Illusion

The little black cursor blinked at me, urging me to start writing my research paper that I had so willingly put off for the last week and a half. The paper was due Monday, but instead of looking up information on osmosis, I focused on the music blaring through my headphones. As my iPod transitioned to a new song, I heard a faint scream. It wasn’t a horror movie scream, but a Mom-Leave-Me-Alone-I-Can-Make-My-Own-Decisions kind of scream. I pulled my headphones from my ears and let them hang around my neck as I rolled my chair over to my window, hitting a bunch of random objects as I pass. Pulling back my rumpled curtain, I see my sister storming out the front door and toward a black pickup truck. My mother followed her with a determined look on her face.

“Nicoli Grace, get your butt back here!”

My sister whirled around, looking way past pissed as she spat, “Why!? So you can tell me how much you disapprove of Ethan!? News flash, mom, I’ve heard all of it. Over and over again! And guess what, I still don’t care!”

Nicoli pulled open the passenger side of her boyfriend’s truck and quickly got in. I saw Ethan give a nasty smirk of satisfaction as he backed out of our snow covered driveway. He was a dick. What my sister saw in him, I’ll never know. I glanced back at my mom. She was on the verge of tears. It killed her to fight with Nicoli, but she couldn’t just sit by and watch her throw her life away on scum like Ethan.

Nicoli used to be nice, before she became infatuated with the scum. She was 17 when she met him. He was a 24 year old high school drop out and with Nicoli’s now sinking grades, she might meet the same fate even though she only has one more semester until graduation. Sometimes I hope he’ll ram his truck into a tree and snap his neck just so she’ll be free of him.

I shut off my computer, completely giving up on my paper and headed downstairs. I froze mid-step when I heard the voice float up the stairs.

“Good morning, Mr. Hennings. Is Mary Beth home?”

I turned as fast as my little legs would let me, but as luck would have it, I just wasn’t fast enough.
“Mary Beth, hey.”

I swore quietly under my breath and slowly faced Rayne. He was rather tall for a 16 year old and slightly more slender. His floppy, unkempt hair drooped in front of his eyes. He pushed it back to reveal the brown eyes to match. Rayne needed a new coat. He has worn the same black coat since at least sixth grade. It was so ratty I figured it must not keep in much warmth, which is need so dearly in the frigid Alaskan climate.

“Hey, Rayne,” I said politely.

He looked down at his hands, “Are you busy? Do you want to go ice-skating? Do you want to go get some ice-cream? Do you want to go watch a movie? How’s your day been? Did you sleep well? Did you have any cool dreams? I had a dream, you were in it. Have you had lunch yet? Where did your sister-“

I quickly interrupted, “Rayne!”

He looked up, “Go…”

I smiled at him, “One question at a time, buddy.”

Rayne was the town crazy. His mom did a lot of drinking when she was pregnant with him and resulted in an odd behaved boy. They haven’t diagnosed him with anything though.

“I’m your buddy?” He asked eagerly.

I nodded, “Of course. I’m sorry though. I’m busy today, I’ve got a paper due tomorrow and I was about to go for a walk to clear my head.”

His face lit up, “I’ll go with you!”

Giving him another smile, I shook my head slightly.
“I would love it if you came, Rayne, but…it’s just that I do my thinking better by myself.” His face fell. “I’m sorry, but I promise we’ll hang out soon, okay?”

He provided me with a sad smile, and nodded. I kissed him on the cheek before he left which improved his mood slightly. Despite the fact that Rayne has had a crush on me since pretty much forever, he was still my friend, one of my only friends. Besides him, all I had was Melody, but she lived on the other side of town.
Back in my room, I grabbed my coat and mittens along with my notebook and headed out.



Behind my house lies a forest. In the middle of the forest, a lake sits. Not many people know about this lake which is why it’s my favorite spot. I come here to get some peace and quiet, to write. I keep everything in my notebook. It contained everything from thoughts, poems, lyrics, or doodles. For my fifteen birthday, my father surprised me with a white bench to put beside the lake, a place where I could sit and overlook the water. After brushing off some fallen leaves from my bench and got comfy, I drank in the scenery that surrounded me. Tall trees towered over me and helped shade me from the bright sun. I caught a flash of a deer streaking through the foliage. Behind me I heard the rustling of leaves. I turned, expecting to see another animal, but saw nothing. Shrugging, I opened my notebook, popping the cap of my pen off with my teeth and began to write. I heard the crunch of leaves again, but dismissed it.

“Hello.”

I leaped to my feet at the word. My book fell to ground with a soft thud. I turned to see who was there. It was boy. His dark brown hair was half hidden under his gray beanie. His hands that were stuffed into the pockets of his pea coat swooped down to pick up my book that lay abandon on the ground. He ran his hand over the cover removing the snow and bits of dirt.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He said, handing it back to me.

I looked down nervously. I was never very good at conversing with good looking guys and he looked like he just stepped out of magazine.

“It’s okay. I’m just not used to anybody being back here.”

“I didn’t mean to intrude, it’s just I saw you here and was in need of some human contact. I don’t have many friends and I get lonely.”

I looked at the boy some more. He looked no older than seventeen.
“I’m sorry. I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Benton.” He offered me his hand. I took it attentively.

“Mary Beth.”

He smiled, revealing a set of perfect pearly whites, “Pretty. I like it.”

“Um…do you go to school at Denali High? Because I’ve never seen you before.”

He shook his head, “No, I go to a private school nearby and live just across the lake here.”

He pointed in the opposite direction. I squinted my eyes and saw a small house made of gray cinderblock. Its chimney was puffing out black smoke.

“I didn’t even know there was a house there,” I said, confused.

I had lived here my whole life, grew up in these woods and not once had I ever seen that house. And yet, there it stood, just beyond the trees.

He shrugged, “It’s pretty easy to miss, it kind of blends in a little.”

I sat back down on my bench in Indian style, my heart finally back to its regular beat. Benton sat next to me. There was an awkward silence; well at least I thought it was awkward. Benton couldn’t have looked more relaxed. He drew his hands back behind his head and let out a sigh. I tried my best to think of something to talk about to ease my obvious discomfort. He beat me to it.

“So, Mary Beth, how old are you.”

“Um…” I hesitated. I mean, that’s normally a red flag question.

“I’m sorry.” He apologized again. “I come off a little strong sometimes. I’m probably freakin’ you out, huh?”

“Just a little,” I confessed.

He nodded, understanding, “I’ll tell you about me then. Feel free to tell me to shut up if I ramble.”

A small smile crept onto my face.
“I’m seventeen. I was born in Scottsdale, Arizona. My parents still live there. I live alone in that little cottage.” He turned to look at me, “I’m emancipated, by the way. My parents are fifthly rich and pay for all my bills and stuff. They were just glad to get rid of me. They were quite shocked when I told them I wanted to live in Alaska. I mean, it’s a big climate change, you know. It was hot everyday in Arizona and I hate that kind of weather; hence the reason I chose this particular state. Well, that and the fact that it’s a whole country away from my parents. They always tried to buy my love as a child. Some kids got hugs, I got money. It didn’t bother me much back then, but now I feel as if I was deprived.”

He was right, he did ramble.
“Shut up.” I laughed.

He smiled at me, his eyes sparkling as he too chuckled.
“I’ve got to say, I didn’t think you’d actually tell me off.”

I set my notebook aside, “It’s kind of sad that your parents didn’t love you.”

Benton put his hand to his chest as if I had shot him, “Ouch! I never said I was unloved!”
I laughed quietly.

“Well, I suppose I’ll go. It was nice to meet you, Mary Beth.” He got up to leave, but I didn’t want him to go yet.

“Sixteen,” I called out to him as I stood up suddenly.

He turned around, looking confused, “What?”

“I’m sixteen. I was born here in Denali with my mom, dad, and sister, Nicoli. We aren’t rich by any means, but we get by. I love living here because I too don’t care too much for warm weather. I was a loved child.”

“Mary Beth?”

“Yeah?”

“Will you meet me here tomorrow at four? I don’t know if you do anything special on Sunday’s, but if not…”

“Yeah, of course.”

And with another dazzling smile, he was gone.


A couple hours later I laid on my bed picturing Benton’s face in my mind. I wondered how I had never run into him or even noticed the house. I remembered his brown hair and beautiful crystal blue eyes. There was a sharp rapping on my door that interrupted my pleasant thoughts.
I sighed, rolling into a sitting position, “Come in.”

My sister popped her head into my room, followed by the rest of her.
“I thought you left.” I said.

She headed straight for my closet, “I did, and now I’m back. Ethan’s waiting for me. He’s taking me to a club. I want to look hot.”

I watched her rifle through all my clothes, looking for something sexy. She wouldn’t find anything sexy in my room.
“Has he ever told you that you’re beautiful?” I inquired.

She looked at me with a perplexed look, “What?”

“Let me guess he calls you hot or sexy, but never beautiful. He’s a jerk, Nic. Why can’t you see that? Have you seen the way he treats your family? The way he treats you?”

Nicoli’s face reddened with anger, “Oh yeah? And when are you such a love expert, Mary Beth. You’ve never even had a boyfriend, unless you count that retard from next door. What’s his name? Snow?”

“It’s Rayne and don’t you talk about him like that!”

Walking toward my door, her eyes narrowed. She pointed her finger at me in a threatening manner.
“How ‘bout this? You stay out of my relationships and I’ll stay out of yours.”