Chapter Four – Blissed
Out of the five Willis', only Tom had agreed to the walk back. Ads had wanted to speak with the driver some more, and their parent's just followed suit.
The Father had told the twins that it was about six-hundred metres away from where they stood, and, all-in-all, Laurie worked out that it was about six Chester Zoo Lion enclosure lengths and, when you thought of it like that, it didn't seem all that far.
As they made their way down the road, a small convoy of trucks, the Edens gate symbol painted over the bonnets, passed them, slowing as the men and women from the project glanced over at them, a judgement to their stare before they all shared small discrete nods and drove off again.
"You know what. The more I think about this, the more I think it's a stupid idea" Laurie said as they drove away,
"Give it a chance at least" Tom said as he fluffed his hair up, proceeding to yawn and throw his arms up, stretching dramatically as they passed a female angular on the road. She'd raised her eyebrows and just kept going.
"Smooth dipshit" Laurie said,
"You watch. Girls be wanting it just as much as they did back home",
"Lust is a sin you know" Laurie said, "For some reason, I don't think the people at Eden's Gate would appreciate any of your efforts",
"Fuck off. I saw the way you looked at that John. Damn jaw nearly fell to the floor, you wanted to fuck him so bad, you faded in to the bliss". The bliss was something Tom had only found out about during a conversation he'd overheard with one of the congregation, some sort of powder that cleansed your head and made you think straight. Laurie scoffed,
"You're on about mom right" Laurie said, picking up the pace a little so she'd leave him behind,
"Both of you" he said, not bothering to catch up with her,
"He creeped me out a little bit" Laurie said as she turned around, walking backwards, "His eyes felt like they could see straight in to my soul" she shivered and then turned back around,
"Well, from the sounds of it, he's the guy you confess your sins too" Tim said, "So I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of him before this is over",
"What do we do once we've joined up though" Laurie said, she slowed down, waiting for her brother to catch up with her now, but he dawdled, stopping to look at something in the distance, "Just sit in our new house and await the collapse",
"I honestly have no clue" he said, she turned her head slightly to him, her eyes still on the road ahead, "But what I do know, is that we should go over there" he pointed to a white barn-like house in the distance,
"Why" Laurie asked,
"Because, once we join whatever this thing is, I don't feel like walks in the country side is on the agenda" Tom said, going off the road and heading for to it. He'd seen it on the way there too,
"We need to get back you know, we have that dinner" Laurie said, and the direction he was going in seemed mighty close to where the ranch was. And, she didn't feel like getting there any earlier than they had to.
"Oh come on, when did you turn in to a 'goody-two-shoes'" Tom said,
"Since we came to a place where people hold guns to your head cause yah wanted to look at a house" Laurie said. She sighed, watching him walk in to the field, "If the wolverines come, I'm pushing you over" she yelled before following him in.
Both of them had always loved to explore. Ever since they were young, they'd always find their way in to abandoned houses, in to sewers, in to things they shouldn't have, but, since then, they'd grown up. Or, Laurie had anyway. Tom was twenty-seven going on seven.
The white barn - or house - looked as if had been abandoned months ago, but on the grounds surrounding it, there were three greenhouses, the greenhouses that Laurie had seen the day before. By the time she'd walked around it, looking to see if anyone maybe lived there, Tom was lying on the ground in the middle of one of the gardens, his head rolling from one side to the other gently,
"What are you doing" Laurie asked, her brother was unbelievable,
"You gotta try this" Tom said, he thought he was yelling it, but his voice was quiet, small amongst the sprinkling of white that surrounded him. Laurie took a step forward and felt it, as if a gentle pull made her take a deep breath, breathing in the sweet scent around them. It was as if a weight had been lifted, but, they had to go, and whatever drug this was, Tom could wait until later to fully indulge himself in it.
Groggily, she pulled Tom by the arm and dragged him out of the greenhouse, falling as a fresh breeze passed by them and brought her back to her senses. She held her arms out, stopping herself from hitting the ground and then sat up, looking to Tom who was blinking his eyes, as if he was coming out of some sort of trance.
"That was real good. What do you think it is",
"That bliss I think" Laurie said, she smiled, "If John Seed has that effect, I don't think there'd be much of him left" she pushed herself up and then helped her brother to his knees, he needed just a little bit more of the fresh air to get his head straight.
"Man, I could get used to that shit" Tom said,
"You know, we're supposed to be leaving our past behind us, right? Not bringing it with us",
"Yeah, but if their throwing this shit around, how is any self-respecting addict recoverier supposed to recover" Tom shrugged. He was right, but Laurie wasn't about to indulge him with that, so she kept quiet, and he seemed to forget, his pitiful attempts of walking making it in no way easier for her to half carry, half drag him back towards the house. It made her laugh though, and the fact that they, again, passed that female angular, made it all the better.
By the time they got to the bridge, Tom could just about walk on his own, but he was still babbling nonsense, about this, about that. And, when their mother had seen him, she'd looked to Laurie and Laurie had shaken her head, she wasn't in the mood to have to explain this one.
And, she didn't want to have to give her father the satisfaction of her brother being high less than two days into their 'new life'.