Chapter 6: Arrival

The title says it all

 

“When are the two other suppose to leave?” I asked, referring to the two people that came with the driver.

        “They will go with your parents, posing as you. So it will look as if you left with your parents,” he answered.

        The day stretched on as we switched cars and took the most indirect route to where we were going. I lost track of how many times we changed cars, but each time we had to have our hoods and glasses on. I questioned how much good the hoods did, because if I saw two hooded figures going into a car, I would get pretty suspicious.

        The Altman’s lived in a suburb of St. Louis Missouri. Normally the trip would only take seven and a half hours from Oklahoma city, but it was getting closer to night every minute.

        Our family knew the Altman’s from the summer camps I always went to. The camp was designed to bring kids from the central US together to put on a show. At the camp you had classes on singing, acting, and dance, as well as putting on a musical. They had two kids, their son was a year older than me and their daughter was a few years younger. I knew their son Ryan for three years now. He was a really good performer as well as a good friend. Even my current situation was not enough to make me forget that I used to like him. Maybe I still did.

        A little after dinner we pulled into a driveway of a two story house. I had never seen where they lived, but I instantly liked it’s appearance.

        “We’re here,” the driver said. We climbed out, grabbed our bags, and headed up to the door.

        Before we had a chance to knock, the door opened and we walked in. Two people in black coats were waiting in the hallway.

        “Are they here so it doesn’t look like you dropped us off?” I asked.

        “Yes.” The driver answered with a stern voice, like he was too tired of explaining everything to me.

        I heard a noise and looked up to see the Altman family coming into the entry way. When I saw Ryan, I couldn’t help but smile at least a little. I hadn’t seen him for a year. My heart quietly fluttered as he walked into the light. He had fair skin and short dirty blond hair that had some curl to it. I remembered back to the first time I actually looked into his eyes. My breath had been taken away as I gazed into the most beautiful combination of crystal blue and sea green. 

        He looked up and our eyes met, he barely smiled. After knowing him for three years I could tell something was wrong.

        “We’re glad you arrived safely,” Mrs. Altman said, breaking the silence. All I could do was nod, the reality of the situation slowly sinking in.

        The driver then beckoned the people in long coats and they hurried to the door.

        “Well I best be off. It was my pleasure.” He walked out the door and disappeared into the darkness.

        “Would you like to see your room?” Mrs. Altman appeared to be the one in charge of the welcoming party.

        Chris grabbed our bags, but Mr. Altman stopped him.

        “Here, let me get those,” he said taking my bag. He led us up the stairs into a long hallway, then turned to the right. The last door on the right was the guest room that Chris and I would have to share.

        After setting our bags down, their family gave us a tour of the house. Ryan’s bedroom was across from ours, the bathroom next to his. The master bedroom was at the other end of the hall. Their daughter, Danielle’s room was between the master bedroom and the bathroom. The first floor contained the dinning room, living room, kitchen, a bathroom, and an office. The basement was normal, random furniture, a TV, and exercise equipment.

        The part of the house that surprised me was the backyard. There was a huge pool and a yellow slide that after a few twists, shot into the pool.

        “We’re still getting it repaired, but it should be ready to swim in soon. There was crack in the side of the pool from the winter. So we had to drain the pool and the repair people are coming soon,” Mr. Altman informed us.

        All that I could say was, “Cool” as my stomach twisted in another knot.

        After looking around, Chris and I went back upstairs to unpack. I started unloading my clothes into the dresser, but decided to stop.

        “It feels like unpacking makes this final. Like as if we’re never going back and have to be here forever.”

        “Right now this is what we have to live with, no one said it was going to be forever.” How could he be so sure our lives would return to normal? We had a mafia that wanted to track us down and harm us. Just because we left our house didn’t make us safe, they could still find us if they really wanted.

        “Chris?” I asked, “what if they find us?”

        I didn’t need to say more, he already knew who I was referring to.

        “Let’s not think about that right now. We should be happy that the Altman’s could take us in. At least we’ll be together,” he looked over at me and smiled.

        He continued, “Wow, I just sounded like a psychologist. ‘Don’t dwell on the bad things, look on the bright side.’” He changed his voice to imitate a serious doctor.

        His imitation and facial express made me smile. At any other time I would have laughed, but it felt wrong to be happy in the situation we were in.

        “Yeah, I guess your right, at least we have each other,” I said, my voice sad and quiet.

        Chris attempted to smiled, trying his best to comfort me. I was glad that I still had my brother, but the feeling was overpowered by the fact that our family was broken up.

        “What’s wrong?” he asked, as he scanned my face. I realized I had started crying again.

        “I just wish we all could have stayed together.” Chris came over to give me a hug as I thought about the expression on my parents’ faces when we left. It reminded me of the movies where someone just found out that somebody died. It seemed like so long ago that I saw them last, even though it was just this morning.

        “We’ll make it through,” he replied. We started to unpack some more, but I still felt like this was too final. A few minutes later there was a knock on our door.

        “If you two want to come watch a movie, we’re about to start one,” Ryan informed us.

        “Sure,” I replied. My emotions were torn, on one side I was anxious to spend time with him, on the other side I just wanted to be alone. Chris and I walked downstairs, ready to start our new, but different lives.

 

Reviews

[Anna Writes]

lol...i don't think that they were like dating as Daniel had suggested..:) well, maybe that's just him...and it's just me..:)
i'm excited to know what would be going on between Ryan and Mia!

[Daniel]

The relationship between the brother and sister seems a bit too romantic.
As I read this chapter, the way you described Mia and her brother interacting with each other, it made it appear they were dating; not just siblings.

Just a personal thought. On to chapter 7!