The Girl Between Two Worlds

Chapter 3

Chapter ThreeSan Francisco Tribune, June 2012

Husband of Missing Migrant Arrested

The police have arrested the husband of the Filipino migrant who went missing last month, shortly after arriving in California.

Marie Harris left no clues behind when she suddenly disappeared from her San Jose home. Her husband has been taken into custody as the primary suspect.

The police are refusing to comment whether they have evidence against Harris’s Australian husband. Last month, the case baffled authorities as they found no trace of Harris leaving the house the night she disappeared. They are asking anyone with information to come forward by contacting the Crime Stoppers hotline.

June 2015

T

he first time I realized I had abilities, I tried making it happen again. I remembered what I was thinking before I touched the flower. I was thinking that it was sad that such a pretty flower was dying so soon. I felt an intense desire to make it pretty again but at the same time I felt sad I couldn’t do anything to bring it back to life.

I leaned closer to the vase. I looked for the sorriest flower in the bunch and saw a limping yellow gerbera. I took a deep breath and thought about how much I wanted the flower to be pretty again. I pictured how I wanted it to look in my head and slowly touched its bowing stem. The flower started to lift, the stem turning greener and slowly firming up. Fresh color spread to the petals, like ink spilled on paper.

I took the flower out of the vase and stared at it. The yellow gerbera looked like it had been freshly picked from the ground.

At the back of my mind, I knew it was just the beginning of something bigger. The first thing I did was go to Mark’s place with Alyssa to figure things out.

“This better be good,” said a very cranky Mark when I called him.

“Alyssa and I are outside. We have pancakes. Come down and let us in.” I heard Mark grunt before the line went dead. He loved sleeping in.

I heard footsteps from inside the house, and Mark opened the door. He was still in his pajamas, his hair sticking up on one side and flat on the other. Despite my nervous post-birthday morning, I couldn’t help but laugh. Alyssa also burst out laughing as we entered the hallway leading to his room.

“Shut up, Mom’s still sleeping,” he whispered.

Mark’s mom was so used to having us in the house that she didn’t really care how often we dropped by, even when it was unannounced. I think she was hoping one of us would end up as her son’s girlfriend. But the thought of Mark having romantic feelings for me or Alyssa sent chills down my spine. It wasn’t like he’s ugly. As a matter of fact, I knew some of the girls at school had a crush on him. But Mark was like my long lost brother, and that was how I’d always see him. He’d been my sidekick ever since I arrived in San Jose.

Mark was a dorky version of the nasty brother in The Vampire Diaries. He had the potential of becoming a hunk, but somehow he was missing an ingredient—coordination. He was a big klutz and totally hopeless at sports or anything close to physical movement. His superpower was his brain. Mark was a genius, although not a lot of people knew about it. I liked him because he was the only one I knew who could top my addiction to books. He was someone who understood why hanging out in secondhand bookstores was better than going to the mall.

I met Mark a couple of weeks after we moved to Rose Garden. I was still very new to the country and didn’t have any friends. He didn’t seem to be the type who talked to random people, but something must have compelled him to open his mouth. I was in the library, holding a copy of a very old Nancy Drew novel. There were other books piled on the floor. We sat on the floor in silence, going through book after book. We compared our own collections and criticized each other’s favorites. We did not even realize the library was already closing.

After that, we hung out a lot more, reading books, buying books, reviewing new ones that came out. Alyssa joined our group shortly after, and although she wasn’t into books as much as Mark and I, she ended up being a good part of our trio.

I first met Alyssa on my way home from school. She was trying to get gum off of her long blonde hair with no luck. I could see she was close to tears so I went up to her to help, but I was too late. She had already managed to spread the gum so that it had become a huge clump of monstrous tangled hair.

I offered to help her. We walked to my place from school without talking. I didn’t really know what to say to her and she was still obviously distressed about the gum-in-the-hair situation. When we got home, Mama looked at the mess and made us a cup of rich hot chocolate. Mama brought out her bag of hairstyling tools and started working on Alyssa’s hair. She talked to Alyssa about little things and cracked a joke or two that made us laugh.

Finally, Mama finished cutting Alyssa’s hair. When Alyssa saw the pile of hair on the floor, her eyes widened and she looked like she was about to cry again. But before she could open her mouth, Mama handed her the mirror. Alyssa smiled when she saw her reflection.

Mama may not be good at a lot of things, but she had great skill in hairstyling. Alyssa’s long hair had been replaced with a very fancy-looking bob that framed her face perfectly, though in reality, she’d still look great even with a shaved head.

Of course, that was three years ago and the dynamics had changed a bit. Alyssa was currently the most popular girl in school but she never became snobby. I’d like to think I had something to do with that.

“Okay, so what’s going on? It’s Sunday morning. We are supposed to be sleeping in,” Mark’s comment brought me back to my predicament.

“I have no idea. She wouldn’t tell me anything until we got here.”

“Move,” I grabbed the pillow Mark was using to cover his head. He was still desperately hoping to get more sleep. His room was small but very tidy, much tidier than mine, in fact. His bed was pushed to one corner to make room for a giant desk covered with computers, cables, and various contraptions he’d been working on. His extensive book collection was neatly stacked in a makeshift bookcase that covered one of the walls from floor to ceiling. I helped him build it one afternoon, and by help, I meant I handed him the nails.

After Mark’s dad died, his mom had to juggle several jobs to keep things afloat. Mark had three part-time jobs to help her out. At night, he moonlighted as a cheap “web designer.” I knew he did other computer things, some not so legal, but I didn’t meddle in his business. I knew how much they needed the money.

“I want to show you guys something I did this morning. You’re not going to believe it.” I pulled out the bouquet from the bag and placed it on the bed.

“Your birthday bouquet? We saw that yesterday,” Mark said.

“Yes, you did but you didn’t see this,” I said, pulling out a yellow rose from the bunch. I placed it on the bed where we could all see it, then I touched one of the brown petals.

“What are we supposed to …” Mark started to say but I immediately shushed him.

I closed my eyes and touched the flower again. Everyone was silent for several minutes, staring at my hand on the petal. Just as Mark started to speak again, the flower began to change. The wilting petal turned from brown to bright yellow, then the rest of the flower followed suit. The other petals were restored to a bright yellow, and the stem’s color turned green. A quiet gasp escaped from both Mark and Alyssa as the leaves and thorns that had been removed from the stem started to grow back. I pulled my hand away, surprised at the transformation.

“Wow!” I looked at Alyssa, her mouth hanging open. I stared at the flower, just as perplexed as they were.

“How did you…?” Alyssa asked.

“I don’t know. I woke up this morning and it seemed like nothing had changed, but when I touched one of the flowers, it just happened.”

“This is scientifically impossible,” Mark said, scratching his head, turning the flower in his hand.

“I pictured what I wanted to happen in my head and just kind of felt it. When I touched the flower, that’s what happened. I am scared and I can’t talk to my dad.”

“Why not?” Alyssa asked.

“Someone called me this morning. I got a call from my grandfather. You know, the one who was supposed to be dead?”

“Holy crap! Seriously? Fantastic! You should document this and investigate it. A real paranormal activity. How amazing is that?!” Mark sat up on the bed, fully awake, absolutely excited by the news.

“He’s not really dead, you dufus. Mama lied to me.” Even before the words escaped my mouth, I regretted saying it. Mama was not one to lie, but it seemed that she had kept a giant secret from us for a very long time.

“Why is it that the really cool things only happen to other people and not to me?” Mark ducked as Alyssa tried to hit his head with a pillow.

“He said he’ll see me very soon. I’m scared but also curious. What if he knows where Mama is? Mama was never comfortable talking about her past. She always gave me vague answers.”

“If your grandfather knows anything, I don’t think he has any choice but to tell you the truth after what you just did. This is not an ordinary thing to keep from you,” Alyssa said.

“Will you show your dad this new magic trick?” Mark asked.

“I’m not sure. I think I need to find answers first before showing him. Will you guys come with me?”

“Sure. It’s not like we have anything bigger to attend to today anyway.”

We walked to my house and the two of them walked in like it was their own home. I stood there for a moment, watching them. It had been over a year since we decided to move out of the house we shared with Mama. It became too much for us to wake up in that house, wondering every day if she might be back in the kitchen making us breakfast.

In the end, Dad decided to rent it out while we moved to a smaller place just a couple of blocks away. Every now and then, when I was deep in thought, I’d find myself walking home from school to the old house, like my feet had a mind of their own. I think a part of me was hoping that Mama would be waiting there, wondering why strangers were living in her house.

I remember the first time we moved in that house. Mama was glowing. She was as bouncy as a little girl in Disneyland. There were a lot of boxes to unpack but she loved unpacking them. She loved settling in the house, decorating it and turning it into a home. She loved the promise of a fresh start. She pulled me close one day to tell me something.

“We are very lucky to have this place, but you must never forget where you came from,” she told me. “You must always remember that there are others who don’t have what we have. Be thankful for the blessings you have now.”

A tear ran down my cheek and I quickly wiped it away before anyone saw it.