Without a Shadow - Julie Steimle (best books under 200 pages .txt) 📗

Morning Before

If you think strange occurrences are only for books, then you have lived a very sheltered life. I had thought I had lived a sheltered life myself, only to be thoroughly proven wrong on the morning before Halloween.

*

“Eve! Eve! Get up! You’ll be late for school!”

My mother had a voice that could carry over the ocean if she wanted it to. Normally she didn’t have to yell.

I rolled over and blinked at the sun creeping through the curtains and sighed. Usually I didn’t have a problem getting up in the morning. Usually I went surfing before school—yet in the frigid waters of October my mother wouldn’t allow it. I could have still gotten up on time, I mused as I sat up and pushed off the covers, but lately I had been staying up way past my bed time, finding it very hard to fall asleep.

Getting out of bed, I dropped to the floor and said a prayer, knowing that if my sister saw me she would sneer and call me goody-two shoes. She’s sort of been jealous of me since we were kids—but then I was adopted right around the time she was born so I can’t entirely blame her. I looked nothing like the family of blondes; and my parents and two older brothers have always treated me somewhat like a novelty. She was probably right now reveling in the fact that I had slept in and was getting yelled at, when it is usually the reverse.

“Eve! Hurry up!” My mom’s voice rose with a tint of worry.

I hopped quickly on my feet, jumped to the dresser and yanked out my school clothes. It was easy enough to find. My room, unlike my sister’s, was always neat and orderly—which made my sister doubly irritated since my mother would occasionally compare us and ask why she couldn’t be as good as me. Ick. Comparisons. Invariably they always made my sister hate me more, or they made me feel like some kind of alien that was too abnormal for words.

“Eve! Don’t make me come up there!” Her pitch was now bordering on exasperation.

“Coming!” I called back. I grabbed the feminine clothing necessities I needed and yanked my bedroom door open, nearly flying to the bathroom and into the shower. After one hot steaming rinse off, I almost slipped on the damp linoleum when I got out again, but I grabbed onto the sink and braced myself. The mirrors all fogged up. And though I wiped them vigorously, it did no good. I couldn’t see myself. I wondered groggily at the vision of the reflected back wall as the mirror fogged up again.

Hastily drying every last bit of me off, I grabbed my much-needed bottle of sun block and smeared it on my arms and face, reading the bottle to make sure it was not going to make my skin break out. One brand did just that, and I had seriously considered just getting sunburned instead. I have a skin condition, see, not unlike albinism where my skin is super sensitive to sunlight. SPF 40 doesn’t cut it usually, and I have to re-apply lotion around lunch. I coated my legs, especially the backs of them. The last time I neglected them I couldn’t kneel down for a week.

I always felt slimy after I coated myself with the sun block. Dressing can be a problem when my skin is so sticky. I suppose that is why I prefer loose fitting tops and pants.

“Eve!” I could hear my mother calling through the door. I opened it, yanking the bath towel off my damp black hair with a polite smile. My mom shook her head at me, worry on her face. “Eve, this is the third time this week. What’s wrong with you lately? You used to be the first up.”

I shrugged and hung the towel back on the rod. “I’m sorry, Mom. I’ve just been having trouble falling asleep lately.” I paused, and added with a mischievous smirk, “Maybe if you let me surf again in the mornings I can get up earlier.”

She huffed and then shook her head at me—actually smiling at my hardly masked attempt to go back on our agreement.

“Nice try,” she said, turning with an armload of laundry she had taken from the bathroom hamper and walking to the door. Glancing at my white shirt, and not yet tied tie, she added, “Don’t forget a sweater today. I know you aren’t as sensitive to the cold as the rest of us, but please take care of yourself today. Your lips were nearly blue yesterday, and you didn’t even notice.”

I bashfully nodded, knowing there was no way around it. She was right, of course. I never knew when it was wise to wear a jacket, and often my hands would be deathly cold because I never felt the need to put on gloves.

“And don’t forget your sunglasses.” My mother handed me my pair just as I was walking back to my bedroom for my shoes.  I must have left them downstairs again last night.

I took them from her, stuffing them into my shirt pocket. Sunglasses are also a must. My eyes are mildly sensitive to the sunlight. Most albinos had pink irises, but mine were a definite shade of orange, a genetic fluke. The doctor said that I needed to protect my eyes as blindness was probably in my future. However, I also noticed that my eyes occasionally looked red, especially when my blood sugar was low. I usually wear my sunglasses to help my teachers feel more comfortable around me. Of course I have to keep a doctor’s note on me at all times to prove I am not breaking any school rules. I’d get color contacts, but Mom’s against them. Too expensive, she said.  

My mother tapped her foot, folding her arms impatiently while I put on my socks and shoes and grabbed a hairbrush to comb out my wet black hair. My sister glared at me from the kitchen table when I hopped down the stairs to snatch some toast from the toaster. Every other plate was cleared and most of the food was gone.

“Sleep in again, lazy head?” Dawn always spoke in a tone that bordered on a sulk. This morning it was a tad more triumphant. Since Dawn used to be the one Mom got after on things, this reversal was too much fun for her to let alone. She sipped her black coffee while glancing over the cup as I grabbed the strawberry jam, scooping out a dollop to satisfy my cravings for sugar.

“I need eight hours,” I replied with a shrug.

William, my eldest brother and a high school senior, traipsed down the stairs, fully dressed and bags in hand, snickering while reaching over the table for the remaining bacon. “Maybe you should get to bed before three in the morning.”

Dawn snorted. Travis was the next one down. He was a junior. He smirked, following Will to the table but snatching the last fried egg instead.

“You were up until 3 AM?” My mother boggled at him, then me. “What were you doing at 3 AM?”

I shrugged, trying to sound like I was making an offhand remark. “Just looking at the moon.”

She blinked at me. “The moon? Three hours past midnight and you were just looking at the moon?”

I tried to avoid her gaze. Shrugging again, I said, “I saw stars too.”

My brothers choked on laughs, heading towards the door. Even Dawn had to smother a snicker.

Shaking her head with that very firm glare, my mom replied with that don’t-be-smart-with-me tone, “Eve Marie McAllister, if I thought you were up to something….”

I moaned. “Mom, this is me we are talking about. I just couldn’t get to sleep. That’s all. I was in my room the entire time. I just went to the window to look out at the moon before climbing into bed, and then next thing I knew it was three o’clock in the morning. Even I can’t account for it.”

My mother’s eyes widened even more.

There are only a few moments in my life that I have ever seen my mother go so ghostly white before. She stared at me, just ashen, as I wondered what was wrong. I was almost afraid to find out.

“Mom?” Will came over to her and put his arm around her shoulders. She snapped out of it then, blushing.

Turning away from me and then doubling back, my mother gave me one hard stare, looking directly into my eyes. “Eve, whatever you do, from now on do not look at the moon. I don’t want you going to bed—losing hours…”

She mumbled after that, shaking her head and walking back towards the stairs. Our mother glanced once over at us and hurried up quicker to look for our father.

I shook my head. “That was definitely weird.”

Travis nodded, though he was watching me and not her. Dawn also looked a bit shaken up.

Will walked over to me, giving me the eye. “Looking at the moon? Eve, what’s happening to you lately?”

Blinking at him, I really didn’t know what to say. I felt the same as ever, except a little groggier than usual. But with staying up so late at night, that was to be expected.

“Finish breakfast and hurry off to school!” our mother called from upstairs.

That was it. Dawn put down her mug. Travis snatched a piece of toast and stuffed it into his mouth, grabbing his jacket and heading towards the door. Will motioned for them to get their bags, but Dawn was already out the door and down the steps. I was about to follow her when Will stopped me.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” he said with a nod to me.

I glanced down at my shirt and then smirked, as I tied the cute little tie. Looking back up at him, I saw my brother roll his eyes.

“No, a sweater,” he said, taking out my sunglasses from my front pocket and placing them on my face. “Seriously, Eve, you may not want to wear a jacket, but Mom will kill you if you don’t wear a sweater.”

I blushed, feeling the red rising to my ears, but he was right. I ran back up the stairs to my room, passing my parents’ door as I went.

“…teeth. There was a look in her eyes that is different. Something is terribly wrong with her, Steven, and so near to…”

I didn’t have time to eavesdrop. Generally speaking, as a rule, I found eavesdropping nothing but trouble. Looking back now, maybe I should have stopped.

Seeing Things

 

I walked to school with my best friend, Jane, whom my sister likes to tease and call Plain Jane though there was nothing plain about her. Jane Benetti was cool, open minded, and pretty in a granola sort of way. I liked her thick wavy brown hair and her even temper. She got along with Will and put up with Travis and Dawn most of the time while we all walked to school together. Usually we chatted until we reached the