Weathering the Wicked (Chronicles of Folklaria Book 1) Read online

  Weathering

  The

  Wicked

  By C. Penticoff

  Acknowledgements

  Editors:

  Rebekah Dodson with

  A Novel Connection

  & James Ye

  Cover Designer:

  Jessica Tahbonemah

  with A Novel Connection

  Illustrator:

  Melissa Fairhurst

  © 2017 C. Penticoff

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

  This book is dedicated to my

  dearly departed grandmother,

  Melta Marie Simmons

  Chapter 1

  June

  June was tired of Fay pressing her to visit ’His House.’ After quitting her finally stable job, the last subject she wanted to talk about was going to church. June tried to hold her yawn in, but she couldn’t. Her eyes drooped and were getting heavier with every word her friend preached. Actually, June had tuned Fay out for the last minute or so. Currently, they were parked in front of her house and June was holding onto the door handle, ready to snatch the first opportunity she had to flee.

  As Fay harped about June needing to accept Him into her life, she noticed something very peculiar. Perched on their fence was a bat, facing her twin sister, January’s, bedroom. A bat was not uncommon for Camas, Washington, but this particular one was the size of a crow. The size was not the only alarming thing June noticed, but she swore this bat was looking into January’s room as if it was watching her. The creature spun its head around to reveal glistening purple eyes so bright that they lit up the branch dangling over its head. When the bat whisked away, it left a faint trail of purple dust. June blinked several times. She figured her eyes had to have been playing tricks on her.

  “June, are you even listening?” Fay asked.

  June snapped out of it. “Did you see that?”

  “See what?”

  “It was a bat…”

  “So?”

  “Never mind. Fay, I love you, but I really gotta jet. It’s been a weird day.”

  “I love you, too. Keep your head up. I’ll be back later after I bust some homework out,” Fay assured June.

  “Thanks for the ride!” June shouted back to Fay as she zoomed to the front door to avoid the pouring rain.

  As soon she walked inside, the delectable aroma of pepperoni pizza penetrated her nostrils. June had forgotten her lunch and her wallet that day, so she hadn’t eaten a single bite of food and was ready to devour a slice. June’s stomach grumbled and growled as she neared the kitchen. Passing the living room, she tossed her coat on the back of the couch and dropped her purse on the floor. By this time, her stomach was howling at her. Before even greeting her sister, June swarmed the pizza box, still pondering that mysterious bat.

  “Oh, my word, where have you been all of my life, my beautiful pizza pie?” June asked in an Italian accent. June was always doing frivolous things like that.

  “You do realize that’s going straight to your thighs, right?” January whined in a condescending tone, as usual. January lounged on their couch watching the local news while she nibbled her bland vegan dinner.

  “How about you just enjoy your rabbit food and leave me alone?” June snapped, nodding her head up and down with a sarcastic smile.

  “Plan to,” January replied, taking another modest bite of her salad, as if she was saying I have more willpower.

  For June, this was just another passive aggressive attempt at making her feel inferior to January. This time, it’s not getting to me, June assured herself.

  “How was work, honey?” April, the twin’s mother, staggered into the kitchen with a heaping pile of dishes from June’s room.

  “Awful,” replied June, “I quit.”

  “Again?” boomed January, as she slammed her bowl on the coffee table.

  “Yes.” June clenched her teeth at the sound of January’s dig. “My boss hates me,” June said, while fragments of her dinner flew out of her mouth. “She’s constantly on my case about every little thing. I got tired of it.”

  “I would hate you, too,” said January.

  “January Jean!” April said firmly. “Let her explain.”

  “Anyway,” said June, rolling her eyes at her impertinent sister, “I was late today, and she totally came unglued and acted like the world had ended. Like the restaurant wouldn’t survive without me. We got in an argument, and I just got so frustrated that I quit.” Explaining the situation out loud made June realize how immature she must have sounded. She would never admit that January was right.

  “Well, June, you can’t be missing work and showing up late all the time because of hangovers and midnight showings to movies. I mean, what do you really expect?” Her mother shook her head in disapproval.

  “I know.” June rubbed her temple with her free hand. “I screwed up. I knew it the second after I did it. I let my frustration get the best of me.” June set her slice of pizza down on the counter and gazed at the ceiling. “I just want something bigger. Something better for myself. Something out of this world.”

  “You also can’t be late because your straightener broke,” January chimed in, “there is always something with you, June.”

  June brushed off January’s comment. “I’ll do better. I can get another job within a week. Maybe I can even beg for my job back,” June assured them. “Actually, I’ve been considering going back to school to pursue a theater degree. I’m tired of mediocre jobs. Like I said, I want to do something big with my life. Something that will change the course of my destiny.” June’s beaming eyes got lost into her day dreaming for a moment.

  “Well, that’s wonderful,” said April, as a smile spread across her face.

  “Ha!” laughed January. “And what do you expect to do with a theater degree? You don’t even need a degree to act. You only need determination and a low IQ. You got one of those down.”

  “January!” April glared at her.

  “I’m obviously kidding,” January backed down. “But seriously, what do you plan to do with a theater degree? Why don’t you go into business like I am?”

  Frustration swept over June’s entire demeanor. She could feel her eye twitching from the question, but she answered January anyway. “I want to be a theater professor or high school teacher,” explained June, cringing as she anticipated January’s critique.

  “Well, I’m telling you that you’re going to spend a lot of time and money on something that will probably get you nowhere. Do you know how many ‘theater graduates’ are flipping burgers and spending half of their minimum wage checks on student loans?”

  “I’m sure that’s true, but I will be one of the successful ones,” June assured her, her head held high and her chin pointed out.

  “When are you going to start spending your time doing things that are actually going to get you somewhere in life?” January battered.

  “I’m going to my room,” June huffed, standing. She dropped her plate in the sink and headed to her bedroom with her eyes facing the floor the entire time. Although January was always aggravating and frustrating, all June ever wanted was for January to be proud of her. To love her. To accept her. To stop pickin
g at her for every minor thing she did.

  Later that night, June was visiting with her friend, Fay, in her bedroom. Fay had just turned twenty-one years old a few days before, so she had brought some drinks over to celebrate.

  VROOOM!

  “Did I just hear your step-dad’s truck pull up?” Fay frowned.

  “Unfortunately, yes,” June fretted.

  “Is your Mom not going through with the divorce with him?”

  “Well, he’s been here for the past three days, so I would say probably not.”

  “Oh great. I’m sorry. That dude is obnoxious.”

  Fay hopped up and turned up the music on the radio. “What song is this?” Fay asked, yelling over the music. “Is this that new one by Breanna Fontana?”

  “I think so,” said June. “I’ve only heard it a few times, but it’s good. Makes me want to get up and shake what my mama gave me,” June jested while gyrating her hips and rear in a playful manner to the music. She ended the move with a show-stopping moonwalk. “I call this one the moon-twerk.” June stopped mid-move and said, “This move is a cross between a twerk and a moonwalk.” One at a time, she slid her feet backward across the hardwood floor, while bouncing her backside.

  “Oh my god, I don’t know you.” Fay laughed hysterically. June got a thrill from embarrassing Fay with her silly antics.

  Suddenly, the door burst open to reveal June’s twin sister barging in on them. January’s eyebrows were practically touching one another, her lips were clenched together, her chin down, and all of this surrounded by a nest of messy hair. “Can you please turn down this awful music? I have two finals tomorrow starting at seven am and all I can hear is this garbage beating in my brain!”

  “I’m curious … do you do anything besides complain?” June asked. She could practically see January’s blood boiling at this point.

  January prowled her way down the stairs with an arrogant smile on her face. She stepped inside of the room and let the door close behind her.

  “Actually, yes, I do,” replied January. “I play soccer at Portland State University. At this same college, I take fifteen to twenty credits at a time, maintaining a perfect four-point-oh grade point average, while working part time and applying for better schools very far away from you. While doing all of this, I still manage to deal with your lazy, good-for-nothing, screw-up self!”

  “I am sick and tired of you putting me down every chance you get!” June shouted as she stomped towards January. As if challenging June, January advanced as well.

  “And I’m sick of being the only person around here who does anything valuable with her life!”

  “Why do you care so much about what I do? And you wonder why you have no friends?” June looked over at Fay as if she was expecting backup. Fay whipped around, avoiding any eye contact with either one of them.

  “I have no friends because I don’t have time for them! I’m too busy making something of myself!”

  “What good is being perfect when no one can stand to be around you?”

  “Oh, please! You can’t even hold a job because people can’t stand to work with you.”

  “I can find a job whenever I want. Top Burger wouldn’t have been my forever job, so why does it really matter?” June yelled, matching her sister’s volume, now. “I don’t even know why I’m explaining myself to you.”

  “It matters because you can’t follow through with anything. You get all excited about something and then you jump right into it, expect it to be easy, and when it isn’t, you flee. You moved up to a shift leader, June!” January said with their eyes locked onto one another. “Whenever life gets hard, you run right away.”

  June was so furious her cheeks turned a bloody red. “Don’t even for a single second act like you know me at all!” June could feel tears brewing inside of her as she fought to spit out every last venomous word.

  “I know you better than you know yourself.” January laughed condescendingly.

  Her vile words filled June with renewed vigor and anger. “That’s ridiculous and you know it! You haven’t known me in a long time and I pretty much want to keep it that way. I don’t need someone who is constantly bringing me down. If we didn’t live together, then we would never see each other because we have no relationship and that will never change. This is the same reason why you have no friends.” June said, shoving her pointer finger into January’s chest. January knocked her hand out of the way, which triggered June’s anger even more. “Nobody wants to be around an egotistical gripe who thinks she is better than everyone else. No one likes you!” June yelled, while she threw her arms up in the heat of the moment. “Doesn’t that bother you?”

  “No. What bothers me is living with a lazy piece of shit without a single brain cell!”

  June’s brewing tears were making their way to the surface.

  “Have you ever thought that maybe you’re a tad oversensitive?” January asked. “I can’t say anything to you without you getting upset or offended. You complain all the time, but you never come up with solutions, nor do you consider solutions given to you.” January made her way halfway up the stairs, then swayed back around. “And just so you know, the reason that we don’t have a relationship is because of the destructive path you’re going down,” she explained. “You are constantly making awful decisions that bring you further down to rock bottom and I don’t like standing by and watching it.”

  “If you don’t like it, then leave me the hell alone and stay out of my life!”

  “Always acting on your emotions. You’re going to cry now, right?”

  June rose, stomped up the stairs, and forced herself right into January’s face. Those tears were one more hurtful comment away from erupting out of her like a volcano.

  “Shut the hell up before I shut you up!” June shouted, spit spewing out of her mouth.

  “You guys, chill out!” yelled Fay, finally.

  “Go for it, loser,” January said, challenging June.

  June sprung her arms up, and she shoved January as hard as she could. Unprepared, January plummeted backward and smacked her head on the top stair.

  Once January hit the ground she grabbed her wounded head and cried, “Ow. Ow!”

  “Oh, no,” June said, dropping her chin to her chest. June had taken it too far this time and she knew it. She darted over to her sister and knelt next to her. “I am so sorry, January. I don’t know what in the world came over me.” June held out her hand to help her sister up, but January slapped her hand away.

  “Don’t touch me. Don’t ever talk to me again.” January stood, gave June a look of disgust and disappointment, spun around, and tottered out the door.

  June felt one inch tall.

  “I can’t believe that just happened,” said Fay, scurrying over to June.

  “Yeah, me either,” June agreed.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I guess. Can we call it a night? I need to think and go to sleep.”

  “No problem. Call me if you need anything. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Okay. I’m really sorry that you had to see that.”

  Fay left, and June laid down on her bed in deep thought for a while.

  Chapter 2

  January

  After January walked out of June’s room and into the living room, she wept as she sat down on the couch. January did not cry very often, but this was the first time that her sister had ever been violent with her. Guilt swarmed over her for all the awful things she had said to her sister.

  I took it too far, but I would never physically harm June, she thought.

  April strolled into the kitchen, still cleaning, and caught January all shook up.

  “January? Honey, what’s the matter?”

  “June and I had a fight,” she said in a soft voice.

  “Well, you two always fight. Why are you so upset?”

  “She pushed me,” January admitted.

  “She … what?” April raised a fist to her mouth. Their mother s
trode from the kitchen to the living room and stood at the end of the couch where January was sitting. “I will have a talk with her. That’s unacceptable.”

  “I said some awful things to her,” January confessed.

  “Like what?”

  “I called her a loser. I told her that she was good for nothing. That she was a screw up and that she’s going nowhere.” January’s chin fell to her chest. “I also called her a lazy piece of shit.”

  “Damn, January. Why are you always putting her down so much? That doesn’t give her any right to push you. But you have to stop being so harsh with her.”

  “I just want to see her do well. She is so self-destructive,” January said with her head still down.

  April nestled up next to her daughter on the couch. “When you girls were babies, right before I met Bill, I was with a really awful man who treated me terribly. All my friends told me how terrible he was and always tried convincing me to leave him. One friend in particular was really harsh and critical about it. She didn’t realize that all she was doing was driving me into his arms even further.” April grasped January’s hand. “What I’m trying to say is, the best way to help someone get out of rock bottom is to encourage them. To do a lot more listening, less talking, and less criticizing. To be supportive, and most importantly, to show them kindness.”

  “I love her. I love her ... more than anyone. I don’t know why it’s so hard for me to show it.”

  “Because that would make you vulnerable and that makes you feel weak. But, you have to get over that. You don’t want to shut yourself out from the world. That sort of thing could turn a person cold and wicked.” April wrapped her arms around her daughter. Not much of an affectionate person, January gave her a one-armed side hug. “Do you feel better?”

  “Yes,” January replied. “Thank you, Mom.”

  “You’re welcome, baby. Now, go get some rest. Rock your finals tomorrow and talk with June later. You guys need to have a good old-fashioned sit-down and lay-it-all-out-there sort of talk. Be honest yet loving.”