Parallel: The Secret Life of Jordan McKay Read online

  A group of guys were standing in the hall. “Feisty one you got there,” they teased.

  “Heather, it’s okay,” Jack hoisted his large body off the floor and walked back toward me. He grabbed my arms to steady me away from the wall before leading me down the hall toward the man, just the direction I needed to go.

  My lids were heavy and I found it hard to stay awake, but I kept my eyes fixed, hoping it could sober me. It was hard to know exactly what was happening, but I remained focused. I needed to remember this.

  The man became frantic over the lock as he saw us approach, as though he was running out of time. Just as we were about to walk behind him, the man lunged back and finally kicked open the locked door, clearly tired of playing games.

  “Hey, man, what’s your problem?” Jack’s voice echoed in my right ear as I slumped against his shoulder.

  I saw the man look at Jack with hate in his eyes. Without a second thought he then pulled his arm back and punched my captor on the broad side of his cheek as his other arm caught me. Jack fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes, no longer conscious.

  “Hold on, Kenzie,” I heard the man say into my ear.

  I looked at him with surprise, but his determined gaze was fixed on the room he had just opened. Breathing deep, I found his scent familiar, like something I had smelled before, but I still couldn’t put my finger on it. I looked up at him and followed his gaze as my chest gripped with anxiety, recognizing the red fabric of Amy’s dress on the floor. I then saw her limp body on the bed as a tall athletic man loomed over her with nothing but his boxers on and a look of hunger in his eyes. I craned my blurred vision as I recognized the pattern on the boxers, the same pattern I had bought for Max on his birthday.

  “Max?” my voice was slurred as I tried to say his name.

  The man on the bed looked at me with horrified eyes, and then looked at the man that had saved me from Jack. A sudden fury replaced the fear in Max’s eyes. “What did you do to her, jerk? Leave Kenzie alone!” He stood as I felt the man’s hand tighten around my arm, his feet bracing us. It was then that Max rose from the bed and lunged at us. My savior was quick to turn me away, his free arm swinging from behind him and punching Max square in the jaw.

  Max fell to the ground with a grunt, as the man holding me shook the pain from his hand before diving in and grabbing Amy. My mind was racing as I tried to stay conscious, tried to understand what Max had been doing and why he was here. The man holding me had known my name before Max had said it, and I wondered what it meant. Amy was unconscious in her underwear and I finally understood exactly what was going on. Feeling sick, I leaned over and threw up, as the man holding me released his grip and rubbed my back before lifting me again, and taking us back out into the hall where I felt him work to carry us both from the house. I fell in and out of consciousness as we left, unsure of what was happening around me or if we had made it out safe. When I finally felt the cool air on my hot skin, I let myself fall asleep, knowing that, for whatever reason, I was safe enough to let go.

  Statement from Dr. Ashcroft,

  Vincent Memorial Hospital, Boston

  August 4, 2009

  02:37 p.m.

  Dr. Ashcroft:

  That feeling was so strange, as though he were my best friend. For all I knew, he could have been another bad guy, taking us both away to God knows where, but something inside me knew that wasn’t the case. I realize now what his scent reminded me of. When I was young, my friends and I would sneak down to the green house at the end of the lane and break in. It was abandoned and no more than a stupid dare, but that was the smell, like lilac and dust, a smell that had been layered on my memory by fear and adrenaline. I could never forget it, even now.

  Agent Donnery:

  I see. So your senses knew before you did.

  Dr. Ashcroft:

  Yes. I don’t know why it took me so long to put it all together. It seems so obvious now.

  Agent Donnery:

  (pause) Moving back to the incident, though. So you found out Amy had been drugged and was about to be raped, but he had saved both of you?

  Dr. Ashcroft:

  (laughter) Don’t look so solemn, Agent Donnery. It was my boyfriend that was about to rape her. I was happy to find out then, and not later. That’s one Shift I was glad he made.

  Agent Donnery:

  And it was Jordan that saved you both?

  Dr. Ashcroft:

  Yes, it was his way of saving me from the life that could have followed, but as you can tell, this was his first major screw up. After this, there was no hiding. He had to let me know him.

  Agent Donnery:

  But, don’t you suppose he tried to go back and change it?

  Dr. Ashcroft:

  He did, but the incident kept happening as though God was determined to make a point. One way or another, I was going to be raped, so he had to make a change not just for me, but for himself.

  Agent Donnery:

  How did he stop it?

  Dr. Ashcroft:

  The only way to stop it was what I remembered, for him to stop hiding from me. This is why I had such an overwhelming reaction to him downstairs at the party. He had tried to erase the incident from my mind so many times that his image was seared into my memories and the fear in me was triggered far before the incident happened, as though I knew beyond a doubt that something was going to happen.

  Agent Donnery:

  So this here is his side of the story?

  Dr. Ashcroft:

  (pause) Yes.

  Stories from the journals

  of Patient #32185

  September 31, 2005

  8:32 a.m.

  I landed on the grass outside of the Rugby house for the last time, coughing violently as I buckled over. The pain in my side was unbearable, and I felt my insides twist as I threw up. I fell to my knees as my hands cupped my stomach. I lay on the ground and rolled onto my back, lifting my shirt. Half my side was bruised a deep purple, my stomach pulsing with a sharp twang. Another cough escaped my lips, laced with a bit of blood, and I wiped it away, staining the sleeve of my jacket. I rested my head on the grass as I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to force my body to calm down.

  I looked up over the hill toward the house as I heard a group of people approach. Seeing Max and his other Boston College football buddies walking up to the door made my blood boil, cooking me from the inside out with both hate and sickness. My breath came fast as I tried to calm down. Why wasn’t this working? Why couldn’t I change this?

  As I tried to stand I felt every one of my joints seize. This was my last chance; I could not go back and risk doing this to my body again. By now I knew what I had to do, and besides, what other choice did I have? I always knew that eventually this day would come, like anyone with an addiction. I just wish it were under better circumstances, but it was finally my turn to have something not work to my advantage.

  I lifted myself off the grass and braced my body against a tree as I saw Amy’s car pull up to the spot on the street. I could hear them bicker through the thin aluminum, her brake lights flickering as Amy tried to parallel park. I focused on my breathing then, stuffing the pain away. Blinking back the tears that blurred my vision, I watched them park, the hum of the engine ceasing. Both doors clicked open, and they slowly got out, my heart breaking as I saw Kenzie, beautiful and innocent.

  Kenzie looked around with a concerned look on her face, and I ducked back, waiting for them to pass and make their way to the front door. I heard a single knock on the mahogany and the familiar sounds of the party as they entered, followed by a click as the noise was hushed by the shut door. I let out a long, focused breath, pushing myself away from the tree and ascending the hill toward the side of the house, where there was a separate entrance.

  In my other failed attempts, I had already tried making it in the front door, but considering my overall appearance, they never allowed me, so I’d resorted to finding another way inside. Jocks
weren’t all that smart, after all; there was always a way in. I found the path that led toward the backyard, pushing through the thick groves of ivy and finding the door, giving it a heavy tug, wincing as I felt the blood in my side swell.

  I entered through what used to be a laundry room, back when someone other than the rugby team had lived here. There were beer cans all over the floor and a single bulb hung from the ceiling, swinging as the door hit it. Across from me was another door, and I cleared the ground enough to grab the handle and open it, running one hand through my hair as I tried my best to look somewhat presentable. This was my moment to finally meet her after all, and this time it was going to count.

  I cleared my throat and entered the crowd unnoticed, finding myself at the base of the stairs for what felt like the fifth time. I looked across the room and into the living room, spotting Kenzie’s auburn hair as she danced with Garret Brown from the rugby team, or Jack, as he had so eloquently named himself. I felt my insides curdle at the sight, disgust filling my soul just knowing what he planned to do to her. I waited there for a moment, feeling exposed as I urged her to see me so that I could bait her into following me upstairs, where she could see for herself what was happening.

  As I stood there, I felt my stomach turn over and I placed a cool hand on my side, the need to throw up overcoming me as she finally looked over with a look of confusion and shock. I was anxiously tapping my foot now to distract me from the sickness in my side, but it was doing little to help. When Garret turned her on the dance floor, I was quick to dodge back into the laundry room, throwing up in the giant sink, my feet crumpling the aluminum cans, sweat coating my brow. I watched as blood stained the sides of the basin, and I took a deep breath, hoping I wasn’t blowing this last chance, and praying that I could at least live long enough to get her out of here.

  After a moment, my stomach settled and I stood, feeling a renewed sense of purpose and exited back out into the hall. I found Kenzie in the crowd, noticing that she already had another beer in hand. I was hoping I would be able to prevent her from being drugged, to make my job easier, but I could see God was taunting me at this point, teaching me a lesson for defying His divine plan in the first place. She took a hefty sip from her glass, and I cringed.

  Moving to plan B, I found there was little I could do but draw her out of the room as I had planned, so I waited for her to notice me again. I saw her spill her drink and her laughter resonated in my heart, the sound not unlike an angel, and her voice echoing as though it was the only one in the room. She brushed the beer from her pants and then slumped against Garret, my heart leaping as her gaze lifted from the ground, locking on mine.

  I quickly looked away as I saw her gasp, and I knew then that I had caught her attention; now it was a matter of reeling her in. I looked up toward the bedrooms, focusing on the task of Amy and Max, leaping up the stairs as I skipped full steps. As I reached the door, I leaned against the wall to catch my breath, my head spinning as adrenaline forced blood through my deteriorating veins. I turned my head back where I saw Kenzie breach the stairway, and we locked gazes. The look in her eyes was full of truth, the truth that she recognized me though I had tried so hard to erase it. Garret grabbed her and pressed her against the wall, and despite my attempts to remain calm, my jaw locked and I looked away in disgust, shaking the lock on the bedroom door instead.

  I didn’t want to burst into the room just yet; this had to be timed perfectly if it was all going to come out the right way; me being the hero, that is, and not that asshole, Max. As I tried to ignore Kenzie and Garret, I thought about the humility of what was happening and the way this was taking me down off my pedestal of playing God. This was my fault, after all; a result of what I had changed, and that was why the guilt in me ran so deep, as though I’d committed murder, though that was the very thing I was trying to change.

  After all my careful planning, Max had ended up being the wrong choice for Kenzie. I should have been able to see it, but I was so infatuated with her dreams that I didn’t recognize the signs. I looked back at the handle of the bedroom door, my patience wearing thin. I just knew that if I burst in now, Max fully clothed, he would play it off as though he’d found Amy that way and saved her. Kenzie would believe him, too, because she had seen Amy downstairs with the blonde guy, not Max, and despite the voice inside her that did not trust him, she was weak when it came to him.

  I heard a commotion and looked back to where Kenzie was, seeing her shove Garret away from her, slamming him against the opposite wall. I narrowed my eyes, angry as I heard him laugh at her, his ego like that of the devil, too weak to get a girl by any other means than drugging her at a party. He grabbed her arm as though she were a bought commodity, and walked toward us and I knew that was my cue. I lunged back against the wall and kicked in the bedroom door with all the strength I could muster from my dying body, the door breaking at the hinges as splinters flew around me.

  “Hey man, what’s your problem?” Garret’s voice was beside me now, and I turned to look at him, Kenzie’s head leaning against his left shoulder, her eyes heavy but open. I felt my teeth clench together and I pulled my arm back, my patience too thin to bother with negotiation. I felt the force of all my blood rush to my fist as I hit him square on the jaw, knocking him out with one blow as I tried to catch Kenzie with my free arm.

  She slumped onto me, and I winced again, my side aching as though the bleeding had now breached the surface of my skin. “Hold on Kenzie,” I whispered to her, revealing for the first time the fact that I knew her.

  She looked at me, but I looked into the room instead, focusing on the last thing I had to do before I could get out of here. Max was looming over Amy’s unconscious body, the look on his face making the anger in me far worse than ever before. With Kenzie at my side, I lunged at Max, throwing a punch to his face and knocking him out before grabbing Amy and dragging her from the room.

  In the hall, everyone was staring at me but by this point they were all too ashamed of themselves to do anything, each filled with the guilt of what they allowed to happen in their house. There was blood everywhere, but I knew it wasn’t Kenzie’s or Amy’s, or even Max and Garret; it was mine.

  I was able to get them outside where I fumbled for Amy’s keys in the pocket of Kenzie’s pants. She was unconscious now, too, making this difficult. As I finally sifted through the obscenely large collection of keys, I managed to get the car unlocked and I propped open the back door, the party roaring behind us as though nothing had happened.

  I laid Amy across the backseat, covering her with a blanket that had been wadded on the floor. Luckily for me both girls were relatively thin, but their long legs were impossible to manage. Next, I opened the passenger door and placed Kenzie in the front as she moaned; her body still aware as she went through the motions of buckling in, a tremendous relief to me, as my side was now numb.

  I then shut both doors just as a group of angry looking rugby players burst out the front door, drunk and looking for a fight. I walked casually to the driver’s side and got in, roaring her car to life as I jetted out of the spot and down the street. I prayed the jocks were too drunk to remember me, that this was the last time I’d have to face them. The last thing I needed right now was to be followed and beat up, especially in this condition, one kick to the side would send my organs flying.

  After tonight, I knew I was stuck at age twenty-three. I sighed, finding it felt ominous, as though my life had come to a sudden halt. I shifted gears and looked at Kenzie asleep beside me as a feeling of comfort replaced my disappointment. If there was anyone I would want to spend living a normal life with, however, it would have always been her. I knew this indulgence of mine was going to be hard to break, but I was done with it. I needed to accept the natural order of life and be human for once.

  I saw the dorms come into view up ahead. I had no idea what she would say when she woke and no idea what she would think of me, but I had to make the best of it. It was obvious that something had
happened to her after all these years, something I had done to her, which I could not explain. I knew she would have so many questions, but I could never tell her; she never needs to know.

  Statement from Dr. Ashcroft,

  Vincent Memorial Hospital, Boston

  August 4, 2009

  02:42 a.m.

  Agent Donnery:

  He was already sick then?

  Dr. Ashcroft:

  Yes, I suppose he was, though he told me the bleeding was from a fight with the Rugby players after I had passed out. I remember what the bruise looked like. It was horrible, but he acted as though he didn’t care, as though it was nothing more than a flesh wound.

  Agent Donnery:

  I bet it hurt a lot worse than that. (pause) So he referred to his Shifting as though it were a sort of addiction, like smoking or alcohol.

  Dr. Ashcroft:

  If you knew you could go back and change things about your life, you’d be addicted, too, Agent Donnery.

  Agent Donnery: