Thrice

‘So serene she sits’, wrote the official interviewer for the news on NBC. ‘Her eyes hold such intense calm, making me feel as if I have been cast into a perfect state of balance.’ Megan sat back in her chair, looking at the computer screen and the very few words. The girl she had interviewed last week was someone of no great importance, but had been made a national interest through awful things. The young woman had told Megan that her life had been remade in three days, but to Megan, from what that perfect woman had said seemed three lifetimes of change. How was she to write this story to do the woman justice? Really Myel was only a child of sixteen, but she seemed so very old to Megan, as old as time itself.

Megan started writing again. ‘A cruel fate seemed destined for a child that seemed so carefree…’ Megan glanced at a picture of Myel, just there, to the left of those cheerleaders. Her long black hair perfectly tamed to lay flat and to curl just so at the ends traveled down her long and slender back to her curved and exposed waistline. Her eyes pretend the color of brilliant blue, her skirt a frilly little pink thing, a really tiny pink thing, hardily called descent. Her tanned skin painted to make her look the china doll in the glass windows not to far down the street, making her look fake. All she could think of were boys, how they are a perfect way of entertainment. All this would change, her outlook on life, in just three days.’

Megan looked at a picture of the girl now, and compared them to the typed words on the Word Document. They seemed just right…As Megan wrote she felt herself sinking into the person called Myel, sinking into those three days that changed everything…

Gabriel rolled her eyes as her mother once again honked her horn, trying to pull the chattering girl from her flock of fair-weather friends. “Like I was saying, Mark so totally doesn’t deserve her, I mean, like, I’m way better then her. Francine so total got what she deserved.” Again the horn honked, making Gabriel stamp with impatience and storm to her mother’s car after a quick goodbye kiss to her honey. “What!? Can’t you see I’m busy?!” Gabriel stormed at her mother whose graying hair fell wispily from her bun at the top of her head. “We really have to go sweetie! Your brother’s are waiting at the el--“

“Alright already! Lets go already!” Gabriel hopped in the back seat, cramming against the door, not wanting to be touched by the golden retriever pup at the other window. Lou was at Gabriel’s heavily painted face in seconds, washing it messily from her face. “MOM!” Gabriel tried to push to dog away, but he had not finished his greeting. “Get this THING off me!!” Gabriel’s mother whistled and the dog leapt to the font seat, all tails and ears. “His name is Lou, sweetie, you r-“

“STOP CALLING ME THAT!!!!!” Gabriel screamed at her mother. Gabriel’s mother fell silent as the car started to veer off the road into the stream of oncoming cars. “MOM! Watch where you’re going!” Gabriel looked at her mother, bewildered. “Mom?” Gabriel unbuckled quickly and pulled Lou to the backseat again, taking his place at the passenger’s seat. “MOM!” Gabriel pulled her mother onto her lap, no breath…

Gabriel looked at the road, the cars now veering wildly to stay out of the car’s way. The gas petal was stuck, as if glued to the bottom on the car. Gabriel quickly pulled herself into the driver’s seat and twisted the wheel violently to the right, making then head across traffic. Sirens were heard, as if a blessing to Gabriel instead of a driver’s curse. Gabriel tried hitting the brakes, but she could feel no tension beneath her foot. Gabriel swore loudly.

Now they were heading down hill, gaining speed as they went. Gabriel looked at the speedometer and panicked. They were just breaking the speed limit by, oh, 50 MPH!! Gabriel looked around, panicking, this is it; this is the end. Gabriel looked over at her mother, her lips turning blue, and then at the dumb dog, who was cowering in the corner…this is not the end! NOT. LIKE. THIS!!

Gabriel looked at the curve in the road farther down the hill; to the left side was a long stretch of green grass, trees at the end, a perfect landing for a car out of control. The only thing keeping Gabriel from the haven was two guard rails and she would have to cut across the free way. The car was heading that way whether Gabriel liked it or not, her arms had no strength left in them to turn the car. Time stood still as Gabriel’s mind raced faster then the car. Gabriel unlocked the doors, grabbed her mother’s wrist, ducking as they hit the first guard rail.

The impact seemed to be a thousand sonic booms to her ears and many more trucks hitting the front of the car. Glass flew everywhere as all the windows broke on compact. Gabriel’s legs were thrown into her body as the front of the car was pressed inward, the metal groaning on the sudden change of its formal state. Horns honking, people screaming at the ruined car, the smell of burning rubber, all was twisted into a sweet calm before the next wave would hit. The second guard rail tore the doors off and pressed the front of the car even closer to the back. The grind of broken bone on broken bone and the smell of coppery blood mixed with the smell of burning metal and gas would be a smell she would never forget. They had to get out; there was still yet another danger as the car hurtled towards the line of trees.

Gabriel pulled her mother onto herself and threw her out of the car, Gabriel soon followed and rolled quite a measure. Gabriel stopped on her side only in enough time to see her mother’s mangled car explode in seeming silence against the line of trees. Gabriel screamed as if all hell was loose as the heat of the flames rolled over her like poisonous gas. Myel scrambled on her numb legs to her mother’s side and pressed her head to the woman’s chest….the dead woman’s chest.

Tears blurred the vision of the bloody piece of glass sticking from her mother’s throat gorily. Dripping with her mother’s life blood, Gabriel pulled the glass from the corpse and threw it towards the burning car. Gabriel screamed her remorse, the horns of the cars seemingly so far off and in a different world making her remember that afternoon, how awful she had been to her mother! Gabriel laid her head on her mother’s chest, crying like her heart had been torn from her.

The paramedics arrived with the firemen and the police. There was all chaos in the trail that red car had left behind before it crashed. Twenty seven injured on the street, two people dead in the countless accidents caused by a faulty acceleration and brake line. The firemen easily put out the fire, having help from God some said, as the heavens suddenly poured fourth their tears in unison to the one frozen on a fifteen year olds face, now unconscious on her mother’s chest. The paramedics placed the broken girl on a stretcher and she was immediately taken to intensive care. The mother was searched for ID, the phone number called, and the spouse told of the terrible incident.

The woman was borne away, a blue sheet over her face, to the funeral home where she was to be buried by her mother and father and their parents before them. The girl child, Gabriel, had nearly lost her left leg, shattered the bone in the other and had a vibrant burn on her left upper arm. No doubt this tragedy would leave its mark on this girl.

Megan looked at the photo of the after scene of the car crash, shaking her head. It was almost too much to bear already. Megan got up to refill her coffee cup and step outside to take in a breath of fresh air. Poor child, her father seemed to hate her, her brothers adored her, her mother dead, the dog unaccounted for. Megan went back to typing the story, her fingers willing to work again.

Gabriel slowly opened her eyes as the pain of her mother’s loss flooded her senses again, making her numb to the pain in nearly every inch of her body. “Gabriel?” A little voice called from a distant land. “Gabriel?” A tiny, soft, gentle hand touched the girl’s cheek. Gabriel tried to talk, but found she couldn’t, not when she was hindered by an oxygen mask. Gabriel opened her eyes wider and turned her pounding head to her youngest brother, Peter. “Daddy’s here, he went out to get coffee.” Gabriel snorted, he most likely went to go play with a few nurses. Peter smiled up at his older brother Ronin, who too was smiling, only knowingly instead of pure innocent happiness.

Three years ago, Gabriel and Ronin had burst into their father’s office at his work to find him and a busty woman on the lush carpet, clothing cast aside. Their father banished the woman from his office as he roughly and threateningly made his children swear never to tell their mother of the affair. They both did, both not knowing that the woman called mother and wife would be taken in such a cruel way.

Gabriel’s memory was thrust aside as her father walked in, not looking at her, only at Peter who raced up to him to take the cup of hot coco. Peter was the father’s favorite, Gabriel and Ronin both knew it as well as if their father had proclaimed it over international news. “You awake?” Father asked Gabriel with a sudden kindness that made Gabriel nearly draw back, from his loving pat on her foot, in fear. The father of the children laughed quietly and gently stroked Peter’s angelic hair. “It’s all over now; everything is going to be fine Gabrila.” Gabriel closed her eyes again, falling back to sleep….he even got the name wrong….

Gabriel woke as the nurse carefully and happily took all support from machines off of the girl. “All better Sweetie,” Gabriel’s heart shriveled up and died at the name. “You’ll be out of here by tomorrow afternoon.” Gabriel’s heart opened a weak ray of hope, perhaps things would turn out for the better now. Mark would be there at school, open arms and bed, Amanda would be there, listening to her story then spreading it out to the school. Gabriel smiled secretly, everything would be alright, if not better. She’d be so popular now!

Obviously nothing changed…

The rest of the day blew by and the last thing Gabriel could remember before drifting off in her terrible hospital bed was yelling at her father for bringing a coke…not diet.

Megan shook her head and looked again at the picture of the accident, this girl, no wonder it had taken so much to get through to her…

Gabriel lived through the crash again that night in her mere. Only, as she slowly woke up, the smells and screams lingered. Gabriel sat up slowly, only to add her scream with the agony filled screams of the others. Fire….everywhere. Gabriel hopped out of her bed on her weak legs, fire licking her clothing. She scrambled out the door and screamed again, her brothers! Both of them! Both were gone from life forever. Ronin was nothing more then a charred hand, holding Peter’s and, OH, PETER! Sweet Peter! Peter’s sweet face was being eaten away by flames. The stench helped douse one flame as Gabriel’s stomach rolled, but a thousand more flames took its place.

Gabriel raced away to the stairs were lain a labyrinth of dead and nearly dead. She was nearly there! A wave of fresh air caught Gabriel’s full attention. She started to race down the stairs but was pulled short as her gown caught on something…a hand. “Please! Take my baby! Save her!” A woman, her lower half enveloped in flames, miraculously alive! Gabriel looked at the pathetic parcel handed to her and took it quickly, doubting the child was even alive. The woman died as soon as the child left her hand, the fire soon taking the woman over completely.

Gabriel pressed the child to her chest and raced downstairs to the door. She kicked the burning remains away with her bare foot and was outside, glorious outside! Gabriel raced to the grass where she fell to her knees and then to her back, the child on her stomach drawing enough breath again to cry piteously. Gabriel remembered the flames on her gown in time enough as it nipped at her ankles. She beat against the ruined cloth weakly, but won that battle. She sat, weakly staring up at the fire.

She was taken to a crowd of paramedics and quickly dressed in a blanket, her father found among the escaped, and a wide eyed, top heavy nurse clinging to his elbow. Gabriel glared up at him, hating him totally. “You left them to die!” She screamed at him, her voice barely a whisper, the after affect of the smoke. “Rn an Per! Thr gn!” Her words were drowned out as the hospital collapsed into smoldering rubble, the fire extinguished.

Gabriel’s father looked at the woman clinging to his elbow and comforted her as tenderly as a newly wed. Gabriel closed her eyes and chose to forget the man she had called father. She hated him and that woman, the woman more then the other. She had distracted her father from at least saving the boys, her brothers, now ashes among the ruble.

Morgan shivered, remembering how quite Gabriel’s voice was when she re-laid the past events to the interviewer. There had been a fire in the fire place in Morgan’s parlor at the time; it drew Gabriel’s complete attention at the point, but the essence of perfect balance never left the girl the entire time. It had made Megan notice how unbalanced she was, looking at the girl.

Three days later, Gabriel stood at her father’s side as they set a woman and two boys to rest in the ground. Most of Peter had been found, his hand intertwined with Ronin’s was still whole but melted together. The hands were laid in the ground, its own little pot, in between the boy’s short graves. Gabriel and her father shed not a single tear. Gabriel was to numb to care, her father secretly rejoicing. The pretty nurse, now hideous in Gabriel’s opinion, started at the open ground with little care. As the caskets were lowered into the ground, many tears bid them goodbye, but none from the daughter and spouse, sister and father, none from the enemy beside the man.

Gabriel had spoken of the woman, Nerissa, with not a single hint of emotion, her face seemed to be a lake without a disturbance or ripple on its glassy surface. It was like Gabriel refused to be the woman in the story she told.

Not but a week later, Gabriel found herself standing in a crowd dressed in white and power pink, church bells finishing their echoing toll as the groom and bride stepped from the white paneled doors, all smiles and frills. Flowers were thrown instead of rice or confetti on request of the bride. The groom, her father, had forgotten he had a daughter, he even forgot to hide the near hundred drugs and his passed out body the night before in his room, the nurse, now his bride, lay on the bed, intoxicated as well. They were only here on time because of her.

Gabriel refused to live with them and had her bags already packed when her father came into her room, still dressed in his wedding suit. “Auntie Daniela and Uncle Luke have come for you, pack your bags, you’ll be staying with them for a while.” Then he was gone, no doubt rejoicing that the house would soon be empty again.

Gabriel walked to the car, her face blank, eyes heavy with much needed sleep. The silver car would drive her all the way to Canada, where she was to go and try to live again.

The car ride was long and tedious; they listened to classical music, her Auntie and Uncle, not punk rock like she was used to. Gabriel closed her eyes, listening to the violins as they played a rather soft lullaby that seemed to match the rocking of the car. Gabriel found herself falling fast asleep….“Gabriel, we’re here, welcome to our home.” Auntie Daniela stuck her face nearly right in Gabriel’s, making her yelp and back up, frightened. “Auntie!”

“Not Auntie anymore, love, it’s Mommy now!” Daniela hugged Gabriel in a back breaking hug, Gabriel’s attention drawn to the home she was to live in….

“A FARM!?” Gabriel looked at the rankled place, aghast. It smelled awful; it looked as if it had only survived a tornado by a rusty nail and a creaky door. “Welcome to the Cantle Farm Gabriel.” Daniela said, pulling all of Gabriel’s two bags from the back seat as Luke led her to a room without anything but a mattress on the floor. “We have to admit, finances are a little thin, but this will do for now.”

Gabriel looked around the room, a small smile on her face appearing as the Uncle and Auntie went to go about their chores. She could make this work, she would fashion a new life for herself and make this work!

Gabriel quickly set her bags in the corner, redressed in her oldest and worst pair of jeans and a faded yellow tee shirt with Grease Monkeys written across the breast. She searched around her bag for a pad of paper and a pen and started writing a list.

1) Paint
2) Dresser
3) Nightstand
4) Bookshelf
5) Desk
6) Curtains and Blinds
7) A door
8) Rugs
9) Towels
10) Sheets

Everything on the list, the room was missing. Every thing on the list, she would earn. Gabriel tore the piece of paper off and tacked it up on the wall with a thumb tack. She went back to her paper to write another list.

1) Find job to help fix up the house
2) Earn money for necessities
3) Make friends at school
4) Do homework
5) Do chores

Gabriel smiled as she too pinned these things on the wall. One more list and she’ll be done here.

Work on:
1) Anger
2) Emotions
3) How treat others
4) Remember to smile
5) No drugs, drink, or cutting
6) Forget latest fashions
7) Forget boys
8) Forget popularity
9) Forget self

Gabriel nodded at the list and signed her name at the bottom as a mutual promise to herself. A secret promise. She looked at the list, something was missing; something was calling on her, tugging at her heart.

10) Find good church

Gabriel smiled, now it was complete, the way she was to live for now on written on three small lists.

The next morning Gabriel bounced downstairs earlier then the sun. She stared at her Auntie, aghast at the woman. She was already dressed and had breakfast on the table. “Oh there you are Gabriel! I was just about to get you!” Gabriel smiled and kissed the wrinkled cheek of her Auntie, her new mother. “What time did you get up?” Gabriel asked, looking up at the woman who smiled. “Five thirty.” Gabriel looked at the woman and shook her head. “You’ve gone crazy on me already...”

Daniela laughed quietly and kissed her husband who came from the door leading outside. “Morning my doves.” He said and stooped to kiss the crown of Gabriel’s head then sat down at the end of the table and started to say grace once Daniela sat down. Gabriel looked around the table and quickly followed suit. Folding her hands and closing her eyes as she bowed her head and listened to her uncle as he prayed. “Dear god in heaven, I thank thee for the food thy hath set upon our table. Thank you for the safe journey home and for keeping Gabriel safe in all she hath been through, Amen.” Daniela said amen as well in unison with Luke.

Gabriel smiled the very last thing on her list had already taken care of; her Auntie and Uncle were church goers. Gabriel looked at the clock and nearly jumped from her seat. “I got to go to school!” She set her dishes inside the sink before racing up the stairs to get ready. She showered in the tiny bathroom without a lock, dressed in long jeans and a light red tee shirt, plain tennis shoes donned over gray and white socks. A quick brush through her long black hair and her empty school bag on her shoulder she darted downstairs, said a quick goodbye and darted to the school bus as it drove up.

Gabriel walked up the steps quickly and looked around for an empty seat. All of them seemed to be full or either kissing couples or gaggles of giggling girls. Myel finally found a seat that seemed to be on its last leg, and sat in the one seater, just behind the bus driver. Gabriel set her bag between her knees, bending down to fix her shoe lace just in time to miss having a paper ball meant for her head. Her old self roared in anger silently, her pride as the popular girl hurt. She swiveled around to see who had thrown the offending paper, to find a Jock and his cheerleader girlfriend, laughing and pointing her way.

Gabriel turned back towards the front, confusion storming around in her. Back to two days before, Gabriel and Mark had done the same thing. But back then, when they had thrown the paper ball loaded with milk, it had seemed funny, but now, here on the receiving end of the ball (thankfully dry), it hurt, worse then she would have expected. Gabriel picked the paper ball up and debated throwing it back, only loaded with spittle, and then she stuffed it in her bag, knowing better then to cause a fight.

Gabriel pulled a mirror from her bag and looked at herself; she had put on the same amount of makeup that morning and it looked just fine to her in the bathroom. But now, it seemed like a lie, she wasn’t this doll, she only hid her true self under the mask of paint and polish. Gabriel looked up as the bus made its last stop to a house that looked worse then her Auntie and Uncle’s home. The teen that lived here, she couldn’t tell if it were a boy or a girl at the moment, was in a wheel chair and had to roll all the way to the back door. The bus driver pulled a lever or two and walked to the back of the bus, now nearly full of snickering whispers and pointing fingers.

The bus driver pushed open the back door and held a red button down, making the troll on the back of the bus lower. The wheel chaired teen rolled onto the troll in complete silence and stayed that way as the driver pushed the button again, making the troll rise. The boy (she could now tell) rolled all the way up the isle, ignoring all the jeers, the paper balls, spit wads, and other mean pokes and jabs, right across the isle from Gabriel. His wheel chair snapped down into the automatic lock on the floor and they were off once again, to the unknown school with its unknown labels and customs.

Myel stepped through the doors of the old school, being pushed from behind by the rest of the bus riders’ teens. Most of them were loud and had fair weather friends, long pretty hair, scant clothing, even scanter morals….Was she really this way? So shallow and. and…and sick to look at? Myel shook her head and headed for the office to get her lock number and home room number. This year, at the tenth grade, was going to be one of the toughest years of her life. But hey, all the really bad stuff was over….right?

Myel’s first stop was to her locker, where she stripped it of it pictures and other things, like notes and old gum, from its previous owner and set her bag in the nearly empty metal box. She pulled down books for Science and Math, since she would have no time to travel back to her locker between home room and the classes.

In science, Myel was seated in the back, FAR in the back, away from any curious eyes and curious paper balls loaded with stains and other chemicals that would turn the skin blue and the clothing purple. She quietly stuck her pencil behind her ear; a new habit developed just that morning, and opened her hand-me-down book. She nearly smiled at the name on the inside cover ‘Iphigenia’ what a funny little, long name. Underneath the scrawling, the meaning of the name was written as ‘Sacrifice.’ Myel looked at the word, and smiled, sacrifice….
Nearly the same thing happened in Math, everyone was sleepily quiet, no one paid any attention to the new girl, A.K.A. Myel. Myel opened her math book and it fell open to a page with another name written on the bottom. In a heart, entitled: Best Friends Beyond Death, was written Iphigenia again, but underneath was the name Cassandra- the Helper of Men, and Yetta- Giver; clearly something was trying to get a message through to her.

These three girls, it looked like they had formed a group of some kind; something called: Christian Helpers – Sacrifice, Giving, and Helping. Myel had found several sketches for the logo in the back of a History notebook. Myel shook her head and closed her books before setting them all in a neat row underneath her window, back on the farm. She had finished her homework in record time, an hour after dinner to be exact; and had turned to the help wanted ads. She needed something that was easy, but would pay a lot.

That seemed way easier said then done. Lawn mowing was definitely something Myel couldn’t do. First off, she didn’t speak Mexican, and she didn’t like the idea of having to work in the heat all day with sweaty, stinky men for twenty bucks an hour. She didn’t give stable mucking a second glance, nor did she grant house cleaning a moment’s pause. What caught her eye was a quiet little ad, its headline ‘Book Keeping’. That shouldn’t be to hard, and it paid decently too. Fifty dollars a day wasn’t all that bad. She’d get paid at the end of the day, every day minus Sunday, and could get holidays off.

Myel bounced downstairs to show and get permission from Luke. He seemed to be surprised that Myel was willing to take a job ‘like that.’ Myel smiled as she folded the paper neatly and stuffed it in her bag. “How hard can it be?” Luke laughed and ruffled Myel’s hair, his face breaking out into a wrinkly grin. “Then hop to it Kiddo, but don’t be late for dinner, 6:30 SHARP.” Myel laughed and nodded. “I’m going to use that old bike by the gate.” Myel said, and was off, her shoes on, her backpack in place, and her hopes high.

Myel road the rust bike to the library with the help wanted sign in the window. She stowed her bike against a tree, lock securely in place. Myel walked to the door and took a deep breath before entering the homey and warm two story building. The next breath Myel took was filled with the smell of a fire in the fireplace and the comforting smell of musty books. Myel smiled slightly as she walked up to the counter, pulling out her add.

“Hi, I’m here for the Help Wanted ad…” Myel pointed to the ad in the paper, making the wizened old woman at the desk smile. “Can you organize?” Myel nodded quickly. “How soon can you start?” Myel grinned. “As soon as you need me.” The woman nodded quickly and eagerly stepped out from behind the desk. She stood half of Myel’s height, which amazed the girl, because the woman seemed so tall still. “Come with me then.” She said gracefully, walking away as if she had every moment in the world, captive, in the palms of her tiny little hands.

Three hours and a cookie later, Myel bounced into her room, paint cans and paint brushes in her hands. “Hello drabby room! Time to spice you up!” And with that, Myel set to work, painting the walls blue, and then making modern designs on the walls.
“Don’t make me bump into anything.” Myel’s Auntie told the girl, touching the blindfold on her eyes. “I won’t, promise.” Myel said, grinning as she paused her Auntie to open the door, then led her in. “Alright, open ‘em.” Myel took the blind fold off her Auntie, who gasped in surprise. “YOU did this?” Myel giggled. “Yup.” Auntie shook her head and grinned down at the girl. “You know, your nothing like the girl your father was talking about, how he could think of you that way…” Auntie shook her head and patted the girl’s back. “Good job Mye.”

School next day was way more exciting then the day before. Myel had her first teen interaction, some body actually talked to her! Though, it was a dare, not friendly words. “Can you climb kitten?” Myel had ignored them…till they pulled her hair. Myel turned around to glare at her assailant, to find she had….three assailants. “Yah, I can climb.” Myel said to the towering boys, her back to the locker and the boys blocking each escape. “Then come with us Kitten, we have to see if your tuff enough to play.” Myel glared but followed.

“Then climb that.” Myel looked up at a tree, very, very tall and wide. “Wow….” She uttered in awe despite her anger. “Climb it Kitten!” Myel shrugged and walked up to the large oak. When she looked up at the tree again, it was larger then she remembered it, and the branches higher then they seemed. “Well now…” Myel looked around for a goodly low branch, and found none. Instead, Myel found a fence.

She grinned and leapt at the fence, climbing. She laughed as the boys below tried to shake her off, but it only helped her leap to a branch. Myel worked her way to the top, sitting down on a branch as thin as a pencil, waving down at the glaring boys.

When Myel had finished climbing down, she was alone. Obviously she was tough enough to play. She grinned, not being able to imagine a better reception. Life was good this way, she couldn’t imagine a better ending for a life that seemed to have gone sour.

Megan sat back and grinned at the lengthy story. Perhaps she could give the girl a small amount of the happiness she needed by making her famous. But what was it that the girl had said? ‘I wish to remain as I am’? Perhaps the story wouldn’t leave here; perhaps Myel would remain just a normal girl forever more. But that’s how she would have liked it. Myel had walked out with a golden retriever dog with a missing leg, calling him by name, the name of Lou.

Never the end.