, you know what? If we’re still here on Monday, I’ll just take you out of that school. It’s a win win situation! You won’t have to put up with Kevin, and you can help me pack!”
“Great, Mom,” she replied, sarcastically.
“Don’t forget to eat your corn, its good for you!”
* * * *
She finished her food, placed her plate in the sink on top of her mother’s, took her shot and joined her in the living room.
Mary had already gotten the step ladder and had begun taking the pictures from the walls on the harder to reach places, dusting them off and setting them in the cardboard box filled with crumpled newspaper.
Working on the wall opposite her mother, Rebekah pulled a picture from the wall next to the window and her mind filled with memories.
It was a picture her uncle, Bill, had taken of her mother and father sitting with her in the very small back yard on a picnic blanket. They held her hands and wore big smiles. She was only six years old that summer but the memories were still very fresh in her mind. She also remembered the old tire swing hanging from the tree right next to the corner of the fence. The tree was cut down a few years ago because it was too close to the power lines but she remembered her mother and father pushing her back and forth on it. Among her other memories was when her parents would fly her around the yard. Her father would hold her feet and her mother would hold under her arms and they would run her around in circles. At her age, she really believed she was flying!
She sighed and brushed a small tear from her eye before placing the picture carefully in the box at her feet.
* * * *
The rain was still coming down hard when they had finished taking down all the pictures. Rebekah took her shot and jumped as thunder suddenly clapped in the distance, nearly poking herself in the thumb while trying to place the cap back on the syringe.
When she first started dealing with diabetes, taking the shots and watching her blood sugar, she became very sullen and discontent for a few weeks.
It really bummed her out, thinking back; maybe she was just throwing a pity party for herself some. Her parents didn’t give in, though and she got used to it. Her injection sites on her belly above her waistline were no longer sore and it began like a regular thing. A habit, so to say.
One thing that didn’t make sense about injecting insulin however, was sometimes poking the needle into her skin would hurt a lot but it wouldn’t bleed. Some of the times that it happened to be completely painless, it would start bleeding!
* * * *
Once in her room, they both said their prayers and kissed each other goodnight. Mary flipped on the nightlight before leaving the room and closing the door on her way out.
* * * *
She lay there asleep for a good long while until the rumbling of thunder awaked her! She opened her eyes and quickly looked around the room to notice that the power had gone out. The sky was filled with clouds and the moon was completely hidden, leaving her room in total darkness.
She tossed and turned; trying to go back to sleep but her mind wouldn’t let her.
For as long as she could remember she had always been afraid of the dark, it seemed silly to her that she hadn’t outgrown it yet.
She sat up in bed and looked around her room again. It wasn’t hot at all, so she wasn’t sweating but her silky top and bottomed pajamas seemed to give her the chills. She climbed out of bed and left her room, heading straight for her mother’s room. She opened the door without knocking and tried her best to creep up and climb into the bed without waking her, but she turned over and her eyes locked on her daughter’s bright white outfit immediately.
“Mom, the power went out and it’s too dark in my room, I can’t sleep.”
“That’s okay, get in next to me, but don’t be a wiggle worm, how’s your blood sugar?”
“It’s 93,” she said as she hastily got under the nice warm covers.
“Mom?”
“Mm?” her mother asked sounding as if she had almost fallen asleep.
“Dad did go to heaven, didn’t he?”
She quickly sat up in bed, looking straight into her daughter’s eyes as she placed a warm hand softly on her cheek.
“Yes, he did sweetie, we’ll see him again one day, you’ll see.”
“Mom, do you think God took dad away because he needed a good Police man to arrest the bad dudes up there?”
Her mother smiled as she laid her head back down on her pillow.
“Maybe.”
“Good night mom.”
“Good night Becky.”
* * * *
Chapter 3
Rebekah stirred in her sleep as dark shadows began to fill her mind. She stood alone in an empty street as rain poured down, soaking the cement. Lighting flashed behind the dark clouds and illuminated the street around her. Two small lights flickered in the distance and grew bigger. She squinted her eyes and tried to analyze them.
“Headlights,” she muttered in a hushed voice.
She wanted to move as they sped toward her but her legs felt like jello! Just when she thought she would be road kill they stopped two inches in front of her! The headlights belonged to an ambulance and she knew right then and there who was going to be in the back. She tried to scream or kick her feet, anything that would make her mother wake up her but she couldn’t even gasp. Her legs moved against her will, walking her to the back of the ambulance as the doors sprung open. Just as she spotted the shape of a man lying under the white blanket on top of the gurney she sat upright in bed, clinging to the covers for dear life!
“Rebekah, you okay?” Her mother mumbled, turned over and yanking her side of the covers back.
“Yeah I’m fine.”
Mary fell back to sleep in a matter of seconds but Rebekah lay awake for over an hour, trying to feel sleepy again. These strange dreams often turned to nightmares in the blink of an eye and they weren’t abnormal to say the least. Ever since her father’s death she had been experiencing them. It wasn’t every night of course. Some nights she slept completely fine, just like a baby. Maybe it had to do with the rain and thunder but this night seemed to be one of her unlucky ones. She quickly lost count of the amount of minutes she lay there trying to fall asleep and when she finally did shut her eyes for good, she didn’t even notice.
* * * *
The birds sang their morning song softly as Rebekah awoke softly and slowly sat upright in bed.
“Mom must be in the kitchen making breakfast,” she thought as she stretched and yawned loudly. She ran her fingers through her messy feeling hair before flopping back down in bed, she decided that after breakfast, today was the day to take a shower.
The power had come back on; the clock on her mother’s nightstand was blinking, all digits reading the number eight.
Things were changing dramatically for her, whether she liked it or not. They were going to be moving away from the house she had lived in all her life. A dangerous gang murdered her father after two of its head members were finally released from prison. Sometimes she wondered why they were moving. Could it be because the two men and the entire gang are out on the streets still in operation? Were they in danger? She knew her uncle Bill quite well, considering the fact that the times she saw him were few and far in between. He was a responsible man, married, no kids but he had a thriving business with his chain of computer stores. It reminded her of a few years ago when uncle Bill and her father were raving together about all the problems the new Operating System from Redmond Washington was giving them. She’d used it in school once or twice, even though it looked nice and reminded her a lot of her Apple MacBook, it did seem incredibly clunky and unreliable at times. She didn’t mind the idea of going to live with him, at least they had found someone who was willing to buy the house, though it pained her quite a bit to leave it and she couldn’t help but let it show as she sat down at the kitchen table, still dressed in her pajamas.
* * * *
“Becky, is something the matter?” Her mother asked with a questioning look on her face as she set down two plates of scrambled eggs on the table.
“I’ll miss the house, won’t you?”
“Yes, I will, but sometimes moving away can be good, moving away from the bad memories can help you to better keep the good memories in your heart.”
“Are we in danger?”
“What would make you ask that, Becky?”
“I’m just wondering, I can’t imagine bad memories being the only reason that you would want us to move away.”
“Becky, I don’t want you to worry about anything, okay? Just help me pack up things today, the moving truck will be here in a few hours and we don’t want to keep the driver waiting, I also called someone in to take a look at the car, we’ll see if we can get it fixed.”
“What if we can’t?”
Just then there was a loud knock on the door and Mary quickly left the table to go answer.
Rebekah didn’t over hear much as she sat there eating her breakfast, she assumed it was a mechanic, coming to look at the car already. She glanced over at the clock on the wall by the stove as she took both her breakfast and morning shot, eleven-thirty A.M.
The rain had stopped completely, the sun peeked slightly through the clouds as she looked out the kitchen window and saw her mother walking behind a man with short straight blond hair, muscular arms and dressed in a blue short sleeved shirt and dirty looking blue jeans. He was indeed the mechanic.
She realized that her mother might be out in the garage for quite some time explaining the problems so she decided to cover her food for her with a paper towel before going into her room, grabbing some clean clothes and heading for the bathroom to take a shower.
Because the power had been off all night, it took a moment for the hot water to kick in and when it finally did, she had already soaked herself with chilling cold water!
As she scrubbed her head with shampoo she felt her blood sugar begin to drop slowly. It brought back memories of her first seizure she had from hypoglycemia. It was her second night at home after being in the hospital for nearly a week, she was nine years old at the time.
She woke up in the middle of a cold winter night, feeling extremely dizzy and shaky. She knew what was wrong with her and took it upon herself to head straight for the kitchen and take one of her glucose tablets.
To her dismay, she was in worse condition than she had previously thought and didn’t make it to the kitchen without falling down many times.
She took her last fall by the kitchen table and immediately felt pains all over her body as she uncontrollably kicked and groaned while lying on her back. Her parents came rushing into the kitchen as her body bent upward and they both put their arms around her to try and keep her still, running their hands softly from her face all the way down to her middle.
She didn’t remember how long it had lasted but she remembered it was the most terrifying night of her life!
She remembered being injected with glucagon and from that moment on, her parents kept an extra supply of it in the house.
They had also bought her the Gluco Watch; its main purpose in her life was to wake her at night when her blood sugar level was below normal by setting off an alarm. Even though it was rather expensive and quite the pain for her to use, she agreed with her parents that it seemed to serve its purpose. Better safe than sorry! Her parents always said.
* * * *
She finished up as quick as she possibly could, got dressed, brushed her hair and teeth, returned to the kitchen, and grabbed an apple from the fruit basket on the counter to eat it while she waited for her mother to return from the garage.