Numbers

Faye and I use numbers to determine destiny. Everything goes wrong when unexpected things happen to Faye ---- and me.

          Spring. The air is warming, and school is coming to an end. One. Summer. School is over and we hang out with friends until it resumes. Two. Autumn. The leaves change colors, school is back - and we try to grasp the last few moments of warmth we have left. Three. Winter... The cold endless nights. The snow that softly hits the ground as we watch it, trying to find the improbability that one just might be the same of another... Four. These are my numbers... And they all add up into something unbelievable. Me. I'm different, and I always have been - from the moment I was born, there was a reason for my numbers. When added correctly, they seemed to form a pattern. The pattern is suppose to be my destiny. That all changed when my faith was turned into devastating events after my parents died in a horrible fire at our house when I was at my friends. Now it's just me and my little sister. We share the same gift, but our new fates are completely different. Our journeys took us back to when we first started our system - back to when we were 2.

          We were in preschool... A normal preschool. My sister, Faye, and I were giving paper and pencils. We were told to write down numbers up to 100... Or as far as we could go. Faye and I started writing High School leveled equations... And they added up to our destiny. We started from doing simple numbers to growing bigger and bigger. We've grown together as sisters. We both have autism, so we're generally better with numbers than any other normal person would be. But just because we have autism doesn't mean that we don't have friends and it doesn't mean that we don't have complicated lives. It just means we have trouble communicating. Five. Years pass and Faye and I are home, writing numbers on the wall again as we get scolded by our parents. This is the beginning mark of our unfaithful fate. Six. Faye and I are turning 14... We thought everything was perfect. Seven.

          Faye gets Cancer. Eight. Her destiny said she was going die within 6 months of turning 15. We're 14, and we have 3 months until 6 months comes. Her Lung Cancer is getting worse and worse. Faye still hasn't talked to anyone yet, but we're determined to teach her sign language so we could at least understand her. She's starting to learn a lot. Her best friend from down the street, Cecelia, comes and visits her. Nine. I continue to write my numbers... Hoping to see something I missed. Ten. Faye and I are home - Faye isn't sick? I'm lost and I don't understand. This is beginning to get hard to understand. Eleven. Time's speeding forward. Faye isn't dead and we're now 17. Twelve. Everything's beginning to settle down. Faye gets sick again, this time it's different. She has Leukemia. Chemo is starting today. Thirteen. She stopped breathing during treatment. They got her to breath, but she's in a coma. She's been in a coma for days. Fourteen. She's awake now but she went back to no communication whatsoever. We've always had a special communication - unspoken of in any way, but just by the look in our eyes you could tell what we were feeling or what we were thinking. We read each others mind. Fifteen. Faye stopped responding last night when she fell asleep. I'm crying silently as I get Faye's funeral ready for this weekend. Sixteen. I'm starting to stop with the numbers now. I don't see a point in it anymore...

          Seventeen. Faye's awake, uncertain of what's happened the past few days. She's perfectly fine - better than ever! Eighteen. I think I'm dead. I saw my parents the other day. We're now 18. We haven't spoke since the day we were born. Nineteen. Maybe I'm not dead? Faye keeps giving me a look and I know she's telling me that she thinks I'm going delusional. I can sense that in my little sister. Twenty. You're probably asking why I'm counting after every couple sentences. It's part of the story, I promise. Twenty-one. Faye left me. She told me she needed to get out and start her own life. I miss her. It's hardly been a week since she left... I wanna find her - I just don't know how. My numbers have been wrong lately and I just can't find the probability that I might have them right as soon as I have the need to find my autism sister! For all I knew she could be back in the same trouble as she was before. I don't know what to do. Maybe I can start up with my numbers - from the beginning though. This would take about a week or so to complete. Twenty-two. I've started my number sequence. The arrows point to numerous things around the world. Two things of her's had a spiral that gave clues on where she might've gone to. Twenty-three.

          I looked into our room and found some of her things. Nothing that I was hoping to find for Faye. There was a knock on my door... It looked like Faye - with a small child that's about 2 or 3. Twenty-four. I tried talking to her and all she typed to me on the computer that it was always her child and that it was never their child. Uh-oh. Twenty-five. We're packing up so we can leave and find the real child's parents and hopefully they'll understand what happened. Twenty-six. They're dead. Twenty-seven. Faye is convinced the little boy was hers. I spoke for the first time. Twenty-eight. I asked what was the little boys name was... His name was Alex. I'm slowly starting to talk - it feels weird. Twenty-nine. Alex keeps wanting to play, and he's not a very hungry boy. He kind of looks like Faye - but it he was Faye's, who was his father? I'm going to find out. Thirty. I started my research and I'm trying to get Faye to at least sign to me so she could give me hints, but she keeps zoning out and looking like she's stoned or something. She was so stoned I took her into the doctors and her test came back positive. Thirty-one. We're 20 years old now and still no sign of who drugged Faye or who Alex belonged to... He's four and we've settled into a place for at least a few years so Alex can hopefully get through just Kindergarten before we start moving again. Thirty-two. Alex made some friends. I'm so happy for him. Faye started signing again, and he said Alex's father was dead. Alex look like Faye so much I thought the father looked like Faye. Alex has the brightest blue eyes I've ever seen with small dimples and shaggy blonde hair, just as my sister does. Thirty-three.

          We turn 21 today. Seems just like yesterday Faye and I were 14... Where'd the time go? Faye went back to not talking the past 2 months. I've learned to pronounce more and more words. I've talked so much you'd hardly realize I had autism. I'm trying to get Faye to actually speak - but she gives me the look as if she's scared or something. Thirty-four. I've begged Faye for three weeks now and still nothing. Alex keeps asking me why Faye never talks and I tried explaining it but a 4-year old can only understand so much. Thirty-five. Alex has learned quite a bit of sign language from Faye and all... Alex keeps trying to get her to talk - no change. Thirty-six. Alex was really upset that he never gets to hear Faye talk. Alex is 6 now and he's almost done with Kindergarten and if Faye doesn't talk soon, there's going to be a lot of trouble. She started signing again. Alex now isn't talking or signing. He left one note beforehand saying he won't talk until Faye does. Thirty-seven. Alex is 7 now and we're waiting until after 1st grade most likely. I keep getting called into Alex's school because he's refusing to communicate whatsoever. They want me to get him tested for autism, so I had to explain to them how this happened. They said if he doesn't start talking by the time he's in 2nd grade that he can't be a part of the school anymore. Thirty-eight.

          I screamed at Faye for not talking. She started tearing up before she started crying hysterically. I tried to calm down her down before she started screaming what was wrong and how she feels so guilty taking Alex and that she couldn't leave him on the streets much longer... Alex apparently told her he's been living on his own for a few months and that he ran away from Social Services. Thirty-nine. Everything with Alex is beginning to add up. Alex came home from school and had a black-eye. I asked him what happened and he still wasn't talking. Faye asked him and his eyes grew as big as the moon as he poured out his feelings to her. Forty. I'm overwhelmed my sister has finally started talking - and even better - Alex did. There was a knock on the door. "Social Services! Open up." Faye and I looked at Alex and told him to hush. Alex had a terrified look on his face as we snuck out the back door. Forty-one. We escaped, hardly. At least we now know they're after us... And I won't let Alex go back to them. Forty-two. We are on a most-wanted from "Stealing a Child from Social Services Without Permission." Just what we need... More stress than we already have. We're on he constant move. We hitch-hiked from California all the way to Tennessee. Forty-three. We enrolled Alex into at least second grade at the school down the road. We rented the place for a year... Hope they don't get too mad if we have to leave again - I already payed them upfront anyways so all should be good. Forty-four. Alex starts school in a month - he doesn't seem uneasy about this at all... As if he was used to being bounced around everywhere. I asked him and he said the longest he's been in a place was for the three years we were in California and before that the longest was about 2 1/2 - 3 weeks in one place. It made my stomach uneasy. Forty-five.

         Alex is fitting in well at his school... At least that's what he's saying - he seems off lately. I'm asking what's up when he gets home later. Forty-six. It already past 5 and Alex isn't home yet. I'm driving over to his school to see if he might still be there. When I arrived, Alex look - possessed? Forty-seven. It was as if he was half zombie. He came slowly toward me with blood dripping out of his mouth, and his eyes were black. Forty-eight. I sat down and started to cry hoping if I was killed, Alex was the last face I saw... Instead of being eatin' by, Alex sat in my lap and cried over and over again. Forty-nine. I cried with him. I knew we shouldn't have him going 'round and 'round this country. I decided we needed to move to a different country. What country though? Fifty. I'm going to run this idea across Faye and she completely agreed with me. The vote was unanimous. That was it. We are deporting from this cruel and naive country, and placing a permanent home elsewhere. Fifty-one. We're moving to Australia. That was that, we'll be there by this weekend... so pretty much about 4 days. Australia will be our new home - we already have a house on the beach now and it's right by the Great Barrier Reef. This is going to be completely unforgettable. Fifty-two.

          We got our passports and everything today. We're off tomorrow and then we're no longer a part of this country. Fifty-three. We're gone. We have quite a few hours before we land - about a day before we do so. Luckily, we have a tv on here so maybe Alex won't get so bored. We got him a phone the other day so he could keep in contact with his one friend back from California. Tennessee was not the place for someone like Alex. Fifty-four. Alex seems to be doing better now and he's wounds have started to heal quite nicely. This is going to be good, I can just tell. Fifty-five. We''ve landed and it's so quite here... It barren, sort of. We had a 4 hour drive to the house before we could actually settle. We didn't need movers, just a car. Faye and I already have jobs here so we should be set. Fifty-six. We're now completely settled in. Alex starts school tomorrow... Alex hasn't talked since we left. I don't know if it's because we moved or something else happened. Faye's been talking more and more - I've been talking less. Fifty-seven. I think my autism is getting worse again... I'm so scared of everything and I'm afraid of talking now. Faye seems to be getting over it. Alex has been misbehaving a lot... Wonder why. Fifty-eight. Alex is required to have a physical before he can start 2nd grade... I schedule one for tomorrow. They agreed to let him go to school tomorrow, but I have to get a physical for him before we can send back the next day. Fifty-nine. Alex seemed to have had a good day, although I was told he was doing things he wasn't suppose to be doing. I took him to the doctors and Faye told his doctor about what's been going on lately. He did some tests before he announced that Alex developed Down Syndrome. Sixty.

          DS. Alex has DS. The doctor gave us medications for him and told us to notify his school so they're aware. Sixty-one. We told the school and they transferred Alex to the DSFCS. Or, the Down Syndrome For Children School. Different bus, different kids. Maybe this is for his own good, though. I have high hopes for him. Sixty-two. Alex seems to have fit in well. Faye and I had a meeting with his teacher and she said he's one of the best kids they've ever had. Sixty-three. Alex still talks, but he's made up a lot of slang --- Faye and I have to write down his new slang words so that we know what he's saying half the time. Sixty-four. Alex went back to DSFCS today and his teacher said she would like to talk to us next Monday about Alex's progress and if he's doing well, then we'll be meeting every month... Can't be too hard if there's only a few kids in his whole school. Hopes are high that my little boy will be strong and wonderful. Sixty-five. A week's passed and I'm on my way to meet up with Alex's teacher. We talk and it sounds like everything's good. I'm very proud of Alex. Sixty-six. Something's wrong with Alex... He keeps writing the same numbers over and over again. Taking him to the doctors tomorrow after school to see if they mean anything. Sixty-seven. I took him to the doctors today, and Faye came with. Faye explained what was wrong and Alex's doctor transferred us to a psychiatric doctor a couple miles away. I really hope this is nothing. Sixty-eight.

         Alex went in and went to get evaluated for the day. They said I could come back tomorrow and they'll tell me what's happened and all if it's anything. Sixty-nine. I went in first thing this morning. They told me the numbers spelled "death" repeatedly. The first thing they asked me was if he had any relatives. We told them just us and that was it... None others - they were all dead. Seventy. The doctor gave us a stern look... They told us they might think he feels as if it's one of our times. Faye and I looked at each other, thank the doctor, and walked out without a word spoken. Seventy-one. Faye and I became unease after that and haven't done much since. We're worried about if Alex's conclusions are true or not, and which one of us will die. Seventy-two. Faye and I were going to take Alex to school today, but decided not to since we had to clean up the house before his friend Clair came over. Seventy-three. Alex's dead. Seventy-four. Got a call from the hospital's ER today... Alex got killed when he was going to the bus after school. Apparently the bus's breaks broke and Alex was crossing the street and it hit him. They thought they could save him; he was practically dead on impact. Seventy-five. Faye is in so much shock --- she's starting to go crazy. She's not taking this very well. She's stopped talking again. Seventy-six. We buried Alex today, and afterwards I went to the hospital to see how bad Faye and I's autism is getting. Seventy-seven. Doctor said I'm almost all the way through my autism, which means it's gotten better and it isn't much of a threat anymore. Seventy-eight. Doctor said he wasn't sure if Faye would ever talk again. He said she's in so much shock that it'd be literally a miracle if he ever talked again. She won't even sign to me. This is kind of saddening. Seventy-nine. Interesting news story today. Australia was looking at the around the world big news. Some girl named Elizabeth Taylor Hunter was on the Most Wanted list. Eighty.

          Australia is a very fascinating country. It's finally winter (summer for us) and that means it's suppose to be hot! Faye and I were thinking of going swimming in the Great Barrier Reef today. Eighty-one. The Great Barrier Reef is a somewhat public place. We need passes in order to go near the Reef. I luckily bought ours in the summer (winter for you americans) and we are now allowed to spend our summer here! Eighty-two. Great Barrier Reef was good yesterday and I think Faye had a good time but I'm not exactly sure yet. Faye still hasn't been talking to me. Eighty-three. Around the World News is on a lot lately. I'm starting to wonder why they're focusing her so much. Is she really that bad? Maybe I should research her and get more answers. Eighty-four. Faye talked. The only thing she said to me was "Who are you really?" Eighty-five. Who am I? I'm her loving older sister! Why would she even ask me that?? Eighty-six. Faye asked me again who I was. I got mad and started yelling at her. She looked at me and told me I looked like Elizabeth, but older. Eighty-seven. A twist in my stomach dropped as Faye told me that. She then cursed me several times and hasn't talked since. What the hell is her problem? Eighty-eight. Faye and I have been trying to ignore each other since our little fight the other day. Eighty-nine. I still don't know what to do after Alex got killed... Elizabeth is being watched for in over 100 countries. Ninety. Apparently the United States found that this Elizabeth's stolen child was killed... Devastating. Ninety-one. 

          Australia is much amazing anymore after 5 years. Faye and I still haven't talked for the past year. I write in my journal every night. Faye tries reading it but could never get into it herself. Ninety-two. Faye seems to pace a lot, as if she knows something I don't. "Faye? What's wrong?" No answer from her today, and if she's like this tomorrow, I won't give up until I know what her problem is. Ninety-three. As you can see, I'm pretty far in my numbers. This whole thing happens to people over and over again continuously. I don't know why... But it's different people and somewhat different stories every-time. Ninety-four. I continued to ask Faye what was wrong. Not succeeding so far. Ninety-five. Faye and I have nothing left to each other anymore after Alex. I cannot believe this is how this is all going to end. Ninety-six. Faye started packing. She spoke today and told me she wants nothing to do with me anymore. Ninety-seven. I asked her once again what was wrong, and she spoke. Ninety-eight. She read my journal... My private and most precious thing I own to myself. I have all my number sequences and everything down. Ninety-nine. Faye left and Australia is one of the country's looking for Elizabeth now. I'm dead... I'm dead because I'm Elizabeth Taylor Hunter ---- and this was my real story. One Hundred.

Author's Note

If y'all still don't get it -- then message me and I'll explain(:

Reviews

[.]

nice story

[Regan :)]

KEEP GOING!! I WANT TO READ MORE :D

[Kelli]

yeah.

[Regan :)]

im still kinda confused but it's still AMAZING!

[Karina]

OMG this is so sad! Please continue!(:

[Regan :)]

wow.... i'm not going to say I fully understand..... but it's amazing and I can't wait till you write more :)

[Regan :)]

hehe that was a long yes :)

[Regan :)]

YEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!