A Place Worth Living

by B D Grant

  At first I think he’s threatening me with the Gran comment, but when I look at him he squeezes my arm, almost affectionately. Then, a voice comes over his walkie. He abruptly turns in the opposite direction toward his car and begins responding to the voice.

  “What did he say?” Anne asks just as we walk up to the SUV where Lia is getting on her phone, standing in front of the open trunk.

  Lia motions for me to put my bag in the trunk. I hear someone talking through Lia’s phone but she doesn’t say anything back. I think she’s eavesdropping on us.

  “Uh, he told me he was going to keep an eye on Gran and the house for me,” I reply putting my bag in the trunk.

  “Yes, I’m here. We are on our way, plus one,” Lia says in the phone, “No relation. Male.”

  She hangs up.

  “That was nice of him,” Anne says and gets in the back seat of the SUV. I get in on the opposite side of Anne. I run my hands over the top of my front pockets and I feel the card in my left pocket. It’s the same side as my throbbing ribs. He must have slipped it in my pocket while he was checking my ribs after the fight.

  “Hey, why did you fight me?” I ask Lia as she is driving out of the parking garage.

  “Just had to see what you got.”

  That explains nothing. She turns up the music letting me know she is done talking.

  I look at Anne’s bruised knuckles again, “So did you really hit a wall or did she fight you too?”

  She looks from the window, to me, then sighs, “It was true I really did hit a wall.”

  “Oh.”

  “But,” she continues, “it was because she dodged my punch. I wasn’t fast enough. I’m sure our new school will fix that.”

  She turns back to the window.

  “Did she fight you for the same reason?” I ask her.

  “I didn’t ask.”

  Lia probably didn’t have to sell her hard on leaving her foster home behind. This poor girl looks like a lost puppy waiting for a loving family to show up.

  I look out the window, say goodbye to Dry Creek, and pray Gran gets better fast.

  I keep thinking about Gran for a while until the growling of my stomach interrupts my thoughts.

  “Can we get something to eat? I’m starving,” I say in Lia’s direction.

  “Me too,” Anne adds.

  “Sure. At the next town I’ll go through a drive-through.”

  It starts getting dark outside by the time we get our burgers. Anne falls asleep shortly after finishing hers. I’m fighting to keep my eyes open. Lia told us it wasn’t much farther but we’ve already been on the road for hours. Sleep finds me just as I start to wonder what the girls are like at this place.

  My head falls forward waking me up. We are slowing down on a two-lane highway, in what looks like the middle of nowhere. Tall trees are on either side of the road and it looks like the sun is beginning to rise. I slept the entire night. Looking at Anne, she is in the same position she was in when she fell asleep. Lia turns onto a dirt road that I didn’t notice before.

  We come up to an old gate. Lia puts it in park and gets out. Anne starts moving around and opens her eyes.

  “Are we here?” Anne asks, yawning and looks out the front window.

  “Where are we?” She asks before I can answer her first question.

  “I think she’s taking us even deeper into the middle of nowhere to kill us. She already knows she can take us in a fight.”

  Anne rolls her eyes and smiles, “Kelly, you know she’s changing our lives right?”

  Lia is unlocking a padlock on the gate and swinging it open.

  “Well, yeah, killing us would definitely be a huge change,” I tell her with a straight face.

  She laughs out loud and so do I.

  “Good morning. We are almost there,” Lia says when she gets back in the car.

  “Good morning,” Anne says.

  “Morning,” I say getting somber again.

  We drive through the gate and she doesn’t worry with closing or locking it. The dirt road gets wide and curvy the longer we stay on it. The woods surrounding the road have so much undergrowth I can’t see too far. A clearing is ahead of us.

  Past the clearing there is a high barbed wire fence running the length of the woods. Where the fence meets the road there are two guard stations. One station is on either side of the road. We come to a stop next to the stations. A guard from each station walks to the car. A sour looking man walks to my side of the car and looks through the passenger window at Lia. Lia rolls down her window. I look over to the guard at her window. He looks to be in a much better mood.

  “Hello there Mrs. Heinclif, back so soon?” He asks Lia and adjusts the strap around his shoulder.

  He has an automatic rifle on his back. I look back at the guard on my side that is now staring me down. He doesn’t have a weapon on him. He tries to open my door but its locked. He taps on the passenger side window at Lia.

  “Unlock the car,” He says to her.

  Lia looks back at her guard, “Is he serious, Dan? He can see the kids just fine.”

  Dan walks around the front of the vehicle to the other guard saying, “Come on now Foster, you can’t keep harassing everyone who comes through the gate. It isn’t professional and you’re scaring the kids.”

  They both look at me.

  “He doesn’t look scared. Look at how big he is. He could have something on him.”

  Dan gets aggravated with him, “Mrs. Heinclif has already taken care of all that I’m sure. Now be a good man, and let the administration know they are here.”

  Foster reluctantly leaves and goes inside his station. Lia rolls the window down on the passenger side now that Foster is gone.

  Dan smiles, “Sorry about all that Mrs. Heinclif. He’s getting better though.”

  Dan walks back to his station and the bar blocking the road goes up. Is she bringing us to a school or a military base?

  “Why did that guy have a gun?” Anne asks.

  “Some wealthy parents feel that their kids are more secure with such measures,” Lia says and doesn’t explain why only one of them had a gun and not both of them.

  The dirt road transitions to concrete shortly after the guard stations. The road becomes a circle drive in front of a small school on a well-manicured lawn.

  “So this is it?” Anne asks nervously.

  “Yes it is. Grab your things,” Lia says getting out of the car and walking to the two large front doors.

  We get out and I beat Anne to the open trunk. I grab my bag and Anne’s. All she has in the trunk is a red backpack. It’s light, making me feel bad for her. All the girls I know couldn’t fit their makeup and hair supplies in a bag this size, much less everything else. My bag feels like it’s carrying a ton of bricks compared to hers.

  I’m still looking at it when Anne walks up to me. She takes her backpack from me.

  “I got it,” she snaps.

  She speeds up to Lia’s side, by the front doors. An older woman answers the door and greets Lia with a one-armed hug.

  “We send you for one and you bring us two. How impressive,” she tells Lia.

  “I have, Anne who you already know a little about, and this is Kelly Edwards,” Lia waves for me to come forward.

  The older woman takes my hand when I stop next to Lia, “I’m so pleased to meet you. My name is Rebecca. I will be introducing you and Anne to your new home away from home.”

  I give her a small smile in return.

  “Oh, don’t look so nervous. You will fit right in. You will learn and grow more here than anywhere else.”

  She walks past me to Anne and gives her a hug like she did to Lia, “You are a little beauty, aren’t you? I heard you like cheese sticks and loaded pizza so I made a teeny request on your behalf to the cafeteria.”

  Anne smiles looking overjoyed at the thought of her favorite food, “Thank you!”

  “Of course my dear. Now, let’s show you to your rooms to freshen u
p.”

  Walking past the front doors we enter into a long hallway with a large office with a glass wall we can see through, to our right. There is a secretary in the office facing us, answering the phone. Her eyes follow us as we walk around the corner.

  Most of the doors we pass are closed. Rebecca tells us they are classrooms for orientations and whatnot. All in all the place reminds me of my elementary school. It’s relatively small with neutral colors and the cafeteria being by far the largest room she shows us. We follow her to the second floor where our rooms are located.

  “You each have your own bathroom connected to your room. You should find everything you will need in there. Anne, your uniform is on your bed. You will be expected to have it on for tomorrow’s class.”

  Anne frowns.

  Rebecca turns to me, “I’m sorry young man but I didn’t have quite enough notification to have male clothes on hand, so it may be another day or two before yours are here.”

  Anne’s frown deepens as I smile.

  “Here are your rooms,” she points Anne to the room on her left and me to the room across from hers. “I will give you both time to get cleaned up and settled in. Meet me for lunch in one hour in front of the cafeteria. Do not get lost between here and the cafeteria. You don’t want me to have to come looking for either of you is that clear?”

  Anne and I nod in agreement.

  “Good. In one hour then,” Rebecca smiles at us and with Lia in tow they walk back to the stairs.

  We watch them leave us and I look at Anne, “I didn’t want to say anything but hopefully they left you a toothbrush because your breath is kicking.”

  She looks offended but chuckles, “That’s you, not me. I’ve been trying to hold my breath since we got inside,” she walks to her room, “It’ll take you the entire hour just to get that rotting smell out of your mouth.”

  “I better get started then,” I say walking inside my room.

  I skipped the college tour my class went on this year, but my room looks just like the dorm rooms on the pamphlet my teacher sent home with us. It is a small tan colored room with a closet, small bed on the left side against the wall with blue sheets, a window on the far wall overlooking the circle drive in the front of the school, and past the bed, on the back left side of the room is a door.

  I set my bag on the bed and go to the other door. It opens to an even smaller bathroom. At least I don’t have to share a bathroom with strangers. Laid out on the bathroom counter is everything I need to shower and shave.

  Thirty minutes later, I’m sitting on the bed looking at the cover of my photo album. I hear the door across the hall open and close. I put the album back in my bag and open the door to the hall.

  “Hey, you ready? I’m starving,” Anne asks standing right in front of me when I open the door.

  She isn’t wearing any makeup and she looks closer to her actual age now.

  “Yup, let’s get some grub.”

  We get downstairs where I can smell food from the cafeteria.

  “So what do the uniforms look like?” I ask.

  “If you were hoping for some catholic school pleated skirts and pants you’d be disappointed. It looks like a cooler version of a Phys. Ed. uniform. It even has a green leprechaun on the back, must be our mascot.”

  “A what on the back?” I ask surprised.

  She laughs, “I’m kidding about that part.”

  The classroom doors are still closed like before but I notice there are dirt tracks leading to the room marked “113” coming from a door across the hall that looks like it goes to the front office. I point it out to Anne. She just shrugs her shoulders and keeps walking to the cafeteria. A door opens right behind us.

  “Where do you two think you’re going?” A man’s voice says to our backs.

  I turn around to a blonde haired man closing the door to 113.

  “To lunch,” Anne says meekly.

  He reaches for something under his coat. I step between him and Anne. The door he just closed opens again. Lia followed by two men that are dressed similar to the blonde haired man emerge.

  “Ahead of schedule, good job,” Lia says when she sees us and the man takes his hand out of his jacket.

  “These are the new recruits?” The man asks Lia.

  “Yes they are. Don’t they glow with potential.”

  Anne is no longer behind me. She walks up to the blonde haired man. “I’m Anne, Anne Buckley.”

  He shakes her hand, “I’m your new gym instructor, Mr. Grad”

  He looks at me and points. “You must be Kelly.” He says, walking up to me and shaking my hand as well.

  I’m as tall as he is but his grip is stronger. The two other guys don’t acknowledge us. They go to the door across the hall and confirm my guess, it is a side door to the front office.

  Lia steps in front of me, blocking my view, “You two did so good on time that Rebecca isn’t even back yet. Go ahead and we’ll catch up.”

  Lia and Mr. Grad walk down the hall in the opposite direction.

  There are three rows with six tables in each in the cafeteria. On the right side are three lunch ladies behind the food counter waiting for us by the looks of it. They jump off their stools when they see us walk in.

  Two boys looking to be a little younger than Anne are eating together at a table closest to the food. Two tables past them is another student closer to my age eating by himself with a heap of pizza slices on two plates, and a piece of chocolate cake in front of him. He smiles at us between shoving pizza in his mouth. We walk past him to the food counter.

  “How does my hair look?” Anne asks.

  She starts running her fingers through her still damp hair. I roll my eyes at her.

  “It looks like hair.”

  She huffs at my answer. I look over my shoulder at the guy Anne is worrying over her hair for. He has dark curly hair that goes past his ears. He could probably put it in a ponytail if he wanted.

  “You’re hair is clean at least. It looks like that guy hasn’t washed his in a month.”

  “SSh! He might hear you.”

  She gets two slices of pizza from the first lady she walks up to and a bottle of water. Didn’t they get all this junk food for her and she’s only getting that much? I get a plate of cheese sticks with marinara sauce, a plate of pizza, and a coke.

  Anne is waiting for me to pick the table. I walk past the kids, straight to the guy.

  “What are you doing?” Anne whispers nervously behind me.

  “You can thank me later,” I whisper back and take the seat directly across the guy.

  Anne sits next to me.

  “I’m Kelly, this is Anne. We’re new.”

  “Nice to meet you chap! I’m Boston,” He says in an English accent. He looks at Anne’s plate. “That’s all your getting? I thought Donna said we got this for you.”

  I smile at his question and start eating.

  “Who is Donna?” Anne asks ignoring his question.

  Boston points behind himself with his thumb at the lunch ladies, “The one with gray hair. She’s the best cook we have.”

  “I didn’t see any cake did you get the last piece?” I ask him.

  “Perks of being friends with Donna.”

  He cuts his piece of cake in half and puts in on my cheese stick plate. I take a bite. It is chocolaty deliciousness melting in my mouth. I move my cake and cheese sticks plate to Anne offering her a bite. She obliges eating some of my cheese sticks too. He’s still looking at Anne and I when I turn back to my pizza.

  “I think I’m going to do you a favor, chap and be friends with you. And as my first act of friendship let me give the both of you some advice. If you two like each other you better keep it under wraps around here because they don’t allow dating or anything remotely close to it.”

  “No no no, Lia just brought us in at the same time,” Anne says.

  I have a mouth full of pizza so it takes me a minute to chime in. I swallow too soon and the food fe
els like it becomes a rock, unaffected by gravity or my need to reply, slowly creeping down.

  I finally get out, “She’s like ten, man.”

  “I’m thirteen almost fourteen, thank you very much!”

  I guess her age is still a touchy subject. I look at Anne wondering why he didn’t think she was my sister. No, I get why he didn’t; her hair, features, and voice are not remotely similar to mine. To him, me being nice to a non-relative, female means I must like her.

  “So you’re single.” Boston says matter-of-factly to Anne.

  I think I see her ears get red.

  I set my pizza down. Food isn’t going to interfere this time. “Now wait a second, you said no dating not five seconds ago.”

  He turns his smile from Anne to me. “Yeah, they really work to keep that from happening here. If they think you fancy a totty all of a sudden you’ll stop running into her around campus. Just wait, you’ll see. Though, they do keep dynas pretty busy so you won’t have to worry with it like I do.”

  I look down to see over half of my cheese sticks are gone. I eye Anne suspiciously and she grins innocently while she chews my food.

  “So when does everyone else get lunch?” I ask.

  Boston raises an eyebrow at me, “Oh that’s right, you don’t know. Well, you see there are a lot of us so the size of this place doesn’t cut it. This building is only used as the welcoming center.” I keep looking at him waiting for him to explain. He looks past me, “Oh blimey, time I scat mates.” He jumps up stuffing more pizza in his mouth. The younger boys, two tables away, do the same. I hear Rebecca and Lia talking when they walk in the cafeteria.

  “Your lot better run. There is still trash to take out and the hall needs mopping before you’re done,” Rebecca calls after Boston and the boys as they scurry past the food counter and the lunch ladies. They grab cleaning supplies that are propped up by the door in the kitchen.

  “Consider it done boss,” Boston says, holding up a mop.

  He walks out the door trailed by the two boys carrying the rest of the cleaning supplies. Rebecca looks irritated seeing them in here. She looks at us and her demeanor softens.