New Plans
"What the hell is going on?!" I heard. I shifted in my sleep and opened my eyes slowly. It took me a minute to realize that Tori was standing in the doorway, with her hands on her hips. "Tyler! What the hell are you doing?" she yelled again. Tyler groaned and lifted his head off the pillow to look at her, his arm still around me. "Calm down Tor. She asked me." He said. Tori then threw her gaze at me and I answered, "I had a really bad nightmare, so I asked Tyler to stay with me. That's it Tor! Calm down." I smiled.
Her face then lifted in a small grin and said, "Alrighty. Well, we have company." She then skipped out of the room. I let my head fall back against the pillow and yawned. "Okay sweetie, let's go." He sat up groggily. "Mmm Hmm…" I yawned again. He pulled my hand so I lifted off the bed. I stood up, dizzy from lying down so long and rubbed my eyes. Tyler was already out of the room, and I looked into his mirror. My hair was a mess, so I combed my hand through it until I made it look as good as I could. I stepped out of the room and into the living room, where surprisingly, it was full. They didn't even look up at me, and as I looked at the many faces, there was worry in their eyes.
"What's happening?" I asked quietly. The room was silent and my voice sounded loud. I then noticed an older teenager sitting at the table, and he had noticed me. I almost gasped as I noticed it was Brandon. "Chantal," He said in his deep voice. I just looked at him, "we have some bad news. It does not connect to you personally, but to all of us." I stared at him still. "People know." He said calmly, but the fear in his eyes were unmistakable. A small squeak came from my mouth, then I said, "How?" I felt breathless. This was utterly impossible. "Please Chantal, breathe, you look whiter then you should." I noticed I was holding my breathe, and slowly let it out. Tyler came to stand beside me, and placed his arm around me to balance my now, unsteady body.
"How?" I said I little more loudly. He looked at me, then to everyone else. Finally, he let out a sigh and looked at me. "We don't know." My body began to shake, this was bad. Really bad. If we didn't know how they knew…this lowers our chances of escape or coverage. As Tyler read my thoughts his grip tightened slightly and he stood closer to me. I was now, gripping his shirt in fear, and I could tell he was worried about me. "There is nothing to fear Chantal, we will all be safe. We just need to leave here, and find a better home. Everyone will be staying here, at the Gowing's until we have plans to move us all out to our new location. Please, Chantal, do not stress. You are young, and have a great future ahead of you. Attempt to relax." Brandon re-assured me.
I nodded, but the fear inside me was screaming. What are we going to do? I thought to myself. "Chantal, everything is going to be fine. Have some faith in us won't you?" Tyler's voice sounded in my head. I looked up at him now, furious that everyone was so calm. "What?" he said in my head. The anger in me was incredible, so I stalked off into the bathroom, slammed the door and took a warm shower. With the music blasting, I tried to clear my head to think. How can everyone be so calm? We are in danger! We might be killed. Why is everyone acting like everything is going to be alright? I was screaming at myself in my mind, and I tried to wash away my worries, without much success. I felt calm, but everything was still there, threatening to burst at any moment.
"Chantal?" I heard knocking on the bathroom door as I sat on the ground, against the bath tub, in a towel. "Chantal, open the door please." I recognized Tyler's voice. "It's unlocked" I mumbled. The door slowly opened, and Tyler stepped in, steam from the shower flowed out the door slowly, and he shut the door behind him. I then rested my head on my knees and sighed. I felt Tyler sit beside me, and he sighed as well. "You shouldn't be worried. Brandon will take care of us." Tyler said. "How can I not worry? We might be killed Tyler!" I yelled quietly. "Chantal, if we must, we will fight. You will be safe." He answered. "What do you mean I will be safe? You aren't going to let me fight?" I turned to him furious. "Not me, but Brandon thinks you are too young to fight." He looked away from my accusing look.
"Brandon?" I whispered, "I don't care what he thinks!" I hissed. "I will fight with you! I'm not some baby that needs taking care of! I'm sixteen!" I felt the anger rising in me. "Sweetheart, to Brandon, and many others, you are a baby. You've only been with us a couple of years. You are only two in our years. You don't have much experience." He sighed, afraid that I was going to hate him. I took a minute to take in what he said then sighed, "What do you mean to 'Brandon and many others' I am a baby? You don't?" he looked up surprised I wasn't yelling at him and said, "no, of course I don't. You are one of the strongest v-….one of us…that I've seen at such a young age. But I still don't want you fighting any more then they do. Just for different reasons."
"Why don't you want me fighting then?" I asked, confused. "What if you get hurt? I trust you, but those people, I don't." he sounded utterly disgusted, talking about people. "Oh," was all I could attempt to say. He actually cares. I thought. "Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?" His voice entered my mind. You hardly know me. I answered. "So? I still care about you. I've known you long enough to care." He said. "What if something goes wrong Tyler?" I said aloud this time, with a shudder and my eyes began to water. "Oh, sweetie," Tyler wrapped his arm around me and pulled my closer. I rested my head on his shoulder and let the tears roll down my face. "Nothing is going to happen. I promise. Okay? Please trust me. I won't let anything happen to you." Tyler rubbed my arm in comfort. "What about you?" I said. "What?" Tyler said sounding extremely surprised. "You said you won't let anything happen to me, but what if something happens to you?" I asked.
"Chantal, nothing is going to happen. I'm not going to get hurt. No one is. Okay?" he whispered to me calmingly. "okay." I said, still unsure. We both knew that my fear wouldn't be shaken off that easy, so we left it at that. I had felt a little better, but I would never feel completely calm.
"Come On." Tyler lifted me off the ground and held me by the shoulders. He stared at me now, his blue eyes piercing into me, and smiled slightly. I lifted my hand to wipe away my final tears, when his hand beat mine. His cold fingers pushed the tears from my cheeks, and then moved down my neck, onto my collarbone. I smiled then, at his concerned face, to reassure him that I was alright. "Everything's going to be alright Chantal." He promised me. "It better." I smiled and he pulled me into his chest, and tucked my head under his chin.