Tuesday, January 20, 2009

New and IMPROVED Twilight

I was dreading the plane ride to Waterloo. The idea of living with my father was frightening. No matter how ‘awesome’ he tried making Waterloo, I still didn’t want to go. The rain poured against the airport’s window as I watched the plane pull up into the terminal. The loudspeaker called for flight 718: my flight. I grabbed my bag and ticket and got up to leave. I stood in silence as I boarded the plane and found my seat. I stared at the empty seat next to me until it was filled by an overweight middle aged man.
The flight felt like it lasted more than three hours. I was asleep for at least two of those hours and was awakened by the landing. I looked out the window as we came to a stop. Home. I exited the plane without any excitement. I finally found Dad as I walked to baggage claim. He had somehow already found all three of my suitcases and loaded them onto a cart. He ran and gave me a hug as soon as he saw me.
“Hey, Darlin’,” he said as let me go.
“Hey, Dad, how are you?”
“I’m good. And how’ve you been, lately?”
I forced a smile as I started pushing the cart towards the exit. “I’ve been good.”
“Good,” he smiled and nodded his head.
We walked in silence until we got into the car and drove off.
“I enrolled you in Waterloo High School. You start tomorrow. Hope you don’t mind,” he said trying to make small talk.
“Great.” I said, “School is….great,” I said hesitantly.
He nodded his head and kept trying. I guess he picked up on the fact that I wasn’t into the small talk crap. When we got home, he threw my suitcases into the room I used to stay in while I was younger. The walls were now a faded pink and pictures of flowers filled the shelf. I ignored the past and focused on settling in.
“You gonna eat super?” Dad called from down stairs.
“No,” I called back with as much energy as I could find. I unpacked my PJs, toothbrush, toothpaste, and retainer and went into the bathroom. I got ready for bed as quickly as I could and jumped into the bed. I was not looking forward to school tomorrow.
The next morning I woke up about thirty minutes too early. I walked down stairs and found Dad sitting alone reading the paper. He didn’t acknowledge my presence. I could tell he wasn’t used to having someone else living in the same house. I grabbed a bagel out of the bag and walked back upstairs to get ready. After I was ready to leave, I grabbed my book bag and headed back down stairs. Dad had already left, but there was a note and keys on the table. “Here are the keys to your new old truck.”
‘New Old?’ I thought to myself. As I walked outside I realized what he meant by a new old truck. It was a 1962 Ford Ranchero. Chipped, dull red paint and tired that looked older than me. I threw my book bag in the truck’s tail bed cautiously. I shoved the key into the door and unlocked it. I got in my new old truck and looked around. At least he had a CD player installed, I thoughts as I started the car.
I drove to school listening to the first radio station I found. I was going to have to find my CDs before the day was over. I pulled into the school as people in the parking lot stared. The new girl. I sat in the car and watched people walk by. As soon as the bell rang, I got out of the car and grabbed my book bag. I noticed a guy coldly staring off into space. Then I realized he was looking at me. I ignored him and walked into the school and headed to the office.
They gave me my schedule and pointed me in the direction of my first block class: Advanced English 11. As I walked through the classroom door, everybody looked up. I noticed that the only empty seat was next to the guy that was staring at me earlier. I took my seat quietly and pulled my binder out of my bag. I felt the guy’s eyes cutting into my head like a laser. I turned to him and he looked my right in the eyes.
“Do you need something,” he asked coldly.
I hesitated. “A pencil.”
He handed me his. His skin was ice-cold as it rubbed against mine. His eyes were dark. No color. Almost like something supernatural. “You’re new.”
“Thanks for pointing that out,” I replied as I tried to catch up in the notes.
“No new kid should go the day without meeting someone.” He held out his hand. Apparently I was supposed to shake it. “I’m Fredward.”
“Fredward?” I asked as I shook his hand nicely.
“Yes. See, my mom likes the name Fred and my dad likes the name Edward. They had to meet in the middle somehow.”
“Ah,” I nodded my head, “I see.”
For what seemed like hours, we just sat there and stared at each other. I didn’t notice what was going on until someone taped on my back. I turned to look at a group of people staring down at me. I turned back to Fredward, but he was already out the door.
“Hey,” one of the girls said. “I’m Jessica. This is Jack, Lisa, Alison and John.”
I looked at them confused.
“We would like you to join us for lunch,” Jessica said with too much excitement.
I was still thinking about Fredward as I packed my bag and left with them.
“Hey,” Lisa said as we were walking down the hall. “How’d you get Fredward to talk? He hasn’t said a word to anybody except the teacher this whole semester.”
“Um…I’m not sure. I just asked to borrow a pencil.”
“Oh,” Lisa sounded disappointed.
“Why doesn’t he talk?” I asked curiously.
“No one knows. Him and his brothers and sisters just kinda skim through the halls. No one really pays them any attention anymore unless faced with them. They are weird.”
I nodded.
We reached the lunch room and found a place to sit. I spotted Fredward and who I guessed were his brothers and sisters. They were all a little too pale. Beautiful hair, almost like a wig. They were not talking. Or eating. They all just sat there and looked at the wall.
After lunch, he found me as I was walking towards my next class.
“Listen,” he said.
“What’s up?”
“I’m just gonna cut to the chase.”
“Which is?”
He looked deeply into my eyes as if he was staring into my soul. “Something is going on between us. I can tell. Don’t believe me? Trust me. I’ll pick you up tomorrow night at seven.”
I nodded my head in approval and went to class.
The next day, I counted down until seven o’ clock. I told Dad that I was just going to the mall to buy some new clothes. Fredward picked me up at exactly seven. I was amazed. I hoped into the car with a smile on my face. He started the car and slowly backed out of the driveway.
“You like going slow?” he asked.
“Not at all,” I replied.
“Good.” As he said it, he slammed the gas petal down. We were going 70 in the neighborhood’s 35 zone. I guess he really likes going fast, I thought.
We pulled up to an empty lot that I have never seen before. I didn’t recognize where we were or how we got there. We sat in the car looking at each other in silence. I looked at him confused. “Where are we?”
“Tuscaloosa.”
“Tuscaloosa?!”
“I drove really fast so the drive wasn’t as long,” he said with a laugh.
“I noticed.” I looked at him, “Why do you not eat?” I asked bluntly.
He looked surprised at the unexpected question.
“Can’t really.”
“Why not? Can good guys not eat?”
“What if I’m the bad guy?”
“What are you?”
“You know what I am. Go ahead and say it.”
He looked at me quietly. “A robot,” I responded.
He lightly kissed me and my knees buckled. He stepped back. “I can’t do this,” he said with sadness in his eyes.
“Why not?”
He leaned closer to me again. “All a robot every wants is to computerize a human’s brain. Turn them into one of us.”
“Is that all you ever wanted with me? Just to turn me into…a robot?”
He looked at me alarmed.
“Well?”
“NO!” he shook his head quickly.
“I love you too much. You are my life now.”I smiled and looked at him in silence.
“Just one thing,” he added, “There are aliens…”
I looked at him and chuckled.
“This is serious.”
“Of course it is,” I said with a laugh.
“Aliens hunt to kill. As apposed to robots who just computerize our prey.”
“And this affects me how?”
He looked at me and kissed me softly. “There is an alien at our school who has had his eyes on you.”
“I’m….in danger?”
He must have known that I was kind of freaked out because he looked at me and said, “No. You are my life now. I will protect you.”
I had barely noticed the radio still on. Flight of the Concords was playing over the local radio station. I leaned back against the seat. My life had just gotten three times more complicated then it had ever been.
“I have to protect you,” Fredward said.
Right then, there was a loud thump on the top of his car. He told to me stay in the car while he got out to make sure everything was okay.
I heard a few punches and screams as I sat there waiting. Before I l knew it, Fredward was thrown on top of the hood. I jumped when he hit the windshield hard. I threw the door open to find John standing over Fredward with a fist raised in the air.
“STOP!” I yelled unexpectedly.
They looked both looked at me instantly. I froze as John leaped out at me. Fredward cried out and jumped after him. Fredward caught John’s leg and John and Fredward both feel faces first into the hard concrete. John broke free of Fredward’s grip and ran fast. He had me pinned down and I couldn’t move to fight back. I started to get dizzy as a slow pain as if I was on fire spread throughout my body.

Black.

I awoke to find that I was in a hospital bed. Fredward was in the chair next to my bed looking like he was about to cry. We were alone.
“You can’t cry either, can you?”
He looked up at me. “No.”
“What happened?”
He looked at me and took hold of my hand. “He attacked you.”
I was confused. “What’s that even mean?”
“He turned you into an alien.”
I shot up from my bed in a panic. “WHAT?!” I yelled loudly.
“Don’t worry,” he said as he made me lie back down. “I reversed the affect by computerizing your brain.” He looked down at my hand in his.
“Does that mean that I am a robot now?”
He shook his head.



Ten years later…

I was pregnant with my twelfth kid and happier than ever. Fredward and I lived on the outskirts of town in a nice house. Fredward and I both had become teachers and were working hard to keep up with the bills. The recession hit us hard, but we were both thankful that Bush was leaving office.

1 comment:

  1. Fredward...Ha!

    Twelve kids and Bush is leaving, far out.

    The last paragraph was funny. And the whole thing is so....you. (that's a good thing)

    ReplyDelete