Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (96 page)

“
Wh
y can’t I remember?
!
”

D
ad
, who
ha
d been dozing in a chair, startled awake.

Mom
set down her magazine
,
giving a reassuring
smil
e
.

“I
know this must
be
a
very confusing time for you, sweet baby girl.
The doctors say to be
patient
;
y
our memories will come back
,
eventually
.
”

“
Welcome back to the land of the living
,
”
Dad announced with a lovable goofy grin.

Mom
rang the nurse’s station
.
When a woman’s voice came over the wall speaker, Mom announced
,
“
She’
s
awake
.
”

Glory
turned h
er
attention to the bed controls, bringing h
er body in
to a semi-sitting position
.
Several people had already quizzed her
about
the more
recent
past and she
ha
d gotten a
C
minus.

T
he name of the governor, the year, and the questions to the test
given
last week
at school
rolled
out
easy enough
.
Names of c
lassmates
were
n’t a problem,
yet
she was confused about who
h
er
friends were, and a great many other things.

When Brandon told her she was on the Sling Team, she had laughed in his face
.
The last few years were
murky
and
the
present wasn’t much clearer
.

Dad
and
Mom
stood at the foot of
the
bed holding each other
, looking worried, but somehow younger. She swore Dad’s hair used to be mostly gray
.
Now
,
it was mostly
blond
and his skin had
a
healthy peachy hue
.

And,
Mom
, despite looking like she hadn’t slept in days, was positively radiant
.
Glory
want
ed
to run to her with arms wide open
, but when she tried to
get up
,
her mother
made
her
stay in
the bed.
Mom
leaned over and hugged h
er
tight
.
Glory
squeezed back,
not ever wanting to let go,
a h
ot tear falling down her cheek.
“Mo
ther
.
”
The word
felt like nourishing, like chicken soup on a cold day.

“
Too tight,
”
Mom squeaked, loosening
Glory’s
grip
.

“Sorry
.
”

Tucking the sheet up under Glory’s chin, m
om urged her to l
ie
back down
, and then
k
iss
ed
the top of
her head,
retir
ing
to the chair again
a moment later
.
No matter where
her mother
moved in the room,
Glory’s
eyes followed
,
soaking up
the sight of her
, as if
Mom
was a drink of water and
she
a thirsty towel
.

Later, the twins
came in, followed by
Patrice
, who looked
unusually pretty
with her
frizzy hair smoothed out
and
surprisingly
clear
complexion
.
Pink
lipstick
adorned normally pale and naked lips
.
Used to seeing
big sis
in baggy flannel shirts, it was nice to see
her
wearing girly clothes that actually fit.

“You look good for a change,”
Glory
said
.

Randy and Danny snickered.

“Uh, thanks
, I guess
.”

“Is that a Ross & Wesson jacket
?”
Glory asked, noting the name embroidered on her sister’s jacket.

“Of course
.
Did you hear
that
J
ason
Belway
was in a terrible car accident
the same day you disappeared
?
”
Patrice
asked
.
“It was all over the news
.
They say only machines are keeping
him
alive now.”

“Darkness
everywhere.
”
Glory
said quietly, melancholy descending like a dark cloud. “
Screams ris
e from the lake of despair
.
Who can help
them now?
”
Unsure where the words came from, or what they meant,
she
turned her head toward the window, giving a
mournful sigh
.

Patrice
quickly changed the subject.

The conversation that followed was enlightening, yet disturbing. According to h
er
three
visiting
siblings
,
there was a family trip to the beach last summer
.
And Randy kept talking about the family dog, Scooter, and their adventures with him in obedience class
.
Patrice
brought up the girls on the cheerleading team as if they were her friends
instead of her tormentors,
and to top it off, she pretended to be dating the star athlete of her high school.

“We can’t afford to go on vacations,”
Glory
reminded,
wondering why h
er
siblings were spinning tales.
Although h
er
mind was blurry, portions of information came pouring out
.
“We all know the cheerleaders at school won’t give you the time of day,
Patrice
.
Y
our boyfriend doesn’t go to high school, he’s in jail
, or at least he was for a night
.
And what’s this
bull
about a dog?”

Patrice and her
brothers looked at each other with uncertainty,
and
then looked back at
Glory like she’d lost her marbles.

“Go ahead, Randy
.
Go ahead, Danny
.
Tell me I’m bonkers, crazy, gone fishing, whatever.
”

The silence that followed was disappointing and
a little eerie.
Where were the insults
?
Where was the sarcasm
?

“What are you waiting for
, numbskull
?
Go ahead, make fun of me,
and e
gg
each other on like mindless idiots,
because that’s what you do best.”

“Glory
,
” Randy scratched his head
.
“We make fun of the geeks, sure, but you’re one of the cool kids.”

“Or at least you used to be,” replied Danny.

“Who’s my best friend?
”
Glory
demanded to know.

“
Olivia
, of course,” said Randy
.
Glory
looked to
Patrice
, who nodded in affirmation.

“Wrong
!
”
Glory
snapped
.
“It’s
Besnik Gundisalv
.”

“
Bessie Gundi-who?
”
Danny asked.