Somehow I'm Alive (part 2)

Thank-you for reading my story. This second part might not make much sense if you haven't read part one. So, if you haven't read part one, you should go back and read it.

Please leave some comments, but no mean ones please. If you like it but think that it can be improved then you are free to leave me some suggestions. Don't be afraid to tell your friends. :D

Created by: Topaz
  1. ***Ryan's point of View*** It's wednsday evening. My mom and I are the only one's home at the moment. Saphire is at the mall hanging out with some of her friends. However, I won't be here for long. I'm going over to my friend Kain's house. My other friends Jay and Nat are supposed to be there too. Since the girls are at the mall that's probably where we're going. I wouldn't miss a minute at the mall if Saphire's friends are with her. Just because I don't like my sister, doesn't mean that I can't get to know her friends a little better. I think you know what I mean. The only reason I came home was to get a snack. Only an idiot would eat at Kain's house (all his parents have in that place is health food.) I shove my last three Doritos in my mouth and am about ready to leave. The bad news is I don't leave fast enough. "Where do you think you're going?" asks my mom. Great. She just had to wake up from her nap when I'm about ready to walk out the door. "I'm going to hang out with my friends. Where else would I go?" "Oh no. If you think that that's where you're going you've lost your mind." "What do you mean? You always let me hang out with my friends. I've been gone for five days at a time and you haven't cared a bit!" "There's a specific reason why I'm not letting you go. I've got a job for you?" I groan. "Come on, mom! Can't you unclog the shower drain by yourself this time? Why do you always make me do it?!" "Ryan, that's not even close to what I'm asking you to do. I need more information about Jaslina's church." I move away from the door and move to the couch. This argument could take forever. "Mom, I gave you all of the information you asked for. The church's name and it's address. That's all you asked for." "I know that's all I asked for, but it still isn't enough. You aren't spending any time with your friends tonight. You, my son, will be attending the youth group at One Faith Church of God tonight." I stand up in rage. "You've got to be kidding! Since when do you ever get me to run errands? I thought that was Saphire's job!" "Yes, but I've got a different task for her. As soon as she get's back we're going to plan it all out for tomorrow night." After a slight pause she continues. "In the mean time, you'll be at church with Jaslina." Finally I give in. "Alright, fine. Can I at least stop by Kain's and tell him I've made other plans?" "I don't care what you do as long as you're sitting in Jaslina's youth group tonight, and that you're there for the whole thing. It starts at seven, so don't be late." "It's only 4:30. How can I possibly be late?" "It's on the other side of town." I give an irritated sigh and head out the door. I can't believe she's making me do this.
  2. It only takes me twenty minutes to ride my bike to Kain's from here.I'd never just cancel on one of my friends without letting them know first. If luck is on my side at all today I'll get lucky and my friends won't interrigate me about where I'm going. I pull into Kain's driveway and slam my bike onto the cement. "Hey, Ryan, it's about time you showed up!" says Kain walking down the driveway. "Are you ready to go to the mall. Your sister's friends are there." Even thought it pains me to say this I say it. "Sorry, Kain I can't. Something came up." "What came up?" "Nothing. Just...a thing." "Alright, I understand. We're cool." I get back on my bike and think of the long ride I have ahead of me. All the way across town and over a bridge! My mom had better be thankful. I just wish that she would'be let me get my driver's license! If anyone, she should've made Saphire do this. Saphire would've thanked her for helping her get rid of her imaginary muffin top. (When I say imaginary, I mean IMAGINARY. That girl has a serious phobia of weight gain.) The whole way to the church I run my fingers through my hair and grumble angrily.
  3. ***Jaslina's Point of View*** My mom just pulled into the parking lot of our church. We got into a traffic jam and are a good twenty minutes late. "You'd better hurry up and get to your class, Jas," says my mom. "We're late as it is." I run inside the doors and down the stairs to the youth room. Really, I don't know why. The youth group is rather small, so there's never trouble finding seats. While I'm running I almost collide with Lily in the hallway. I laugh. "Sorry, Lily. I wasn't watching where I was going." For some reason Lily isn't laughing. "It's ok, Jas. Listen I heard your car pull up and came up to tell you something." I arch my eyebrow critically. "To tell me what?" She opens her mouth as if ready to tell me, but then she thinks better of it. "Never mind. You wouldn't believe me if I told you." "Told me what?" She winces a little bit while saying this,"you'll see." I'm still giggling to myself as we're walking down the hallway. Whatever it is it can't possibly be that bad. After all, Lily has a tendancy to over react. Once we reach the door to the youth room Lily opens it for me. "Please, after you." I roll my eyes to myself. She can't be serious. My youth minister has all of the chairs arranged into a circle as usual. I see nothing unusal; then I take a second glance and see what she's talking about. Ryan Caroga is sitting in one of the chairs in the circle. Just like Monday on the bus, he stares at me for a very long time. For some odd reason it looks like it pains him. I'm about to turn out of the room, but then my youth minister asks me to sit down.
  4. ***Ryan's point of View*** Looking at Jaslina gives me that same punch-in-the-gut feeling that I had a couple of days ago. If I didn't want to be here before, then I really don't want to be here now. The moment she notices me she turns like she's about ready to run out the door. At that moment the middle-aged-looking youth minister invites Jaslina to sit down. "Jaslina, it's good to have you here. Did the traffic jam on north street hold you up?" Nervously she says, "Yup, that's it." "It's ok that you're late. Just take a seat anywhere." She sits as far away from me as possible. Being Saphire Caroga's twin brother doesn't help her image of me any. Did I mention that Saphire is very cruel to Jaslina? As the pastor dude starts to speak I listen just to stop dwelling on Jaslina. I know that's why my mom wants me here, but I can't do it. The youth pastor says, "The pastor's sermon on Sunday is what I want to talk about today.Who can tell me what his sermon was about?" A red-headed girl on the other side of the circle says, "I think he said 'you're never too far gone.'" "That's right, Cari, and that is what I want to focus on tonight."
  5. For some reason this pastor dude has my attention. I don't know if it's because what he says is halfway interesting or because I'm just trying to avoid looking at Jaslina. Either way I'm listen to what the youth pastor is saying. "Just so you know, I'm not going to repeat what the Sunday night pastor said. I'm just sticking with this topic. It's a very important topic and I want you all to bear with me." He picks up a bible and flips through pages. After he finds the right page he says, "I'm going to be telling a story from the bible that I think most of you should be familiar with." He clears his throat and start. "In the bible days after Christ had already been here there was a man named Saul. He hated Christians with all his heart. He would go from city to city and kidnap men and women from their homes and imprision them because they were christians. He was actually on a run to Damascus to take more of them when a bright light knocked him off of the animal he was riding. A voice said to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Probably terrified, Saul says, "Who are you, Lord?" The voice replies, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." The men who were traveling with him were speechless. They heard the voice but they didnt' see anyone. When Saul got up off of the ground he couldn't see." For some reason I stop listening and look around the room. Most of the people, including Jaslina, seem to be listening intently. It's not until Jaslina catches my gaze that I realize I've been staring at her for several minutes. She looks a little bit scared actually. Embarrased and feeling awkward I again listen to the pastor who is a lot farther along with the story. "But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings adn before the people of Isreal. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." The pastor closes the bible and continues on without it. "That man went to where Saul was and prayed for him. After he could see again he was baptized and renamed Paul. He went from place to place and preached the Gospel. He was even arrested and died in prison for it." The red-headed girl says, "We've been studying world religions in my history class. My history teacher said that the Apostle Paul was very important to the Christian religion. Is that the same Paul?" "Yes. It is the same Paul. That's my point. No matter what you were or where you've been God can change you. You're never too far gone."
  6. We hold hands and pray, then the youth pastor releases us. I've never been interested in church or anything like that before. In fact, I've always thought that Christians were joy kills. But I can't help but wonder if what this man was saying is true. While I was researching churches I read on a website that if you ask for forgiveness that Jesus will forgive you. On a website for another church their motto was,"Jesus: The God of Second Chances." Can this be true, or is it "Chritian Mythology" like my English teacher calls it? If it is true, I'd really love a second chance. As I'm on my way out the door I see a table stacked with bible. On it is a bright orange sign that says, "Free Bibles. Please Take." For some reason I actually grab a couple and shove them in my backpack that I brought with me. While I'm walking out the door I laugh to myself. I'm not laughing at the church service or at Jaslina. I'm laughing at myself. I say to myself, "Ryan, what's wrong with you? Have you finally gone off the deep end and lost your mind?"
  7. It's got to be about ten o'clock at night. I just walked through the front door. That's a long way to travel on a bike. I'm about ready to fall asleep on the couch when my mom wakes me up. "Ryan, get up you lazy sack!" I sit up and groan. "Mom, a lazy sack couldn't ride all the way to the other side of town and back on an ugly, broken down bike!" "Stop your complaining and get up! We're still not done planning out tomorrow." "Tomorrow?" I ask. "Yes. Don't you remember the little errand that I said I had to send Saphire on? It's tomorrow." "So? It's Saphire's errand! Why do you need my help with it?!" "Ryan, are you or are you not the technology genius of the family?" "I am. What's the point?" She sighs. "Earlier this week Saphire tried asking Jaslina to come to a party on Saturday and she turned her down." "Of course she turned Saphire down, mom! Saphire is as mean as heck to her, and she isn't a partier. Asking her to go to a party would never work!" "I know. That's why we need to get Saphire invited to her party." Confuesed, I say, "I don't follow." Mom looks like she's ready to pull her hair out. "Listen to me! Jaslina's birthday is on Saturday, and so is her party. I learned from you that she's going to an amusement park with her friends. If Saphire can get herself invited then we can catch Jaslina without a problem." "Mom, that won't work either. I repeat SAPHIRE IS MEAN TO JASLINA! They don't like eachother." "Saphire isn't getting invited by Jaslina you idiot! They key is Jalina's mother." After she says that it all click into place. Saphire is going to Jaslina's house and is going to sweet talk her mother, and they need me to help with the hidden camera and microphone technology. "Alright, mom. I'll work on it for a couple hours tonight and throughout the morning tomorrow. It'll be done by the time Saphire needs it."
  8. ***The Next Day*** I run up the stairs to my apartment. I got the tiny microphone and camera pieced together and gave it to Saphire during 6th hour. She should be at her house momentarily. "Ryan, right on time. You managed not to screw up on the camera and microphone. We can hear and see everything clearly. Unable to think of a reson to leave I sit down. I'd never realized how cluttered this place is until now. The curtains are unopened, the dishes are undone, and there's dust everywhere except for Saphire's room. Wow, mom is lazy! "Alright, mom,"says Saphire, "I'm about to enter their house. I'm turning off the part that allows me to hear you. You'll still hear me." "Ok, dear. Remember everything mommy told you," says mom sweetly. Saphire walks up to a white washed front door with a brass knocker. After knocking Jaslina's mom opens the door with a loud creeeeaaak! Looking surprised, Mrs.Rowe says, "Saphire?! How unexpected."
  9. "Hello, Mrs.Rowe. Is Jaslina here?" Saphire already know that Jaslina's not there. She just thinks that asking makes her seem nicer. Mrs.Rowe says, "No, but she'll be here in a few minutes. You can come in if you want." Feigning surprise she says, "Ok. Thank you." Saphire steps inside and walks through a beautifully decorated living room to an elaborate kitchen. Mrs. Rowe asks her a lot of basic questions. "What grade are you in?", "What's your favorite subject?", and "Are you excited for summer?" Really it's very boring. Finally somebody walks in. Saphire turns around so the camera is pointed toward the back door revealing the astounded face of Jaslina. "Hi, Jaslina. How're you doing?" says Saphire with only a hint of meanness in her tone. The only way you could possibly notice is by knowing Saphire your whole life. Jaslina doesn't respond. She instead goes to her mother, grabs her arm in an aggrivated fashion, and drags her through the swinging door into their living room. Wow. All I can say is wow. Once they're gone Saphire turns the part of the microphone that allows us to communicate with her back on.
  10. "Saphire, what's going on?" asks mom. "You'd better not fail this assignment. If you do it'll make it ten times harder to capture this girl on Saturday!" "What? I can't help it if the girl doesn't like me!" Really she can too help it. She just doesn't try. "Well, that puts our plan's off!" "Come on, mom. Relax. Her mother will convince her to invite me. Some people are just too easy to fool!" "For your sake, she'd better be easy to fool!" "Oh, they're coming back!" She turns off the communicator. After a short moment of silece Mrs.Rowe says, "We're so sorry, Saphire. This won't happen again." It's ok Mrs.Rowe. Really." "Well, ok. I'm glad that you understand." They sit down. Jaslina and Saphire attempt a conversation. It's actually going pretty well. Or as well as can be expected anyway. You can tell by her tone that she doesn't trust my sister. She's a smart girl. However, she's not smart enough to get out of what her mother gets her into. "So, Saphire, would you like to come to Jaslina's birthday party?" Sounding very convincing Saphire says,"Hmmm. I don't know. It depends on when it is." "It's on Saturday from two until five." Mom gets up and dances around the room. She even hugs me. "Isn't this great, Ryan?!" That is only one reason why I never invite friends over. I focus again on what's happending. "Well, I might have to move my schedual around a bit, but yeah I'll go. I love birthday parties!" I feel my heart plunge into my stumach. The trap is set.

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