Reality Lies, D.F. Downey [books for students to read TXT] 📗

girl inside. I thought he was getting a little too cocky. That’s what pissed me off. He was acting like I was an idiot.”

 

“So, you weren’t defending my honor?”

 

“Mine first, then yours.”

 

“Thanks.” she said sarcastically.

 

“If it’ll make you feel better, I would have hit him for you alone. It’s just I really don’t like when someone thinks I’m stupid.”

 

“Okay, so are you finished?”

 

“With Brian? Sure. We’ll see how good he is now without my help.”

 

“What now?”

 

“I’m taking you home first then I have to talk to my mom.”

 

“Are you ready for that? Maybe, you should sleep on it.” Amy was afraid of what might come out of this confrontation.

 

“I wouldn’t be able to sleep, now’s as good a time as any.”

 

They arrived at her door. “See you.” She looked him in the eyes checking his intentions. “Right?”

 

“Yeah, I’ll give you a call.” he started to walk away then turned around, “What am I doing? He bounced up the steps, meeting her just as she turned. He grabbed her wrist and kissed her. She didn’t resist. Then just as abruptly he stopped and jumped down the stairs. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

 

“Love you.” she cried out as she caught her breath. She leaned up against the railing and stood there watching him go. “I hope he’s alright.” she said to herself. “This is going to be tough.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 23

 

Jay gathered his thoughts as he raced along. When he got close to home, about a block away, he slowed down then stopped altogether. “Maybe Amy’s right, I should wait till morning.” But he knew he couldn’t. Scores of scenarios played around in his head. What if his mother said he was angry? That might actually be easier than having her admit the truth. Finally, he resolved to go inside. His mother was waiting for him. She knew what this was about.

 

“Jay, we have to talk. I have something to tell you.” she said preemptively.

 

He didn’t say a word. He simply assumed a seat opposite.

 

“Jay, you know I love you, don’t you honey.”

 

Jay didn’t answer but she continued anyway.

“It’s been just you and me for so long, at least until lately. Don’t get me wrong, Amy’s a wonderful girl. It’s only that I miss the closeness we’ve always had.”

 

Jay was cold. “It’s getting late, what do you want to tell me?”

“Jay, you know how I’ve always told you that you were special?”

 

There was no reply, not even a hint of acknowledgment from Jay.

 

She continued. “Well, I’m sure you always thought it was mom being a mom. But it’s always been a lot more than that. You’re different Jay. You have a special gift. You see the world differently. Then everyone else sees what you see.”

 

“Uh huh.”

 

“Jay, I don’t think you get the significance. Your vision changes the world.”

 

“Why are you telling me this?” Jay couldn’t disguise the hostility in his voice.

 

“You need to know. You’re old enough to know.”

 

“But why tonight? Why the sudden urgency?”

 

“It’s been weighing on me. It just struck me that tonight was the night to tell you.”

 

“Right, no one’s told you anything.” Jay replied.

 

He heard a noise from the other room. “Who’s that?” he said as he bounded through the door. He stopped, dumbfounded. “Detective Plant, what are you doing here?”

 

“It’s all right Ted, I’ll tell him. Ted…Detective Plant heard reports of your minor crime wave and putting two and two together we realized what happened.”

 

“That is?”

 

“Amy told you about your difference.”

 

“Spell it out mom. What did she tell me?”

 

“That the world changes to fit what you see. That she was ugly as sin. That some of your friends knew, that I knew.”

 

“You’re wrong about the last part. She said you might have been so clouded by your love that you didn’t notice.”

 

“So, she said I’m stupid. Well, she’s the stupid one. She should have come to me. I would have told you without all this mess.”

 

“When, mom, when?”

 

“I had decided to tell you on your next birthday. I figured you’d be old enough. I didn’t figure on you two getting so close.”

 

“Yeah, like I believe that you were ever going to tell me. Just like you never told me what happened to my father.”

 

She didn’t know what to say. Jay had always been so trusting. She had never had to answer any hard questions.

“I told you what happened to your father. He left us.”

 

“I know that. He’s not here is he? My question is why. Was it me? Did I make him disappear?”

 

“Of course not honey!” Jay wasn’t buying it.

 

“It was me. I can see it in your face. He couldn’t deal with having a freak for a son!” Jay couldn’t disguise his hurt.

 

“He loved you very much!”

 

“Then why haven’t I heard from him. It’s been what, fourteen years? Not a peep. If he loved me I would have heard from him by now. Tell me the truth.”

 

“Okay,” she paused, “I suppose you’re old enough to hear what happened.” She glanced at Detective Plant. He was listening intently.

 

“It’s true. We had been arguing over you. But not about you being a freak, as you said. We were arguing about how to handle your gift. Your father said we needed help. It was too much for us to deal with alone. The night he left we had a huge argument. He said he couldn’t live like this anymore. I knew what he meant but at the time I couldn’t face it. He said he was leaving if we didn’t get help. Then he stormed out. I thought he would cool down, come back, like he usually did. I even thought I heard him walking around in the middle of the night but he never returned and I never heard from him again.” By this point she was staring off, lost in a lonely moment.

 

Jay was incredulous. “He didn’t take anything? You never heard from him? He said he would leave if? Didn’t you ever wonder if anything happened to him? Did you ever check?”

 

Detective Plant spoke, “When I met your mother at the time of Robbie D’Angelo’s kidnapping you were five. Jackie got her to tell me what happened. Jackie already figured things weren’t normal around you. When your mother got out of jail and you changed her and later changed your house. Well, they had to tell me.”

 

Jay ignored the history and simply asked, “Who else knows?”

 

Besides me, Jackie, Brian and his pals and now Amy, no one else knows the whole truth, but a lot more people know strange things happen around you.” His mother answered.

 

“Oh.” Jay, surprisingly, felt a little guilty.

Plant continued. “Getting back to your father, I had the same reaction you did when they told me but I could see how overwhelming your gift would have been.”

 

He paused a moment, “I decided to help quietly, unofficially of course. I’ve been looking ever since. I even backdated a missing person report. Your father disappeared without a trace. There is nothing.”

 

“Nothing?” Jay was disappointed.

 

“Nothing, I’ve used every contact I have, searched every database.”

 

“Do you think he’s dead?” Jay asked hopeful of a negative answer.

 

“You want me to be honest?”

 

“Yes.” Jay knew this wasn’t true.

 

“That’s very unlikely.” Plant answered matter-of-factly pausing to let it sink in before continuing,

“Your father left so many assets behind. Yet, he never attempted to reclaim them. His fingerprints have never matched to another name. I’m still looking but as the years pass it’s looking less likely I’ll ever find him.”

 

Jay hung his head.

 

“I’m sorry Jay. I never knew how to tell you.” Johanna attempted to comfort him.

 

Jay stared straight ahead.

 

“Jay?”

 

He didn’t respond.

 

“I think he’s somewhere else.” Plant offered.

 

The reality had triggered something. Something he couldn’t recall ever seeing before. He was in his crib. He couldn’t have been more than three. He knew this because the old wallpaper was still on the walls. He was drifting in and out of sleep. As the car lights passed and danced on the walls he saw it two ways. First it had a woodland scene, then it had….

 

He ran towards his room. His mother and Plant close behind him.

 

“What, Jay, what?” His mother called after him. But he didn’t answer just ran inside. He began frantically clearing everything away from the wall opposite the window.

 

“What are you doing?” Johanna cried as he continued tossing things aside.

 

He stopped, grabbed her by the shoulders, looked her dead in the eyes then asked, “When did you get this wallpaper.”

 

“What? Are you going crazy?”

 

He grew more intense. “When did you get this wallpaper?” he shouted.

 

“Right after your father disappeared.”

 

He released his grip. She stood still, hopeful she had calmed him.

 

“Did they strip the old paper before they put it up?” He was barely under control.

 

“Yes.” she said reflexively. He looked crestfallen. Without seeing this she changed her answer, “No, I don’t really know. I was upset. I just let them do their job.”

 

“So you don’t know.” he paused, “Was the old wallpaper a kind of woodland scene?”

 

She was surprised. “Why yes, it was. How could you remember that? You couldn’t have been more than three…”

 

He had climbed up on a chair and started gently picking at the top of the wallpaper. Luckily, it was a fabric type and came off easily in full strips.

 

His mother stood by helplessly. She could only offer weakly, “I guess it’s about time you got to pick your own stuff but honey couldn’t this wait until morning?”

 

He didn’t answer. Instead, he methodically continued to remove the paper. Then as he neared the right corner he stopped. He stared intensely for a few moments then gently removed a strip from the middle of the wall.

 

He started sobbing uncontrollably, pressed against the wall then slumped to the floor.

 

“Honey, it’ll be alright.” She cooed as she tried to comfort him.

 

Ted Plant interrupted, “Uh Johanna.” He was looking at the wall.

 

“Ted, not now.”

“Really, Johanna.” Ted was insistent.

 

“Ted, it might be better if you left.”

 

He had to blurt it out, “Is that Jay’s father?” He pointed at the wall.

 

“What are you talking ab…”

 

She managed to get out, “Oh my God.” before she collapsed besides Jay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 24