One

The other kids were always on the other side of the fence, one mile away from my home. The fence seperated my home from the other, closer ranches. From there, a road could take you to the city.

Mother had the fence built for her inventions. Her workshop was the house. It was where she was almost all the time, except for the few hours every day when she come to the barn to homeschool me and take care of the livestock and crops and stuff. She also had a little shack built for me, close to the orchard. 

I love the orchard. It has fruits, blossoms, and a sense of adventure to it. When I was younger, I climbed the trees all the time until I fell once and Mother found out. I'm only allowed to climb the big apple tree now, which gets boring now that I know every twist and turn. 

So other than working in the barn, I just mostly draw and research on my laptop, or create stuff with items like grass and leaves. 

I watch the other kids play from my side of the fence. I'm not allowed to go past the fence, but the other kids are allowed to come to my area. But most of them rarely do. Except for Marley, who comes over every time she comes close to the fence, they barely know me. But I have a speech defect, so I guess I might seem weird to them, having to write everything I want to say.

Marley's here today, though. She climbs steadily over the strong wires, years of doing this making it an easy habit. "Hey, Brooklyn!" she calls as she jumps off and runs towards me.

I unclip the small white-board that I always carry around for talking from my necklace-chain and take off the dry-erase maker, writing "Hi!" and showing it to her.

Marley smiles, her face bright as always. "Couldn't you just mouth that? Anyway, how's your mom?"

Mother has shut herself away in the house a while ago. I'm pretty sure she's just inventing stuff, but I'm still not sure if she's sick or not.

I erase the "Hi! and write, "Fine I think, what about yours?"

Marley's face falls.

I regret writing that immediately. I had totally forgotten that her mother was dying from very high fever. Marley had been traveling to the city hospital every week to visit.

Tears start to pool in her eyes, and Marley turns away. "I should go. It was nice to see you."

I feel betrayed. Being friends means we could trust each other, right? But I also feel bad for her. Her mother must be really bad for her to cry about it. 

I walk the mile back, doodling on my board and thinking as I go. I sketch a wild daisy that I saw. I worry about Marley. I wish I could talk. I stop to eat an apple from the orchards. It's night when I get back to the barn to make sure the chickens are okay.

"Hey Brooklyn!" Mother calls out. I whip around, and she's out of the house to my surprise. This must have been the first time in weeks she's been outside with me. 

"It's done! It's done! Come and see!" Mother squeals. I suppose she means her newest invention. I can't yell back that I'm hungry, so I have to go to her.

When I get close, I'm horrified. Mother has dark circles under her droopy eyes, and she's more thin than I've ever seen her. Her body is kind of slumped as she stands. She has been skipping sleep and food for this. Yet her expression is proud and thrilled.

Mother takes my hand and rushes me through her labs until she gets to the living room, which has a sky roof. She had covered it up recently so her new project would be secret. I start to feel excited. Was I finally allowed to see this top-secret invention of hers? It had taken years probably. She's been working on the foundation and materials for a while.

Mother takes a deep breath and then turns to me. "Prepare to be amazed! This has taken forever. This is my dream. I've finally built it!" 

She turns the doorknob and slips in. "Hold on! Stay out for a second!"

I hear creaking ladders and rumbles. She is probably taking the cover off the sky roof.

After a few more minutes, she peeks at me through the crack of the door. "Ready?" 

Without waiting for an answer, Mother flings open the door."Ta-da!"

I am stunned by what I see.

It was a rocket. A huge spaceship, towering over us. 

"So?" Mother asks, eyes glistening.

I nod, smiling as brightly as possible. This was amazing, just different from what I thought it would be.

"Good!" Mother says. "Great! So you'll go on it with me in a few days? I've been wanting to travel space forever. And I finally have a rocket now, as well as a amazing daughter." She beams at me.

I can hardly say no, seeing her proud expression. I write "I guess so," on my board.

Mother's lit up face lightens even more. "I knew you'd say yes! I'll try to get everything ready before next week!"

~~~

Well, that happened.

And I've never told Mother, but I'm terrified of the idea of going into space. What was I thinking?

~~~ 

Not much happened the next week. Unless you count Mother's workshop having moments of loud rattling and smoke occasionally. 

Also, I downloaded a thing on my laptop where I can type something in and a voice says it for me, since I can't speak. It's called AutoVoiceBox. The default monotone voice was very roboticish, so I changed it. The new voice is nicknamed "Bella".

I visited Marley again, and this time I made sure not to ask about her mother.

She told me anyway. Here's how that conversation went.

~~~

"Hey, can I tell you something?" Marley asks.

I pull out my laptop and pull up AutoVoiceBox.

"Sure," the Bella voice says.

Marley squints at me, almost laughing. Then her smile fades. She takes a deep breath and looks at me firmly in the eye. "Okay. My mom died a few days ago." Her voice is serious and blank.

"I'm so sorry! It must be awful," Bella says.

Marley shook her head. "It's not your fault. Anyway. My sister over there needed Mom to help her pay for college and help with life. Dad's planning to sell the ranch and take us to the city to help her." 

I frown. "So in other words, you're moving away," Bella says.

"Yeah, I'm really sorry, Brooklyn. I don't want to, but it's our only option right now." Marley says sadly.

"That's okay. My mother invented a rocket and is planning to blast us into space soon, anyway, and I'm not really planning on coming back. I'll probably kill myself out there before she can even do anything," Bella says for me.

"That's not true. You're a great surviver, you know."

"Maybe. Not really," Bella says. Her voice is really weird sometimes. I wish I could talk.

"I mean it! Look at you, living normally without a real voice! You'll be an even better one when you find another friend," Marley says.

I type, "None of the others want to be friends with me. I'll try though, if I come back." Bella speaks it but leaves out the "I'll" for some reason.

Marley laughs. "Okay, that voice is really getting to me. Now, seriously, of course you'll come back! Since when has your mom failed?"

I shrug.

"COME ON, she won't risk your lives on some silly experiment, will she?" Marley asks.

I shrug.

   "TALK TO ME! EVEN IF IT'S THAT STUPID ROBOT VOICE!" Marley screams.

"Okay. Talking." Bella says. 

Marley cracks up. When she recovers, she grimaces and leans forward. "Okay. Now tell me you'll miss me. With your board, please."

I uncap my marker and write, "I'll miss you."

Marley hugs me. "Me too."

I hug her back.

Pulling away, Marley asks, "You still have my email, right?"

I nod.

"Then email me as often as you can." 

"If I survive, you mean." Bella says.

Marley groans. "Not this again! Bella AND this depressing death talk?" She sticks her tongue out at me and then stares at me. "Listen, Brook. You. Will. Make. It. Back. And. Email. Me."

I sigh and smile mischievously. "Fine."

Marley looks relieved. "I have to be back at 5 to pack. And look, don't even think negatively, okay? See, I just lost my mom and I'm being perfectly positive.

"Okay." I write this one.

"Good. See y-- I mean, email me, girlie."

~~~

Marley's been gone for a few days now. I miss her, though not as much as I had expected at first. I feel guilty about that. I'm a terrible friend.

But Mother did talk much more, chatting away on ideas and asking me for opinions. I also found a addictive game on my laptop that I play when I'm bored to death.

So... yay for me? Kind of? Maybe not the part about Marley moving away?

Definitely not yay for Marley though. She must be so sad. I hope I never lose my mother. I mean, that's kind of impossible, but still. Still.