Chapter Four

The Bump in the Timeline

Lysandra stood in the doorway of her bedroom, at her apartment in Chicago, three days after the funeral. She was packing and thus she was in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that had her favorite sci-fi Vulcan on it. “Brian, I am not giving up my dream. I am just putting law school on hold. It delays me by a couple years.” She stated. “My family is more important.”

“But you need to go to Yale! We have plans.”

“No, I am not going. I already declined my invite and have already signed up for teaching certificate classes through Iowa.” She stated as she leaned against the doorway, her legs crossed. “This isn’t forever; and even it if it was, it is my choice.”

“If you aren’t going to Yale with me, then we are done!” Brian yelled. “We had plans Ly! Plans!”

“And those ended when my parents died! I need to be there for my brothers and sister. It is my responsibility!” Lysandra sighed. They had been arguing for an hour. “I am not giving it up forever, just a few years at most, until my siblings graduate high school. And if you really believe that, then we are done.” She stated as she looked at the man she had made plans with. They had dated since their freshman year in high school. “Brian, I always told you family is the most important thing to me. That is why I was becoming a family lawyer. You are asking me to up root four of my siblings more than they already are and continue my life as if nothing happened. Our world stood still as life continued. We are just getting back into living this new life. If you can’t support me then we are through.” She stated.

Brain was turning red. “Fine! It isn’t like I never had offers to be with other women, besides sex! I can replace you! And I can go to Harvard now instead!” He grabbed his coat and left their apartment.

Lysandra screamed and punched the wall. She was tired of this. Her world was shattered and she was picking up the pieces the best she could and now the man she thought she would marry, even if they had an open relationship in regards to sex, and have the two point three kids with just ended their relationship because he couldn’t take the change going on in her life. She was done! Done! Done! She screamed again and threw her clothes in her bags and her few things in her boxes. She had been already packing for Yale. And the stuff in storage would just go back to her childhood home. She left a note to Brain it stated she was done and to not look her up. She had to a life to live on her own.

Lysandra didn’t look back. She couldn’t look back. She just drove. She was going above the speed limit but it was late at night and she had already passed out of Chicago and was on the highway back home Riverside, Iowa. She had so many thoughts running through her head. She didn’t mind taking some time. She already finished her doctorates in Linguistic, Behavioral Psychology, and Childhood Psychology. Her mind hardly shut off, it was why she had her doctorates at twenty five. The drive home allowed her to sort her mind. Life always took turns; after all even with well laid plans there were forks in the road. Life didn’t live by plans one made, but by the plans God has made. Lysandra snorted to herself. She didn’t even know if she believed in God’s plans anymore. She believed in God, she just didn’t think he cared anymore about this world. He seemed to have washed his hands of these creations of his. She shook her head of these thoughts. She could almost feel her mother smacking her head at those thoughts. The main thing her mother was strict about was their faith. And the fact it never wavered in more than just their thoughts, after all they were only human.

Lysandra made it home in three hours and fifteen minutes. She sighed as she parked her car in front of the farm house. She knew Lander was still up by the fact that his car was running. He must be going to go get something. She got out and shivered at the early May weather. Iowa was messed up, either there was a chill in the air or one was breathing their eight glasses of water daily because of the high humidity. “Lander?” She called as she unlocked the door.

“Hey, Sandy. I was just going to go over and talk to Brianna. She said she needed to talk before I go back to Michigan in a couple of weeks for the summer semester.”

“At three in the morning?” Lysandra asked as she dropped her bag and the box she had.

“She is working third at the hospital.” Lander stated.

“I thought she was going back to get her RN?”

“She is that is why she is working third.” Lander threw his shoes on. “I gotta go. She gets off soon.” Lander stated and ran out the door.

Lysandra rolled her eyes to the air. At least one relationship was going well in the family. Lysandra just ended an eleven year relationship where they were the king and queen of her class. She was the smart cheerleader and he was the ambitious quarterback, the prom queen and king, and she sat there realizing just how shallow that life would have been. She would have been a lawyer until their first kid when she was thirty, and then she would become a socialite as her plastic surgeon husband brought in the money. Only when the kids were grown would she go back to work but into politics instead. That had been the plan. She sat there and grabbed a bottle of tequila and a shot glass. She took a shot. How the hell did she ever think that was the life she wanted? She slammed a couple shots back before sitting back. She saw the photo above on the shelf besides the television. It was taken a couple of years ago. Their mother had tricked them into getting a family photo. It was one of the few that had them all in it. Oh there were thousands of photos of each one of them, but them as a family there weren’t very many. The boys were in suits and her mother had actually got her into a dress. She wasn’t the girly girl of the family. That was her sister. Lysandra laughed. She wore a dress when she went through her first communion, when she was confirmed, four homecomings in high school, two proms and three graduations (her high school, her bachelors, and her masters). And their parents’ funerals. She was supposed to be at her graduation in three days for her doctorates but she wasn’t going. She couldn’t go and not break down. Her siblings were trying to convince her otherwise. She sighed as she dragged herself to the bathroom after downing another couple shots. She looked in the mirror and looked at her long blonde hair and her icy bluish purple eyes. A rare genetic quirk for sure, one that she and two of her brothers gained. She saw the scissors in the cabinet. “Fuck it.” She took the scissors and put her hair up in a ponytail and with a flick of her wrist and pressure on the scissors she cut her hair. She smirked. She quickly got her phone out and looked up some videos and an hour later she had a short asymmetrical cut where it was almost shaved on one side of her head and swept over the other. She felt lighter. Maybe they could get through this. Even if “I wish my parents were still here.” She whispered to her reflection as she dropped the scissors.