Talent Hall

“You’ve been quiet all day, Danny. Is something wrong?” Ian asks.

Caleb’s leaving at eleven tonight and said it’s because of a RS building in Australia,” I sigh.

It finally turns Green, I press my foot against the gas pedal, shooting around the corner. Ian advises I slow down because I’ve fifteen miles over the speed limit and he’s not trying to get caught. Trusting his driving skills rather than my own, I slow down.

“Oh, he got transferred. Yeah, Australia will need all the help they can get. At least as of right now. I’ve heard a lot of people from Washington are going out to either Australia or Sweden.” Ian clears his throat. “I honestly can’t stand the idea of this revolution thing. I know their intentions are probably good, but that’s what took my dad away from my mother and I when I was thirteen.”

“I-I’m so-”

“Don’t apologize. It wasn’t your fault. How did you feel when he told you?”

“I hated the idea. Frankly, I still do. It feels like he’ll be taken away from my mom and I, and that scares me.”

“He loves you guys and your mother. He will never leave you guys. I can see it in his eyes when he looks at her. True love. To me, it’s like a fairy tale. It’s beautiful. I’m jealous it wasn’t that way for my parents, but I’m glad it’s working out for them.”

After a few minutes of watching me drive he turns up the radio and listens closely to the station talking about President Johnson and slowly goes into strong detail about the R-Siri Anti Elimination buildings right here in Washington being the last state to sign a decree to pay for college funds and insurance of their people connected or working within R-Siri buildings. If that’s the case, no wonder Caleb’s leaving.

The stationbrings out Mike Rothlyn, the president of the Revolutionary Capital of America in New York. He goes on about how the American Revolutionary Siri buildings view one another. Lovingly with compassion and are crazy about each other.

When he’s asked about their purpose and goals, he respond with the ‘we’re living humans’ speech and that every RS building wants to Unite the world with love for each other and protect children from the evil of The Elimination.

“Their attentions are admirable,” I say.

“Their intentions, yes, but their intentions are also what tore apart my family,” Ian says.

“Have you ever talked to him about it?”

“I have nothing to say to him. He wouldn’t understand where I’m coming from. For the first three years, Mom was devastated. She couldn’t focus on anything. She lost her job. Her happiness because my dad, and there’s nothing I could do to help her. All I could do was sit and let it happen because no matter how loud I screamed for her, she couldn’t respond.”

“It’s like she was alive, but dead,” I whisper. “No matter how loud she screams to stay strong, her demons laugh and pull her down deeper.”

“Exactly,” he says. “What could he know about that? About what we both went through? Oh. Right... He wouldn’t care.”

“Have you ever talked to him since the night he left?” Ian shakes his head slowly. “Then maybe he is interested in what you have to say. Can’t know if you don’t try, right?”

He sighs. “I guess it could be worse. I can’t imagine what drove your dad to hit your mom. I’m really glad Caleb isn’t like that.”

It’s not a big secret Ian doesn’t know too much about my father. That I was raped. All he knows is that he hit Mom, which he did, and went to prison for life in Montana. I didn’t mention what he did before or after, and I don’t plan to.

Soon enough, we pull up to the house with the pool party. I shut the car off. The first thing I spot is the large mansion with party lights, three pizza guys carrying too many boxes of pizza to count, and a bunch of kids walking along the side of the house. The house looks to be worth millions. Not too far away from the worth of my house.

I hate living in a big house. And Mom and Caleb do to. We set a goal to live a simpler life in a small small. Don’t like a cottage or anything, but we definitely don’t want to live in a mansion for the rest of our lives.

When I told them of my idea to move somewhere smaller, they were surprised. I mean, they have hated living in a mansion for a while. Six months after they bought it together two years ago. A year and a half of hating our home is a long time, but it was one of the only options we had at the time. Now more houses are open because families are moving to the larger cities, like Vegas, Los Angeles, New York City. I think they are hoping for better opportunities, and New York and California will give those to you. Because we’ve lost nearly thirty percent of the population in Seattle to large cities across the US and south, we have plenty of homes to choose from now, so we plan to take advantage while we can before a bunch of people from the poorer cities try to move in.

They bought the house to give me everything they never had. Caleb and Mom both grew up in dirt and starvation, but now that I’m sick of being in a large home too, they’re working on finding a smaller place.

My mom’s family were destitute growing up. And so was Caleb’s. Caleb comes from a family of four brothers and six sisters with one mother who shared one bathroom and three bedrooms. His mother slept in the living room to give the kids better. Grandma and grandpa were poor to the point of rarely being able to feed themselves until Mom’s dad killed himself, so mom could have a better life, and that’s what she wants for me. Mom often uses Grandpa as an example to show I’m not worthless and that I would be missed and that she has the right to spoil me because of the past she had. I never got to meet him, obviously, but I’m sure I would have loved him.

Before I can decide whether I want to go back home or try to seem decent to party kids here, Ian rips the keys from the ignition and steps out of the car and calls someone over. Now I’m really not going anywhere unless I’m going to sprint home and hope Ian doesn’t see me.

I take a deep breath and open the car door. One of Ian’s friends from one of his senior classes smiles. “You’re Danny, right?” I nod. “I’ve heard a lot about you. By the way, I love your style.”

“Style?” I ask.

“Yeah!” He exclaims. “It’s like a combination of emo and hipster. I love it. You can pull it off too. I’m stereotyped by society. Meaning if I try to pull something like that off, I’m fake.”

I see what he means. His skin is dark, meaning he’s automatically stereotyped, and if he tried to wear my style of clothes, he’d be judged for it, worse than I’ve been judged for who I am. It sucks. He’d look great in my clothes. But the thing is I don’t listen hardcore music all the time. I like a variety of music. I’m just labeled as emo because I don’t own a light colored shirt and my hair has been dyed black since sixth grade.

“I think you’d look awesome with my style.”

“Thanks, but I don’t want to risk the… comments.”

Ah, comments. The comments people will make about you. Something I realized a long time ago about people is that you’ll be judged no matter what you are. White, Black, Hipster, Emo, boy, girl, intelligent, lazy. It doesn’t matter.

“We’ll see ya around, man.” Ian hugs him and watches him leave and then drags me to the back. Everyone greets us by waving and then pointing to Pizza and a cooler. The backyard is huge, perfect for a large party.

The long white table is filled with six boxes of large pizzas, four fruit and veggie bowls, a chocolate fountain, dozens of dessert trays, and right next to the table is a large bar table with three girls and one guy operating and making drinks for the partiers. Alcohol, water, and juice, all being served in one place.

Ian and I start to nibble on some fruit. I only do it because I don’t want Ian to hear my stomach growl. He thinks I totally have my life together. If he already thinks that, it would be selfish if I were to let him find out that I’m a hot mess and don’t have anything together.

Deciding it’s totally cool to leave me alone, Ian runs to the cooler and grab a can of Diet Pepsi and ends up talking to a blonde girl. I slowly walk towards the pool and play with the water, using my hands, playing with imaginary fish. Tiny imaginary fish.

Suddenly a voice asks, “Were you ditched too?”

I turn my head just enough to see a girl that seems to be my age in a cheerleading uniform, light brown hair with blonde highlights, and light blue eyes. Without thinking, I nod, waiting for an insult. The girl in a ponytail and cheer leading uniform sits next to me and smiles. Great. Just what I wanted.

“So… I hear rumors about you.”

There it is. “Well, you might as well believe them like everyone else,” I snap before standing walking towards the table with fruit, reaching for a strawberry. I think what has me agitated is that she’s obviously a cheerleader and they are always rude to me. Whatever it is, it doesn’t faze her. She follows me and smiles. I sigh and hold the strawberry.

“You’re so cute.” It’s so backwards that her compliment is causing more irritation. “Not all of us are like that. I’m not one to judge, I promise.”Not responding and rolling my eyes, I expect her to walk away, but she doesn’t. Instead, she lightly giggles. “Alright, what’s your story, honey?” I just stare at her, wondering not only why she isn’t walking away, but is still talking to me. “We all have a story. If it makes you feel better, I’m not from Seattle.”

“Why would I care about whether you’re from the city or not?” I say, venom in my voice.

She snickers. “Wow, they did a good job.”

“Who?”

“Those cheerleaders.” If looks could kill, she would be dead and bleeding in an instant. “Ian tells me that cheerleaders from Seattle are the worst in the country and that you can vouch for it....” She pauses and then continued. “You might not know this, but some cheerleaders actually feel bad that people are mistreated by other cheerleaders.”

I’m not surprised that she knows Ian. He knows a lot of people. Something else that wouldn’t surprise me is the idea of Ian paying her to talk to me. He’s very good at stuff like that.

As much as I would love to believe what she’s saying, I’ve been bullied by cheerleaders and sports guys for far too long to believe any ridiculous news like that. “News to me.”

She waves somebody over. It turns out to be another cheerleader. You’d think she was an actress hired to play Snow white. Skin white as snow, hair black as ebony. Brown eyes, she has on bright red lipstick.

She smiles. “Hi, I’m Lilly.” By her accent, I can tell she’s not American. Her accent isn’t thick, but you can tell she’s from Russia or somewhere close by.

I mumble my name.

“So what’s up, Kami?”

“This is Danny. We were just talking and he brought up some interesting. Thought you’d like to meet him.”

Lilly hugs me. With shivers running up my spine, I think to myself, Why is this stranger touching me?

When she pulls away, she grabs three cups of a tray that’s being carried by a girl with kitty ears and hands me a cup. I glance at the cup and then back at Lilly and Kamron, as if they poisoned it or something.

“So what’s the interesting topic?”

“Danny says all cheerleaders are bad.”Lilly looks offended and, I actually kind of feel bad.

I put my hand up in surrender. “Technically, all I said was it was news to me that cheerleaders are nice. I didn’t say they were all bad.”

“But you don’t like them,” she assumes.

“They aren’t my favorite type of people, no,” I answer bluntly.

Lilly giggles. “You were bullied a lot by cheerleaders, weren’t you?” I shrug. She takes it as a yes and nods her head. “I was too. I’m sure you can tell I’m not really… American,” she says, her Russian accent growing stronger. “I was picked on a lot by of cheerleaders in Moscow. They were nasty too. Anyways, one of the reasons I wanted to be a cheerleader… my whole life is so I can show people, like you, that not all cheerleaders are bad. And Kamron has the same goal. She’s crazy and weird. Ugh. She’s so weird.” Kamron rolls her eyes. “But she has an amazing heart. And I can tell you do too.”

Music from the speakers and laptop outside blast throughout the area, causing the ground to vibrate. The vibrating almost becomes unbearable. I squint my eyes and pray it will go away because I go nuts on the sound guys. That sounds unreasonable, especially if the sound guys and DJ are just doing the jobs they’re being paid to do, but still… It’s annoying and I can’t take it.

I guess Lilly gets memo and drags Kamron and I inside. Surprisingly, the vibrates slows down. At least now that I’m inside, I can take the small vibrates. Almost feels like a wonderful message instead of hammers bashing in your skull.

The mansion looks to be large now that we’re inside. Knew that was coming. The living room has a fireplace and is being kept warm because of it. And the ninety degree heat. The couch is bright white. That’s a sin in the winter when the owner wants hot chocolate or year round if she likes coffee.

The windows reveal the party happening outside. People are hanging out inside too, but it’s mainly the couples cuddling in a corner, getting more drinks or food to take out, or they’re just tired of the vibration.

The lights reflect on Kamron, and her eyes gleam, showing me something I’m not prepared to see: Kindness. Something I haven’t seen from someone my age in a long time. I wasn’t even ten the last time someone my age was kind to me. Ian, sure he’s kind, but he’s four years older than me. Caleb? Mom? Definitely older than me, and it’s nice that they’re so kind to me, but Kamron’s my age, kind, and it’s different to me because I’m not used to it.

I sigh. “You were saying?”

“Yeah… You seem… introverted. You actually remind me of my step-brother.” Kamron smiles. “I can tell you’re quiet, but have a lot to say, and there’s a lot you’re not saying.”

“Thanks for taking notice, but I don’t open up very often, and I don’t plan to at the moment.”

“But not opening is a sure way to break down,” Kamron says. “Believe me. I know about that. More than you’re willing to believe.”

“You’re not interested,” I say.

The gleam in her eyes showing kindness and Lilly are trying to tell me they do care, but I think my problem is I’m still trying to tell myself that they don’t. That they’re just likeevery other cheerleader I’ve met, and they know that. Which is why they’re still talking to me.

“Try me…” She smirks. “Daniel.”

I glare at her, not amused. “It’s Danny.”

“Oh, My mistake. You gave me the impression that that was only for your friends.”

“That’s for everyone who wants to be on my good side.” She laughs. “Like you don’t have something you’d prefer to be called.”

She nods, her light blue eyes gleaming under the light. “ My dad calls me Kamia. I hate it.”

I shake my head and look at the sky, deeply sighing. “I’m sorry I was rude to you. Cheerleaders seem to target me a lot, and I though-”

“Don’t worry about. I know what it’s like.“I stare at her with skepticism. When I was in middle school, I was picked on alot by cheerleaders for every possible reason. Hair, style, laugh, the fact that I was too shy and overweight.”

I catch myself staring at her flat stomach and thighs under her skirt. “Stop playing.”

She nods. “It’s no lie. I knew that if I was going to survive in high school, I had to change. So I did. I dyed my ends blonde and started talking more. Tried out for cheerleading. I didn’t change my style, but because my friends are kind of popular, no one says much.”

Okay, so after five minutes of talking to her, I know more about her than I even know about myself and that’s scary. I never expected her to remind me of myself so much. I mean, she just seems so bubbly and positive from the outside, but inside, it’s dark. I have a tough time believing people can get over the torment people put them through. I’m the nicest person I know, aside from Kamron right now, but even I can’t forgive the kids at school, certain teachers for not helping in any way and my father. I don’t think I’ll ever get past what they’ve done to me. Especially my father.

Her story makes me want to share my story, although I hope she doesn’t expect me to tell everything because I won’t. “I didn’t know…”

She shrugs. “A lot of people don’t. I’m very selective with who I talk to. Somehow, I just knew I could trust you. Thanks for not judging my story.”

“Well, I’m constantly judged, so I know how it feels. It really sucks. My dark hair and blue eyes trigger most of the teasing and judging. The only people I feel like I can really trust are Ian, my mom and her boyfriend.”

At this point, things get quiet with a tint of awkward, but Kamron surprises me by pulling a key from behind a large plant with a smile. In a way, it’s fun, but it’s always scary.

“What?”

“I had something fun in mind,” she giggles.

Lilly groans. “Oh, God. When she says that, it usually involves something crazy, like someone getting hurt or almost getting arrested.”

Kamron scoffs. “That was one time. Anyways, how do you like ice skating?”

I blink and glimpse the window and listen the people splashing and jumping in the pool screaming “Cannonball!” or “I’m a mermaid!”

“It’s seventy degrees out.”

“Who said we were going outside?” she says with a smirk.

Ian screams as he falls on his butt. I can’t help but laugh at Ian attempting to skate just to impress some girls. He shoots me a playful glare as he stands back on his feet, skating towards us as the alarm continues to go off. Kamron hits a button on her phone, making the alarm stop. We stand behind a black and white tape line while Lilly lightly shoves Ian and giggles when he almost falls.

“You sure you can handle this, big boy?”He rolls his eyes and nods. Lilly counts down from five.

Once she reaches one, Kamron, Lilly, and I are the first to take off around the skating rink, leaving Ian behind us. Kamron starts to pass me and winks. I smile and attempt to speed up, catching up to her. The first time, the passes the finish line, but we have three laps.

Ian manages to catch up to Kamron and I around the second lap, smirking at me. Who crosses the second time confuses the three of us, but we continue going. My heart pounding, I try to speed up. The other skaters follow us and clap once we reach the finish line. Lilly yells out something about a tie between Kamron and I. Ian claps and smirks.

“Alright, it’s all you guys!”

I cough. “Excuse me?”

“Aw, are you scared?” Kamron giggles.

“Only for Ian’s health.”

When Lilly blows her whistle and I get my hearing back, the race goes so fast it feels I’m in a trance because the race is over before I know it.Kamron had beaten me and is giggling about it.

“Beaten by a girl.” she says with a smile.

I shrug. “I’m not the one to get embarrassed by that. You did pretty good.”

She flashes a smile.

It takes about twenty minutes to come up with something, but we do. Well, Truth or Dare is mainly Ian and Lilly’s idea, but it’s definitely better than nothing. Kamron and I sit together at a bar table where more soda is being served. Alcohol isn’t a big thing here and now.

“So where do you guys live?” I ask nervously, hoping she doesn’t think I’m a creep.

“Central Newark,” she says.

“Oh, really? I have an auntthat lives there. How coincidental.”

She smiles and asks for her name. I tell her my aunt’s name and then I’m scared to death as she squeals and shakes me like I offered her a million dollars. “I totally know her!” I stare at her in awe. “Her fiance is best friends with my dad. She came to Seattle with me!” She beams.

All I can focus on is that she has a fiance. Not that I’m not happy for her. Would now be a good time to mention that thanks to my dad, I’m pretty much terrified of anyone And the fact that I’m not scared of Ian and Caleb is a Godsend? And Kamron?

“Her fiance?”

She quickly nods. “And he’s really nice.”

“Um...” is all I can choke out before my phone goes off. I pick up my phone and panic at the time.

She winces. “Lilly can drop you off at home.”

Mom and Caleb are so going to kill me. Sure they wanted me to come out, have a good time, and make some friends, but they never said I could be out past midnight at a party. My first actual party with no animal balloons and birthday cake.

When Ian and Lilly drop me off, Lilly has to pee and Ian reminds me that he needs to grab his tablet from a week ago, so I just invite all of them inside until they’re ready to leave. Ian grabs his tablet and Kamron sits in the living room, looking at an older book Caleb’s reading. She gets the nerve to pick it up and reads the summary on the back cover. I clear my throat.

“Mom! I’m home!” I shout. “Sorry I’m late.”

“So do you actually have a curfew? Or do you not go out often?” Kamron asks.

Ian snickers. “He doesn’t leave his room enough for a curfew. Besides, his parents are really cool.”

I don’t even argue with Ian about saying “parents”. He knows as well as I do that Caleb isn’t my dad, but he might as well be. He takes care of me. He buys me anything I could ever desire, shows me fatherly and friendly love, helps me with my school work, tries to be there for me. When I let him, I mean. It’s not his fault I don’t say what I’m feeling, but he tries.

I shrug. “Mom! Come downstairs!” She doesn’t answer. “Was her car outside, Ian?”

“I saw Caleb’s, but that doesn’t mean anything. Don’t they use each other’s cars all the time?”

I’m about to say something, but am cut off by a high-pitched scream from Lilly. I know Mom doesn’t have a Russian accent. That’s for sure. Maybe a faint Austrian accent, but not a Russian one.

Lilly screams a name and that motivates the three of us to run upstairs. Along with the fact that we’re not familiar with the name she was just screaming.

As soon as we reach the stop of the stairs, we stop and I scream at my mother with bruises on her neck, a pool in her own blood and no signs of breathing. I run towards my Mom, hoping this is some kind of late April Fools’ joke.

When she doesn’t move, I cry and scream for her to move or say something and then shake her harder, praying for her to at least cough. Something that lets me know she’s breathing.

“Won’t do any good.” The man says, his French accent strong. He smiles, his yellow teeth showing and bends down next to me. “You may not understand this now, but soon you will. Very soon.” He says as he places a hand on my shoulder. Lilly cocks the gun and points it at the man known to us as D’yavol, whatever that is supposed to mean. I don’t even care that she could have killed me tonight if she wanted to. Right now, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is my mother and whythis man killed her. “Go on, shoot. Show us you were raised to be a rebellious killer.”

Telling her that is a huge mistake. Lilly doesn’t hesitate in the least. The only thing is she looks like she regrets in not shooting him down south. He winces and then chuckles, but is pushed against the wall by Caleb. I sob uncontrollably, leaning towards my dead mother. Caleb shoves D’yavol against the wall over and over again, screaming for us to go downstairs. I refuse at first, but am pulled away from my Mom by Ian and Lilly. A man in a gray and green uniform stands there and asks us if we’re okay. I immediately recognize him as Andy, but don’t react like I should. Ian lightly sighs before covering my ears. I know what he’s saying, but am not able to object to him while my ears are covered.

When he releases, Andy nods and lightly touches my shoulder, receiving a flinch. Whether he knows, I don’t have the slightest idea, but he does softly caress my shoulder. “I’m sorry, kiddo. Here, let’s get you guys out of here.”

I start to follow Andy, but my body hits the ground before I reach the doorway.