Excerpt: Out of Time

Chapter One

Monday August 24, 1998
Little Current, Ontario, Canada

Annika Fahringer stared in dismay at the luggage crowding around her bedroom. Her best friend, as usual, had over done it on her packing. Kelly would be staying at Annika's for a week while her parents were away on an Alaskan cruise. Or maybe it was a Caribbean cruise. Annika had lost track of all the places Kelly's parents had gone, and never remembered where they were while they were away. Only once they returned with photos did she know for certain where they'd gone. They never took Kelly, though. Nor did they take Kelly's younger sister Jasmine with them. As far as Annika knew, Jasmine was at their Aunt Chloe's. Kelly was staying with Annika and her family because Annika's family was more fun than Aunt Chloe's, and much more welcoming, according to Kelly. Annika had only met Kelly's aunt once, and she'd seemed nice. Then again, Annika had never had to spend an entire week with the woman.
"Why'd you bring so much, Kel?" asked Annika, sitting on her bed between two duffel bags that were nearly as big as she was. There were two more on the floor and a smaller one on her dresser.
"Because I like to dress according to mood," replied Kelly. She cast a scathing look over Annika's grey jeans and olive green t-shirt. "Not put on the first thing I pull out of my dresser, like some people."
Annika looked at her outfit and shrugged. She didn't care about being in style. She cared that the clothes were comfortable.
Kelly went over to the second bed in Annika’s room and swept an armful of stuffed animals onto the floor, then flopped down onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. “You know, sometimes I wish I could just disappear and show my parents how Jasmine and I feel every time they leave.”
Would they even notice? Annika wondered. Kelly’s parents were notoriously selfish, and Annika couldn’t help but think that if they found themselves suddenly short one child, they’d think it was a blessing and only look for her for as a long as it was socially necessary.
“No, you wouldn’t want to do such a thing,” said Annika. “Look at how my parents felt.”
Three years ago, just before her thirteenth birthday, Annika’s brother had vanished without a trace. He’d been sixteen. Her parents were devastated, and had exhausted everything they had in their search for him. In the end, they’d had to give up the search or risk bankrupting the family. Annika still searched, mostly online, posting information on every website she could. She’d been heartbroken when Brady had disappeared. He’d been her favourite sibling. She still missed him terribly, and wore something that had belonged to him everyday. Today it was a silver ring, just a plain band. Wearing his things made her feel close to him.
She laid back and stared at the ceiling as well, both girls lost in her own thoughts; Annika wondering where her brother was and what he was doing right now, Kelly wishing her parents would give her a little more attention. Neither of them noticed Annika’s younger twin sisters come into the room. They crept quietly to Annika’s closet, eased it open and got down a blue, green and yellow striped box, containing a Nintendo 64, its controllers, and a box of games. The closet door creaked ever so quietly as they closed it.
“Put it back,” said Annika without lifting her head.
“But we want to play,” whined Chelsea.
“Too bad,” said Annika.
“But Mama and Daddy got it for everyone,” said Kelsey. “You’re just hogging it.”
Annika sat up and scowled at her sisters. “It wasn’t for everyone if it was my name on the gift tag.”
Chelsea opened her mouth to reply, and then snapped it shut, unable to think of a comeback.
Kelsey set the box on the floor and said, “Fine, we’re telling Mama you won’t share.”
The twins fled the room. Annika burst out laughing when she heard their footsteps thundering down the stairs.
“What’s so funny?” asked Kelly. “Aren’t you going to be in trouble?”
“No,” said Annika. “Mama will tell them the same thing I did. She and Dad got it for me for Christmas, and I if don’t want to let them use it and possibly break it when the fight over whose turn it is, then I’m allowed.”
“My parents make me share everything, whether it had my name on the gift tag or not,” said Kelly.
Annika shrugged. “Mine don’t, not really. They used to when we were little, but now that we’re old enough to all have different interests, they stopped enforcing the sharing rule.”
They laid in silence for a little while longer, until the twins returned with forced triumphant smiles on their faces.
“Mama said you have to share,” said Kelsey, picking the box back up.
“No, she didn’t,” said Annika in a bored voice.
“Yes, she did,” said Chelsea. “Go ask her yourself.”
“No, she didn’t,” repeated Annika. “I know she didn’t, because she’s downtown getting her hair done. If she’s not here, you couldn’t possibly have asked her if I had to share my Nintendo.”
Kelsey put the box back down and looked defeated. “You are so mean. We just want to play Mario.”
“Too bad,” Annika said. “You two fight over everything, and I don’t want my Nintendo broken in the process.”
Heaving a pair of identical sighs, the twins left the room.
“I have to agree,” said Kelly. “You were kind of mean.”
Like you would know what living with your sister 24/7 is like, Annika thought.
“No, I wasn’t,” said Annika, hoping she sounded cheerful. She looked at her watch. “Jeez, it’s nearly noon. No wonder I’m hungry. What’s for lunch?”
“I don’t know,” said Kelly. “What do you have?”
“Couldn’t tell you,” said Annika, carefully extracting herself from between Kelly’s duffel bags. “Let’s go to the kitchen and look, shall we?”
As a precaution, before leaving her room, Annika tucked her Nintendo in a new hiding place, under the bed Kelly would be using, where the stuffed animals would hide it. Kelly habitually stowed Annika’s stuffed animals under the bed whenever she stayed over, so they would be out of the way. They headed downstairs to the kitchen, and when they passed the family room, they heard the twins arguing with Annika’s other brother, Damian, over whose turn it was to use the computer.
“But you’ve been on it all morning!” exclaimed Chelsea. “It’s our turn!”
“Go right ahead,” said Damian. “You know the hairdresser won’t have a phone for another week because that bread truck backed into the phone pole and wiped out the phone lines downtown. So you’ll have to walk. And since I’m not about to go down with you, and I doubt Annika will, you’ll have to go alone. And after the last time, I don’t think Mama will be too happy to see you two downtown by yourselves.”
“What happened ‘last time’?” Kelly asked.
“The last time the twins went downtown by themselves, they thought it would be funny to reorganize the magazine rack at Abbott’s, and ended up putting the porn magazines within reach of minors. Minors who stole every last one of the porn mags,” said Annika. “Mama and Daddy had to pay for the stolen magazines after Mr. Abbott checked his surveillance tapes to see what happened. The parents of the kids who stole the mags were angry with Mr. Abbott, and when he said the Fahringer twins had done it, people called Mama and Daddy to give them a piece of their minds. It wasn’t pretty, the argument afterward. The twins are technically still grounded, and they’re not allowed downtown by themselves again until they ‘graduate high school,’ according to Dad.”
“Wow,” said Kelly. “How are they only technically grounded, though?”
“Well, they were grounded for a month, which passed, but Mama is still forbidding them from going anywhere by Maggie’s house, because Maggie seems to be a good influence on them.”
They left the twins to beg for a turn on the computer and continued to back of the house to the kitchen. They could hear Damian patiently explaining that even if he logged off the computer and gave them their turn, they’d be another half and hour arguing over which of them got to go first, so why didn’t they just go figure our who got to go first and give him another half an hour? Kelly and Annika laughed all the way to the kitchen, and continued laughing as they stared blankly into the refrigerator.
“What do you want?” asked Annika.
“Food,” answered Kelly.
Annika turned her head slowly and scowled at her friend.
“Yes, but what type of food?” she asked, exasperated.
Kelly stared silently at Annika and shrugged.
“Fine, while you decide what you want, I’m making an omelet,” said Annika, reaching for the eggs.
“Mm, and omelet sounds good,” said Kelly. “What do you have to put in it?”
“I’m having mushrooms and green peppers,” said Annika. “But since you don’t like mushrooms, you’ll have to look for something else.”
Annika crossed the room to get some big bowls for mixing the omelet and left Kelly to ponder what she wanted in hers. She heard the fridge door close and turned to see Kelly staring at the pictures on the door.
“He was so cute,” she said with a sigh.
“I wouldn’t know,” said Annika, knowing Kelly was looking at the picture of her missing brother, Brady.
“His eyes were so gorgeous,” Kelly went on.
“His eyes were grey, the same colour as mine,” said Annika, cracking two eggs and dumping them in a bowl. She detested listening to Kelly talk about how hot her brother was. She’d had a crush on him since she was seven, and hearing about his gorgeous eyes and cute butt always made Annika want to gag.
“Like molten pewter,” said Kelly, ignoring Annika.
“You don’t even know what molten pewter looks like,” said Annika, slicing the green pepper and mushrooms and tossing them into the bowl.
“And look at his smile,” sighed Kelly.
“Kelly!” shouted Annika. “Are you through obsessing, or shall I just make my own lunch and leave you and Brady alone?”
Kelly started and turned around, holding packages of ham and cheese in her hands. “Sorry, he was just—“
“So cute,” interrupted Annika. “I know, you told me a million times.”
“Just making sure you don’t forget,” said Kelly with a sheepish smile.

* * *

Later that afternoon, after thwarting the twins’ second attempt at stealing the Nintendo, Kelly and Annika were lounging in Annika’s room, discussing the excitement of starting grade ten in a couple of weeks. Inevitably, discussing school led to discussing the cute guys they went to school with. None of them held Annika’s interest whatsoever, however there was a guy in the grade above them she’d been flirting with last semester.
Kelly was sitting at Annika’s desk working on a scrapbook. Annika crossed the room to peek at it over her shoulder and found her working on a collage of the cute guys she was telling Annika about.
“Scrapbook of school adventures?” Annika scoffed.
“Well, we did go to school with them,” said Kelly. “And, if you look right here, I even have a picture of Ryan.”
Annika blushed. “So, what about him?”
“I saw you flirting with him last year when you thought none of your friends were around,” Kelly teased. “You’re even in this picture.”
She dug into the box of pictures beside her and handed Annika the double print of the photo. There was Annika, sitting so close to Ryan that one could almost swear that they joined at the hip. Annika blushed a deeper shade of scarlet and tucked the picture into her pocket.
“You know,” said Kelly, “I heard a rumour that he was planning on asking you out before the end of exam week.”
Annika nodded slowly.
“Did he?”
Annika nodded again.
“Oh my God! You have to tell me everything!” Kelly exclaimed enthusiastically.
Annika wondered if it was possible to blush any more than she already was. Her face was burning and she felt ridiculous.
“Come on, tell me,” said Kelly more calmly. “And why haven’t you told me before now?”
“I was…”
“Embarrassed?” Kelly finished Annika’s sentence. “Why on Earth were you embarrassed, Anna? He’s your first boyfriend. I can’t believe you wouldn’t tell me about him.”
“I know, Kel, I just… Well, like you said, he’s my first boyfriend, so I was a little embarrassed,” said Annika, feeling the flush finally fade from her cheeks.
With that, Annika launched into a long tale about how he’d cornered her as she was leaving the exam room. He’d wanted to catch her away from her friends, he said, so he’d come to school on a day he didn’t have an exam because that day she was writing her math exam and none of her friends had been in her math class. He said he thought she was really pretty, and had enjoyed spending time with her. He’d asked if she wanted to go for walk during the lunch hour, before the next exam started. Since neither of them had an exam to write in the afternoon, they’d walked all afternoon, until the buses came. They’d held hands the entire time, and when they parted ways to head for their buses, he’d kissed her.
“Have you seen him since?” asked Kelly.
“Yeah, a few times, whenever he could get a ride,” said Annika. “I caught a ride with Tammy to his place yesterday. He lives on a farm, did you know that?”
“No,” said Kelly. “Were you two naughty in the hay loft?”
Annika blinked and blushed again.
“You were? Annika!”
“No…not…we didn’t,” Annika stammered. “We just made out a little.”
Kelly opened her mouth to tease Annika some more, but Annika’s mother poked her head into the room.
“It’s nearly supper time, girls. I’d like some help setting the table,” she said.
“Sure thing, Mrs. Fahringer,” said Kelly.
Annika had never felt so relieved. With any luck, Kelly would forget to grill her any more about Ryan after supper. They trekked downstairs and into the kitchen to get dishes and utensils. Annika bit back a laugh at seeing Damian standing at the stove wearing a frilly pink apron over his white t-shirt as he stirred the pot of spaghetti sauce.
“Nice look,” she said.
“Quiet, you,” said Damian, “or I’ll pour a ladle full of sauce down your pants.”
“Oh well,” said Annika, getting plates out of the cupboard. “I’m wearing red underwear.”
“You are not,” said Damian. “You don’t like red.”
“No, I don’t,” said Annika. “And I don’t like tomato sauce, either.”
“I know, dear,” said Mrs. Fahringer as she breezed into the room. “There’s some chicken and potatoes in the over for you, and some broccoli on the stove.”
“Thanks, Mama,” said Annika. She turned to Damian and said, “You better hurry up and get that sauce off the stove, pretty boy, so I can get my chicken. If you don’t, I’m going to dunk your face into the pot.”
“That’s okay, more sauce for me that way,” smiled Damian. “But I thought I told you to quit teasing, or I was putting sauce down your pants.”
He dipped the ladle into the pot and pulled out a steaming ladleful of spaghetti sauce, complete with a meatball in the center. He carried the ladle toward Annika, a mischievous grin on his face.
Kelly eyed the tomato sauce and backed slowly out of the room with the flatware in her hands. Annika held the plates up in front of her as a shield and backed away from Damian and his ladle.
“If you two don’t mind,” snapped Mrs. Fahringer, “I’d like to eat that sauce, not scrub it off of the floor.”
Annika smirked and stuck her tongue out at Damian, who returned the ladle to the pot and carried the pot into the dining room. Annika followed with the plates. Kelly was just laying out the place mats when they walked in, leaving Damian standing there holding a hot pot while she hunted in the china cabinet for a trivet to put under it. It was shaped like a teapot, and had four short little rubber legs that held the hot pot up off the table.
Setting the plates down, Annika returned to the kitchen for glasses. She passed her mother, who was on her way to the table with a heaping bowl of spaghetti. When she went back into the dining room, Kelly was putting an elephant shaped trivet under the spaghetti bowl. She then followed Annika’s mother back into the kitchen while Annika set out the plates and utensils. Moments later, Kelly returned with jugs of iced tea and orange juice, followed by Mrs. Fahringer with Annika’s chicken, potatoes and broccoli; with cheese on the broccoli just the way Annika liked it.
“Thanks, Mama,” said Annika.
“You’re welcome, dear,” she replied. “Damian, go put your apron away and get your father, will you?”
“Okay,” said Damian, happily tearing the apron off.
The twins trotted into the dining room just as Damian went into the kitchen and eyed Annika’s dinner plate.
“We don’t want spaghetti sauce,” said Chelsea.
“We want chicken, like Annika,” said Kelsey.
“You two like spaghetti,” said Mrs. Fahringer, “so you’re having spaghetti like everyone else.”
“How come Annika doesn’t have to eat it?” asked Chelsea.
“Because Annika doesn’t like it. You two get chicken when everyone else is eating something you don’t like.”
“Ew, like pork chops,” said Kelsey, making a face.
“Exactly,” said Mrs. Fahringer. She looked down at the table and creased her brows. “Kelly, would you be a dear and go get the garlic bread?”
“Sure,” said Kelly. She nearly bumped into Damian, who was returning from his mission to fetch Mr. Fahringer.
“Where’s your father?” asked Mrs. Fahringer.
“Coming,” said Damian. “He needed to make a pit stop first.”
The twins giggled and exchanged knowing glances, then returned to scowling at the spaghetti. They perked up considerably, however, when Kelly entered with a large plate of garlic bread. They each snatched two pieces and started munching on them. Annika took a piece and set it beside her plate.
“Girls,” scolded Mrs. Fahringer. “You know you’re supposed to wait until everyone is at the table before eating.”
Chelsea and Kelsey set down their garlic bread and resumed scowling at the spaghetti and eyeing Annika’s chicken covetously.

* * *

After supper, and after helping with the dishes, Annika and Kelly borrowed the small television out of Damian’s room, which was still set up as though Brady still lived there. Mrs. Fahringer insisted they keep his side just the way he left it, in case he was ever found. No one ever had the heart to point out that it was unlikely that he would be found alive, not after being missing for three years.
While Annika played a quest game on her Nintendo using the borrowed TV, Kelly watched her play and worked on her scrapbook.
“Kel, if you were ever stranded on a desert island, what would you want to have with you?” asked Annika as she crossed a desert in the game, which was what prompted the question. “Keeping in mind, there’s an unlimited fresh water source and lots of tropical fruits.”
“Then it’s not a desert island, is it?” Kelly pointed out.
“Well, no, I guess not. What if you were on a deserted island, then?”
“I don’t know,” said Kelly. “Not point in taking my camera, since there wouldn’t be any way to develop the pictures and wouldn’t be much to take pictures of, anyway.” She chewed thoughtfully on the end of her pen. “What would you want to have?”
“An entire library of good books, a few live chickens for eggs, and lots of pencils and paper,” answered Annika without hesitation.”
“Why would there be a library on an island?” asked Kelly.
Annika paused her game and turned to look at Kelly. “Good question. I have no idea, but whatever reason it’s there for, I don’t care as long as I can read the books. Maybe a billionaire who liked books used to live there, and left his books behind when he moved back to his country of origin.”
She continued her game and left Kelly to ponder what she’d want with her. Finally, after what seemed like hours, she had an answer.
“I’d want an endless supply of electricity, a stereo and a huge CD collection,” she said. “I’d want some food, something other than just tropical fruit, or maybe just a way to catch and cook fish. And I guess I’d need a new hobby, too, since I already decided scrapbooking on a deserted island wouldn’t be much fun. Maybe I could take up writing.”
“Yeah, you could write a diary about how much fun living on an island is,” said Annika.
“We already live on an island,” said Kelly. “Manitoulin Island. You know, in Lake Huron.”
“I know where we live,” snapped Annika. “I meant you could write about life on the deserted island.” She started viciously and rapidly stabbing at buttons on her controller. “Goddamn stupid witches, why do they have to be on broomsticks?”
Kelly returned her attention to the screen, where she saw Annika in battle with a pair of ugly little witches circling above her character on broomsticks, shooting balls of Kelly didn’t know what at her.
“You’ve reached a boss, I see,” said Kelly.
“Shh! I don’t know how to beat them,” said Annika. “I need to concentrate.”
Kelly watched with silent admiration as Annika died over and over and tried again and again. She barely bit back her excitement when Annika finally appeared to be winning the battle.
“Woohoo!” cried Annika, “I finally did it!”
“Was that the last boss?” asked Kelly. “Did you win the game?”
“No, not yet,” said Annika, saving the game.
“Time for bed!” Mrs. Fahringer’s voice hollered from downstairs.
Kelly looked at the digital clock on Annika’s dresser.
“It’s only ten o’clock,” she said.
“I know,” said Annika. “We’re getting into practice for school. She’ll be waking everyone up at seven.”
“Jeez, I’m not even tired yet,” said Kelly. Nonetheless, she crossed Annika’s room to her duffel bags and rooted around until she found a set of pajamas she felt like wearing. They were pale pink with little clouds on the bottoms. Annika reached into her pajama drawer and pulled out a pair of black boxers and a grey tank top.
“See, I could never do that,” said Kelly as she goggled at Annika’s pajamas.
Annika shrugged. “It’s not like anyone is going to see you in your jammies.”
“Your brother might,” said Kelly.
“Damian wouldn’t care if you were strutting around naked,” said Annika. Kelly blushed a fierce shade of magenta. “He thinks of you like a sister.”
“I am not about to go walking around your house naked,” said Kelly.
“I didn’t suggest you should, I just said Damian wouldn’t care if you did. He’s seen me naked before.”
“Ew, why would he want to look at you naked?”
“Gee, thanks,” said Annika, “that makes a girl feel real pretty.”
“No, I meant, you’re his sister, why would he want to see you naked?”
“Not on purpose, you dork,” said Annika. “He’s walked in on me changing, in the shower, you know, just accidental. It happens when six people share a bathroom. Eight, when Tammy and Brady were still here.”
“What’s Tammy up to these days?” asked Kelly as she hunted in her smaller bag for her toothbrush.
Tammy was Annika’s eldest sister. She was twenty-two and had moved to Toronto to go to Ryerson University. They had shared a room until Annika was eleven, when Tammy had left for university.
“She’s got a fiancé,” said Annika. “His name is Craig, and apparently, he’s the most handsome thing that walks on two legs. We haven’t met him yet. They were supposed to come up for a week this summer, but work got in the way. They’re supposed to come for Thanksgiving, but I’m doubtful. I think he’s too nervous to meet us.”
“A fiancé?” sighed Kelly, emerging triumphantly from her duffel bag, toothbrush in hand. “When are they getting married?”
“Couldn’t tell you,” said Annika. She followed Kelly down the hall to the bathroom. “Mama doesn’t think they’ll keep dating very long. She keeps calling it puppy love. But Tammy’s head over heels in love with this guy, so I think maybe they will get married. Tammy’s always wanted to get married in the winter; she thinks the wedding pictures would look awesome with a light snowfall. I sort of agree, but I don’t want to be standing outside in a snowbank, in subzero temperatures to get my picture taken.”
“You’re going to be in the wedding party?” gasped Kelly, squeezing the toothpaste tube so hard she squirted it clear across the bathroom. She picked up a face cloth and wiped it off the wall.
“Yeah,” said Annika. She stared at herself in the mirror and applied some medicated cream to her face where it was particularly dry. She had eczema, a skin condition that made her skin dry and often caused her to break out in angry red rashes with cracks in them that made it look like she’d sliced into her rash with a razor blade. The rashes were itchy and painful, and the dry skin was all around unpleasant.
“Oh, aren’t you so excited?” asked Kelly. “What colour of dress are you going to wear?”
“Whatever colour Tammy picks,” said Annika. “Anything but red.”
“But red is her favourite colour,” Kelly pointed out.
“She told me that she saw these ‘magnificent’ dresses in a periwinkle colour that she likes,” said Annika. “So maybe I’ll get lucky and she’ll go with periwinkle. Or maybe she’ll get married at Christmas.”
“Why would her getting married at Christmas make a difference?”
“She had it all planned out in high school. She would have four bridesmaids, two in red, two in green to make it look festive.”
“She was planning her wedding in high school?”
“You know Tammy,” said Annika. “She’s a hopeless romantic.”
The brushed their teeth in thoughtful silence and returned quietly to Annika’s room. The whole house was still and silent, the only movement coming from the family dog shifting around in the living room, looking for a comfortable place to sleep.
“Have you thought about what you’d like to do for wedding?” asked Kelly when they’d both settled into bed.
“No,” said Annika. “I don’t even know if I want to get married.”
“Sure you do,” said Kelly. “You wouldn’t want to spend your life alone. And besides, don’t you want kids?”
“No, not really,” said Annika.
“What?” exclaimed Kelly, sitting bolt upright. “Why on Earth not?”
“I don’t know, I just don’t.”
“You’re strange,” said Kelly.
“You have a spinster aunt,” said Annika.
“Great aunt,” corrected Kelly. “And I think she’s weird, too. She spent her life living with her spinster best friend, and they weren’t even lesbians.”
“How do you know they weren’t?”
“That’s what my mom always said,” answered Kelly.
“So? How do you know she’s right?” asked Annika.
“I guess I don’t,” said Kelly. “Wait a minute, does that mean you’re…?”
“No, Kel, I’m not a lesbian. If I was, would I be going out with Ryan Baker?”
“No, I guess not,” said Kelly. “But still, to not want to get married…”
They both rolled over, facing opposite direction and fell into a thoughtful silence. Annika didn’t know if she wanted to get married or not, and was iffy on whether or not she wanted kids. She often thought she’d like to have a son she could name Brayden Everett after her missing brother, but wondered what he’d think if he ever found out.
She lay there staring at the wall, when she suddenly noticed a faint blue glow, hovering about three feet above the floor. She sat slowly up and watched the light turn into an orb, then expand into an oval shape that looked almost like a portal.
“Kelly,” she whispered. “Kel, do you see this?”
Judging from the faint whimper behind her, she was certain the glowing blue oval in front of her wasn’t just a figment of her imagination. Even as she watched, a dark blob appeared in the middle of the oval, which slowly took on the shape of a human being. Before she could even react, a man stepped into her bedroom.