The Weird Travels of Aimee Schmidt: The Curse of the Gifted Read Free

pass as his dad’s twin with his dark blonde hair, perfect white teeth, golden skin, and deep brown eyes. But unlike his father, who prefers to be a loner, James’s charming personality attracts people like a magnet. He is so opposite Aimee, and she envies him.
    Like most older brothers, James was the bane of Aimee's existence when they were kids, making Aimee the scapegoat for his mischievous pranks. Fortunately, their dad rarely suspected Aimee as the instigator, much less a partner in crime, but James enjoyed the torture he inflicted. Still, Aimee secretly considers James her gallant white knight, always prepared to cover her backside if she needs him. These past couple of years she's really missed him.
    Aimee looked at the clock. Five thirty-four. Too late now to go back to sleep. She turned over and noticed Mom and Dad’s picture again. She loves that picture. It’s the only physical thing she has left of her mom, Marie Aimee Schmidt - her namesake. You see, Aimee's mother died when she was born. She's often prayed she can somehow have her mom for a day, or even an hour, but the picture is all she has. On the back of the photo in her mother’s handwriting is scribbled Mike and Marie, Surfside 1983. Her parents are on the beach leaning against an old, beat-up pickup. Two surfboards are propped up against the truck, and judging by her dad’s long, tousled, wet hair, he just finished a ride. His lanky body is strikingly tan against her mother’s pale frame. Her face is angelic. Her hair flows down her back. She gazes into the camera as she molds into Aimee's dad. His arms are wrapped tight around her tiny waist. His lips touch her ear. A velvety smile on her face hints, perhaps, he is whispering sweet nothings.
    Aunt Lauren told Aimee her parents were like free-loving hippies from the sixties stuck in the “me” generation of the eighties. Even though they both went to the same high school, they didn't meet until their senior year. Two years later they married. Her dad was crazy in love with her mom, according to Aunt Lauren. Like a siren, she stole his heart the second he met her. Aunt Lauren tells Aimee she favors her mother. Aimee's not sure. Maybe. Aunt Lauren's right about one thing, though. Aimee's mother had the most incredibly beautiful, but mysterious eyes. Aunt Lauren said they were blue, like Aimee's. In the picture they look intense, like they possess a secret, but whatever it was, it disappeared when her mother died.
    Her father won’t talk about what happened during the birth. But Aimee had to know. A few years ago James told her when a person dies, a certificate gives the cause of death. Aimee couldn’t ask her dad for it, even if he had one, so she bugged Aunt Lauren until one day she finally gave in and sent Aimee a copy. Aimee had to swear she wouldn’t tell her dad. She lied telling him it was a letter when it arrived in the mail. After he went to bed, Aimee locked herself in her room and stared at the envelope for an hour before she got up the nerve to open it. But when she finally opened the envelope and pulled out the sheet of paper, reality set in. In black print, her mother’s death was summed up in one cold, emotionless sentence…Marie Aimee Schmidt expired November 22, 1987, 3:04 pm, due to heart failure secondary to emergency Caesarian. At long last, Aimee had the answer, but it only created more questions, like did her mom know she was dying? Did she suffer? Did she even see Aimee before her last breath? Is she in heaven watching and waiting for her? Aimee touched the date on the paper - November 22, 1987 - her birthday. Tears ran down her cheeks while she ripped the certificate into tiny pieces. No evidence remained. Her mother died that day for Aimee.
    Aimee's dad rarely talks about her mom. Even after all these years, Aimee sees emptiness in his eyes whenever Marie is mentioned. She guesses that’s why he calls her Aimee instead. So, when she visits Aunt Lauren, Aimee probes for