A Ballad for the Lost

twenty-eight

"Hey, thanks for inviting me on this picnic," I said between bites of my tuna sandwich as I lay on a blue and white plaid blanked next to Ellis and her boyfriend. "I really needed this."

"I thought you would," Ellis shrugged, "something seemed wrong. You okay, M.J?"

"Yeah," I sighed, "I guess life's just being a bit of a pain, but I'll get through it."

Ellis wrapped her arms around me and pulled me close. "If you ever need anything, an escape car, comfort food, or just a shoulder to cry on, you just give me a call."

"It's not like that, Ellis, and I don't know how to explain it. Everything is changing. Don't you notice it? My mother is acting different, Peter's acting different, you've got yourself a boyfriend," Kale smiled. "Kade is acting nicer toward us, Leo is acting ruder to us, nothing is as it should be. I feel like I'm not at home anymore, like my life is a big puzzle piece and all the pieces are in the wrong order. I don't know what to do."

Ellis nodded understandingly, "I get it, M.J, changes like this must be hard for you. Especially your mother. She's all you have now, and seeing her act differently must worry you."

"It really does," I sighed, "I just have this feeling that she's up to something, that there's something she isn't telling me."

Kale patted my shoulder. "Don't worry, kid, she'll be fine."

"Kale's right," Ellis grinned, "everyone is stressed at that age. You will be too. If you worry too much, you won't get to enjoy your life!"

I guess she was right. I really didn't have anything to worry about.

And that was the last day before my world flipped upside down.