Decoding Jenny

I opened my door and just stared at her side of the room. The bed was now gone because I couldn’t sleep with it unoccupied. It was again like something was gone inside of me forever.
The next morning as I rode my bike to school and again Carter and I had our “you-will-get-in-my-car-and-you-will-like-it and my no-way-no-how speech.” After he drove away I rode all the way to school without being disrupted and I was met at the bike lock-ups by Seth.
“Morning Hayley.” Seth said cheerfully.
“Hi Seth.” I smiled up at him as I finished locking my bike.
“ If you need a ride to school in the mornings I could give you a ride if you want.”
“Thanks for offering but I don’t ride in cars unless I have to.” I said and then realizing that I should have lied. Who doesn’t want to ride in a car?
“Oh. No problem.” Seth said back.
The thing I liked about Seth which you will soon realize is that he doesn’t pry. I’m sure he knew there was something wrong at the time but he didn’t want to ask. He either wasn’t trying to be rude or was just naturally polite. So maybe it was his shyness or his manners or maybe I just felt safe with him that I asked him if he wanted to help.
“Sure.” He replied, “What with?”
“I’m on a mission.”
“a mission?”
“Okay not like a James Bond mission but a quest I guess I need to find answers and I was wondering if you want to help.”
“I would.”
“okay then.”
It was at lunch a week later that Seth and I sat at our own table and discussed where we would be meeting. It happened to be one month exactly since my sister died.
“Okay so here are the people that we will need to question.” I said as I passed the list across the table. “I’ll ask them all but can you write it all down?”
“Yep.” Still he didn’t question anything so I thought that maybe that he’d already found out and felt sorry for me and decided that he help the poor freak who can’t forget the past.
So I took the plunge, “Do you know why we are asking all these questions?”
“No.”
“Well do you want to know?” I asked.
“Only if you want to tell me.” He said as he smiled a reassuring smile at me.
“Not yet.” I said.
“When you’re ready is fine with me.”
Yes girls he is mysterious and I know that you are fall in love with him. You probably think that that I was too; but I wasn’t. At least not then. But this boy was hiding something from everyone maybe even himself at the time and soon I would find out just what it was that he was hiding. Believe me when I tell you that it is almost as bad as what happened to Jenny.
Every afternoon after school for one month I’d been going to the park and sitting on those swings thinking about how I would approach the people and ask them so questions. So I was now on Christmas holiday so I’d been sitting at the park since the early morning when my parents kicked Carter and I out of the house since it was Christmas Eve and my parents wanted to get all of our presents wrapped. So again I had my eyes shut as I swung back and forth on the swing. Then someone called my name.
“ Hayley?”
I opened my eyes and looked around.
“Hayley?” I turned and came face to face with Seth.
“Hey Seth. What are you doing here?”
“ I live across the street and I thought I saw you.”
“well you did. Ha well sit down and we can talk.”
So he sat down on the vacant swing next to me and we just swung in silence for a few minutes until he talked.
“I love Californian winters; no snow.”
“My sister always says that.” I didn’t think as I said it and I remembered he didn’t know about Jenny and that I’d said it in the present tense.
“ So you have a sister and a brother?” he asked.
I nodded.
“I wish I did. I’m an only child. It is just me and my Mom now.”
We let it linger and then I questioned him. “Now?”
“Yeah. There was a reason that we moved.” He said quietly.
“You don’t have to tell me. Its okay.” I whispered.
“I will.” He said, “just not just yet. I don’t think I can.”
“I understand.”
We sat there together for a little while longer until Seth asked, “ My Mom would ‘love’ to meet one of my friends. Do you want to come back to my house to have lunch with us?”
“That be great.”