The Atwood DITFT: Generation 3, Chapter 3
Author's Note: Hello again everyone! I know it's been awhile between chapters, and I'm sorry about that! I like to have at least 2 chapters stored up in advance before I post... and chapter 5 took a long time!! It's all done though... I took Rue on her first vacation! ^_^ Also, for those interested, I will be posting a progress report on the challenge checklist for the first 2 generations! :D For now though, enjoy this chapter!
The Atwood DITFT: Generation 3, Chapter 3
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Last time...
(I'm doing this now because there is such a time gap between chapters lol. Click that link if you want to read chapter 2!)
We saw life from Jaden's point of view, learned that Reagan and Finn seem more interested in their careers than their kids, and found out Jaden's father is Dominic, the man who raped Reagan when she was in high school. Reagan withdrew from Jaden, and he ended up running away. What will the out-of-touch parents do next?
* * *
“Did you find him?” Reagan asked desperately. It was past one in the morning, and she and Finn had just gotten home from searching the town for Jaden. Neither of them had seen him since the night before, but hadn’t thought anything of it until that evening when they returned home from work around eight to discover that he was gone. The parents usually left for work before the kids were even up for school in the morning, and returned after dinnertime to find their daughters fed and tucked in bed by either fourteen-year-old Jaden or the babysitter.
Except that tonight, instead of that peaceful scene, they had found total chaos. Norah was jumping up and down on the kitchen counters, and Rue was eating an enormous bowl of the most sugary brand of cereal they had in the house-presumably the only form of dinner she’d had.
Reagan was in such a frantic rush to get the girls to do their homework, cook them dinner, and get them in bed that she had no time to question them about Jaden’s whereabouts.
“No sign of him,” Finn said sadly as he and Reagan made their way inside.
“Where did you-?”
“The school, the library, the park, the bookstore…” he trailed off. “Everywhere I could think of. I take it you didn’t have any luck either?”
“Nope,” Reagan sighed. “I checked Michael and Cassie’s, I checked with the triplets, and I had a long look around the farm with Mason and Dad; he’s not at any of our family’s houses.”
“The farm was my first guess for where he’d go… He’s over there more often than not.”
“So where else could he be?” Reagan exclaimed. “He’s fourteen, he can’t just roam the city alone at night!”
“Reagan, think about it. He could have left anytime today. He could have left last night, for all we know! Did you check on him this morning before you left for work? Because I sure didn’t. I haven’t seen him since last night after dinner.”
Reagan shifted uncomfortably. “I… I don’t even know when the last time I saw him was.” She looked at the ground. “I had kind of… started wishing I’d never see him again.”
Finn didn’t know what to say. Reagan was obviously feeling guilty that she had wished Jaden out of her life and then it had happened; but what could she have done to cause this? “Don’t blame yourself,” Finn said. “I’m sure he’ll turn up. But it’s not your fault.”
“I think it’s both of our faults,” she admitted. “We’ve been so busy, working nonstop on this stupid case that’s not getting anywhere, and I’ve been swamped at the office, but does any of that really matter if we’re missing out on the lives of our children? When’s the last time I cooked for them? When’s the last time it was you, or me, putting the girls to bed instead of Jaden or a babysitter?”
Finn was stunned to realize he couldn’t remember.
“We’re bad parents, Finn. We’ve been pushing our responsibilities off on Jaden, and this is our punishment. I think it’s time to put a stop to this.”
“I just wish it hadn’t taken Jaden disappearing for us to realize that,” he said regretfully.
The next morning, Rue woke up to the smell of pancakes wafting through the house. She wandered out to the kitchen and was completely shocked to see her mother cooking.
“Mommy? What awe you doing hewe?” she asked.
“I’ve decided to go in late to the office, so I can make you girls breakfast,” she said with a smile.
Norah, who was sitting at the counter reading a book, added, “We can’t find Jaden.”
“What do you mean, you can’t find Jaden?” Rue demanded. “He’s in his woom, wight? He’s supposed to make us waffles and then pack ouw backpacks with us.”
“Well, Mommy’s going to do that for you girls today,” Reagan said, her voice tight. “Is that all right?”
“I guess,” Rue said. She immediately headed down the hall to find her brother and put a stop to this silliness. Mommy didn’t make breakfast-Jaden did!
But when Rue entered Jaden’s room, she saw that Norah was right: Jaden was nowhere to be found.
Rue was naturally inquisitive, and loved mysteries of any kind. Although she was upset about her brother being gone, her overriding feeling was one of curiosity. Where did he go? Why? When will he be back? And are there any clues?
She didn’t really mean to do it, but suddenly she found herself snooping through Jaden’s things, trying to find some hint as to his whereabouts. She combed through his drawers, checked behind pictures hanging on the walls, and even peeked under his bed-but it smelled like dirty socks under there, so she quickly retreated.
All she figured out was that everything was exactly in its place-except his backpack and a few of his clothes were missing. So he was planning to be gone awhile.
Then, Rue noticed the one place she hadn’t checked. Jaden’s old costume chest, long unused but never thrown away. It had been his most prized possession when he was a child, and when he grew out of it, he would let Rue play with it only if she promised to be extra good. He never let Norah touch any of his costumes, because he knew she would wreck or steal them. Rue always felt special when she got to put one on, and it was even better when Jaden agreed to play with her.
Carefully, Rue lifted the heavy lid. The smell of the beautiful fabrics washed over her, and she was reminded of all the days she had opened this chest on happier occasions. Steeling herself, she looked inside.
There, placed neatly on top of a folded dinosaur costume, was a piece of paper. Rue realized immediately that it was covered with Jaden’s handwriting. Her heart beating a little faster, Rue began to read.
Hey, Rue bug,
How did I know it was you? Well, who else would think to check the costume chest for a note but you?
It’s hard for me to write this to you, but I’m leaving. You’ve probably noticed by now that I’m not around. Well, I’m not coming back. I don’t know how to explain this to you, but it’s just better if I’m not at home right now. It’s making Mom and Dad upset, and I don’t want that.
Mom has gone through some tough things. When she was younger, a man treated her very badly. And I remind her of that man too much. You know that my real mom and dad aren’t the same as yours. That’s why I think it’s not right for me to stick around and be a burden on our parents anymore. I bring up too many bad memories, and it makes Mom keep to herself and ignore the family. I don’t want her ignoring you because of me. That’s another reason I’m leaving.
Maybe I’ll see you again someday. You can keep this note to remind yourself how much your big brother loves you, though. For now, I hope everything gets better with Mom and Dad at home. Stay strong, squirt. You’re a better sister and person than Norah will ever be.
You can show this note to Mom and Dad if you want, but maybe it would be fun to keep it our little secret. Whatever you want to do.
I love you, Rue bug.
-Jaden
Well, that confirmed it, then. It wasn’t just a cruel joke of Norah’s-Jaden was actually gone. Rue didn’t want to believe it, but here was the evidence right in front of her, written in Jaden’s own handwriting.
A sense of dread came over Rue. My last protector against Norah is gone.
Norah seemed to have come to the same conclusion. Over the next few weeks, anytime the girls’ parents weren’t looking, Norah would make fun of Rue mercilessly.
“Stupid little wimp, can’t even stand up for yourself! Oh, that’s right, it’s because Jaden’s not here to protect your sorry little ass!”
“Shut up, Nowah!” Rue would say, trying her hardest not to cry. “Leave me alone!”
“Or what? You’ll tell Mommy and Daddy? You really think they’ll believe you? They love me, idiot. I’m their favorite kid, and they don’t care about you at all!” It seemed the more Norah made this statement, the truer it became in her mind.
Rue slowly became more and more withdrawn. Teased ruthlessly for her speech impediment every time she spoke, she stopped talking at school, and soon after that, at home as well. Although her parents were around more now, it just made them love Norah more and think of Rue as even more of a troublemaker. So Rue stopped trying to impress her parents with anything she did, and didn’t even try to defend herself when Norah got her in trouble. Her parents wouldn’t believe her, anyway, so what was the point?
Rue’s only comfort, now that Jaden was gone, was James. Kids in their school were cruel, and the two had been outcasts from the very beginning. Because of this, they had always tended to stick together, and now were the best of friends. Rue went to James’ house to play whenever she could.
“Nowah called me a slut today,” Rue said dejectedly one day. “What’s that mean? Do you know?”
“I think it’s a bad word for a stupid person,” James said, scratching his head, “but I’m not positive.”
“I don’t know whewe she gets all these new mean things to call me,” Rue replied. “It’s like the sixth-gwade teachews awe telling hew, ‘hewe’s what to say to youw little sistew to make hew sad’.”
“Hey, then maybe when we’re in sixth grade, we’ll get to learn all those words too!” James said brightly. “Then you can get back at her!”
Rue laughed. “I can’t wait to be in middle school!”
“Me, either. Hey, wanna play a game?” James asked.
“Doctow Wheelchaiw?” Rue asked with a grin. Since James didn’t have very much mobility and couldn’t play a lot of typical games like tag or dodgeball, the kids had come up with a whole host of ‘chair-friendly’ games that they could play together. Rue was referring to the game where James, the doctor, would diagnose Rue, the patient, with any number of strange diseases that required some sort of odd treatment. Sometimes it was riding in the wheelchair (Rue would help James sit on his bed, then roll herself around his house), but often it was something like eating ice cream sprinkled with Cap’n Crunch, or doing twenty-four cartwheels around the room.
“How’d you guess?” James laughed.
“Okay!” Rue said happily. “Is the doctow set in youw woom? I’ll wace ya thewe!” She hopped up out of her seat and bolted down the hallway, knowing James would overtake her in a matter of seconds.
“Ha!” said James triumphantly as he whizzed past her in his chair. “I guess I do have an advantage sometimes!”
Rue just laughed and hurried after him to start their game.
Years passed. Norah became even meaner as she entered high school. Jaden still failed to come home, and Reagan and Finn redoubled their efforts on the case-now trying to find both Dominic and Jaden. Rue’s speech slowly improved, but she knew she’d never sound completely normal.
With all the stress in her house, Rue found herself almost never going home. She and James were still the best of friends, and spent time together at every opportunity.
“Thanks fow lending me youw family,” she always said as she left his house.
“Anytime,” James would say. “My parents are thrilled that I have friends at all.” His parents, friendly and kind French immigrants, adored Rue and treated her like another child. Together, they would bake cookies and watch movies and do all kinds of other activities that Rue never got to do at home. They delighted in teaching the kids French and feeding them fine French cuisine.
Rue would laugh. “That’s silly. You’we the nicest boy I’ve evew met. It doesn’t mattew that you can’t walk.”
“Not to us,” he agreed with a smile.