Alright, guys. I'm still a little befuddled. I read another commentary on Tara Gillespie(or however you spell it)'s My Immortal last night. It was insanely hilarious, but my mind is still a little melted from attempting to decipher the rubbish. This chapter may seem a little rushed. Skipping over all of the little details and such. I'm just ready to get to the action! I don't want to lose the interest of my readers (if I still have any). Symphony, if you're reading this, you're reviews make me smile. Thank you so much. I just wish you weren't an Anon so I could PM you! But thank you. Also, I woke up this morning and ten minutes later I was laying in my common room floor, crying my eyes out and in to much pain to move. Apparently, I have a UTI. My roommate went and got me some pills, and now my pee is orange. That is all.
"Alright, guys. We're about thirty minutes away from the Capitol. Let's take a break and make a plan, alright?" Jon suggested. We stopped and Seth finally let me down. I'd been arguing for thirty minutes about how I could walk on my own now, but he just ignored me. It was like I was arguing with a brick wall. But I was down now, and kind of wishing I was back up there. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and gently pulled me into him, so I was able to rest most of my weight against him. He kissed my forehead as we stood, waiting for instructions. "When we get there, we're going straight to Aunt Turners house. Hopefully she'll be able to get us an appointment with the Government soon. But we need to lay low. Attract as little attention as possible getting to her house, don't talk to anyone. Don't make eye contact with anyone. Just keep your heads down."
"What if someone stops us?" Stella asked.
"Then we just tell them that we went camping for a few days and are on our way back home. A simple story that will explain our bags and our dirty bodies and clothes." The group nodded. That would cover pretty much every questionable aspect of us. "Do you know exactly where your aunt's house is?"
Sara answered, "It's by the river. About three blocks from the Capitol Street. We can avoid the majority of the Capitol if we go around and walk along the river, but it will take longer and the river is known to have wild animals surrounding it."
"Hmm. We'd probably be best to just stick with the roads, then. I don't want to take a chance on another animal attack." He looked at me as he said this, and I dropped my head in shame. I felt so bad that I had gotten hurt. If only I hadn't been stubborn and had just climbed up the damn tree. But, no. I had to be a persistent little kid and try to get Seth to come up with me. Of course they wouldn't have been able to hurt him. He's fucking invincible. But I wasn't thinking about that at the time. I wanted him with me, up high in the safety of the trees.
We began our trek again. That would be the last stop until we got to 'Aunt Turner' 's house. Seth grabbed me back up onto his back.
"Really, Seth. I appreciate this and all, but I can walk. It would probably make me heal quicker."
"You're hurt. You're moving to slow." Was the only answer I got. I shut up and held on.
It wasn't long until we got to the Capitol. I don't know what I had been expecting. Big, pretty buildings, trees, animals running around, bright colors, lots of traffic... Whatever I was expecting, I'm sure that it was way different than reality.
The buildings were big, yes. And pretty, yes. But not the big and pretty I had been thinking. The trees here were as sparse as every where else. The roads were relatively empty, save for a few people walking. This was kind of depressing.
"Turn left up here." Sara told the group. We did and walked a few blocks, turned right, left again, right again, then she told us to stop. The walk through the Capitol was completely uneventful. The only thing that happened was a group of kids around our age walked past us, laughing and cutting up. No altercations or anything. "This is it."
Seth let me off of his back as we walked up the sidewalk to her front door. The house was beautiful. A Tudor style mini-mansion. Way more than I had been expecting. The houses on this road were spaced out further than the first road we'd walked in on and there was actually room for beauty out here. She had a tree in her front yard, along with a fountain and a bird house. It was very nice. We got to the door and Sara knocked.
It wasn't thirty seconds later before the door was open and a beautiful woman was standing there. "Sara! Seth!" She welcomed the siblings in with open arms, hugging and kissing them on the cheek. "Come in, come in, all of you!" The lady had a warm appearance. The beautiful blonde hair that graced Seth and Sara, big dark blue eyes, a big smile. She just looked happy. We piled in after the siblings and shut the door. I felt completely safe for the first time in a while.
We went into the kitchen and she started preparing a lunch for us while we got to know her.
"So, you're Sydley, eh?" She asked, looking me.
"Yes ma'am. That's me." I smiled.
"Our little Sethey's Xanadu. One of the saviors of my niece and nephew while they were on Earth. Now here to save both planets. Oooh, yes. I know all about you. I got a call the night you arrived on Kubla Khan. I like what I've heard so far. Don't make me change my mind." She returned my smile.
"I'll try my best."
"Atta girl. Alright, well, I'll go call and get an appointment set up. I'd say the soonest that they will have available will be tomorrow sometime. Is that okay, or would you like a few days?"
"No." Jon told her. "The sooner the better. Let's just get this over with."
Sara had gotten me some pain killers that I took with the soup that Aunt Turner had made for us. "Syd, would you like to go over what all to say?" She asked.
"I would LOVE that. I'm lost." And I really was. Was I just going to go in there, hand them the device and tell them to figure it out on their own.
"We're assuming that you'll be meeting with the President and her Council." She told me.
"President Sheen is very... Straight to the point. Don't beat around the bush with her." Stella threw in.
"Seth, go get the device. We need to teach her how to use it." Jon pointed out.
I didn't want Seth to leave my side for even a minute. But I knew I was being one of those pathetic girlfriends who are so dependent on their boyfriends that it makes people sick. I just felt better when he was here. He was gone for less than a minute, and we all moved into a living room. Seth and I shared an armchair while the others settled down on the other furniture in the room.
"Alright, Syd." Seth put the device in my hand. "Slide your thumb over this sensor right there. Now those buttons on the screen, click on the one that says 'hologram' and set it on the table." I did as he told me and set the device on the table. There was a beautiful, picturesque meadow being projected out.
"Touch any of the trees." Sara told me. When I did so, text popped up. Earth's atmosphere is compatible with Kubla Khans. It has survived due to the regeneration of plants, trees, and other oxygen producing resources. As these resources are destroyed, so is the atmosphere, it read. "Read them the text and explain that it would be as simple as just bringing back some plants and seeds from Earth and planting them all over our planet. If we produce more oxygen and destroy it less, then our planet would be able to survive. We would need to continue to act responsibly as we are now, cutting down driving cars and other harmful activities so that we can continue to regenerate our atmosphere."
"Seems simple enough." Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad.
"Also point out that cutting down or destroying the new plants and trees would make sure that it had no affect, so they would need to be put on an endangered or untouchable list." Steven added.
"Okay, so let's see. Run thumb over sensor, press 'hologram', and touch a tree. Read off the text in the box and suggest bringing plants, trees and seeds from Earth and planting around Kubla Khan. Suggest continuing non-harmful acts and putting plants/trees on an untouchable list. Straight to the point, no beating around the bush." I repeated.
"You'll do great." Seth walked up behind me and whispered into my ear. He kissed the top of my head and pick up the device, turning it off and taking it back to wherever he'd gotten it from.
Aunt Turner came in and informed us that she had gotten an appointment for 11:00 the next morning. I would need to be there by 10:00 for the standard security check in. She also told us that, "They've requested I come in and sit in on the meeting! They also said that they were going to have official scientists sitting in, to make sure that what you're saying makes sense!"
"So, they know what I'm going to be talking about?" I asked.
"Oh, yes. They must know these things so they can decide if they want to waste their time with a meeting or not. You'll be great, Syd."
"It's a big relief knowing that you'll be in there with me." I told her. "It's always easier when you know at least one person is friendly. And on your side!"
"It makes me feel better, too." Seth added in. "I definitely wasn't thrilled about you being in the Capitol building alone." He pulled me into him. "See, this is a good sign. Everything's going to work out. Nothing to worry about." He smiled.
The rest of the day was spent just resting around Aunt Turner's house. It was a nice, comfortable house. Once again, I thought of Jack. Wondered if he was all alone in his motel room, or if maybe he and Alex had stayed in contact and spent some time together. I didn't want to think about him being alone. I knew how much he hated being alone.
Seth took me for a walk, just the two of us. We went to Capitol Square and he took me to an artificial park that was actually plastic, since they couldn't get hardly anything else to live. It was nice just spending an hour alone with him, talking and laughing, walking hand in hand without a worry, if only for a bit.
When we got back, Aunt Turner had spaghetti and bread and was putting it on plates.
"Ah, just in time for supper. Here, grab a drink, take your plates to the dining room, and tell everyone that dinner is ready."
We did as she said and sat down for a nice, relaxing dinner. Her spaghetti was amazing. It had marinara sauce and tons of tomatoes, just the way I like it. I could get used to her cooking. Jack was a miserable cook, so if we ever ate anything it was either a quick microwave meal, something that required no cooking like cereal or a sandwich, or one of my mediocre meals, if we had the money for actual groceries that week.
After dinner, we all pitched in at cleaning up and then turned in early. Tomorrow was the big day. I would be in the meeting and they would be outside the Capitol building, waiting for a sign that something had gone badly wrong. Aunt Turner had set Seth and I up in separate rooms, but it wasn't five minutes after everyone went to bed before Seth was knocking on my door and slipping into my bed.
"I don't know that I'll be able to sleep without you in my arms anymore, honestly." He smiled. "It's been so long."
"I was just thinking of how lonely I was." I smiled back.
Alright, guys. It took me a minute to get this out, but here we go. Big big big chapter that will hopefully be out soon. But, tell me. Am I going wrong with the story? I used to get a good bit of reviews, and i'm getting a lot of subscriptions, but I only get one review a chapter, if i'm lucky, now. Sad day. Let me know if you're not liking the story! Reviews don't have to be good!