Para- "Normal" (A Jasper Hale love story)

Backstory and "... Forks ..."

Sagelynn; age 6.

I sat in the corner of the kindergarten class drawing as my friend Ava told me stories. I listened to her as she told me about the scary fire that hurt her mommy and daddy and that made her go to sleep for good. I finished my drawing of the fiery house and went to go show my teacher Miss Beatrice.

"Well hi there Sagelynn, what have you drawn there?"

She knelt down in front of me and held out her hand for me to give her my picture, with a big smile I did. I don't understand why her face got sad when she looked at my picture.

"Sagelynn, what's happening in your picture here?"

I tilted my head to the side and looked at her for a minute before talking.

"Ava was telling me about the fire that happened here a long time ago. She was sleeping in her bed and her mommy and daddy were in the living room and then there was a big fire. She didn't make it out alive because she got hit on her head and now she's here. I like Ava, she's my friend."

I smiled at Ava as I finished talking before I looked back up at Miss Beatrice, I stopped smiling when I saw her face.

"Miss Beatrice? What's wrong?"

I tugged on her shirt nervously and kept tugging until she looked back at me.

"Sagelynn, I'm gonna keep the picture, I want you to go play with Lydia right now okay? Stay with Lydia for me."

I nodded because Lydia was nice so I ran to play with her. I bounced up to her and sat down on the floor beside her.

"Hi Lynnie! Wanna play with me??"

I nodded at her and reached for one of the blocks she was using. We decided that we were gonna build the biggest tower possible. I stood on my tiptoes and placed the last big red block on the top of the tower before I spun around when Miss. Beatrice called my name. I skipped over to her and I felt sad when she said mommy and daddy were coming to pick me up to take me to the doctors. I didn't feel sick at all!

I looked back at Ava who waved sadly.

"I gotta go now Sage, but I promise we'll be here for you."

I nodded at her and wandered to get my backpack and my teddy before I turned to look back where she was and I didn't see her anymore. That was the last time I was in that kindergarten class.

Mommy and daddy took me to Dr. Pascow who asked me some questions about Ava and my other invisible friends. I was confused because I never talked about Tallulah, Monroe or Leo to anyone. I only talked to them when mommy put me to sleep. Today was the day I discovered medicine from doctors and boy is that stuff yucky!

Sagelynn; Age 10.

I swallowed that slimy yellow pill that doctor Pascow prescribed me four years ago that they claimed was supposed to make Leo, Tallulah and Monroe go away. I had to take that thing every day they told me, until I didn't see them anymore. That made me sad because they were my best friends. They helped me through everything that was hard for me. They even came to school with me and the days they did were the best days I had. Monroe and Leo would scare the mean kids who thought it was funny to make me cry. Tallulah always helped me in school especially with tests, but that's something that I'd never tell my parents.

One day something really weird happened.

I was working on a puzzle in my room and talking quietly to Tallulah when all of a sudden I froze. I felt like I was swallowed by a swimming pool. When I woke up Leo, Monroe and Tallulah were all in front of me with scared looks on their faces each wanting to know what happened.

I rubbed my eyes and proceeded to tell them about what I saw. After I was finished talking Tallulah looked sad, Monroe looked angry and Leo looked like he wanted to throw up.

"You guys are scaring me, what's going on? Please talk to me?"

Their lack of response made me start crying because I knew from experience when the three of them went unresponsive something bad, sad or scary was going to happen next. Leo snapped out of it first like usual.

"Sage, we've been waiting to see if this would happen. You are different from the other kids. You know that right? You can see us, and I'm sure by now you've figured out we're ghosts right? Okay good, so in the ghost world, we've been talking to people, and they told us that around your eleventh birthday you would start getting flashbacks. So basically, without getting too complicated, you can see us, and can see past lives."

From then on they spent every afternoon trying to help me with the new facts and struggles I would be dealing with in my daily life.

Sagelynn; age 16.

Finally, after 10 years of being on medication and two check ups a year Dr. Pascow determined that I was fine to be off of it. That was the best news because I hated it and the way it made me feel. It never did what it was supposed to. But I learned quickly that I needed to lie, but as a young kid, that never worked. The older I got the better I got at lying. 

When we got the news that I was "cured" my parents were thrilled because they thought they had a normal daughter again. I was thrilled because I would finally be a normal girl without these stupid meds messing up my system.

"OH Lynn! We are so happy, when we get home we can have sushi for dinner, but we do have something to talk to you about, okay?"

My mom gushed from the passenger seat as my dad smiled at me through the rearview mirror. I smiled back at him and loved knowing that I'd never be on those meds again. I whispered a thank you to my friends as I heard their congratulations though I couldn't help but be nervous about what the news was. We stopped by my favorite sushi restaurant on the way home and grabbed a few plates of my favorite sushi and we went home. When we sat down the air turned tense and my three friends all mumbled nervously.

My mom took a deep breath before she reached over and grabbed my hand.

"Honey, your father and I have discussed this in depth. We're moving. This week to a little town called Forks in Washington. I know this is the only place you've ever known but there's so many more job opportunities for us. How do you feel with all this information??"

I paused not only to process the information but to give my ghosts the opportunity to say how they feel. I was shocked when Leo looked stunned and Tallulah was hopping happily while Monroe just smiled at me, and in that smile I knew this would be a good thing for me.

I thought about the mushy mid March ground that was starting to come up under my feet and how slushy the weather was here. Maybe it would be different over there?

"....Forks.... I look forward to the adventures to come."