Out of Time (15 page)

“Hey Mom.” Sasha said with a smile.

“Hi honey.” her mother said with a turn of
her head, smiling back. “How are you feeling? You’ve been sleeping
for a long time.”

Sasha glanced at the clock on the stove. It
read 11:52 AM. She’d been asleep for nearly twelve hours. She
responded, half-surprised, “Yea I know. I can’t believe I slept in
that long.”

“We didn’t get home until close to one in the
morning.
I
wasn’t surprised. I’ve only been up for a couple
of hours myself. I told the office I needed to work from home
today. I suppose that’s where being a real estate agent comes in
handy.”

“You can go in now, I’ll be fine.” Sasha said
to her mom, who waved her off.

“No, it’s all right. I don’t have any
showings scheduled for today anyway.”

“Do you want to do something, together?”
Sasha asked. After experiencing life without her mother for years,
she wanted to take advantage of every opportunity she had with her
mother.

“What did you have in mind?” Mrs. Midleton
asked, eyebrows peaked in interest.

“A movie maybe? Or we could play cards.”
Sasha offered.

“We haven’t played cards in a while. It’s not
the same since your dad died.” her mom said solemnly.

“I know.” Sasha sighed. “I miss him. I’ve
been thinking about him lately.”

“You have?” her mother wondered.

“I know we don’t talk about him much anymore.
It’s too painful. I was thinking about the driver that ran into
him. The drunken man the witness saw flee the scene. I wonder if
they could ever find him in the future.” Sasha told her.

Her mother shook her head. “I don’t know
dear. They didn’t have the traffic cameras there back then.”

“Wouldn’t it be nice to go back in time and
stop it?” Sasha asked, not even realizing what she was saying until
the thought left her lips.

“It’s not possible sweetie.” her mother
soothed.

“If you
could
?” Sasha wondered, as if
it was a possible alternative.

“Everything happens for a reason.” her mother
answered. “It was your dad’s time. He’s in a better place now.”

“I know. But —.” Sasha started. Her mother
was going to kill herself. That didn’t mean it was
her
time
to die. Self-inflicted death couldn’t be done for any good reason.
People
did
care even if they didn’t always show it. Ending
your own life doesn’t solve anything.

“Cards.” her mother demanded, cutting in.
“Are you going to get them? I have some in the cabinet drawer.”

“Yea all right.” Sasha said, knowing her
mother was dismissing the conversation. Maybe it was because she
was thinking about the same thing. What she might have done if
Sasha hadn’t returned. At any rate, it was good to think about a
possible mistake in your future. Correct that mistake so you never
end up making it.

Sasha walked over to their china cabinet and
pulled a drawer open. Mixed in with a container of Uno and another
card game she’d long forgotten the name of, she pulled out a deck
of standard cards and walked back to her mother who had sat down at
their kitchen table. Sasha offered to shuffle.

“What are we going to play?” her mother
asked. Sasha took a moment to think.

“Gin is always a good choice.”

“Sure.” Mrs. Midleton said as Sasha removed
the jokers and deftly flicked her fingers through the deck to
shuffle.

As she handed out the cards, Sasha said,
“It’s nice to be back.”

“I still don’t know what is going on with
you. Maybe the test results will give us answers.”

“Maybe.” Sasha said, hoping she was
wrong.

“Hey Sasha! Wait up!” Sasha twirled around on
the gravel sidewalk of the school, after walking towards her home.
Simon was running towards her and yelling.

“Waiting...” Sasha said with a cheeky grin,
tapping her foot and crossing her arms. As he caught up to her he
took the chance to catch his breath.

“Did they find out what happened to you?” he
wheezed out. Sasha was so busy getting back into the rythym of
school and catching up with teachers regarding projects she was
sorely behind on that she hadn’t had any time to see and socialize
with her friends.

“The test results should be in today. Mom
will let me know when I get home.” she told him.

“Can I walk you home?” he asked. Sasha
thought he might have felt guilty about the whole situation since
the door-in-attic activity was his idea.

“Yea, I guess.” she told him. He’d never
offered to walk her home before. Her stomach did a somersault. Was
this the right time? Should she say anything?

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked and she
realized he had stopped in front of her.

“Are you?” Sasha replied, grinding to a halt.
The corner of one side of Simon’s mouth upturned.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

Sasha sighed deeply.
Here goes
nothing
. “A little bird told me you had a crush on me.”

“Uh...” he stammered, taken completely off
guard.

“You don’t?” Sasha asked, her stomach
flipping even more. This was not how she expected the conversation
to start and she sure didn’t want it to end badly.

“Well...I...” Simon continued to stutter and
his face started to redden.

“See, here’s the thing.” Sasha started,
trying to explain as easily as she could. “While I was gone I
realized...um yea. I remembered you. I remembered I really liked
you. A lot more than I thought I did or could.”

“Okay?” Simon asked, wondering if that was
the end of it.

“Anyway, I’m not going to delay what could be
a really good thing between us. A great thing, even. So you want to
go out?” Sasha asked nervously. She suddenly felt awash in
adrenaline and the little voice in the back of her mind that
assured her she was doing the right thing by letting it all out
just now.

“Are you serious?” Simon wondered, his jaw
dropping.

“Totally.” Sasha stated. They continued their
walk to her house.

“You didn’t hit your head? Super hard?”

“Nope.” Sasha said, breaking into a fit of
giggles that released her tension.

“This is really weird. I have no clue how you
found out because I haven’t told anyone. I’ve been actually kind of
intimidated by you. That’s why I hang out a bit more with Mandy and
Kendra — although Kendra can be deadly dull at times.” Simon
scratched his head. “Who was this little bird?”

“It’s a
long
story. Well, more like a
short story that spanned over a long time.” Sasha told him.

“You aren’t making much sense.”

“I know.” Sasha said, adjusting her backpack
which had started to slide off her shoulder. “I’m kind of being
vague on purpose. So was that a yes?”

“You know, it’s typically the
guy’s
job to ask the girl out.” Simon said with a smile.

“I know. I’m not very traditional aren’t I?”
Sasha fluttered her eyelashes.

Simon chuckled. “Or predictable. That’s for
sure.”

“The way I like it.”

“So you are ‘catching up’ from what we
missed?” he wondered. She nodded.

“You wouldn’t believe how much I learned
since I have been gone. This is quite...elementary really.”

“Yea I noticed how fast you were writing in
our calculus class. I thought you were horrible at math. Maybe the
test results will show that you’re a genius or something.”

“Wouldn’t that be cool?” Sasha wondered
aloud.

“Not if you don’t graduate at the same time
as me. Who knows, you might be able to get into some prestigious
school on a full ride.” he told her, looking down at the
ground.

“You know, the calc papers haven’t been
graded yet. I could just totally suck at math.” Sasha smiled and he
looked up.

“You haven’t ever been
that
bad.”

“My first year I slept through most of the
class!” she announced. Truthfully, she had better grades in math
that year than any following year.

“Yea, but that was geometry. It’s super easy.
Calc? Not so much.” Simon told her. She waved him off.

“Right, I know. So...is that a yes?” she
asked again. He paused, wondering what she was referring to.

“Oh. I never did answer the question, did
I?”

“Why do you think I’m bringing it back up?”
she asked him slyly.

“Yes. That’s a yes.” he smiled, taking her
hand in his. He brought it up to his lips and kissed it, bringing a
sensation of completeness over her.

“Sweet.” she said to him. She removed her
hand from his momentarily and he looked puzzled, but she needed
that hand. She took his face with both of hers and planted her soft
lips on his. He almost stumbled back in surprise, but held himself,
reaching up to cradle her face with his and she relaxed, hands
ebbing down to rest on the back of his belt. It was like lightning,
the chemistry they had. It was as though sparks of energy were
rushing through them. As if they were meant to be together,
forever.

“Whoa.” he said, breaking apart after a
period of time had passed. Sasha hadn’t any idea how long they had
been kissing. She hadn’t even thought to look around to see if
anyone else was around. She felt so utterly at peace.

“Whoa is right.”

“I didn’t expect you to do that.” Simon said,
breathless.

“I’m fulfilling my promise.” she smiled
lightly at him, retrieving his hand. He clasped hers tightly as if
he never wanted her to leave his side.

“To whom?” he wondered.

“To you. Um...indirectly.” Sasha
muttered.

“We’re here.” Simon said, stopping in front
of her house. Sasha looked up and blushed.

“Yea. I hope my mom didn’t see that. Being
the only child and all, she might freak a bit. I’ve never had a
boyfriend before.” Sasha said, trying to peek in the windows and
see if she could make out her mother’s figure.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll head out.” Simon
said nervously. Sasha watched as he started to creep away.

“That’s fine. I’ll see you tomorrow.” she
told him. Meeting her mother as an official couple was something he
didn’t plan on. Sasha could tell by the look on his face. He looked
slightly terrified as he told her goodnight. “You are so new at
this.”

“Yea.” Simon said, shrugging. She knew he’d
never had a girlfriend. They’d grown up together for the most part.
Sure, girls hung around him. None ever seemed to catch his eye.

Trust me, you’ll improve
. she thought
to herself as he waved and walked away from her. She breathed a
happy sigh as she headed up the walk to the front door. Her mom was
there to greet her and she gulped.
Not now
.

“I heard from the doctor. They have your test
results back.” her mother told her.

“And?”

“Apparently there is some kind of increased
activity in some part of your brain. I couldn’t begin to try and
tell you what it’s called. I’m not good at pronouncing or
remembering those medical words.” Mrs. Midleton said. She looked at
her daughter with a worried frown and creased forehead. “They’ve
never seen anything like it before and they don’t know what to make
of it. The doctor said he’s going to have some other people look at
it, but he thinks it’s going to be in the pile of unknown cases.
Maybe when the technology is better they’ll find out what it
is.”

“So nothing ‘bad’, right?” Sasha
wondered.

“Nope. You’re fine I guess. It’s not like you
have a tumor or anything.” her mother told her, her voice
calming.

“That’s reassuring.” Sasha chuckled lightly.
Her mother shut the door and walked inside, putting the phone that
was lying on the table back on its holder.

“Was that Simon I saw for a second
outside?”

“Yea, he walked me home.” Sasha said with a
smile.

“That was nice of him.” her mom commented as
Sasha headed into the kitchen.

“By the way, he’s my boyfriend now.” Sasha
said, opening the door to the fridge. She scanned over the contents
to see if anything looked appetizing for a snack.

“Now?” her mother asked from the corner of
the kitchen.

“Yea.” Sasha responded, picking out an apple
from the vegetable bin. “Today. I thought you’d like to know.” She
bit into the apple as she closed the fridge door. “Hey, do you know
anything about the history of the town? I’m researching a family by
the name of Everidge.”

“The name of the school?” her mother wondered
and Sasha nodded. “There was a family who sold their property and
land to build the school.”

“Really?” Sasha asked after swallowing a
hearty chunk of apple.

“You hadn’t noticed the plaque in front of
the school?” her mother asked, opening the fridge herself and
taking out a beer. She went over to one of the kitchen drawers to
grab an opener to flip the cap off.

“No, why?” Sasha inquired. Her mom took a sip
of the newly opened beer.