Both of Me by Jonathan Friesen

Author:Jonathan Friesen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Blink
Published: 2014-12-01T05:00:00+00:00

I stared at Kira’s text. Flippin’ everybody needed me, and no matter who I helped, I would be letting others down. Marna. FFA. Now Kira.

Real people with real problems.

I was still stuck in Wonderland.

CHAPTER 15

I have just spent an entire night in prison! On purpose . . . I have decisions to make . . .”

I slammed shut the door to the sweet shop and stared at Haller. He took off his glasses and set them on the counter.

“So that’s where you went. It’s a rough old jailhouse.” He shook his head. “Your crime must have been heinous.”

I squinted, shielding the sunlight with my hand. “Which crime? The long-ago one? The best friend one? The sister one? What if she doesn’t recover? How could I lose another? Then there’s the Elias issue.”

“I’m not sure of all your offenses, but I do know even prisoners get hungry and thirsty. I can take care of that.” He straightened. “Besides, sure sounds like your thoughts have been punishment enough.”

I’d actually done precious little thinking over the past day. I was too busy feeling, feeling as I hadn’t allowed myself to for months. Most criminals leave prison harder, tougher, but this abandoned jail had the opposite effect on me.

Haller gathered an assortment of chocolates and boiled sweets while I looked around the place.

It was cluttered inside, but cluttered in a manicured fashion. A red-and-white tablecloth hung smartly over a small table; behind it, plants and shelving and stuffed animals lined the walls. The Abominable Bumble from Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer guarded the calendar, and straight ahead was the most charming little ice cream shop/soda fountain I had seen.

“All hand-dipped in the back, mind you. You’ll not find a better chocolate, and you look like you could use a few.”

I stared at myself in the mirror. In the days since my arrival in Minnesota, I had narrowed, stretched.

I looked like Mum.

“Here you are.” He rounded the corner of the counter and lay out a row of candies. “An assortment of ten, no cost to you.” We sat at the table and I devoured the chocolates. “Where you from?”

“London.”

“Can’t say as I remember a Londoner in these parts.”

I continued stuffing. “It’s a peculiar story. This is Salem, right?”

“Technically. But like I said, this is only a remnant of Salem. The heart of it has died. The bustle. The railroad. Gone. Not many who remember what was.” Haller rubbed the stubble on his face. “So what’s this about an airplane?”

Elias.

“Blast, I should probably check on the lad . . . I need to go.” I pushed back from the table.

“You’re sure free to leave. I just can’t help wondering what’s gotten a girl like you in such a confusion.”

I pause. “Have you ever run from reality? Have you ever run because reality was too much, too suffocating, too . . . just too? And then you find a fiction. And the fiction feels more real than the real ever did. Have you ever felt like that?”

Haller took a deep breath.

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