Chapter 20: Cabin Fever
Hallways and hallways of beautiful architecture.
The floors are spotless and have a complicated design continuing on down more halls.
The ceiling dancing with lights from the shining glass of the chandeliers hanging down elegantly.
Throughout the hallway, rows of tall windows that reached the ceiling showed a sea of roses, tulips, and other flowers that I didn't even know existed.
I could hear voices of a lot of men and women, and I turned toward the sound only to see a boy walking toward me with a small smile. He took my hand and we walked down the hall, passing many extravagant looking rooms, paintings, sculptures, and other artistic things.
We finally stopped in front of a room with the door wide open. The young boy quietly knocked the door with his knuckles to announce our arrival before towing me into the room. Standing in the middle of the room in a small little circle were four adults; two men and two women; but I couldn't see any of their faces, like one of those cartoon on TV that show all of the parents bodies but cut off at their necks.
However, I was more amazed at the room that we were in. It was a nursery; maybe the kind that Bill Gates would have built for his children if he was the ruler of the world or something. The room was a bit too girly for my taste, though. Way too much pink
One of the ladies, the one wearing the beautiful cream dress that hugged her upper body but gently flowed down to the floor, bent down and held her arms out to me, and I disentangled my hand from the boys and walked toward her. She lifted me up in her arms without any difficulty, and I instantly felt safe and secure, as if nothing bad would ever happen to me because she was there. And although I had no idea who she was, I lifted my face up to her and beamed. But all I could see was an outline of her face as she looked down at me, the lights from the chandeliers above making her seem like a guardian angel.
My guardian angel.
I blinked once from a sudden pain in my chest and the picture seemed to fade and was replaced by a new image; a younger version of myself, maybe nine years old, laughing and twirling in an extravagant rose-colored dress that clung to my small figure. Embedded into it were jewels that shimmered and glistened as I twirled around in a young man's arms.
The features of his face seemed oddly familiar, but before I could actually make a connection, another pain sent me to a different place. I was in a plane, staring through the window and trying to see through the darkness.
I was leaving my home.
My sanctuary, the one with the beautiful garden that I could walk through and feel comfort in.
Then it hit me.
These were all of my memories from way back when; the one that I had stashed in my head and filed away as "never think of them again". I had almost forgotten about them, forgotten about my past, but tonight, my mind had decided to remind me so that I could never forget again.
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My dream faded away slowly as I kept feeling the sharp pain in my chest, as if I was being dissected with a small butter knife or something. I opened my eyes slowly, feeling slight warmth on my cheek coming from the window. I felt another source of heat nearby and I glanced down to see hair directly under my chin. Melody was in my bed, curled up next to me, and she was poking me in the same spot where she had earlier punched and kicked me several times.
Which, indeed, still hurt like hell.
"Must you do that?" I asked quietly, listening outside the room for any sound.
"Yes" she replied simply, continuing to poke me with a small smile on her face.
"Why?" I asked, sucking in a sharp breath as she poked my stomach this time, even though it wasn't as sore as my upper chest.
"Because it's fun to see you make funny faces in your sleep" she said and she looked at me with a childlike smile.
Those bastard scientists made her sadistic. Revenge on them will be so sweet, I thought darkly.
I sat up and rubbed my eyes, listening to the Flock being busy downstairs. But my thought process was disrupted when Melody also sat up and hugged me suddenly while burying her face against my shoulder. I was slightly surprised when she started to cry silently, but I smiled and held her as close as my pain tolerance would allow me to go.
All of these years she had to put on a brave face, never showing any fear.
But she was only a kid. She also needed someone's shoulder to cry on every once in awhile, no matter how tough she wanted to seem to other people.
So I let her cry and kissed her forehead lightly. She reeked of that disgusting medical School smell, so I made it my first priority to make her take a shower...after I had thoroughly checked the house out that is.
I heard a knock on the door, and as Fang poked his head in, I gave him a "who dares disturb this moment" kind of look.
"I guess you really did care about your laptop" he said as he stepped in.
I grinned slightly and said, "I couldn't find one that was even worth the trip there". I took in his new wardrobe and mentally approved of it; he was wearing black jeans and a black T-shirt with a red fox insignia on it. The shirt clung to his upper chest, accentuating that he did indeed have some muscle that he was hiding away from the world.
God, he really looks good in that, I thought.
"Found it in one of the closets" he said as he saw me inspecting it. I rubbed my eyes again, yawned, and looked out the window to distract me from gazing any longer at his chest before ideas came to my mind.
"How long have I been asleep?" I asked.
"Only a few hours" he said with a tone of voice that made me want to look back at him to see his expression. But I forced myself to continue looking out the window.
The little ray of sunlight that I had felt when I had woken up had hidden behind a huge cloud, and it didn't seem like it wanted to come out again.
"I checked downstairs. Nothing seems out of the ordinary except for the packed fridge and this" Fang said as he passed me a small black book. I raised an eyebrow and took it with some difficulty, considering that Melody was still holding me and burying her head in my shoulder. I had to put her in my lap so that I would have both of my hands free.
When I opened it, I instantly realized by the way it was written that it was a diary. I skipped to the last page, not too sure what could really be interesting for Fang to bring this to me. As I got to the last page, I skimmed the words, then had to go back and reread it more carefully.
"June 24, 2010.
I have to leave this house. Away from that place. If I stay any longer, they might find me. I only moved to this spot to keep an eye on that place, just in case any word got out about my kids.
But even with my job protecting me both here and in the U.S., I can't be too careless, no matter how much I miss them.
Truthfully, I would have stayed in the U.S. if I didn't get a tip saying that one of them was here; it might be Ember or Melody; I don't know.
But what I do know is that I must stay in England and try to get them back from that place, regardless of which child it is. And even though I had to burn all of the pictures that I had of them because it was too painful, I can still remember their faces as clear as day. They were always in my thoughts, and whenever I slept, I would dream of them. I would always bring their fainted images closer to me, and it would make me feel a bit better, as if they were just an arms length away.
But sometimes I wonder if I'm just hugging an illusion.
I can't always think like that. I have to keep at least one optimistic thought with me.
As long as they're alive, everything will be fine. I think I'll leave everything here except for the important stuff, just in case I need to come back.
I'm really grateful to Chuck. He was able to modify the fridge so that the food never spoils. I'll have to ask him how to do that."
The last entry ended there, and all I could do was stare at the page as if the words were in some random gibberish that I couldn't understand.
My mom lived in THIS house only a month ago. We had only missed her by maybe a few weeks at most, and now she had disappeared to who knows where.
I sighed, closed the book, and put it down by my side on the bed. I didn't want to think right now; I didn't want to feel numb from stress just yet. Melody held me tighter; she was probably thinking the same thing as she read the page through my eyes using that new power that we both seemed to have. Fang leaned against the door frame and looked at me calmly.
"So, what are you gonna do now?" he asked. I noticed Melody peak at Fang through the hair that covered her eyes, and now that I actually had time to take a good look at her, it shocked me how long her hair was in person.
"I don't know" I said, resting my cheek on the top of Melody's head. "Probably take a breather and chill out here for a bit".
"Well, if that's the case, we're gonna have to think of a plan. At this rate, the food in that fridge isn't going to last long" he said.
"Why? Are you guys gonna stay here, too?" I asked.
"Yeah" he said, giving me a questioning look.
"You know that you don't have to. I mean, you saved my butt and helped me save my sister while putting your lives on the line, and I don't know where we're gonna go from here when we leave, and if we hung with you guys we could cause trouble for the Flock..." I rambled. I had never felt so much gratitude to anyone before and knowing that I could probably never pay them back nagged at my conscience.
Fang only closed his eyes and shook his head at me, as if I was missing something important.
"You still don't get it, do you?" he asked.
"Get what?" I wondered, now confused and a bit miffed that he had interrupted my monologue.
He opened his eyes and looked back at me with amusement. "You're part of the flock now. And in case you haven't noticed, we stay together" he said simply.
I raised my head and looked at him, truly lost for words.
They were accepting us in their group after all of the times that they could've been killed, even when I had just deserted them without an explanation or even a goodbye. Fang turned to walk out the door after a few silent seconds had passed between us, but I didn't want him to leave without me saying anything at all.
"Thanks" was all I could manage to get out of my mouth, and I mentally slapped myself.
I could've done better than that, like "Thanks for saving my life", or "Thanks for helping me save my sister and following me all the way here even though I left", or even "Thanks for just being there" would have been good ones.
But he seemed to get what I was saying and turned back around with mischief dancing in his eyes, as if he was planning something. "Anytime, princess" he said calmly.
And this just ticked me off.
"Is there any particular reason why you are calling me that?" I asked, my mouth now in a frown.
"Actually, there is" he said matter-of-factly, and tossed me a few pages that were pressed together in an envelope style manner. I became confused as I flattened them out.
"What do the pictures that I drew have to do with anything?" I asked.
"On the back, stupid" he said while crossing his arms and looking as if he was anticipating something. I turned to the back of one of the pages and as I scanned the words that were there, I became more and more mad by the second.
"You. Shower. Now" I ordered Melody, who was now also looking at the pages out of curiosity.
She looked at me in silent shock and when she realized that I had meant it, and she glared at Fang; I guess because she thought he was doing something to make me kick her out of the room; but she got up and walked out without a word, and I could hear the seemingly endless stream of profanities flow through her mind.
But I wasn't paying too much attention to her vulgar vocabulary, because the words that were on the page were my own thoughts that had gone through my mind when I was on my way to England.
Every single thought.
That was probably why my head was constantly hurting. I was so used to putting my thoughts on paper that I was unconsciously writing in my diary pages.
And Fang had read every single one.
Instead of getting out of bed and punching him square in the face; my chest was starting to hurt even more; I crumbled all of the pages into a little tiny ball and set them on fire right then and there, letting my anger fuel it to make it easier to make. "Maybe I should leave and never come back" I said when the pages were reduced to nothing but ash.
But suddenly, Total came bounding into the room, jumped on my bed, and came as close to my face as he could with a menacing look on his face. "If you EVER leave us again, I WILL hunt you down and dismantle you! You got that?!" he demanded. I raised up my hands in defense and stared at him with wide eyes.
"Ok, ok. I got it" I replied.
"Promise me you won't leave again!" he said with a voice that actually made me believe that he would hurt me if I didn't, even though I was more than four times his height.
"I promise, I promise" I said, trying to calm him down.
"Well, now that that's settled..." said Fang from the doorway, and I glared at him as if this was all his fault.
Which it kinda was.
Nudge poked her head through the door with a questioning look on her face. "Hey guys, do you smell something burning, like paper on fire? And has anyone seen my pictures?" she asked.
Her eyes instantly spotted the black ashes that were now on the floor, and she instantly jumped to conclusions as I looked guiltily at her. "YOU SET MY PICTURES ON FIRE?!" she shrieked as she came into the room and plopped herself down on the floor, picking up the ashes as if she was mourning a dead pet fish.
"They're only pictures " Total scoffed while he rolled his eyes, but Nudge only shot daggers at him with her eyes.
"How would you like it if I burned 'Mona Lisa'?" she retorted, and Total glared at her.
"You wouldn't dare..." he muttered dangerously, but Nudge ignored him and sighed.
"I really liked those pictures..." she grieved, probably because I made her look really good in them.
"I can make you another one, though it won't be the same" I said.
"Yay!" she exclaimed as she instantly jumped up and hugged me, making my chest hurt even more.
"Oh begezzus, you guys are gonna kill me" I gasped under the pressure of Nudge's hug.
So yeah; my first day in the cabin full of weirdos. I now had a clingy sister, a protective talking dog, an annoying Fang who I didn't get at all, and a family full of humongous eaters.
Well, at least we could all take a shower and didn't smell like we had been drenched in antiseptic.
Life truly has gotten interesting.
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Author's Note (man it seems I'm making alot of these lately XD) : This chapter was mainly for a little breathing room for the characters (hey they couldn't always be on the run could they? Then the story would be a little repetitive and boring lol).
Anyway, I demand that you all send me reviews!...pretty please XD.