365 Days Revealed, page 15
“You think?”
Then, he rubbed his head—as if he had a sudden migraine. “Are you scared he might do the same thing? Is that why he’s with us?”
I was stunned.
Of all people, Kieran would have been the last person I would have expected to be so intuitive. It made me realize that I might have to start adjusting my low expectations of my brother. “Let’s just make Yanni feel welcomed,” I suggested.
Kieran thought about this for a moment, then he nodded. “Dude still sucks on the water,” he insisted.
“Without a doubt,” I agreed.
* * * *
Not ten minutes later, we were all sitting on our towels, scarfing down hamburgers and french fries, when Kieran leaned over to Yanni and said, “Sorry about your mom offing herself, dude.”
Needless to say, Rhys looked shocked and confused—and I was absolutely horrified. Yanni, however, didn’t seem to have taken any offense.
“Thanks,” he told Kieran. “It really sucked at the time, but I guess…like…it was just my mom’s time to go.”
“Was your mom sick?” asked Rhys, still not quite understanding.
“No, she was just tired…really tired,” said Yanni. “I think she just felt that she had lived enough for one person and that it was time for her to go. At least, that’s what she told me.”
“She told you that?!” I was astonished
How could a mother put that memory on a child?
For that matter, how could a mother kill herself in a way and a place where that child would find her?
It just seemed so unbelievable to me.
“Me and my mom talked a lot,” said Yanni. He looked down—a little embarrassed—his finger tracing a small triangle shape through the sand next to his blanket as he spoke. “We kind of only had each other, you know. My dad—he’s always so busy—and…well…I don’t think he really likes either of us…liked my mom.”
“That can’t be true,” Rhys frowned.
Yanni shrugged. “Maybe not. But it felt that way. Anyway, mom would tell me about all these adventures she’d have.” He tapped his head. “Not in real life…like in her head.”
The hackles began to rise along the nape of my neck.
I felt a tingling…an expectation of an understanding about to arrive.
“Are you saying that she was nutso?” asked Kieran, ever the diplomat.
“She thought so,” said Yanni. “I just think she was, like really creative. Like maybe she should have been a writer or something. But she wasn’t…my mom was just a mom…and the things she had in her head…they just…well, they wore her out, I guess.”
“Because she was living lives in other worlds,” I said, softly.
Yanni’s head lifted up, staring directly at me, an unspoken question in his eyes. Finally, he nodded. “Exactly.”
Kieran snorted. “Dude, that reminds me of this one “Calcutta Timeliers”. Like in Issue #305.”
Instead of being insulted, Yanni surprised me by nodding his head vigorously. “I know the one you’re talking about and I thought the same thing when I read it. Dude, I can’t believe that you read “Calcutta Timeliers”! Like I didn’t think anybody in Agoura Hills read those.”
“Are you kidding?!” said Kieran. “Like issue #18, when they fought that cannibal tribe was fricking epic!”
And just like that—Kieran and Yanni bonded over a stupid comic book and became best friends.
* * * *
As the sun began to set and I stowed away the boards in the back of the Honda, Rhys suddenly tapped me on my shoulder. “I think you’ve got a stalker, bro.”
Yanni and Kieran had yet to return from a trip to the john and I turned in the direction Rhys was pointing, expecting to see one of them coming toward us. Instead, there was a kid on the other side of the parking lot staring at me. He had light blonde hair that just skimmed the edges of his shoulders and his skin was tanned and untouched by tattoos.
I mention that bit about tattoos because—the last time I had seen him—the kid had worn a solid black line tattooed over the bridge of his nose, from one corner of his face to the other.
“Dude, he’s really staring at you,” said Rhys.
“Stay here,” I told my brother. “I’ve got this.”
Taking my time, I began to walk in the kid’s direction. He didn’t turn or try to flee; he just waited—an uncertain and nervous look on his face. Which was kind of ironic—because that was exactly how I was feeling…uncertain and nervous…about whether or not he remembered.
About ten feet away, however, the kid grinned.
And I knew.
Ru remembered!
* * * *
It’s an embarrassing thing for a guy—to hug another guy, to try to keep from crying. But—sometimes—it just doesn’t matter.
This was one of those times.
Ru and I hugged; we clapped each other on the backs. Our eyes filled with tears and we laughed and wiped the big drops away, not even pretending that they weren’t really there.
That we weren’t acting like two, big sissy-babies.
“Bro!” cried Ru, grabbing my shoulders—one in each hand. “Like you really remember, don’t you? Like it was all really real?”
“Totally real,” I nodded. “Completely, totally, really real.”
He motioned toward Rhys. “And your little brother? He remembers?”
I shook my head. “He doesn’t. Kieran doesn’t either. What about Connor? I remember you lived near him. Does he remember?”
“Nah.” Ru shook his head. “None of the guys remember…just me.”
“Not a single one?”
“Just me.” His face dropped for a moment—reliving past torments, no doubt. “I honestly thought that I was going insane, you know. I mean, my memories were so vivid, but nobody else had them, so how could they be real? That’s why I started coming here whenever I could. I mean—to Malibu.”
“To try and prove it?”
He nodded. “I thought maybe if I could see that there really was a prince’s mansion up on the Point, then that would prove that I hadn’t made it all up. But, there’s like massive security up on that road now. I couldn’t get anywhere close enough to even look over the wall. If there’s a mansion there, I couldn’t see it.”
“So, you came to Zuma instead?”
“Dude,” grinned Ru. “I have been all over Malibu these last few months. I even snuck into the Colony, made it past the security guards and right up to Pauly’s doorstep.”
“But Pauly doesn’t remember?”
Ru shrugged. “That’s the thing. I don’t know. Pauly’s not there. He ran away.”
“He did what?!”
“Did a runner. I talked with his parents. Sometime in November, Pauly emptied out one of his bank accounts and took off. His mom and dad think that he might have gone to San Francisco, because of some search results they found in his computer’s history. But they haven’t been able to find him, though.”
I burst into delighted laughter. “Which means he remembers, Ru! Pauly remembers, too!”
“How do you know?” asked Ru, looking confused.
“Because Pauly, after you…disappeared…well, he fell in love with a girl from the San Francisco area.”
“Pauly fell in love?! Wait…there were girls?”
“Eventually…and Pauly got with this Latina spitfire named Florenza. And if he’s heading toward San Francisco, then I have no doubt that it’s to find her.”
Ru started laughing himself. “That would be sooo Pauly!”
“It gets even better. Florenza was pregnant!”
“You’re kidding me!” Ru’s mouth fell open in shock. “Our Pauly…like…our crazy-Pauly was gonna’ be a dad?!”
“They were serious, bro. And, get this—they met when Florenza tried to kill him. I mean, she sliced open his neck with a razor she hid in her mouth!”
“Okay,” Ru nodded. “Now, that would make sense. That would be exactly the girl that Pauly would fall for.”
Back at the Honda, meanwhile, Kieran and Yanni had returned and were standing, waiting. Ru nodded toward Kieran. “Is he still an ass?”
“Pretty much,” I admitted. “But he’s not with Brandon in this world, so that’s good. What about Connor? Is he doing okay?”
“Still crazy-smart. It’s weird to see him without his limp, but it makes me happy, too.”
“Do you think you’ll tell him about what happened?”
Ru shrugged. “Maybe…eventually. I mean, how do you tell someone they lived another life that they don’t remember?”
“That’s something I’m still trying to work out with my girl,” I said. “Kaylee was one of the girls who showed up in the second year.”
“Wait a second…did you say second year?”
* * * *
And if this story couldn’t get crazier—that was the moment that it did.
See—according to Ru—he’d only returned to this world on November 1st.
The exact same day that I’d returned!
Only I’d been gone a year longer than him.
I had no theories on how that would have worked.
Jay and Porter did, however.
* * * *
“And Porter has a girlfriend?!”
“Her name’s Jay. She’s the best friend of my girl, and as smart—if not, smarter than Porter,” I told Ru. We were sitting side-by-side on the parking lot curb, still catching up after an hour of talking. Kieran, Rhys, and Yanni, meanwhile, had wandered off back to the concessionaire’s to have ice-cream (my treat).
“And Porter and this Jay both remember?”
I nodded. “But my girl doesn’t.”
“Bummer.”
“You don’t know the half of it. Kaylee and I were married during the last year.”
“Married?! Well, congratulations, dude!” Ru reached out and clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Wow, I really did miss out on a lot when I left…like girls. I would have liked to have had girls in my tribe.”
“It got crazier than that, Ru. By the end, we were up to well over a hundred kids and Kaylee was running the tribe.”
“The guys actually followed her?”
“Some of them had a little attitude at the beginning but, after she led them into battle against the Crazies, she basically had them wrapped around her little finger.”
Ru shook his head in disbelief. “You shining me on, bro?”
I broke out into a wide grin. “Dude, I’m not kidding. We went to war against freaking flesh-eaters!”
And I told him all about Brandon and the Crazies and the White Shirts and the slaves. While the sun finished setting, I went on to explain about how the Arena worked and when the girls showed up and how Frank established farming on the Point. Then, while Kieran, Rhys, and Yanni went back to the concessionaire’s for a second ice cream, I talked about how I had married the girl of my dreams and ultimately lost her over my stupid indecision and insecurities.
“You know what’s really bizarre?” Ru said, when I’d finally finished.
“What’s that?”
“That I believe you. That I’m probably one of the only people around who absolutely, without any doubt, believe that all that happened.”
“What’s really bizarre is that, up until about an hour and a half ago, you thought you were going insane.”
“There was that.” Ru smiled brightly. “This way is so much better—remembering.”
“Well, it’ll be better when I get Kaylee back.”
Ru stood up, brushing the sand off of his pants. “You will, dude. I have no doubt.” He reached out and shook my hand. “You’ve got my info, so we’ll keep in touch.”
“Absolutely, bro. And you need any help finding the others, you know where I am.”
He nodded. “In the meantime, I figure I’ll just go down the list. Contact the ones who live nearest to me and work my way out from there. See who I can find who remembers. Well—except for Joe. I think I’ll just leave him alone.”
“Good idea,” I agreed. “Meanwhile, Jay and Porter and I will be doing the same with the kids around here.”
“And we’ll all get together in a bit—everyone we can find who remembers.”
“Absolutely.”
We started walking together toward the Honda. I could see Kieran, Rhys, and Yanni coming toward us, licking the last of their ice cream cones. They passed a group of teens who were sitting next to the sea wall, listening to some rap music that was playing loudly from one of their phones.
“It’s noisy, isn’t it?” said Ru. “Here…in this world. It’s one of the things I had a hard time getting used to when I got back.”
“And it’s busy. Like there’s always something that needs to be done,” I added. “Especially on social media. People are always tapping away at their phones.”
Ru touched his back pocket; I could see the impression of a phone there. “Mine is usually muted. I just don’t feel the need to let everyone know what I’m doing every moment of the day.”
I laughed. “Cat videos rule, though.”
“Well, that should go without saying,” Ru chuckled.
We stopped at Betsy. This time we gave a bro-hug—quick, efficient, no emotions.
“Don’t be a stranger, Ru.”
“By the way, thanks for trying to grab onto me when I was in the cage—keep me from disappearing—back in the other.” He put his hand on his chest. “Locals for life…we’re brothers, Jacob.”
I put my hand on my own chest. “Brothers.”
Then, he disappeared into the darkening night.
* * * *
It was a completely different ride home from Zuma Beach than the ride there that morning. As I drove up Kanan, lost in my thoughts and memories, Rhys snored away in the passenger’s seat beside me. Kieran and Yanni remained awake in the back seat, though. They were deep in some fan-boy conversation, debating the pros and cons of some “Calcutta Timelier” issue that apparently betrayed its fandom by altering an original origin story of one of its main characters.
By the time we reached the 101 Freeway, I looked in my rearview mirror to see Yanni laughing. He had pushed his lanky hair out of his eyes and—for the first time—I realized that he was actually quite a good-looking guy.
So very different from the sad, dead boy we had buried in the otherworld.
When I drove across the 101 overpass, I wondered if he and Kieran were going to be friends now.
As it turned out, I needn’t have wondered. They not only became friends.
They became best friends.
From that moment on—Kieran and Yanni had each other’s backs.
Brothers from different mothers.
* * * *
I’ve been thinking a lot about Pauly—how he just picked up and ran north, to Florenza. There’s no way he could have known if Florenza even remembered, but that apparently didn’t matter to Pauly. What mattered was simply that his girl was somewhere in the San Francisco area and that Pauly was determined to go and find her.
Because that’s how Pauly works; if he wants something, he simply goes for it.
As opposed to me—who apparently needs to ‘think’ about it, then ‘whine’ about it, then ‘think’ about it some more.
I mean, seriously…my girl is right here, in the same city, in the same high school, yet I can’t even get up the nerve to approach her, let alone win her back.
What a loser!
Man, I’ve gotta’ get my crap together before someone else decides to go after Kaylee. While I’m so busy moaning over a past that I’ve screwed up, I might just be screwing up a future that could be.
So, first step—even though it’s supposed to be girls asking guys to the Sadie Hawkins’ Day Dance, I’m going to ask Kaylee to be my date.
Wish me luck.
KAYLEE’S JOURNAL
I’m so nervous about the Valentine’s Day Dance!
We girls are supposed to be inviting the guys and I’ve had this plan to ask Jacob for like forever. But now I’m wondering if maybe I should invite Brandon instead—because of what he did for me over these last few weeks.
It was such an incredibly horrible time in Boston. You can’t understand what it’s like to sit at your grandma’s bedside and watch her die. More than anything I just wanted to ask my dad if I could get on a plane and come back home.
But I couldn’t. That just would have been wrong.
Instead, I had to sit there, day after day, with all the rest of the relatives, smelling the most disgusting smells, eating the worst hospital food, and being bored beyond bored.
And feeling like a horrible person, because I so hated doing it.
Truthfully, the only people who made it a little better (and trust me I hate saying this) were the Boob-Bimbo and Brandon.
At least the Boob-Bimbo would take me out of the hospital. We’d go for ice cream or just walk around in the sun, that sort of thing. Don’t get me wrong. She’s still kind of goofy and not the brightest bulb on the tree, but I will reluctantly admit that she’s got a kind heart.
And she actually realized that being around my dying grandma was hard for me. My dad couldn’t have cared less!
Brandon was the biggest surprise, however. He called me almost every day and just listened to me while I complained. And he sent me flowers…more than once…just to cheer me up!
The truth is, I spoke to Brandon over the winter break more than I spoke to Jay.
Which is really annoying.
I mean, Jay’s supposed to be my BFF, but lately she acts so weird, with her stupid secrets and her mystery boyfriend (like I don’t know she’s seeing Porter!)
Well, guess what, Jay? Now, I’ve got my own secret boyfriend, too.
So there!
FEBRUARY
JAY
I spent a lot of February helping Ms. Jenni preparing for her charity yard sale. As more families joined up, and the event became bigger and more complicated, there was always something to be done—from pricing items to painting signs to drawing up advertisements for the local newspapers and web sites.
