The Mr. Hyde of Julia White

This chapter wasn't supposed to exist. It will probably be short.

My parents were already in the house. Must have missed their car in the driveway, or maybe Ed dropped them off. I hoped they didn't plan on this conversation taking long.

They did.

You ever seen one of those videos where the puppy destroys the house? The owners get home and look at the dog, but the disobedient creature makes the 'cutest guilty face ever' to get out of it?

My face isn't cute.

During the conversation, I swear my parent's faces were changing colors faster than a Christmas light show. Two arms I almost didn't recognize wrapped around me. Mom. Her hands weaved through my curly head, clinging to me as if I were her life support. Before I could appreciate it, she pulled away.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"

I chucked the explanation down my throat. Dad was fully suited, standing beside a screwed-up version of Dr. White. Both men had their arms crossed. But Dr. White…his lips faced downward, his eyebrows creased, and his fists clenched…

I'd achieved my lifelong dream. I finally broke him.

"Benjamin Wood, you look at me in the eyes right now and explain yourself!" Dad said, "Do you have any idea what this could have done?"

No, but I've got a pretty good idea of what it did do, Tiny Person smirked.

Mom took her shot. "What if something bad happened?"

I opened my mouth, but my voice caught in my throat. The day was growing hazy. I tried to stir the memory of what I had done that morning. It seemed so long ago, like some distant time from my foolish childhood.

Everything flooded back when I realized how angry Dr. White was.

This is what I wanted, wasn't it? For Dr. White to give up on me and tell my parents it was time to lock me up and throw away the key. But his face dug a pit in my chest. Why did I lie? They could've said no, but they could've said yes. Was I that desperate to make everyone's lives around me miserable?

"...I don't even know what to do with you anymore!" I realized Dad was talking again. "Whose ridiculous idea was this anyway?"

My new number one rule: Let the parents say their piece, agree with everything they say, and let them apologize later for yelling, even though there's no reason to.

Mom made a weird noise in her throat.

"Um, Mr. Wood?" I jumped when I remembered the female standing next to me. Julia had an odd tone in her voice. "It was my idea to take Ben with us."

My parents met each other's eyes in a brief side movement.

Dr. White rubbed his face with his fist. "Julia, you told Ben to lie about this?"

"What? No!" she said. "I swear I never planned for him to do that, but…"

Her eyes raised past Dr. White's, straight to my parents. A shutter jolted in my spine when she fidgeted with her hands. That sight was all too familiar, but never with her fingers.

Never.

"But what?" Dr. White said.

Julia pursed her lips. "Look, Mr. and Mrs. Wood, I'm not saying that Ben was in the right here, because he wasn't. But do you know why he felt like he had to lie?"

"I don't," Dad said. "But I would love to hear it."

"He lied because-"

"From him."

"No!" The air shattered between her thumb and finger. "Why let him speak when you never really listen to him? Everyone just sits there trying to convince him that he's some broken machine that needs to be fixed, but he's not!"

Dad opened his mouth, but Julia kept going.

"There's nothing wrong with him, and if you would just treat him like a real person and understand the flaws and accept it, you'd find out how amazing he really is. You… really do have an incredible son. Ask anyone who spent time with him today and you'd finally open your eyes and see that."

Julia paused when Dr. White touched her hand. She stopped mid-breath, staring hard at her wrist.

My parents were under some sort of spell. They didn't move.

Julia's lips split open. Her hand shook. She revealed her full, grassy pupils. She'd been struck by lightning. She'd been hypnotized. Blood rose to her cheeks with the breaths of a marathon runner.

Julia gripped her wrist with her other hand. Her eyes were wet.

"I-I'm sorry."

Then, she did a very non-Julia thing. Her legs broke loose and she bee-lined from the living room, leaving nothing but a door-slam behind her.

I wish I could tell you I remembered anything specific after that. Dr. White practically pushed us out the door. I saw the lights of their home flicker, and I swore I heard him knocking from a mile away.

When we stepped inside our mansion, I froze at the door. I hardly heard my voice.

"What…happens now?" I asked.

Mom bit her lip. She stared at the family portrait in the living room. Seventeen years ago. Micah was in college, Nick in high school, Kyle five years old. I was too small to open my eyes, had a hat on. Mom was smiling in her pearl earrings. Dad had his arms wrapped around his family like it was his most prized possession.

"Just go to your room. Get some sleep." Dad sounded like a kid writing sentences on a chalkboard after misbehaving. "We'll talk about it tomorrow."

My parents are similar to me in one important way. We treat feelings like tasers. They are to be avoided. I didn't hesitate to lock myself in my room. Every two minutes, I'd check my watch.

Eleven o'clock turned into three fifty-seven a.m.

I stared at my watch. The navy-blue, flexible straps. The stainless steel clasps. Kyle's watch.

"Treat it like a compass," he'd said.

I'd never understood that. It's a watch. It tells the time if you set it right. But, I guess, it did sort of point to him. It was his watch, and since he wasn't here, it was like he was. Kind of like…

Covers tugged over my head, face buried in the pillow: I finally realized what rationalized Julia's behavior.

I'd thought she was sorry for yelling at my parents. Maybe she had a thing about being touched on her wrist. I assumed everything she did was teenage girl hormone drama, and she would shatter like glass in a shooting range. But I was wrong.

I thought hard. She had worn it to the amusement park. But when her hands wrapped around mine, when she'd thwacked me on the chest for my stupidity, I couldn't remember seeing it. Then Dr. White touched her hand, and she looked down…

She'd realized it.

That's why she stopped ranting to my parents. It wasn't because she didn't want to. It was because of something she had this emotional attachment to. Something she refused to explain to me.

Julia had lost her bracelet.