World I Never Knew

Bright sunlight illuminated the bedroom causing Joe to blink his eyes open. He groaned and covered his face with his hands, rolling over on the bed coming face to face with a clock. The red digital numbers showed Joe that it was already ten thirty in the morning. He climbed out of the bed and wrapped the thick blanket around his shoulders.

As he walked down the stairs of the strange house he could smell something really good cooking in the kitchen. He rounded the corner and saw Angela’s back turned to him at the stove. The table was covered in breakfast foods and she was finishing up the last of it. She placed the eggs she had been cooking on a plate and turned around almost dropping the plate when she saw Joe standing there staring at her.

“How long have you been there?” she asked, ignoring his gaze and setting the plate on the table.

“Not long.” He said quietly. “You didn’t have to cook all this food.”

“I thought you might be hungry. You only had a measly sandwich last night and it’s been awhile since I cooked a breakfast so… fancy.” She said, sitting down.

He walked over to the table and sat across from her, piling food onto his plate. While they ate he noticed she turned her body away from him so the un-damaged side of her face was what he could see. He frowned and wondered why this girl seemed so reluctant to show him who she truly is.

When he was done eating he walked over to the sink and washed his plate. When he turned around Angela was staring at him and he felt slightly uneasy. It seemed as if he did something wrong and he shifted his frame as she stared at him.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No… I just wasn’t expecting you to do that.”

“What, you thought I would just leave it there for you to clean?” he asked and she nodded her head. “That’s not how I was raised. After I get dressed and call AAA I’ll do all these dishes since you went through so much trouble to cook all this food.”

“You don’t-” but he stopped her by holding up his hands.

“I want to. It’s the least I can do after you let me stay here last night.” He said and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “What?”

“Um… it may be for more than one night.” She whispered. She looked up at him and his face was scrunched in confusion. “We’re kind of… snowed in.”

He walked out of the kitchen to the front parlor and opened the door and found the snow was level with the porch floor. There was no way anyone could walk through that much snow. To add to the fact, it was still snowing but lightly. He turned back around and closed the door behind him, walking back to the kitchen.

Angela had stood up and stopped putting dirty dishes in the sink to look at him. He sat back at the table and put his head in his hands. She stood there, wringing her hands, with more to tell him.

“Well… that’s okay. When I call AAA I’ll see if they can somehow get a plow out here to-” but he stopped talking when he saw Angela shaking her head. “What now?”

“The phone’s dead.” She whispered.

“Seriously?” he asked and she nodded her head. “This is just great. If the snow keeps up like this I’ll never make it home for Thanksgiving.”

“I’m sorry.” She said. It felt strange for her to say since she had never said that in her life before. He let out a small laugh and looked up at her.

“It’s not your fault I guess I’m just unlucky.” He shoved away from the table and turned to walk out of the kitchen but turned back around when he heard Angela pick up another dirty dish. “Put that down… I told you I’d take care of it. Just let me get dressed.”

“Alright,” she said putting it back down. Her mouth twitched slightly as if she’d smile but… it had been a long time since she’d smiled and the feeling felt strange to her. Joe however did smile at her and turned to go back up the stairs.

Once he was upstairs Angela let out a deep breath and stood with her back to the counter. She genuinely felt bad for Joe. She could tell Thanksgiving was a big deal for him and wondered if he had a family to go to. He must since he said he’d never make it home.

Right now, she had other things to worry about. With snow this high and more falling continually she didn’t know when the next time she’d have fresh groceries would be and she had to do an inventory. She also had to make sure all the flashlights had batteries and that there were matches for the candles and enough wood in the fireplaces. If her instincts were right… she and Joe would be spending a lot of time together.

While getting dressed Joe thought of how worried his family would be not being in contact with him. The thought made him worried. He almost cried thinking of the things his family could think. Maybe he’s lost. Maybe he’s dead. They’ll send the police to search for him. The thing is… the police wouldn’t know what state he was stuck in… they had a handful of states to look through. It would be a long search and they probably wouldn’t find him. His family would think he was dead… the media… the fans.

He broke down right there in the bedroom. His body shook with violent sobs and he felt so bad. If only he had a phone or a computer he could give them a way to not worry. He knew it wasn’t possible and that made it all the worse.

Downstairs Angela heard an odd noise coming from upstairs. Her eyebrows creased together in confusion and she crept up the stairs. The noise was coming from the room Joe was staying in. She stopped outside. He was crying. She silently opened the door and saw him sitting on the bed, his head in his hands, his body shaking with each sob that ripped through his body. She stood there, wringing her hands together again, debating on whether or not to go in. She decided against it… it would only make her feel uncomfortable. As quiet as she could she closed the door and turned to walk back downstairs.

Joe’s head snapped up when he heard the door click shut. He swore he had closed it when he went up there. He walked over to the door and opened it and looked down the hallway expecting to see Angela but she was nowhere in sight. Walking back into the room he looked in the mirror and saw his eyes were red and puffy. He cleaned his face up in the bathroom and once he was sure he was composed enough he went back downstairs.

Angela was sitting in the living room, a large fire roaring in the fireplace. She was curled up on one of the big arm chairs with a book resting on her lap and she looked up when Joe walked in the room. He sat on the couch across from her and stared into the fire.

“You were crying.” She stated and he nodded his head, swallowing back a lump. “Why?”

“Because I’m going to miss celebrating Thanksgiving with my family and I have no way to tell them. There’s no phone access and you don’t have a computer do you?” he asked and she shook her head. “Even if you did there’d probably be no internet and my Mom’s going to freak and my brothers and father will be worried and they’ll probably call the police and the media will find out and the fans will go ballistic and…”

“Fans?” Angela asked, blinking her eyes at him. He stopped to take a breath and stared at her questioningly.

“Yeah… you’ve never heard of the Jonas Brothers have you.” and she shook her head no. “Don’t you have a radio… or TV?”

“No.”

“That explains it. My brothers Kevin, Nick, and I are the Jonas Brothers, we’re a band and we have amazing fans even if sometimes they get a little crazy. If the media finds out I’m “missing”, Lord knows what they’ll do.”

“So… you’re famous.” She said slowly and he shrugged his shoulders.

“I guess that’s how you’d classify us but it’s not how we look at it.”

“How do you look at it then?”

“We see ourselves as blessed.”

“I see.” She said, turning to look at the fire. Even though she was able to light fires herself she still cringed when she did so. It took her awhile to find the courage to do anything with fire again. It was silent for a few moments. “I’ve never met a famous person before.”

After she said that Joe started laughing. She watched him as he laughed. The way his eyes scrunched together and he showed all his teeth made her feel warm inside. She listened to the sound of his laugh and relished at how deep and joyful it sounded. It had been a long time since she had laughed the way he was right now… finally… she cracked a real smile.

Joe stopped laughing when he saw Angela smiling. He got really quiet and smiled himself.
As he stared at her, she looked back at her book, her red hair falling in her face.

“You have a beautiful smile.” He whispered. She glanced up at him but didn’t say anything; she just opened her book back up and started reading again. He cleared his throat and stood up, feeling the awkwardness cover the two like a blanket. “Uh… I’ll go get to those dishes now.”

Without looking up from her book she nodded her head. He furrowed his brow and shook his head as he walked to the kitchen. The warm water running from the faucet of the sink felt good on his cold hands as he washed the dishes. He looked out the window in front of him and watched the sun shine off of the pure white snow of the backyard. It shimmered like diamonds and the sun was blazing like a bright fire.

He had seen how Angela had flinched when she looked at the fire in the fireplace. All of a sudden the charred looks on the walls and floors of the house made sense. Angela’s scarred body made sense. His eyes widened and he dropped the plate he had been washing back in the sink.

“Fire.” He whispered, glancing over his shoulder, looking at Angela curled up in her chair and reading.