A Taste of Everyday -- Chapter 9

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Zane, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made by this fic. I only own the original characters (Rena/X5-120, etc.).

“No way,” Gillian said as we walked to the food court after school one day a week before Christmas Break. “He actually asked you to the dance?”

“He did,” Vanessa confirmed gleefully. “I can’t believe that he finally asked me to go.”

“It’s about time,” I said. “How long have you had a crush on that guy?”

“A while,” Vanessa admitted. “Finally, we have some results!”

We laughed and then my cell phone rang. “Hold on a minute.” I took it out and looked at the caller I.D. It was from Brianne. I opened the phone and answered the call. “Hi, Brianne. What is it?”

“Janie, honey, you need to get home right now,” Brianne said. She sounded like she’d been crying and I immediately felt worried.

“Yeah, I’ll take a bus or a cab home,” I told her. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Vincent,” she said.

“What about him? What happened?” I asked.

“Please get home,” Brianne repeated. She disconnected.

I put my phone away and turned back to my friends. “Something happened at home. Brianne sounded really upset. I gotta leave now.”

“Do you need money for a cab or the bus?” Gillian asked.

“No, I’ve got enough for either,” I said. “I’ll see you both in school tomorrow.” I waved to them and I turned and walked back towards the nearest entrance. I looked around and saw a cab nearby and waved and it came over and I got inside and told the driver where to go. As soon as the cab pulled up in front of my house, I paid the driver and got up and ran inside. Brianne’s sister and Marissa were waiting for me in the living room. “What’s going on?”

“Janie, sit down with us,” Sandra instructed.

“Okay,” I said as I sat down next to Marissa. “Sandra, what happened? Where are Brianne and Vincent?”

“Janie, Vincent died earlier this afternoon,” Sandra said gently.

I stared at her in shock. Vincent was dead? I couldn’t understand why. He was perfectly fine this morning before I left to go to school. He was laughing and joking around with Brianne and Marissa and I and he’d even talked about the four of us going into Dallas for a big family night out sometime soon. He was still pretty young. The guy wasn’t past his mid-thirties, for crying out loud. I knew all of the ways that Vincent could have died but I wasn’t thinking logically at that point in time.

“Huh? How?” I asked.

“It was a stroke,” Sandra said.

“But he wasn’t old,” I protested.

“They don’t always happen to ninety-year-old people, Janie,” Sandra reminded me.

“That’s ridiculous,” I said. “He was fine this morning! He can’t be dead.”

“I know,” Sandra said.

I heard Marissa start to cry and I hugged her. “Where’s Brianne?”

“She’s upstairs sleeping,” Sandra said. “She’s taking this very hard. I’m going to stay with you guys for awhile, okay? Mark and Tim will be coming here from Dallas for the funeral and they might stay for awhile then, too.” She gave Marissa and me a big hug. “I’m going upstairs to check on Brianne. Will you be okay here with Marissa?”

“I will,” I said.

“Why did he die, Janie?” Marissa asked sadly.

“I really have no idea, Marissa,” I said.

Marissa sniffed again. “Janie, why can’t I have a good dad? My mom always said that my real dad had issues and my stepdad was so horrible to my mom and he ignored me all of the time. Vincent was so nice but he’s dead now. Why can’t I have a good dad?”

“Oh, Marissa,” I said sympathetically. I gave her another hug and she started to cry again.

“Why do I have to lose parents?” Marissa cried. “My dad’s gone and my mom’s gone and now Vincent. Why did they have to die?”

I closed my eyes for a moment. I felt so bad for Marissa. I knew how she was feeling but I could tell her exactly how I knew how she was feeling and that hurt a lot. “Did Vincent and Brianne ever tell you how my mom and dad died?”

“They said they died in a fire,” Marissa replied.

“They did. I remember the day that they died,” I said. I hated to lie to Marissa, but this was the closest I could come to the truth. “We’d moved to Plano right after Thanksgiving and we were staying in this motel just outside of town until my dad could save up enough for us to get a house or an apartment. One day a few weeks after we’d moved to Plano, we’d run out of milk and my mom asked me to go to this store that was right near the motel and get some while she and my dad took a nap. I took the money that she gave me and my backpack and I went to the store. I kind of hung around the store looking at some magazines and stuff and I finally got the milk and I’d just paid for it when I heard people screaming and yelling and I heard fire trucks and ambulances. I went outside and I looked and I saw that the motel was on fire. The whole place was on fire. It was so bad that they were starting to evacuate the immediate area as a precaution. It took a long time before they were able to put out the fire and when they did, there was almost nothing left of the motel. I looked around for my parents but I didn’t see them. Only two or three people managed to get out of the motel before the fire got so horrible and none of them were my mom or my dad. I got so scared then that I ran away. I hid out in Plano for a few days before I finally got so scared that I had to go to the police and tell them about my parents and how they died.”

“Oh,” Marissa said. “I’m sorry, Janie.”

“It’s okay, Marissa,” I told her. “We’ll get through this together, okay? You and Brianne and I will get through this together.” That’s all I wanted to happen.

TBC