Jaden's Journey: Apocalyptic Teen Read online

  Jaden’s Journey

  By: D Stalter

  Copyright © 2019 D Stalter

  All rights reserved

  DEDICATION

  For Cody

  CONTENTS

  Chapter one

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Jaden’s Journey

  By: D Stalter

  Chapter one

  Jaden Gordon sat in the hard, wooden chair facing the wall of windows in the principal’s office. She bent over, staring at the floor. Absently pulling a strand of hair, she twisted it around her fingers.

  The door to her left opened. Her eyes darted to the thin face of the principal. “Hello, Jaden,” he said. “Your dad will be here shortly. I will meet with you both then. Okay?”

  She turned away, dismissing him in the only way she knew. Through the closed door, she heard low voices. I wonder who else is in his office.

  She started counting the tiles on the floor for the third time. Eight tiles wide by thirty tiles long. Two hundred and forty tiles. But wait. One tile was split in half. She could count that as two, right? No. She needed to count it as two halves of a whole - so there were still two hundred and forty tiles.

  The door to the hallway opened. She looked up and sprang from the chair. “Daddy! I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  Bill Gordon strode to where she stood. He dropped to one knee and hugged her. “I would never think you did, sweetheart. What is this about?”

  Jaden felt tears sting her eyes. “After lunch I stayed inside to read instead of going outside with everyone.” She pulled away from him so she could look at his face. “That’s not bad, Dad. I didn’t hit anyone. I didn’t talk back to my teacher.” She looked down at the floor. “Well, maybe a little bit. When she told me that I should be outside playing with the other kids, I told her that I was exactly where I wanted to be. That’s not talking back. That’s just asserting myself. Right?”

  Bill grinned. “That is asserting yourself. Did you use a polite tone of voice or did you use a rude tone of voice?”

  “Polite.”

  “Then I’m proud of you, baby. Let’s go see what Mr. Years has to say.”

  He stepped to the door of the principal’s office and knocked.

  “Come in.”

  Jaden followed her father in to the office. The wall to the right was windows. On the ledge in front of the windows sat a dozen plants. Mr. Years rose from his desk and extended his hand. “Thank you for coming, Mr. Gordon.” He turned to Jaden’s left. “I’d like you to meet Celia Hudson from Child Services.”

  It was only then that Jaden noticed there was another adult in the room. A woman of about thirty with short, curly hair framing a dark brown face stood and smiled at Jaden. She extended her hand to Bill. “Nice to meet you,” she offered.

  Bill’s eyes grew wide. “What’s this about?” he asked. “What is Child Services doing here?”

  Mr. Years settled back in his chair. “First let’s get Jaden’s explanation of events and then she can wait outside while we discuss our options.”

  Bill took Jaden’s hand and led her to a chair near the windows. “What happened?” he asked.

  “I think we’ll let Jaden tell you what happened. Celia would like to hear it from Jaden first as well.”

  Bill squeezed Jaden’s hand. “Okay, sweetie. Whatever happened is okay. Just go through it step by step. It’ll be okay.”

  Jaden sighed. “After lunch I stayed inside to read. Miss Childs was at her desk reading. She got up and came over and told me that I should be outside with the other kids. All I did was tell her that I was exactly where I wanted to be. I wasn’t rude or anything. I just told her that I’d rather be reading.”

  Bill turned to Mr. Years. “I fail to see why I would be called off work to come in for this. I know that last spring you were worried that Jaden may be depressed. I told you then that we would allow Jaden to deal with her mother’s death in her own way. I assure you that she is not depressed. What exactly is the problem?”

  Mr. Years leaned back in his chair. He twirled a silver pen in his fingers. “Tell your father what book you were reading.”

  “It was called “Simple Organizing.” It taught you how to organize things in your house. What’s wrong with that?” Jaden looked at her father. “It was interesting.”

  Bill sighed. “I think I know what they are thinking, sweetie. At your age, girls aren’t interested in keeping an organized house. Mr. Years thinks that you should just be a kid instead of trying to be an adult.” He turned to the principal. “Am I right?”

  Mr. Years raised his brows. “I think this might be a good time for Jaden to wait outside.”

  “No,” Jaden said. “If you are talking about me, I want to be right here.”

  “Jaden,” her father said, raising his hand. “Perhaps you should wait outside.”

  She turned to look him in the eyes. “Dad, you are the one who always tells me to be assertive with respect. That’s exactly what I am doing. I’m not a baby. I’d like to be able to defend myself.”

  Bill looked at Mr. Years. “Is there a reason she should be sent out?”

  Mr. Years turned to Miss Hudson. “Celia?”

  She smiled. “I think Jaden can stay. I just have a few questions.” She turned to Jaden. “If you don’t mind.”

  Jaden felt her heart skip. She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’d be happy to answer any of your questions.” The words came out in a squeak.

  Miss Hudson leaned forward in her chair. “Since your mother passed away, your teachers have noticed that you don’t spend time playing with your old friends. Can you tell me why?”

  Jaden took a deep breath. “Miss Hudson, my mother didn’t pass away. My mother was killed by a drunk driver. That drunk driver almost took my father as well. It’s kinda hard for me to play with my friends and listen to them laugh about how their mom did this or did that. I’m just not in the same place as they are right now. It doesn’t mean that I’ll never have friends. It just means that I don’t want to hear them talk about their families.”

  Miss Hudson looked at her notes before raising her eyes to Jaden.

  “Does your father ask you to clean the house?” she asked.

  “What? No!” Jaden shook her head. “My father tells me to go be a kid. I keep telling him that I enjoy cleaning. It makes me feel closer to my mom. Once a week, he drives me to La Salle to see a shrink. My shrink says that I’m doing fine. If I feel closer to my mom by dusting her pictures and her chicken collection, then I’m okay. I heard him tell Dad that. He said not to get too worried unless I seemed to be unhappy. I am not unhappy. I miss my mom, but I’m not
unhappy.”

  She glared at Miss Hudson, but Miss Hudson was not looking at her. She was staring out the window, her mouth open.

  Jaden spun around to face the windows. Far away the sky shimmered, like a bolt of lightning. But this lightning didn’t come from the sky to the earth. Instead it filled the sky horizontally, shimmering with blues and greens and yellows. It faded away, leaving a normal skyline.

  But normal didn’t describe the next few seconds.

  A crash in front of the school caused Mr. Years to jump from his desk and scurry to the window. Jaden rushed to the windows and put her face against the glass. Her hands pressed on the ledge as she leaned against the window. Two more cars crashed. A woman pushed her car door open and struggled to get out of a red Jeep. She banged her fist on the door before settling back against the seat, leaning her head on the headrest.

  A man approached the car. He said something to the woman, who looked down at her lap before reaching down and unhooking her seat belt. She exited the car and stood next to it gesturing with her hands. The man shook his head and pointed at the sky. The woman slid back in to her car and tried to start it. The man pointed at her gearshift, which she reached up and repositioned. She tried starting it again. This time she was able to back the car away from the car she had hit.

  “What is going on out there?” Miss Hudson had come to stand next to Jaden.

  “I don’t know,” Jaden said. “But there are more wrecks on the next street. Look.” She pointed to the east where several other vehicles were stopped against each other.

  Jaden looked at her father. Her voice shook. “Dad,” she whispered. “Was that a solar flare?”

  “I don’t know, baby. It looks like whatever it was made the cars die.” He turned to look behind him. “And the lights went out.”

  Mr. Years hurried to the wall and flipped the switch up and down. The lights stayed off.

  Bill Gordon walked to the desk and picked up a pen. He wrote something on a piece of paper and walked to where Miss Hudson stood next to the windows, her mouth frozen open.

  “I think we are done here for the day,” he said, handing her the paper. “This is the name of Jaden’s psychologist who is helping her deal with her mother’s death. You can talk with him about this and then, if you still want to talk, we can set up a meeting. For now, I am taking my daughter home.”

  He held out his hand to Jaden who took it and hurried to stay up with him.

  “I hate Mr. Years,” she said as they exited the building.

  “Honey, hate is something that I hope you don’t ever feel. It hurts you more than it hurts your target. I think what you are feeling is anger, and that is okay. I am angry at Mr. Years too. But I don’t hate him.”

  They had reached his truck. He opened the passenger door and made sure that she was in the seat before closing the door and walking around the front of the truck. He pulled his keys from his front pocket before climbing into the driver’s seat and buckling his belt. He looked at Jaden and then stuck the key into the ignition and turned it.

  The truck fired right up. He breathed a sigh of relief, put the truck in reverse and backed out of the parking spot.

  “Dad, don’t take Main Street.” Jaden leaned forward until the seat belt stopped her. She craned her neck to look both directions. “Take Pleasant Street as far as we can. It looks like Main Street has a lot of cars stalled.”

  “Thanks, Jaden. I think you made a great call. But, don’t you think we should stop and help some of those people?”

  “Let’s do what you always tell me to do.” She looked at him. “Let’s first make sure that we are okay. Once we know we are safe, then let’s help as many people as we can.”

  Her father smiled. “Another great call.”

  He turned north on Pleasant Street. They had gone three blocks before a stalled car caused Bill to coast to a stop.

  “Stay here, baby. I’ll be right back,” he said. He unlatched his seat belt and slid out.

  Jaden watched as he leaned over next to the driver’s window. She saw him pointing inside the car. The vehicle suddenly roared to life and took off jerking down the street.

  “What happened, Dad?” she asked when he returned to the truck.

  “Someone was just confused and scared. When the car stalled, he just kept trying to start it. When it wouldn’t start, he panicked. Panic always gets in the way of coherent thoughts. He just needed to put it in drive. It started right up. It was running jerky, but he should make it home. He just lives a couple blocks up. Always remember, baby, when you panic, you have to recognize it. Just take some deep breaths and get your thoughts under control.”

  In the next eight blocks, they had to stop twice more for similar results.

  After the second stop, Jaden pointed out the window. “Do you see how many people are gathered in back yards?”

  “I noticed that,” he said. “Probably comparing notes and looking for a common answer.”

  “Was it a solar flare?”

  “That would be my guess.”

  “Then why are all the cars running? It looks like they died during the flare, but I thought that they weren’t supposed to start back up.”

  “I don’t know, baby. I’ve heard so many different things about what would work and what wouldn’t work. I would bet that many newer cars don’t work even after trying to restart. Maybe they will. I just don’t know.”

  “Me neither.” She pointed at the next street. “We’ll probably want to cross Main Street here. The next block is a weird intersection. It will be harder to get across.”

  He looked over at her and his eyebrows rose. He shook his head. “You are full of surprises, sweetheart.”

  Main Street was packed with dead cars, as expected. A few people were behind cars, pushing them out of the way.

  Bill put the truck into park and sighed. “I’ll go help get some of those cars moved.”

  “Do you want me to drive across the street when there is a cleared path?”

  He hesitated. “Well,” he said. “I’m sure the police are busy with other things. They probably won’t have time to write a ticket for an underage driver. You sure you can?”

  “Dad, you’ve been teaching me to drive since I couldn’t even touch the pedals. Of course, I can.”

  She inched the truck between stalled vehicles as soon as there was a clear path. Then, pocketing the keys, she walked down Main Street for several blocks. At each stalled car, she asked them to make sure the gearshift was in park instead of drive. It was a simple fix for over half the cars stranded. Some vehicles would not restart even after being put in park. A dozen people banded together to push the dead vehicles off the street.

  A loud crash and the sound of breaking glass caused her to spin around. A man with a crowbar stood in the parking lot of the hardware store about twenty feet from where she stood. His shaggy hair stuck out behind his ears. His mouth twisted in a snarl showing uneven, brown teeth. Muscles bulged under a stained t-shirt.

  He stood by the passenger door of a beat-up Ford pickup, a brown bag at his feet. He reached in and pulled the door opener lever before yanking the door open and tossing the crowbar on the floor.

  “Hey, Gene,” a man in a baseball cap called out. “Did ya lock yourself out again?”

  “Yeah,” the shaggy man muttered.

  “I thought you hid a key under the back bumper the last time you did that.”

  The shaggy man’s eyes grew round. He slapped his forehead. “Why didn’t you tell me before I smashed the window?”

  “I never knew what you were gonna do. I didn’t even see you ‘til I heard you break your window.” He looked toward the door of the hardware store. “Hey, did you just come out of the store? Do they have ‘lectricity?”

  The shaggy man’s eyes darted to the store and back to the man in the baseball cap. “No. It went out a while ago.”

  He stared at the people who were watching him. He reached back in the truck and brought out the crowbar.
“You want a piece of this?” He waved the crowbar in the air. Then he stooped and picked up the brown bag and tossed it into the truck. He followed it in and crawled across, settling into the driver’s seat. The truck roared to life and he spun the wheels exiting the parking lot on the back side.

  As the crowd watched him turn away from Main Street at the end of the alley, the front door of the hardware store opened and a skinny man staggered out. Blood poured from a gash on his head.

  He looked around. “Is Gene gone?” he whispered. “He just robbed me.”

  A group of about five men rushed forward and wrapped their arms around him. They lead him to a stack of garden soil where they gently lowered him to a sitting position.

  Jaden felt her stomach roll. She looked up the street to where she’d last seen her father. There he was, limping toward her. He waved. She took a deep breath and ran in his direction. When she reached him, he wrapped her in his arms. “Are you okay, baby?” He stroked the top of her head.