Free See by Jamie Magee Page A

said our eyes can lie, and just now you said you’re not blind. Do you want to talk about what you’re seeing?”
    I furrowed my eyebrows, certain that she was reading way too much into my careless speech.
    “ Um, no...I can see what you see – trust me, if I have an issue, that’s not it,” I said, taking in a deep breath.
    Kara held my stare as she turned up the radio. “Better?” she asked.
    I looked at her blankly and nodded. I wanted to talk about what I was hearing, but I was too confused right now…I couldn’t let them think I was crazy; they were already too worried about me.
    Our house was almost twenty minutes outside the city limits of Salem. As we got closer, I noticed that I’d started to relax a little. I could barely hear anything above the normal sounds of the world. It was if I could breathe again. I never remembered it feeling this way before. Kara looked at me at almost the same moment I felt calm.
    “ There’s Charlie…almost home,” she said, sighing.
    I took in the scenery, realizing it had either changed with time or memory had captured it wrong; it just seemed too perfect. Just before she turned on the street I was sure was ours, I looked up and over the trees; in the distance, I thought I saw the top of a castle. It was a brown brick with wide oval corners that broke out from the house. I wanted to ask Kara if that was Evan’s house, if that was where Draven lived, but I didn’t want to her to pester me about remembering him – or his house.
    There aren’t very many houses on our street; most of them are close to a mile apart and just as far off the road. I could always recognize our driveway because halfway down, there was a covered bridge. There was nothing more than a small stream that ran beneath it. I loved the vines that surrounded it; I could see the blooms of purple, yellow, and pink that spring had created. Past that point, there was a row of trees hiding the brick house I was born in. From the outside, our house only looked like it was a large three-story home; inside, there was five levels. The floor plan was stacked, meaning the bottom floor opened to two levels, one to the right and the other the left. Above them was another large level that led to the top level, which was just an open room. It sounds bigger than it is; really, it was just a decent-sized house with a very open floor plan.
    It really didn’t look much different as we pulled up to it. Kara followed the driveway around to the back of the house, where the garage was. As we turned the corner, I saw my mother leaning against the side of our house. Kara stopped and put the car in park.
    “ You’re leaving your car here? What’s wrong with the garage?” I asked, pulling my seat belt off.
    “ A little crowded,” she said, pulling her keys loose.
    I cringed, imagining a summer of organizing this house. Kara wasn’t messy in a bad way; she was just creatively distracted at times (meaning she was so absorbed in whatever she was writing that she didn’t take the time to do simple things – like water plants).
    I hesitated as I stepped out of the car; I could still hear the whispers, but they were so quiet, they almost sounded like the wind blowing. A smile came across my face – I was really starting to like being at home.
    My mom held her hands behind her back and walked over to the car as I got out. She smiled at me. I thought it was odd that she was so happy, and I wondered if her encounter with Evan had inspired this vibrant feeling I felt coming from her.
    “ I have something for you,” she said as her smile grew wider.
    I looked at her curiously. I was hoping it was my phone; if it wasn’t that, I could plead for a trade. She pulled her hands from behind her back and handed me a small black box with a red bow on top of it. I knew it wasn’t my phone, but I smiled anyway, thinking that if I was grateful for this I could talk my way into getting my phone back.
    “ Thanks, mom. You didn’t have to