Amy

Amy Kandonsen stormed into her room, slamming the door behind her, as well as locking it. She  threw her bookbag onto the ground and flopped onto her bed in frustration. She grabbed a pillow and covered her head with it, helping her muffle her scream as well as block out the sound of her mother knocking on her door, ordering her to come out so they could “talk about it”. As if her mother would listen to anything other than what she wanted to hear. As if she understood. As if anyone understood. ‘Well, some do.’ said a little voice in the back of her head. Amy rolled over in anger. Like he would be any help. Half the time he was just an arrogant little snot rag. But he was one of the only people who had been in the same situation as her, who were just as deep into it. She reached for a drawer on her dresser, but stopped midway.  She couldn’t. As much as she wanted to she couldn’t. If the People ever found out they knew each other, had ever even looked at each other, both of their memories would be wiped for good. And that would just be too much. For both of them. It would mean losing all of their friends, all of their adventures, each other. Foaly would find out someday, both of them knew that. but for now they would just have to stay out of contact and act like they did whatever the LEP told them.  Which was suspicious in its own way. Amy pulled her hand back and tried to compose herself. It was just ever since she got started in all of this she had felt disconnected from the world. Underground she was mistrusted because she was a human, and very few had the intelligence to actually get to know her and care what happened to her. Above ground she was entirely alone. Her parents ignored her, her teachers irritated by her, her classmates driven away either by intimidation or their own screwed judgement. She had very few friends. Most of them living underground. Sometimes she felt like she could hardly go on with this life. She would have cracked by now if it wasn’t for–

Suddenly she heard a beeping sound. Her face split into a smile as she reached behind the headboard and pulled out a small handheld device, the letters LEP Approved written over the top of it. Amy pressed a button on the top and a message appeared on the screen.

–  tomorrow noon mmt - tell no one - bring no one - arrive approximately 17 hours before - dropoff: md - 24 hour stay - pack accordingly –

Amy’s smile widened as she slid off her bed and began stuffing objects into a backpack. Clothes, a ziploc containing toiletries, and the handheld. She swung the backpack over her shoulder and began walking to the door and down the stairs. Now it was time to get rid of her mother. She walked into the kitchen to find her mother staring out the window, a cup of coffee glued to her lips. Amy cleared her throat.

“Hey mom is it ok if I go over to Jenny’s tonight? We have this huge test tomorrow and we were going to do a study-sleepover.” Her mom broke her eyes off the window and stared at her daughter. A grin broke acroos her face, not quite cracking the bored stare in her eyes.

“Of course sweety. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

And then she was gone. Back to her wonderful life of the coffee and windowpane. Anything to get away from her daughter. Amy looked at her a second and walked out the door. Of course there was no study party. There wasn’t even a Jenny. But Amy needed these lies to cover up for what she did underground. She checked her watch as she headed for a nearby gas station. The message had said to be at the dropoff by 7:00. For most people, the dropoff would mean nothing. But it was really a light code for a meeting place. Of course, since the code was used all ober the world it meant different things in different places. There were three possible words. The reach, the heaven, or the dropoff. For Amy, in America, that meant the Mississippi River as the reach, the Empire State Building as the heaven, and the Grand Canyon as the dropoff. It was 5:54. She had an hour and six minutes to make it to the Grand Canyon, thousands of miles away. Amy walked into the gas station bathroom stall and shut the door behind her. She pulled the handheld out of her backpack and scrolled through the files until she found what she was looking for. She clicked it and began filling in the information.

Transporter  Where: Grand Canyon      When: On command

She opened her door a crack and looked around the room. Nothing but a few flies. She closed the door and whispered to the handheld.

“Now.”

An electric blue light surrounded her, breaking her down particle by particle, and carrying her through space and time itself. She couldn’t think, she couldn’t feel. But she was used to it. She had been doing this for months. After a few seconds she rematerialized in an Arizona bathroom. She looked around to find a little girl staring at her, her hands in the sink. Amy looked closer and saw that the girls pupils had shrunk to pinpoints. ‘Good.’ she thought. The effects would wear off in a couple of seconds. Soon the girl would be back to normal with no recollection of the 16-year-old who had appeared out of nowhere in the bathroom.

Amy opened the restroom door and walked into a dingy 7Eleven. The guy at the counter looked at her a second, then went back to staring at the cheetos, boredly. Amy decided not to worry about him. She walked through the doors and found herself on the side of a road. She stuck her thumb out and a car shuddered to a stop, rolling down its window.

“You need anything, miss?” the very hairy man inside the vehicle asked.

“Yes, can you point me in the direction of the Grand Canyon?” Amy asked, staring him right in the eye. The man nodded.

“Just around the corner, miss. You can’t miss it.”

Amy thanked him and began walking towards the Canyon. When she finally reached the place, she noticed a bench a few yards away from the famous indention in the earth. She sat on it and pulled out her handheld. Now that she had her mother taken care of, it was time for her school. She opened an e-mail draft and began typing on it.

Dear Principal Valimedes,

I am sorry but Amantha will not be able to come to school tomorrow. She has a serious scholastic contest that we believe can be vital to her future. The event will last all day tomorrow, so I am sorry to say that she will miss school. However she will make up the missed work immediately.

Sorry for the inconvienience,

Caroline Kandonsen

Amy read through the letter. It wasn’t really well-thought-out, but then again, it hardly needed to be. Her principal didn’t care where she went as long as she came back. With her 6.0 GPA, Amy was pretty much the only thing that got the school board to even glance at Columbus High. The only thing that bothered her was that name. Amantha. When she was a baby her mother and father were in a disagreement on whether to name their daughter Amanda or Samantha. After a while they decided to compromise. Amy shuddered and hit send.

Amy scrolled through the handheld until she found the message.

“dropoff: md…” she said to herself, thinking. “That must mean-”

Suddenly a very short man dressed in a dark trenchcoat, thick gloves and boots, a wide brimmed hat, and huge sunglasses sat next to her on the bench. Amy smiled.

“Mulch Diggums.” 

Some other stories by ambi:

• Update on 'Everybody Hates Minerva'!!
• Everybody Hates Minerva
• Update on The Council!! Second chapter!!
• The Council: Chapter 2~The Meeting