I pull up to our house with dad right behind me. He rushes me into the house like we're being followed.
"Don't worry Kodi. We'll fix this," He tells me.
"I don't want this fixed Dad! I want answers. I'm tried of lying to myself. Telling myself that they're just daydreams, when clearly they're not! Don't keep me ignorant anymore. Please," I plead. For years I had been complacent about his silence, but not anymore, because now I have information and I will use it.
"Sweetheart, you not knowing is the safest place to be right now. Until you have full control."
"Control of what Dad? I can't control something I know nothing about!" I sigh in frustration and plop down on the couch.
"Can you tell me exactly what you know?" He asks, sitting next to me.
"Not anything, apparently,"
"Kodi, please."
"Okay." And I tell him about the very odd conversation with Rachel. When I'm done, he sighs.
"So what aren't you telling me?" I ask.
"Rachel was right about jumping being a family trait. Both your mother and I were jumpers."
"Were? You lost your ability?"
"Well, no. I haven't jumped since you were born. I couldn't leave you and then eventually Jo. So I quit my job and ran the shop full time."
"Dad, what killed Mom, and is so dangerous that I can't know?" I ask him.
"Your mom and I worked for what is essentially the police force of dimensions. She was on the task force and I was worked for Inter-dimensional relations. The government of dimension-jumpers, if you will. Your mother died from injuries after an encounter with a rouge," Dad said.
I knew there were others from what Rachel told me, but I never realized that there would be enough to have a whole society.
"Okay. How does that deal with me, and how is a rogue dangerous to me?" It sounds like a random job hazard to me.
" Well, as far as we know, you're the only jumper to start so young. Normally you don't know your a jumper until after you turn 18. People in this reality call it adult ADD. Since we don't know what your capable of, keeping you ignorant of your ability protected you from rogues like the one who killed your mother, who could use you for God knows what," Dad explains.
"We?" I ask.
"Your grandmother and I."
"Awww! Her? " I groan. My Grandmother was my least favorite person in the world. Her and Papi used to constantly visit after Mom died. Grandmother and I had a fall out and I haven't spoke to her in four years.
"How do you think your mother got the ability? It's inherited. Kodi, you're going to have to get over this because she is going to be giving you lessons for this," Dad tells me.
"Why can't you teach me?" I groan.
"Kodi, I haven't been jumping in sixteen years. She still keeps it up for her job."
"Is it a requirement for all d-jumpers to have a job for d-jumpers?"
"No, but its the family trait on both sides for you. My dad did work for them too."
"I still don't understand why I have to deal with her," I complain.
" Because she is your grandmother and you will show her respect. I've tolerated this silence long
enough. You will get over this hissy fit and that's final."
"FINE!" I shout and storm off to my room.
I lie in my bed, fuming, and all of a sudden, I'm in a completely different dimension from any I have ever been before. And this isn't as friendly as my field.
"Don't worry Kodi. We'll fix this," He tells me.
"I don't want this fixed Dad! I want answers. I'm tried of lying to myself. Telling myself that they're just daydreams, when clearly they're not! Don't keep me ignorant anymore. Please," I plead. For years I had been complacent about his silence, but not anymore, because now I have information and I will use it.
"Sweetheart, you not knowing is the safest place to be right now. Until you have full control."
"Control of what Dad? I can't control something I know nothing about!" I sigh in frustration and plop down on the couch.
"Can you tell me exactly what you know?" He asks, sitting next to me.
"Not anything, apparently,"
"Kodi, please."
"Okay." And I tell him about the very odd conversation with Rachel. When I'm done, he sighs.
"So what aren't you telling me?" I ask.
"Rachel was right about jumping being a family trait. Both your mother and I were jumpers."
"Were? You lost your ability?"
"Well, no. I haven't jumped since you were born. I couldn't leave you and then eventually Jo. So I quit my job and ran the shop full time."
"Dad, what killed Mom, and is so dangerous that I can't know?" I ask him.
"Your mom and I worked for what is essentially the police force of dimensions. She was on the task force and I was worked for Inter-dimensional relations. The government of dimension-jumpers, if you will. Your mother died from injuries after an encounter with a rouge," Dad said.
I knew there were others from what Rachel told me, but I never realized that there would be enough to have a whole society.
"Okay. How does that deal with me, and how is a rogue dangerous to me?" It sounds like a random job hazard to me.
" Well, as far as we know, you're the only jumper to start so young. Normally you don't know your a jumper until after you turn 18. People in this reality call it adult ADD. Since we don't know what your capable of, keeping you ignorant of your ability protected you from rogues like the one who killed your mother, who could use you for God knows what," Dad explains.
"We?" I ask.
"Your grandmother and I."
"Awww! Her? " I groan. My Grandmother was my least favorite person in the world. Her and Papi used to constantly visit after Mom died. Grandmother and I had a fall out and I haven't spoke to her in four years.
"How do you think your mother got the ability? It's inherited. Kodi, you're going to have to get over this because she is going to be giving you lessons for this," Dad tells me.
"Why can't you teach me?" I groan.
"Kodi, I haven't been jumping in sixteen years. She still keeps it up for her job."
"Is it a requirement for all d-jumpers to have a job for d-jumpers?"
"No, but its the family trait on both sides for you. My dad did work for them too."
"I still don't understand why I have to deal with her," I complain.
" Because she is your grandmother and you will show her respect. I've tolerated this silence long
enough. You will get over this hissy fit and that's final."
"FINE!" I shout and storm off to my room.
I lie in my bed, fuming, and all of a sudden, I'm in a completely different dimension from any I have ever been before. And this isn't as friendly as my field.
It’s the color of you
You always wore it
It’s the color we shared
As we hid form them
With it we showed our true selves,
Though no one cared
Our orange book bags
Saved us from some pain
We protected each other
But it wasn’t enough
We were like two orange crayons
When everyone else was green
Then you left me alone,
All I had was our color orange
As they hit me
I took peace in knowing
You were in the orange field in the sky
You always said was there.
The orange of the sun set
Is your smile
Even though you left too soon
Orange…
Now it’s my color
My way of remembering you
Now I am the lone orange in the rainbow
Without you here
I protect my own
Though I wish you were here
Now orange is my color
A color for you bravery
A color for my survival
Orange will forever be our color
Even though death took you away
Forever orange for you,
Sweet Cassidy.
You always wore it
It’s the color we shared
As we hid form them
With it we showed our true selves,
Though no one cared
Our orange book bags
Saved us from some pain
We protected each other
But it wasn’t enough
We were like two orange crayons
When everyone else was green
Then you left me alone,
All I had was our color orange
As they hit me
I took peace in knowing
You were in the orange field in the sky
You always said was there.
The orange of the sun set
Is your smile
Even though you left too soon
Orange…
Now it’s my color
My way of remembering you
Now I am the lone orange in the rainbow
Without you here
I protect my own
Though I wish you were here
Now orange is my color
A color for you bravery
A color for my survival
Orange will forever be our color
Even though death took you away
Forever orange for you,
Sweet Cassidy.
Your heart is sore, crippled up like paper.
Your voice is weak, barely passing by you.
Your body is tired, let it lay for tonight.
You are but you- a stranger to much.
No one cares to know you.
They do not wish to after all.
And all those times you told everything-
It was a lie, I love you became a lie. A horrible lie not one can ever take back to you. How could they, breaking your very soul to the apple's wrinkled core? It shook and broke, just like that. Lonesome and ever so exhausted of even thinking it would be different this time around.
You're so hopeless. You probably cannot move away from the pain, the desecration left in the path at the end. Then again, in the end it probably doesn't even matter, does it?
Once a joy, now a misery forever scared, alone.
Your voice is weak, barely passing by you.
Your body is tired, let it lay for tonight.
You are but you- a stranger to much.
No one cares to know you.
They do not wish to after all.
And all those times you told everything-
It was a lie, I love you became a lie. A horrible lie not one can ever take back to you. How could they, breaking your very soul to the apple's wrinkled core? It shook and broke, just like that. Lonesome and ever so exhausted of even thinking it would be different this time around.
You're so hopeless. You probably cannot move away from the pain, the desecration left in the path at the end. Then again, in the end it probably doesn't even matter, does it?
Once a joy, now a misery forever scared, alone.