1|| Behind the Broken Truth

Chapter 1

"Jacob! The car leaves in three minutes!" my foster mom called. I sighed and looked around at the spacious room around me for the last time. The light blue walls held so many memories. Good, bad, and....

Devastating.

It was the last place I ever saw dad. The last place mom had ever talked to me. I turned back towards the door. "Coming!" I yelled. I grabbed my airpods and iPad, took one last look around, and approached the door. 

"You gonna take forever, or are you just that slow?" a voice demanded. I looked to my left to see a pair of turquoise eyes staring back at me from the kitchen. My heart thumped- until I realized who it was. My 16 year old sister twirled a strand of curly light brown hair around her finger. 

I raised an eyebrow. "I see you were here before I was too, Evelyn. Don't see Millie and Andrew calling you."

"I already told you to start calling them mom and dad. And... it's hard," she admitted, "coping up with things we'll never see again. Now move your butt or we're going to be late!"

I stuck out my tongue at her and walked toward the gray sedan. "You guys OK?" Andrew- no- dad called. 

I just shrugged, while Evelyn said something back, but I tuned her out. I pushed back my airpods and braced myself for a loooooong ride to Pennsylvania. 

I put on some heavy metal and probably fell asleep until I felt a finger poking me in the side.

"Huh, what," I mumbled. I forced my eyes open to see my sister looking annoyed. 

"Dude, it's been like four hours; we're taking a break..." she began. 

But I had already dozed off. The next time I opened my eyes, I was alone in the car and we were in front of a light gray stone-patterned house with a single room on the third floor. I figured that Millie and Andrew had gone in with Evelyn. 

I stumbled out of the car and realized I was in a parking lot. The front door was tall and easy to spot, which was convenient because my brain felt really foggy.

"The hibernating bear awakes!" Andrew joked. I barely registered him, but forced a smile. Millie ran a hand through my wavy light brown hair, like Evelyn's. 

I wish they would leave me alone. It's not my fault Millie was my mom's high-school best friend and they used to live next door. In fact, I used to love them. 

But when I learned they'd be adopting us, everything affectionate was gone in a flash. 

They could go moon over Eve and let me be. "Hey, uh, I'm really sleepy, can I go to bed?" I asked.

"Not a chance!" Right on cue, my sister walked in. "You slept the whole ride and we unloaded and unpacked everything. Now you have to help us set up the bedrooms and the attic. It's on the third floor."

"Aw, leave him be. Jacob, you can just do the bedrooms," Millie decided. 

I ungratefully nodded and headed outside to grab some of the boxes. I'm not sure when I became like this.  I decided to take a closer look at the house. 

My eyes trailed over the thick white rims over the doors and windows and the chandelier I could see through the glass part of the door. It looked well built; much better than I had expected. Not that I would ever admit that out loud. 

Everything was fine. Mostly.

Until my eyes hit the window on the third floor.

A sharp jolt went through my brain and I felt as though I had been sucked into the room. Everything was pitch black.

Everywhere I looked, I spotted an outline. Some looked male, some female, and some little kids. 

They were frantically saying something; but I couldn't make out what. In fact, I couldn't even see their faces, so how could I know they were saying something?

One of them dragged itself towards me. I bit back a scream. It finally stretched a hand towards a table that had appeared in front of me. It handed me a paper smeared with red ink.

No, that wasn't ink....

Horrified, I stared at the hand of the thing. I recognized it with a whole flower field painted on it's nails. Only one person I knew could paint that well on a place so small. 

No.

               No.  

                               No.

I screeched and swatted the hand away, crumbling the paper and stuffing it into my pocket. 

The figures followed me and backed me into the wall. I braced myself to run until-

"Hey! Stop freaking out over a stupid bug!" The harsh tone shoved me out of my vision. I was back on the porch. I looked down to see a dead cockroach squashed between my fist instead of the piece of paper. I looked up at Evelyn. 

"B-but I-"

"Oh stop it already! Being dramatic isn't going to get you out of being useful once in your life. But since mom asked me to, I'll show you to your room first," she snapped.

We made our way over to the living room again. 

The place looked a whole lot better, not that that would help me forget what had just happened in a hurry.

Every step of the stairs made me feel closer to something that I didn't want here. 

I couldn't shake off that feeling of unease, even though an older alien was with me.

Evelyn pushed open a door with a silver handle. "Here. So the rules are that you stay in your room, I stay in mine. And don't even try to sneak into the other rooms." She thought for a bit.

"Oh! And the attic is directly above you, so you'll be looking into it as you sleep. Good luck!" she chirped and skipped down the stairs. 

I had never been more furious in my life, but the feeling was drowned out by unease so strong I wanted to hurl all over the desk, the only piece of furniture in the room. 

I gazed apprehensively up at the ceiling, knowing what could be up there. 

Then, I decided to be the fool I am, tripped over my own feet and crashed sideways into the desk. I cursed under my breath. Right after, I registered a crumbling sound like the tissue my sister used to use for crafts.

Confused, I felt around my body for what could have made the sound.

My hand landed near my side.

With a sickening feeling of dread, I realized the crumpled paper the hand had given me was still in my pocket.