G-157 Read Online Free

beyond the scope of daily living. Maybe in New York or Massachusetts.”
    “The States?” Her mother’s eyebrows raised in a high, horrified arch , her skin growing taunt and pale around her wide eyes . “Oh, Aire, never say anything like that again. Never .”
    Her f ather’s voice was low and stern. It was the voice he used when he found out she had been sent to the principal’s office or when he ordered to her room without supper. “The States are a terrible, terrible, violent place I would never wish anyone to go to. Besides, everything you need to know is right here in John’s Town. We have everything we need and there’s no reason to leave.”
    The hotness was rising with full force now. Aire could feel it burning from her cheeks, the intensity of it tingling her nose. Her teeth gritted between her clenching jaws, knuckles white around her fork as she started to mash her toast. “There is nothing for me here and I have every reason to leave,” she said through gritted teeth.
    “Now, Aire, that isn’t nice,” her mother said. “You should be thankful we live in such a wonderful place. Please don’t say such unpleasant things.”
    It was too late now. The last bit of kindling had been dropped on the red embers, and the hotness roared into a blaze within her. Aire slammed her fork onto her plate, sending bacon and bits of mutilated eggs and toast spewing across the yellow daisy table cloth. “Why? What is going to happen if I don’t stop saying such things? Huh?”
    “You’ll get recruited, that’s what will happen,” her father said. “Now calm down and eat your breakfast.”
    She slammed her palms down on the table, sending her fork flaying across the kitchen as she l urched up from her chair. “Good. I f the Army recruits me at least I’ll finally be able to get out of John’s Town.”
    Her feet pounded the linoleum as she stormed out of the kitchen. Hot breath steamed from her lungs as she grabbed her school bag from the stairs and darted through the front door, letting it slam behind her.
    She hustled down the street to The Meeting Tree at the end of the block, her eyes never leaving the sidewalk. You will go to the States one day , she told herself. No matter what it takes, you will get out of John’s Town .
    She was breathless when she reached the arthritic willow tree at the end of the street, The Meeting Tree, as she and Melissa called it. Melissa’s house was two blocks further south, Aire’s being closer to the school.
    Fate, it seemed, had brought them together all those years ago when they had been in second grade. School was almost out for the summer, the weather had been perfect, and neither wanted to spend such a wondrous day locked in a classroom. Each had snuck away from school on their own and had somehow managed to end up playing in that same tree. It was their secret that day of breaking the rules and skipping school that had begun their friendship, and Aire was glad for it since she’d never had many friends.
    In the third grad e they’d began to meet at the t ree on their way to school. Back then she’d thought The Meeting Tree had secret magical powers that could take her anywhere in the world. She’d spend hours in that tree dreaming of all the people it could bring her to meet. Why she could meet people all the way from China if she wished for it hard enough. But that was back then, and the magic had drained from the tree over the years. She knew better now. She would only meet Melissa at The Meeting Tree, and it would not take her to China. It would not take her anywhere.
    She closed her eyes as she leaned against the gnarled b l ack trunk and rubbed her temples, taking deep breaths as she willed herself not to cry. A haunting vision clouded across her mind as she imagined what she’d be like in ten years if she had to stay in John’s Town. Her hair would be white before its time. A mushy brain would roll about in her head from lack of mental stimulation. Her