Ok, chapter two is up for reading. These are only about 1500 word chapters, making it harder to move farther in them, but I can try and update more frequently as long as I know people are out there reading this. I explain how this is possible in the bottom, so please read it! Anyways, now for chapter two…
Lizzie stood, in her pajamas outside next to the barn, mouth agape at what her brother just said.
"You what?" Lizzie asked.
"I'm going back to the Underland, and I wanted to know if you wanted to come with me."
Lizzie had to admit she was not that surprised. Her brother had invested everything down there, and was forced to leave it all behind. Of course he wanted to return; it wasn't that difficult to believe. It was just the fact that Lizzie had looked up at his determination to reintegrate himself back into the Overland. When everything seemed so hopeless, it was nice to see that he was still fighting his way back from a hole deeper than hers.
Even so, she asked, "Why do you want to go back? After all of your hard work here? Why waste it all?" Gregor looked out over the plains in Virginia, with want but an involuntary distaste.
"It's not where I belong." Lizzie stepped forward in protest, but was stopped short by his voice. "If you have killed someone, you can talk." Lizzie grimaced. He had her cornered; but he was right. It would be abnormal to not feel out of place that looks down on something, that in her brother's case, was phenomenal at. "I've killed things Lizzie. I'm a murderer who was born to be one. That's the place for people like me; down there, I can protect people! What use am I here, where all I can do to help them is stay on top of essentially just school work?"
Lizzie reached out a hand to her brother, who made no movement.
"Gregor, I'm not going to try to stop you. But I want you to at least answer my questions. Can you do that for me?" Gregor nodded.
"Sounds easy enough." He replied.
"What are you going to tell Mom and Dad?" Gregor pulled out a note from his inside jacket pocket. He had always loved those, ever since he had gotten one for Christmas when he was eight. "Where I am and why." He said. "Next?"
"Does it have something to do with Luxa?" Gregor hesitated visually before answering.
"Yes. I miss her. I miss her very much." Lizzie nodded. She had noticed they had something between them at the rock in Central Park when Gregor lingered around her. "At least he got to say goodbye…" she thought. Shaking her head to get the thoughts she vowed she wouldn't think about out, she spoke one last time.
"Last question." She said. "Why did you bother asking me to go? Wouldn't it be easier just to go on your own?" Gregor smiled, folding his strong arms across his chest. Ever since he had taken that Weight Training class he had been much stronger than when he was younger. So much so that he could carry both Lizzie and Boots at the same time.
Gregor smirked. "It's killing you, too." He answered. Walking over and lifting her chin up with his thumb and pointer finger, he finished. "What kind of big brother would I be if I let my little sister here to suffer all by herself?" Winking, he spun around on his heels, and started towards the house. "I'm leaving in thirty minutes. Pack up if you want to come or not."
Lizzie watched him for a second before giggling and scampering after him to catch up.
That was Gregor, always looking out for everybody but himself. His wink had been his signal to her for years, as if he was saying, "Don't worry, Liz. I got your back."
As she caught up to him, she clung on to his left arm, another one of their traditions. "Okay, I'm in. How are we going to get there?" she asked. Gregor jingled the keys to his car. "How confident are you driving?" he said, a mischievous grin laughing back down at her. Lizzie's eyes lit up with excitement. "Yes!" she exclaimed in a muffled voice, remembering that they were trying to be covert, but her brother was being so nice to her, and always had been since their return to the Underland.
Fifteen hushed minutes passed in the house, gathering all the supplies that they would need to get to Regalia; both in the Underland and the Overland. These various supplies included things like extra clothes, food, water, and money. Gregor wanted to bring a flashlight just in case, though Lizzie protested against it. "Ripred didn't teach you that for nothing." She thought, pouting.
Finally, everything was compiled into two backpacks, one for each of the siblings. They each had two water bottles, one set of clothes, a few bags of snacks, and twenty bucks each. Lizzie had both flashlights, as Gregor wouldn't be needing one anytime soon.
"You ready Liz?" Gregor said, looking over at her from in front of the car. She nodded. "Alright, let's roll."
Gregor threw Lizzie the keys which she caught before sliding in to the old driver's seat, putting the keys in the ignition. After they both put on there seatbelts (Gregor was pretty serious about that for some reason), Lizzie started the car as quiet as she could. The engine slowly revved to life, the headlights turning on as well. Since the car was parked outside, it would be pretty easy to get out unnoticed.
However, Gregor and Lizzie were forgetting one of the most important laws of life: Murphy's Law. For those of you that do not know what Murphy's Law is, it is an old saying; a correct one, or more so, easy to follow, or expect, depending on your exact standpoint. It dictates, basically, that what can go wrong, will go wrong. Therefore, if you haven't realized it yet, or maybe, I haven't given you enough time to, Gregor and Lizzie do not get out of the drive unnoticed.
To first understand the reason's for this major misfortune for our protagonists, you must first understand that it has been seven years since their departure from the Underland. That means, from a pretty simple level of math, Gregor is nineteen, Lizzie is fifteen, and Boots is ten. I know this may sound shocking to some people, but we were all ten once. Since, by the inevitability that all of us, if it is assumed we have a normal lifespan, all are for one year, the age of ten, we can all remember our days as mischievous little ten year olds.
Boots was no different. Well, yes, actually, she was. I lied. She had been to the closest debatable place to Hell on Earth, crossed hundreds or maybe even thousands of miles with creatures thought not to exist, almost died a handful of times, and learned another language of an indigenous species, all by age three. Maybe it was because of her days down in the Underland, with Hazard and Temp, that she developed an extreme love of something most ten year olds do: pranks.
Boots, bless her soul, fell in love with one prank in particular. The classic whoopee cushion. It had been Gregor's nightmare when he made the mistake of making that a tenth birthday present, starting her whole insatiable infatuation with these pranks. It did indeed get old, unbelievably fast. She would normally get Gregor, on average, three times a day. It was really obvious when she set it out, but Gregor had to sit on it, otherwise she would start to pout.
Anyways, in my long winded sarcastic explanation, I guess, reader, what I am trying to say, is that Lizzie ran over Boot's whoopee cushion, causing a loud pop, thus waking everything with a heartbeat from their peaceful slumber to a tired, cranky (if you will) state. Gregor immediately got out of the car, beckoning that Lizzie do so too. In a mad rush, they pushed the car back to where it was, turned it off, and threw the backpacks in the back seat. Gregor motioned that Lizzie run inside. She obediently followed what her brother said, ruffling up her hair, and slipping into a more pajama type outfit.
Gregor's Dad came out of his room, where a very unhappy Grace refused to get up. When he got outside, still mid yawn, he found his son cleaning up the remnants of what used to be his sister's whoopee cushion. "Gregor?" his Dad asked. "What are you doing, Son?" Gregor looked up, apologetic smile on his face.
"Sorry, Dad. I didn't mean to step on it. I was just about to come inside to go to bed." His Dad gave him an unsure look. "Why were you out here in the first place?" Gregor made his eyes look as tired as possible. "Couldn't sleep." His Dad nodded.
"Okay, Gregor. After you're done cleaning that up, come inside and go to bed. Maybe you can still get some sleep tonight." Gregor nodded.
Once Gregor was done, he went into Lizzie's room, and whispered, "Let's wait an hour. They should be sound asleep by then." Lizzie nodded, and began to read. She had a small light that attached to the cover of the book, holding a light above the pages. It was a great thing to have when she couldn't sleep.
One long, torturous hour later, the siblings got up, and once again tried to leave their house. This time, they were successful, pulling out on to the main road with ease. Gregor helped direct Lizzie through the interstate roads with an old book of maps his Dad always put in any car they had, just in case. By the distance, it was going to be about an eight hour trip. Gregor told Lizzie he would take over after they left the City, since she was pretty tired, and inexperienced anyway.
"It's okay, Liz." Gregor said in a soft voice. "I'll take it from here." With that, Lizzie let her eyes drift shut, the beautiful dark oblivion taking over her consciousness once again.
I almost wrote more, but I think this is a decent place to leave off. Anyways, please don't forget to review, however many of you that are out there. Let me know that I'm not just writing for Jedi1 here. Speaking of which, thank you, Jedi1 for motivating me to write this chapter, and for being a constant reviewer. I appreciate it so much!