riven by maggie morris (best summer reads of all time TXT) 📖

Truth swam before me, causing my gaze to stumble. Images passed through my mind once again, but this time there was no pain. This time, there were just memories. The memories in my head were of my mom, dad, grandpa, and brother, Adam. Of Doomsday and how the world undid itself, and how I was there to fix everything with my huge brain.

I was no longer that dumb girl who sat at the back of the classroom with no answers to give. I could feel my intelligence radiating through my body.

A sudden slam behind me caused me to turn around and throw the thing I was holding-a piece of paper. But in the instant before I threw it, I quickly calculated the amount of force and the angle of which I would throw the paper, and it scraped the person that stood in front of me on the face.

“Jeez, Alice!” Adam exclaimed. “Why ya’ gotta hate me, bruh?” Then he broke into a grin. “So you remember now? The other you wouldn’t have been able to make a slice that good.”

“Yeah, I remember. Bro,” I added, just for the sake of it.

“Don’t,” Adam ordered. “I’m the cool one. You’re my genius baby sis’.”

“I thought we were twins? I did say I remember my past, you know.”

“I’m older by thirty seconds. If you actually remembered, you would know that I never let you forget that,” my brother teased. Just then, Dr. Melkins (or should I say, Grandpa) skidded into the room. He was out of breath, and his face was very red.

“You found her?” Grandpa asked. I immediately noticed that his accent was gone. Must’ve been fake. “Does she remember?”

I scowled. “She  is right here. And yes, I remember.” I sighed. “I just...don’t get it.”

“Ah. I see. Well, let old Gramps here tell you a story.” He chuckled. “On a rainy September day, not unlike this one, the world ended. Now, it wasn’t as bad as you’d think. Sure, there were the catastrophic apocalyptic natural disaster and everything, but nothing that us Forgie’s couldn’t handle. We’d already built a Doomsday cellar, and thanks to your brains, immediate access to almost infinite food, water, and air.

So, we rounded up the few survivors close to us, and waited for the world to stop ending. It wasn’t until summer that all the volcanoes had stopped erupting, the earthquakes had stopped shaking, the fires had stopped burning.

However, your “infinite” clean air supply wouldn’t last forever. Soon it would all be dirtied with ash and debris. It could last maybe ten people for the rest of their lives, but no more. So you did the only thing possible-created a new world.

Don’t ask me how you did it. I think you, like, took some DNA of the world and cloned it, except somehow you reset it from the beginning.” I nodded; this was all familiar to me, I just needed to connect all the pieces.

Grandpa continued. “The time in this world traveled a lot faster than Inaecia-that’s your home dimension, mind you-so before we knew it, you were born. But, you were born to different parents. You see, the world tried to create itself the exact same way as Inaecia, but little interferences made the outcomes slightly different. Each person still got born and died, but pieces of their life were different.

Your clone, as we like to call it, showed similarities to you, but you wanted to have her removed. So, you created another version of you, and then deleted it off the face of the planet, just like that. But, every force has an opposite and equal reaction, so your other clone disappeared, too. That was the plan.

However, your parents didn’t want you or Adam to stay in Inaecia any longer, because they knew how dangerous it was, so they had you create a portal and move to this world-you called it Sortryn, I think.

They sent me along, to watch over you and your brother. Adam got to keep his memories. You, on the other hand, were far too powerful to keep your knowledge, so we extracted it-we do still have some brainpower, you know-and kept it safely tucked into Amelia’s picture.” Grandpa Melkins paused to wipe a genuine tear off his cheek, crying over his deceased wife.

“It is possible to embed memories in an object, as you probably remember. You figured out how to do it yourself. That was why when you looked at that picture of my beautiful Amy you remembered. Great escape, by the way. You kept some of your know-how with you. And I think that’s it. I leave out anything, Adam?” Grandpa asked. He leaned back against the door.

“Nope. Dude, you just addressed Doomsday in, like, 400 words. And you think Ali’s the genius.” Adam high-fived Grandpa.

“Okay, let’s see how many words it takes you to deliver the plan to Alice,” Grandpa challenged.

“‘Kay, I got this.” He blew out a breath. Then talking extremely fast, he said, “We are going to convince the U.S. that you are the only person that can save them and then you will become president and have access to all the equipment and tools you need to save the world and then no one will die and then you won’t have to create another world.”

“Grandson, you were supposed to use few words, not few seconds!” Grandpa laughed. I stared at them blankly.

“I barely got any of that, but I think I got the gist. Basically, I take over the country and then save the world. Doesn’t that seem, I don’t know, impossible?!” I screeched. “Why can’t I go back to Inaecia and hang out with Mom and Dad, or something. Guys, the truth is-this makes no sense! My whole world was just turned around in a little over five minutes! Do you know what that can do to a girl?” I burst into tears. “I just want Claire and Bryce and everything to be normal!”

“Aw, darlin’, I know what will cheer you up. I can show you your favorite magic trick and then we can go get ice cream, right before we convince the country to follow you,” Adam said. It was supposed to be funny, but it just made me cry even harder.

“Adam, I don’t think that was the best time,” Grandpa scolded my brother gently. Then, he pulled me into a hug. “I know this is overwhelming, hon’. But trust me, you have the ability and willpower to accomplish anything. And I mean anything. We’ll figure out together, because we’re family, and that’s what family does. We’ll get your friends back and fix everything. A know I’m old and everthin’, but I still have some power left in my noggin’.”

I gave Grandpa a watery smile. Just like he could three years ago, Grandpa always cheered me up. His kindheartedness made it easy to remember that he was my grandpa, not just an awesome scientist.

“So when can we start?” I asked, breaking the silence. I think Adam was grateful, because I had noticed that he had started fidgeting uncomfortably while Gramps and I hugged.

“How about after we stop by McDonald’s? I’ll book us some tickets to D.C. on the way to the airport. Grandpa’s got a plan about how to win the country’s devotion. And let me tell, ya’, girl, it’s a doozy,” Adam said, clapping his hand on my shoulder.

“Follow me,” Grandpa addressed. He walked into the grey-walled hall and led the way to a door. I realized that the building we were in must’ve been an old office building.

“Grandpa, did you buy this building? And have you guys been living here?” I asked.

“No, sweetheart. This is an abandoned place that your brother and I fixed up with money we earned from working at McDonald’s,” he explained apologetically.

“So you guys work at McDonald’s?” I asked raising my eyebrows. “Not great pay there.”

Adam grinned. “But you get discounts, and it’s nearby!” He pushed the door open and walked out into the rain.

Grandpa stuck out his hand, motioning for me to go first like a proper gentleman. I stepped out the door and immediately shivered. The rain was as cold as ice!

Adam was already walking towards the fast food restaurant, which apparently was close by. It was on the corner straight across from the office building. The whole area around it was pretty run-down, and all the houses looked really dinky. Not a great area to live in.

But it was food, and compared to the watery soup I’d had a few hours ago, the greasy food would be both filling and delicious. I waited for Grandpa and together we walked into the restaurant.

The interior of the building looked as bad as the exterior had. The floor tiles were broken and the barstools had rips and tears on the cushions. Various papers were placed around the room, stating things like “soda machine out of order” and “sorry for the inconvenience. The ice cream has all melted”. The place was a mess.

Meanwhile, Adam was up at the counter yukking it up with an African American man who looked like he needed a nap. When Adam finally ceased to talk, the man asked us what we wanted.

“I’ll take large fries, a McDouble, and a Quarter Pounder, please,” I told him. He entered it into the register and looked blatantly at Grandpa Melkins.

“Um, just the same, I guess.” Grandpa obviously didn’t come here much, despite the convenience of it. The man-his nametag read Isaac-prepared our food and gave it to us.

“Thanks!” I smiled warmly. Adam just took his food without a word, dropped a five, and ushered us out the door. What had happened to his friendly manner that had been there just moments before?

Sighing, I trudged out the door, food in hand. I unwrapped my burger and sank my teeth into it. Instead of eating, Grandpa and Adam started to discuss how to get a car. I nearly spit out my food.

“You don’t have a car? How is this going to work, then? You guys live off of minimum wage, and you want me to take over the country?” Suddenly, a cab pulled up the street and slowed to a stop in front of us.

“Need a ride?” The cabbie asked after rolling down the window. I slowly nodded, feeling wary. “Hop in.”

Adam began to pull open the door, but the man driving the cab’s cold words stopped him.

“Not, you. The girl. I don’t help men. They can fend for themselves.” Grandpa started to interfere, but I had it covered.

“Oh, so I can’t fend for myself? Well, we’ll see about that, you, you, non-feminist!” I reached through the open window, grabbed him by the neck of his shirt, and punched him the face. “We’ll walk, thanks for asking!” With that, the man’s eyes widened and he sped off.

“Ha!” Adam laughed. “Just like you usta’ be!” Even Grandpa reached over to clap me on the back.

“Before, he showed up, your brother and I had figured out where we could get a car. I have a friend who’s wife just died, and he said that I could use his car anytime if I needed to, because he wouldn’t be using it.”

“How did you guys meet?” I asked.

“Irrelevant,” Adam broke in. He looked a little sheepish, and I wondered what he was hiding.

“Aw, come on, buddy,” I said, taunting him.

“Nope,” he grinned. Grandpa just stood there, trying to decide who to help. Finally, he just said, “Let’s go kiddos. We need to be in D.C. by tonight, and we still