Chapter 11: The day after

It was late afternoon before Al showed any signs of life. I heard mom come in a few times but nothing seemed to get Al to move. I was miserable. She had me clenched tightly in her fist. The more I struggled the tighter she seemed to hold onto me.

It was evening when everything changed. Al sat up and her grip on me released. I fell onto her bed as she sat up Indian style. She looked down at me inquisitively as she wiped some tears from her eyes.

“Al! listen to me, please. I am not dead. I’m not sure what is going on but you have to believe me. Whoever they have at the police station isn’t me.” She just shook her head as she looked down at me.

“Just one second” Her voice echoed around me, it was still a little unsettling to hear the voice of my sister as loud as it was. I cringed as she reached out towards me and stretched out across her bed. She had her legs propped up in the air as she rested her chin on her hands. I was deposited directly in front of her face.

“Now speak” I had to wince as her voice rang out all around me.

“Al, it’s me Jacen. You have to believe me. This whole thing is a horrible mix up. I need your help. I don’t want to be like this forever.”

“I’m sorry, I mean I know its you, its just I didn’t want to believe that it was you. You hardly look like my big brother. You look like Polly Pockets kid brother.”

I never felt so relieved in my life, I actually felt like progress was being made for the first time since this nightmare started. So far, I had gone from one horrible experience to the next and now I finally have someone on my side.

There was then a knock at the door. Jenni then called Al’s name. In one fluid motion Al grabbed me in her hand and dashed across her room. My insides felt like they were about to shoot out my mouth as everything went from stop to quick motion to all of the sudden Al had came to a screeching halt. I heard a zipping noise and found myself hovering above a gigantic baby blue gym bag. Al loosened drawstrings and dropped me in before I could say a thing.

“Now be quiet till I come get you.”

“Till you come get me? I am not some five year old and why are you hiding me. I want out of this thing right now.”

“Or what?” I watched in horror as Al pulled the drawstrings tightly closed leaving only a small beam of light coming in. I darted across the floor, which was covered by nylon gym shorts. As I neared the wall I lowered my shoulder and slammed into the side of the bag. I hoped that this would cause the gym bag to tumble over but instead I found myself falling backwards onto my back.

“Hey Al, I was..” The voice of my sister Jenni was surrounded me as I tried to yell for help but I already knew that it was hopeless as it appears that my voice has about a 12 inch radius at best when dealing with these giants.

That was the first time I caught myself referring to them as giants, as if they were different from me. The longer I spent like this, the harder I found it to be able to consider myself an equal. I knew that I would have to battle myself in efforts to stop myself from thinking of myself as a lesser person.

The conversation dragged on, and I found it hard to follow as they there voices were so loud. I found myself thinking more about just what Al was doing. Why was she hiding me? However what bothered me more was her action. Each time she has seen me it has been such a different reaction. She feinted the first time, she almost killed me the second time, trapped me in a stocking cap the third time, and now she seems completely at ease with the situation.

“Hey Jacen, you are gonna have to hang out here for a bit, Jenni and I are going uptown to eat. Cya”

“Wait! Don’t just leave me here! Take me with you or something!” I shouted a bit annoyed by the situation.

“Hmmm what was that you always said to me, oh yeah! Hanging out with me is like a ride at the amusement park. You have to be this tall.”

I heard Jenni yell something and then Al disappeared. This whole situation was rotten, but being left behind sucked, what was worse of all was having my own words used against me.