Fall Rising: Chapter 9

It’s Thursday and I’m supposed to be studying, because I have an hour before work. I even found this really quiet room off the library, but somehow, everybody but Liam found me here. So I guess it’s turned into more of a party than a study session. But I suppose it’s better to study with friends than alone anyway. Even if they make it super hard to concentrate.

Jess glanced around the noisy room, wishing for an I-Pod or earmuffs. Anything to block out the sound of Emily carrying on with Aaron.

The two of them had given up studying their Humanities and Graphic Design for the time being, and from what Jess could figure out, they appeared to be playing zoo with Emily’s animal crackers. Every once in a while an odd sound could be heard as Aaron made sound-effects that approximated to one of the zoo animals being chewed to death by Emily.

Jess couldn’t make this stuff up. It was too good.

Across from her, Legend was studiously doing her best to ignore the fun and games, and study for her upcoming test. Somehow, at Aaron and Emily’s table near the single window in the room, Bryan and Nate were softly trading terminology and definitions for the class they had together.

Coby and Jonathan were sitting near each other at the same table as Morgan and Libby. Jonathan was trying to stay awake and finish some reading he had to do, while Coby kept getting distracted, and glancing over to see what Jess was up to. To make things worse, Jess always noticed, and looked up, grinning shyly at him. Coby knew they both were thinking of their date the previous night. Jess would never call it that, because Christian had been there, but Coby knew that’s what it was.

Morgan had her laptop open, and her I-Pod on her ears, listening to Jason Mraz sing that he was hers, and trying to type a paper on the three-hundred page book, she managed to read in the last twenty-four hours, knowing there would be a quiz on it the next day. As usual, Morgan would have no other time to study, because she would be busy working her twelve-hour shift again. Morgan stared at the screen, wondering how she could adequately describe what a letdown the book had been. The last chapter had fizzled out, and was totally depressing, like the author gave up when she couldn’t come up with a suitable ending. Plus, thanks to this book, Morgan knew far more about certain parts of male anatomy than she ever wanted to.

Libby was trying to study her Spanish. She had still had no idea what her professor was talking about half the time. She was a cute lady, but she had a thick accent, and Libby had a hard time understanding her. Today, to learn about Spanish culture, the professor had let them watch an appearance by a famous Latino singer, who at one point started salsa dancing during an instrumental break. Her professor got totally excited and wanted the whole class to get up and do the dance too, but no one did, until she offered them ten extra credit points. Even then, only one girl did it. And Libby wasn’t it.

So far, for homework, she had gone over to Bryan’s, since Morgan told her he spoke Spanish, and watched a show on the Spanish channel. Then, she summarized what the show was about. Now, she was stuck studying tenses for a test coming up. They were weird ones she had never heard of in English, let alone Spanish, like imperfect and subjunctive. Libby was about to interrupt Bryan and Nate’s study session to ask Nate for help when her phone rang. She glanced at it, saw that her brother was calling again, and hung up, not even waiting for him to say hello.

It was bad enough that she had been all but cornered by this creepy older guy who worked at Pizza Piazza. His nametag said Buddy of all things, and he seemed to Libby like he was a few sandwiches short of a picnic. He kept telling her how soft her hair was, and then touching it without her telling him it was okay. Emily, of course, loved him, and was super friendly, talking to him, as she ate her huge taco salad. Libby knew only Emily could put away one of those before ten in the morning. It was amazing she had room for anything else. Buddy’s awkward presence and her brother’s constant phone calls made Libby feel sick and irritable in turn.

Checking her voicemail confirmed that the phone call had been from Liam. He was calling for the millionth time because he was skateboarding at the park during his free period. No one was there, and since all of them were together, he figured they could all come over and do something.

She ducked her head, dodging glares from Legend and Jonathan.

“Some of us are studying,” Legend snapped, clearly annoyed.

“Seriously, girl. Who keeps calling you?” Morgan asked, lifting her hair off the back of her neck. It was stifling in here.

“My brother. He’s at the skate park and he’s bored. He wants all of us to, like, come over or something.”

“There’s a skate park here?” Morgan asked incredulous. “Where?”

“On 7th Avenue, or something,” Libby supplied. She could care less where the stupid park was, but knew Morgan liked skateboarding, and for some reason beyond Libby’s comprehension, liked her brother, too.

“I should call him. Can I have his number?” Morgan asked, curiously.

Jess looked up from her textbook, and reached into her bag for the directories she had finally found the time to copy three times by hand.

“Here, you guys. That reminds me,” she said, handing them out.

Morgan scanned hers until she found the number she was looking for near the very bottom of the page. Then she excused herself to make a call.

--

“Hello?” Liam asked, not recognizing the number in his caller ID window. He was breathless and sweating from hitting all the ramps and rails as hard as possible.

“Hey, loser. How come you never told me there was a skate park here?” Morgan teased.

“Morgan?” Liam guessed, intrigued. “How’d you get this number?”

She smiled. “The awesome new directory Jess is handing out. You’ll get yours soon. She’ll probably give it to Nate or Jon to give you.”

“Speaking of Jess,” Liam said, changing the subject smoothly. “What do you know about her family?”

Morgan leaned back against the hallway wall. “I know what she said last week. I know she doesn’t like talking about it. And if I were you, I’d back off if you don’t want a repeat performance of last week.”

Practically everybody in Grand Central had to know that Jess wasn’t sleeping well. Morgan had been up late the previous night, reading the stupid book for her class. She had set it aside and asked how dinner with Coby went. Jess shared a little bit, and then decided to turn in early.

Several hours later, Morgan was still up, reading, when Jess appeared in the kitchen again. This time, she had looked really pissed, and it had taken Morgan a few minutes to figure out Jess was sleepwalking.

Morgan had trailed her - a bad habit that formed when Pete used to do the same thing in second grade. She’d been curious, liking to see what he did, and trying to guess what he was dreaming about. Morgan knew almost instantly that Jess wasn’t dreaming anything good.

She started shaking and kind of sniffling, like she was cold or crying. Morgan had offered Jess a blanket, and Jess had flinched away, repeating the word, “Sorry.” Quietly, Morgan continued following Jess, sneaking around her to set a kitchen chair in front of the door, when Morgan noticed her trying to open it.

When Jess folded herself in the hall closet where Christian had broken the shelf earlier, Morgan simply went and got her book, reading across from the closet until she finally finished. Not knowing what else to do, Morgan reluctantly woke Legend, who worked some kind of magic, getting her scared friend back to bed.

“Morgan?” Liam asked, confused by the long silence. A new call beeped in and Liam checked it. “I‘m getting a call from a weird number. I‘m gonna take it, okay? Are you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m here. Call me sometime, and we’ll skate together,” Morgan offered, before hanging up.

--

“Liam? It’s Joey Barrett. Nate’s brother.”

Closing his eyes, Liam wished he had let this call go to voice mail.

“Yes?” he asked shortly. He wished he had stayed off the phone. Now he was going to eat up all his skate time talking to people he didn’t even like.

“Nate gave me your number before I left. I can’t let you think what you do about us, so check your text messages, and call me back,” Joey urged.

Because he was curious, Liam obeyed. He saw one from the unfamiliar number and opened it. Two kids (one dark, one light) and Amy Barrett, Nathaniel’s mother, who he remembered meeting on move-in day, stared back at him, smiling. One boy - Liam knew it was Nathaniel, just by glancing - looked to be about eight with curly dark hair and brown skin. He was smiling, and holding the hand of the kindergarten-aged boy. This kid was a dead-ringer for Joey, and upon closer inspection, Liam could see that both shared resemblance with their mom. Joey had her blond hair, blue eyes and complexion, while Nathaniel had her smile and identically-dimpled cheeks.

Embarrassed, Liam called Joey back.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized when he heard Joey pick up. “You really are brothers, huh?”

“Half-brothers,” Joey qualified. “But we don’t count the half.” He paused a beat before continuing. “Listen, Nathaniel has enough to worry about by himself. He doesn’t need to worry about being your roommate, too.”

“Worry about,” Liam stated. “What’s he got to worry about? It’s not like I’d hurt him.”

“Nate used to come home from school every day, beat up. You know why? ’Cause of ignorant haters like you,” Joey said calmly.

Liam shifted, uncomfortable now. He had missed the topic-switch from race to sexual orientation.

“I don’t hate your brother,” Liam said honestly.

Joey glanced at his watch, knowing his bathroom pass could only last so long. “I know,” he sighed. “But you don’t respect him, either. And that’s wrong. As a Christian, and as a man.” Joey paused again, praying Liam would take his words to heart. “Listen, I need to go. Just think about it,” he urged.

So Liam hung up, and decided he would.

--

Legend was running so late right now. She had a million errands to run, and she couldn’t afford to take Christian along. She knew Jess would be upset with her but Legend really had no other choice than to drop him off with Liam. He would only be there an hour or two.

She had a project, a test and a paper, all due on Monday. Plus, she had to get to the bank before it closed to deposit money in her own account as well as Jess’s, which was something she had been doing without Jess knowing, since Christian was born. Legend also had a second savings account, where she had also been putting money in each week since Christian was born. This one was his college fund.

“I’ll pick you up in a little while, okay?” Legend said, waiting with Christian outside the apartment door. He had been unusually quiet since her announcement that he would be playing at Liam’s for a while. “Hey, maybe Nate will be here, and you can play with him,” Legend suggested, trying to make Christian smile.

When the door opened and Liam stood there looking very tall, Christian wanted Bacony very bad. And he wanted his mom to come and take him away from here.

“Hey, Christian!” Liam greeted brightly. “How are you?”

He studied Christian thoroughly, checking for new bruises or marks of any kind. He was certainly withdrawn. His hair looked messy, and his shirt was stained from some kind of art project. The black eye was almost gone, but Liam could still see it, just like he’d been able to see all of the bruises on Jess.

“Is Nate here?” he asked, feeling shy. Christian knew Nate. And he knew Nate was a good friend, who let him do fun stuff like crunch up coffee beans with his shoes.

“Nope. Nate’s working tonight, but you’re going to have lots of fun with me, I promise.”

Christian made a face. He didn’t like it when people he didn’t like promised him stuff. It wasn’t the same as when your mom promised you stuff.

Before Christian even knew what happened, Legend was gone and he was all alone with Liam. CJ didn’t move. He just watched while Liam got out some crayons and a coloring book.

“Here. Do you want to color?” Liam asked. No kid he knew turned down coloring.

“No, thank you,” Christian said. He was trying his extra best to be super polite so Liam wouldn’t get mad at him like before.

“Okay. Well, is it okay with you if I color?” Liam asked.

Christian nodded, as Liam laid on his belly on the floor and started coloring a picture of a truck. He did very good at staying in the lines, but Christian made himself not care about that.

“So, are you hungry?” Liam asked. “I’ve got chicken fingers in the oven, and French fries.” As long as he was down here, Liam studied Christian’s shoes. He found himself surprised. They looked brand new. He wondered how Jess had been able to afford that.

Christian’s belly did a big growl. That’s because it was very hungry. Except Christian already knew Liam was going to have to eat the chicken and fries all by himself. Because you should never take food or anything from a stranger. And Christian knew from his mom that a stranger sometimes was somebody you already knew but gives you bad feelings inside.

“Did you have breakfast today?” Liam quizzed, reaching for a yellow crayon.

A nod.

“Hey, me too! What did you have?” Liam wondered.

“Poptart,” Christian mumbled, twirling his hair around one finger. When he got nervous he did that just like his mom.

“Just a Poptart?” Liam pressed, feeling uneasy. Poptarts were full of chemicals.

Christian thought very hard. “And some milk. ‘Cause we were in a hurry.”

Nodding, Liam continued his quest. He knew this was the perfect opportunity to get important, unbiased information. “So, Christian? What’s your daddy’s name?”

Christian looked at the floor, and said very soft, “I don’t think he has one, ‘cause I don’t know who he is.”

“Okay. That’s okay. What a grandma and grandpa?” Liam urged, though he felt disturbed at the fact that this poor little kid didn’t even know his father.

Again, Christian shook his head no. “I don’t have any of those.”

“Do you have any other family besides your mom?” Liam asked, his heart sinking.

“Yeah, we got Legend,” he said, remembering how many times his mom said Legend was family. And Legend’s family said that same thing about them, too.

Finally, Liam gave up, going back to coloring his truck. Not many answers to be found here, but at least he knew where to start looking next.

--

Legend felt horrible leaving Christian for longer than she meant to. Jess had called her to say she was picking up a few extra hours of overtime, and it was nearly eight o’clock by the time she got back to pick him up.

Jon was watching TV, and Liam was watching Christian very intently, while Nate tried to coax him to eat a French fry.

“Hey,” Liam said, finally noticing Legend. “I was meaning to ask you. Do you know Jess’s parents?”

Legend nodded, going into the kitchen and scooping up Christian for a hug. “Yeah, I knew her dad. We lived practically across the street.”

“So you’re from the same neighborhood then?”

Rolling her eyes, Legend elaborated so he would get off her back. “Yes, she and I both grew up on Yukon and Birch in South Lake.”

“He wouldn’t eat,” Nate said apologetically. “I tried to get him to, but he said he wasn’t hungry.”

“Is he okay? I mean, has he done this kind of thing before? He seems really withdrawn,” Liam commented.

“It’s probably just because he doesn’t know you,” Legend reassured, though she was worried, too. She knew his schedule, and that he ate at six o’clock every night.

She hurried him to the car and drove thru McDonald’s, picking Christian up a Happy Meal. “Honey, why didn’t you eat at Liam’s?” she asked, gently.

“’Cause,” Christian answered, his mouth already full of chicken nuggets. “He made me feel bad inside like a stranger does.”

Legend sighed, feeling more guilty than ever. “Christian, I would never leave you somewhere it wasn’t safe to be, okay?”

Christian nodded, licking the salt off his fingers from the fries that tasted much better than Liam’s probably did.

McDonald’s wasn’t the only treat Legend gave him. When they got home, she stopped on the way inside, and found him a special rock that was called buried treasure because it was buried in the ground.

--

Jess felt sick as she walked into the movie theater behind half a dozen of her friends. She held Christian’s hand tightly.

She could not believe she was doing this. As if her life wasn’t busy and traumatic enough as it was, now Liam had sprung this movie on all of them after asking that they all try attending a service together. Since they had all traveled in the big van Liam got from his job, Jess had no option to leave.

Jess bet Liam thought he had done something really nice by taking them all to something rated-G, with spiritual overtones, so it would be appropriate for Christian. But that didn’t matter. She felt like a horrible mother bringing her son here. She had grown up thinking that this was where mothers left children they didn’t want anymore.

Christian looked up at her with a big smile, toting a popcorn. Jess wondered if she had looked at her mom that way, before she left her.

To make matters worse, every single person they were with seemed to think a movie on a Sunday afternoon was a great idea. Even Legend failed to notice Jess’s mood - the way she was snapping at Christian to slow down. It made Jess terrified that she was turning into her own mother.

The movie itself was agony, and Jess felt sick and on-edge the whole time. This theater was more crowded than the one Jess had been in at three years old, but that didn’t help. She refused to let go of Christian’s hand, which made him unusually crabby.

By the time the movie was over, all Jess wanted to do was get out of there.

Liam walked behind Jess and Christian, watching Jess pull her son along. He knew this couldn’t wait. So he stopped her where she stood, and asked if Legend could take Christian to the van.

Jess wanted to throw up, watching Christian walk away from her. She tried to follow him, but Liam moved to block her path, not touching her.

Liam held up his hands, so she wouldn’t go for the pepper-spray again. After hedging a few seconds, Liam knew it was better to just dive right in.

“I called your dad, Jess.”

She stared at him, shocked. She swore that if he said he’d talked to her mother, too, Jess would fall over dead right there.

“Why the hell would you do that?” she demanded quietly. Jess felt dizzy and prayed she wouldn’t pass out.

Liam rushed on, feeling the anger coming off her in waves. “I was concerned for Christian. Especially when he said he didn’t know his father when Legend dropped him off with me the other night. He said he didn’t have any other family. Legend told me how to get in touch with your dad when I asked her. Unfortunately, he wasn’t interested in what I had to say,” Liam finished vaguely.

He knew he would never tell Jess what her father really told him. That he didn’t have a daughter, and he sure as hell didn’t have a grandson.

Jess felt her gut twisting at the knowledge that Legend - her best friend for as long as she could remember having one - would betray her by leaving her son with someone like Liam, who, as far as Jess could tell, was a threat if there ever was one. She couldn’t imagine why Legend would do this. Jess could feel the last ties to the only family she had, breaking. She knew she was on her own.

“What did you have to say?” she challenged. She dared him to lie to her.

Liam took a step back. “Just what I told you. That I was concerned for Christian. That he wasn’t being properly cared for. I really don’t think he‘s safe with you.”

Jess put her hands on her hips. “And who are you to make a decision like that? You’ve known me all of, what? A month? You don’t know one damn thing about me or my parents! And you sure as hell don’t know about my son! I’ll be the first to admit I’ve made some crappy choices in life, but having my son is not one of them. I love him more than it’s possible to love anyone. That child is everything to me. And I will do anything to keep him safe. Including fight off assholes like you, or anyone else who even tries to take him from me,” Jess managed through clenched teeth. She took a menacing step forward.

Backing off again, Liam rushed to explain himself. “Jess, calm down. I’m not taking Christian from you. But I want you to know that I am watching you. And Christian. I can see that he’s withdrawn, he’s been abused - maybe not by you - but regardless, and you said yourself that he’s gone hungry.”

Jess let out a bitter laugh. “You’re watching me? Who the hell do you think you are? The CIA?”

“Liam!” Aaron hollered from the van. “Come on, man! I’m getting senile!”

Jess took the opening and stalked back to the van, scrunching herself in next to CJ. She forced herself not to look at Legend.

As Liam nodded seriously at her in the rearview mirror, Jess knew she was done having connections with these people for any longer than she had to. And she knew she was going to have to rely on them, at least temporarily while she continued to work, and pray for God to reveal His will for her life. She couldn’t even trust herself. Her only plan was a bad one.

Because right now, all Jess wanted to do was run.