Jade got home, and for the first time Jim was actually home. “How was school honey?” he asked her, taking her backpack and sitting it on the kitchen table.
“Um, fine?” she asked. She wasn’t used to having someone home, to have someone asking about her day. She had been away from her father for so long, seeing him so little, that his face was starting to be alien to her. “How was your day?”
“Great, finished, gone, out of here,” Jim said, a little hyper.
Jade laughed. “I didn’t think you would be home already?”
“I’m been working my butt off trying to play catch up. They are bringing in this new piece . . . oh you know what, let’s not talk about work or school, lets just go have fun. We haven’t spent that much time together, lets go into the city.”
She smiled, feeling normal for the first time in a few days. Both of them grabbed a sweater and threw a coat over that. They heard there was a chance of snow, but that wasn’t going to stop them. They headed out the door. Mr. Moon was just going into the house when he turned around and saw them. “Hey, where you guys going?”
“Movie, possibly some dinner, seeing what the city has.”
“Well, have fun you too,” he waved them off, slipping inside. “Be careful.”
Jim and Jade drove into the city. Thinking that she had seen the big city before, Jade begun to realize that she hadn’t seen anything like this before. The buildings were tall and huge, the city lights breathed down on them. Every direction was traffic, coming and going away from them.
Jade closed her eyes in the car. She never thought she would move away from Kansas, but she was glad that she did. She begun to think about the world that she had seen. Not just the other realms, but Denver. Everything had changed.
There was no going back.
And maybe that was okay.
Once that got to the movies, they realized how crowded it could really be. They bought tickets to the late show, the only that didn’t play until three hours later. They decided to walk down the street and to a pizza restaurant.
They both ordered personal pizza, Jim having everything pizza, and Jade with her pineapple. Jim teased her, but Jade had defended her love of pineapples.
“I thought I raised you better than that.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Jade said, biting into her pizza.
“How are you liking school?”
“I like it.”
“Any friends you made?”
“Just Noah.”
“Just Noah? Well, you’ll make more friends, I’m sure of it.”
Jade just nodded. She could only think of Storm and shiver at the thought that someone could be just like her.
“How is work going for you?”
“Great . . . I suppose. I have been thrown into the middle of a project I barely know anything about, but I’m learning more and more about it. It’s from South America, but the way we have been studying it doesn’t seem like South America is where it is from, you know? It’s weird, I have never seen anything like this. I can’t even pin it down. There are no books on it or anything.”
“What do you think it is?”
“Maybe the Mayans had worshiped it? Maybe it’s just a jewelry box or something. Who knows what it really is, you know? We just can’t open it.”
“Oh, is it a box?”
“Possibly. Who knows. Oh, hey, the movie is going to start soon, lets get going.”
They walked back to the movies, holding hands so that they didn’t get lost in the crowd. People were just coming out of the last movie while Jade and Jim waited in line to get snacks. Once they were settled, and they were allowed to go into the movie, they sat down.
“Front or back?”
“Middle,” Jade said, running ahead of Jim, and picking out the seat.
They waited for the movies. It’s been a while since Jade had gone to one. Now they were showing commercials
Jim was texting on his phone. When Jade looked over, she saw that someone had sent him a picture, and Jade’s heart sunk all the way to the floor.
It was a Red Box.
“Dad, who are you texting?”
“Co-worker. He’s sending me updates on it. You want to look?” Jim asked, shoving her the phone.
Do you like my home?
Jade threw the phone back to him, and quickly stood up. “I’m going to the bathroom,” she said, running out the door.
She ran past people, not even caring if she was polite about it. When she reached the bathroom, she threw up. Her stomach was in knots.
What’s wrong Jade? Scared that I am closer than you think?
She grabbed her forehead, and sat on the floor. She whispered to herself, “Get out of my head.”
When she got up, she washed her hands and walked out the bathroom. She stood there for a second, debating if she was going to be sick again or not. She looked over to the front doors, and saw a tall skinny boy staring at her. He was strange looking, something off.
When he noticed she was staring right at him, he walked out the doors. She decided to not think about it, and just head back to the movies.
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