Chapter Five
"Whoa," Emmie breathed in the fresh grassy scent. Her hand reached out to feel the pedals of one of the large dandelions. It felt soft and fluffy; cotton like. Smiling, she bent her head down and blew against the seeds causing them to fly off into the air.
"... they both believed in something that everyone told them was impossible..."
She turned towards Trevor and laughed at the abnormally happy face he had on. Even her mother looked pleased. Maybe she was feeling relief that her father, after all this time, really wasn't as crazy as everyone made him out to be. Sure, the old man was kooky, but he was right.
Sean stepped beside her and picked one of the large dandelion seeds. He released it into the sky and watched it float away, "I can't believe it's real."
Hannah pointed towards the bright light in the sky, "What is that?"
"It looks like a sun," Emmie commented. "But... not at the same time."
"It must be some sort of gas combustion," muttered Trevor. He looked thoughtful as he eyed the orangeish mass in the sky.
"Like a terrarium," said Sean.
"A terrarium a thousand of miles beneath the earth's crust..." the older man grinned. "Amazing."
Emmie furrowed her brows, "A world..."
"Within a world. Yes," Trevor started walking forward.
"The waterfalls, which for a long time, could be heard flowing from afar... now cascaded along the towering canyon walls... streaming along the rock with no end."
"Someone was down here before," raising her eyes to Trevor's he nodded in agreement. "Gramps told me once about how he met some guy that claimed to have gone to the center of the earth. That he had shown them proof. That's why he believed in it so much."
Her mother frowned, "He told you that?"
"Yeah..." Emmie tucked a strand of hair behind her ear nervously. "He told me a lot of things..."
Trevor raised his brows, "Like?"
"Well, that someone had been here and got out. That's an important thing," Emmie muttered frustrated that they were prying. There were some things her grandpa had discussed with her that she didn't feel the trio should know at the moment -especially Sean.
"Someone got out..." Trevor repeated.
Sean laughed, "That's the best thing I've heard all day."
"We should find shelter," Hannah stated picking up her pace to stand beside Trevor. "Eating and rest are our main priorities right now. We wont be able to go on much longer without it."
"I am starving..." whined Sean as he placed his hand over his grumbling stomached. "Do you think any of this stuff is edible?"
"Maybe," Trevor looked at the plants around him.
Hannah looked behind her at the two younger children, "Hey look at this Trevor."
She pulled the man to the side and luckily the teens stood back watching them oddly. Trevor motioned to the mushroom, "That's a huge mushroom. Maybe we can eat it..."
"Trevor, do you think everything in the book is real?" she asked in a hushed voice.
"I'm not sure," he pursed his lips. "Probably though."
"Even the dangerous things?"
He looked back at Sean suddenly very protective of his nephew, "I was just thinking about that too."
The ground seemed to shudder causing a rumbling noise to echo throughout the land. Hannah and Trevor whirled around to see both of their responsibilities looking at something excitedly.
"Hey, come here quick!"
Sean reached the tree house first. Looking back at his uncle he tilted his head upward, "I'm going in."
"Me too."
"I wanna come!" Emmie ran up behind Sean and followed him inside the tree.
"I'll be right back," Hannah called towards them. She started towards the woodsy area surrounding the quaint tree house. Her feet hit the ground as she looked for somewhere to use the bathroom. The feeling had become so extreme she could hardly hold it any longer.
However the urge to use the bathroom faded when she saw something slumped over in the corner of her eye. She cautiously stepped closer to the object and gasped loudly. Bones... human bones.
She kneeled beside the body and noticed that the flanges were wrapped around a metal flask. Tugging it gently out of the dead man's grasp she rubbed her fingers over the metal. Her heart clenched at the name she read... Max.
"Oh Sean..." she whispered sadly.
"Look at this!" Emmie held up a facial shaving razor.
"I can't believe someone lived here..." Sean was rummaging through some bags and pulled out a journal. He flipped through the pages. "I think I found Liedenbrock's notebook."
Trevor held out his hand and Sean gave him the leather-bound journal. The man's face turned sour, "This isn't Liedenbrock's notebook."
He opened his brother's copy of Journey to the Center of the Earth and placed it beside the journal. Emmie raised her eyebrows and watched as reels went off in Sean's brain. The expression was clear on his face, "It's my dad's..."
She placed the razor back by the empty bucket carefully. The sudden overwhelming feeling of imposing became extreme. Sean had grabbed the notebook back and was flipping through the pages aggressively almost as if just glancing at the pages would answer all his questions.
"Trevor!" her mother's voice stirred her. Trevor and her both moved towards the large gap in the tree house to see Hannah's unsure expression. "Can I talk with you for a moment, alone?"
He glanced at his nephew before going down the gapping hole. Sean and Emmie were left alone in the tree house. She didn't want to intrude on Sean's searching so she looked back out the window to watch her mother and Trevor.
Hannah handed Trevor the flask as he stopped before her. He ran his fingers over the metal like she had moments before.
"I think I found Max..." she mumbled not making eye contact with the man before her.
They moved through the forest tensely. Hannah put her hand out to stop them and she looked in the direction of the body. Trevor silently made his way over to the body and fell to his knees.
"So this is what really happened," Trevor shook his head. All that was left were his bones, deteriorated fabric, and a broken flashlight.
Turning towards Hannah he sighed, "We should burry him on the beach. He would like that."
Sean stared at Hannah and Trevor as they entered the tensely silent tent. The woman walked over to her daughters side and grabbed her hand gently. The two had never been physically close. Hugs and kisses were never a big thing when it came to them. But all Hannah wanted to do was wrap her arms around her daughter and tell her how much she meant to her.
"So..." Sean said raising his brows.
"We found Max," he whispered.
"Where?" a look of excitement crossed the fifteen-year-olds features.
Trevor swallowed loudly as a misty gloss crossed his eyes, "He's not alive Sean."
Uncomfortably, Emmie stood beside her mother. Trevor was piling stones atop the bones that were Max Anderson's. In the corner of gray eyes she could see Sean watching with a tight jaw.
When Trevor finished he went onto Sean's other side and stared at the placement. It was then when Sean finally began to speak.
His voice cracked, "I just wish I could have known him."
"He wrote something for you," Trevor slid a folded parchment from his pocket. He faced Sean as he began to speak. "August 14, 1997. Today was Sean's third birthday. Six weeks ago, I promised myself I would be home in time to give him his first baseball glove."
Hannah squeezed her daughters hand.
"Now I'm worried that I'll never get the chance," Trevor's striking blue gaze met Sean's dark caramel eyes. "I set out to make an incredible discovery to share with Trevor and the world..."
Sean blubbered out a sob. Emmie stared at Sean hard. It was as if this was the first time she was really seeing him. His eyes were lighter than usual as they sparkled with tears and his jaw was shaking as he tried to hold back from crying out louder.
Her mother was beside her crying, Trevor had silent tears rolling down his cheeks, while Sean sobbed as quietly as possible to himself. Then Emmie stood their staring. She was discovering something... something she hadn't realized she was capable of doing. Sean was different than anyone she had ever met before and that was something she never wanted to lose.
"But now, I would trade it all..." the man let out a sob this time. "...just to be able to watch you grow up-" he grabbed Sean and brought him to a fatherly hug. "-to be the brave and caring man I am certain you will become. Happy birthday, Sean. I love you. Daddy."
After a few moments of muffled crying they broke apart. Not bothering to spare the two females a glance they started their way back toward the tree house.
Emmie stared at her mom. The golden haired woman was looking out at the ocean seemingly lost in her own thoughts. She laced her fingers through her mother's tenderly and let her eyes fall on the ocean.
"Sometimes I wonder," Hannah laughed to herself softly. "How much different our lives would be if your father had really loved me enough to stay."
She eyed her mother warily, but let the woman continue in a soft voice, "I used to think it would be better. You would stay my sweet little angel forever. The bitterness that came over you as you got older, when you realized things weren't the way they were supposed to be, would have never emerged. Now... I don't think that would have done you any good. You have proved me wrong in so many ways in one day."
Hannah gave her a teary eyed smile, "I am so proud that you are my daughter."
"I have hardly done anything worth being proud over," she shrugged her shoulders awkwardly not wanting to accept the compliment.
"Yes you have," Hannah gazed down at her daughter. She ran a hand through the young woman's dirty brunette waves affectionately. "You have been so brave. So powerful... I have never been proven more wrong in my entire life."
"Anyone else would have died by now," she added with a smirk. "But not my daughter."
She smirked, "Well, we aren't out of here yet."
"Let's go back," Hannah tugged on her daughters hand.
"I think I'm going to sit on the beach for a bit," she objected letting her hand fall free from her mother's. 'I need sometime to breathe. No offense, but I've been in through enough life or death situations with you guys today that I need some space."
Hannah nodded her head understandingly, "Make it back before the sun sets please... or whatever that is."
"So.. what you are saying is that we are surrounded by lava in a giant air pocket and are going to incinerate in the next few days unless we get out of here?" Sean questioned staring hard at Trevor. The man nodded his head as he read the pages of his brother's journal. "The average human cannot survive beyond one hundred and thirty-five degrees. Right now it is-"
"Ninety-five," Hannah inputted.
"It was eighty-five when we arrived here," he sighed. "The temperatures are rising too quickly. We will have to get out of here as soon as possible if we want to live."
"What's the plan?" his nephew eyed him warily. The idea of being baked like cookies in a giant oven didn't sound appealing to him. Canada was sounding better the longer he was stuck in here.
"In the book the character notes a geyser-river across the ocean that can be used to make an escape to the surface. I say we follow that," Trevor picked up a doodle that Max drew in his journal. He pointed where the geyser was. "That is where we need to go."
Hannah frowned, "How much time do we have left?"
"Forty hours or less."
"Let's rest for now and get started after we are energized," she said with a sigh.
"We will follow Max's plan," he put the journal on the table gently. Turning to Sean he smiled. "Get some sleep."
Sean glanced around the room, "Where is Emmie?"
"She's out by the shore still," Hannah responded looking out the window. It had only been about thirty minutes since she left her alone, but this world was so dangerous she was a bit worried.
"Why?"
"She wanted some space."
He sighed tiredly, "I'll go get her. She shouldn't be out there alone anyway."
Without further notice he exited the tree house. Hannah shot Trevor a look and the man raised a brow, "What?"
"He likes her..." she smiled amusedly.
Trevor laughed, "Yeah."
"How about you and I take the floor and we let either Emmie or Sean take the hammock?"
The two adults started to ready themselves as they waited for their teenagers to return.
I know you guys have been waiting for some flush! Sorry that it took to chapter SIX to give it to you ;-) But next chapter you will see some fluff between Emmie and Sean hehe! :3
- On that note. In this story you wont be seeing much like "head over heels" in love type of relationship from them. I don't want to give much away, but they are both really young and I don't think Sean would really be interested in that kind of relationship yet. DON'T WORRY. I am finishing the final chapter of this story and starting on the sequel soon! So, they will be way older and way more mature for more of a ROMANCE in that one. With some OTHER drama included. Hehe.