The Wastelands

Chapter 21

Through the living room window, Charlotte watched her older brother scooping the last of the melting snow from the front porch. It added to the pile by the wooden stairs, brown with mush and dirt. The blizzard left the white powder resting for weeks longer than normal and the extreme cold refused to let it disappear. The farm became a winter wonderland that blocked the small family from going anywhere until it started to melt..

They prepared for the storm and stocked up on food and water to last three months. That gave them plenty of time to let the road clear a path to the city in order to get more supplies. Charlotte had to be homeschooled during the blizzard, but she enjoyed the time with her brother and parents. Her fifteenth birthday was nothing to be excited for, but her mother still managed to bake a small cake during the worst part of the winter storm.

The girl counted down the days for spring to arrive and the warm weather soon erased the cold. Robins returned to the farm and made their nests in the trees. Leaves budded on the branches and soon the heat would make life a little easier.

Marcus pulled up the sleeves on his jacket and stomped his boots on the rubber mat outside before pushing into the house. He left the shovel on the porch, relieved to be done with the snow removal for a while. He spent his savings to cover three months of his college fees which got him by until the snow melted enough to get to the city. The job he found was less than perfect—a daytime gas station attendant just outside city limits. They paid Marcus just enough to make his tuition payments each month with very little extra for himself. He worked with an older man who enjoyed telling dirty jokes whenever customers weren't around. Talks of filthy waitresses and aging men who flirted more than they should made their laughter brighten up the work load.

He had the day off and offered to sit with Charlotte while their parents went to town to take care of financial business with the farm. They would be back in time for dinner and promised to bring home a much deserved treat from a pizza parlor in town.

Marcus closed the door quietly, then walked through the living room to the kitchen. Charlotte followed him with giddiness in each step. She had grown bored watching him work while she sat inside to study through workbooks for school. She wanted excitement or a good story or something that involved getting out of the house. Marcus said they had to stay indoors because the ground was too muddy to go for a walk. She obeyed his terrible excuse for a rule, but still pestered him.

"Do you know any stories? Like something with adventures or magic in them?" Charlotte asked.

He shook his head, "You know I don't. If I did, I'd have told them by now."

She sighed and pouted, "That's so unfair. How can you live for a million years and not have a good story to tell?"

"Well, I'm not a million years old so that probably explains it." He replied with a smile as he poured himself a glass of juice.

"Addie used to tell me amazing stories." Charlotte stated, plopping on a chair at the kitchen table. "I remember this one about a flying carpet and a magical genie that granted wishes. I don't remember the name and we never got to the ending because," she paused and took a breath, "because she left."

"I'm sorry I don't know that one." Marcus replied. "I do know that it was just a fairy tale. You shouldn't live life expecting those adventures to come true and you can't go chasing things that aren't real."

"I'm not chasing anything," she protested, "I just like hearing the stories. It makes me feel like anything is possible and we aren't just stuck in this place, doomed to follow rules for the rest of our lives. Addie believed those things were real and I know she wanted the excitement."

He slurped the cool apple juice and set the cup on the counter. There were times Charlotte brought up their sister in random conversations just to force the rest of them to think about her. He had to bite his tongue to keep himself from ordering her to stop talking about a girl who had ruined all their lives.

"You shouldn't think like her. Addie wasn't normal. She lived a different life than the rest of us and she never fit in here. You can't be like her." Marcus argued.

Charlotte shrugged, "Just because she wanted to follow her dreams instead of going by the rules doesn't mean she wasn't normal."

He rolled his eyes and raised his voice, "If she were normal, she'd still be here. Our lives would be better if she kept her ridiculous dreams hidden. I wouldn't be stuck paying thousands of dollars for an education that was supposed to be free and our parents would have the extra help they need. Addie ruined everything."

The smile fell from the girl's face and she took a deep breath. Her face scrunched to a scowl and her brown eyes glared daggers at her brother.

"That's not true." Charlotte argued.

"Really?" Marcus stated, moving away from the counter. He sat across from her at the table and continued, "You're old enough now to actually understand things. If you think Addie was so amazing, then why wasn't she around for your treatments? Why did she suddenly vanish right when we needed her most? A good sister would have stayed until you got better; not leave in the middle of the night without saying a word."

"But I didn't get the treatments until a few months after she was gone."

"She still should've stayed."

Charlotte lowered her eyes and her anger shifted to sadness. Her heart leapt to her throat and she sniffled back tears that only fell for her sister.

"It doesn't matter, though." She said after the short pause, "Addie left to go on an adventure. One day she'll come home and tell me all about it."

"Addie's not on an adventure. She's not out there doing great things like you want to believe. If anything, she's probably dead and has been for months." Marcus stated, a bit harsher than he anticipated. "I'm only telling you this so you'll stop believing in false hope that we'll ever see her again. I, for one, hope that we don't."

Her eyes turned red and tears slid down her cheeks. Marcus had a way of crushing her hopes by explaining the harsh realities of a truth she didn't want. He wanted her to think more like him instead of having an imagination or even the slightest hint of a dream. Charlotte loved her family more than anything in the world, but she also loved the idea of seeing a better future for everyone. Her sister had the same ideas and passed them along to her.

Slowly, she rose from the chair and wiped the tears from her face, then said, "You're wrong. One day we'll see her again and you'll wish you would've been nicer."

His eyes followed her through the kitchen to the stairs at the back of the house. The soles of her slippers dragged along the floor, shuffling loudly through the room. She paused at the base of the stairs she eyeballed the calendar hanging on the wall. The kittens on the page were captured in a playful moment with a ball of colorful yarn. She smiled at the picture, then grabbed the pen hanging from the tack holding the calendar in place. She leaned forward and wrote something on one of the dates, then drew stars around the notation.

Marcus sighed when the pen fell from her fingers and she drifted upstairs. He counted five seconds, then listened to her bedroom door slam shut. He winced and hated his choice of words with the girl, but knew she needed to hear them. She couldn't go through life based on a whim or a dream and he wanted to make sure that she knew that.

He glanced to the calendar and saw her perfect handwriting on one of the dates. Curiosity made him stand and cross the kitchen floor. A birthday was in two days; marking a reminder of what had once been a good day. He sighed and rolled his eyes in disappointment.

Addie would be turning twenty-one. She was an adult and would have become a member of society that could help out the family and earn money to pay for the bills they desperately needed assistance with.

Marcus lifted the pen and drew an X over the date on the calendar. The day stopped meaning anything the night Addie abandoned them. It was just another day that demanded his time and patience.