I only own my OCs. Anything that you recognize from Jumper, I don't own.
Darkening Sky ~ Peter Bradley Adams
My heartbeat increased when I figured out I was stuck.
'Wait, as long as they don't come down here, I'm fine.'
I thought as some relief washed over me, but my fears rose to a new height when I heard footsteps growing louder on the stairs.
They're coming down.
I looked around the room frantically trying to find a hiding spot.
There was none.
I quickly went to my last resort and opened up the window that was barely above ground level and pulled myself up.
I crawled out of the window and shut it quickly, but quietly.
I saw out of the corner of my eye, the door to the secret room open.
I walked, with much concentration so I wouldn't run for my life, back to the front door.
I opened it up and saw mom and some other guy there.
"Where were you?" She asked in a fake concern like when I was ten.
It always made me feel like I was, in her eyes, a five year old.
"I decided to go for a walk around the house. Where are the food and the supplies?" I asked, adverting the conversation on where I really was.
Then, mom did a fake gasp.
"Well, we must have been too preoccupied and happy to see our old friend, Mr. Roland, to actually get the-"
She was cut off by me walking past her.
I wasn't interested in the supplies anymore.
'Roland!' I thought harshly.
'Wasn't he one of mom and Mark's business partners? No doubt, he's just like them and out to get Griffin! Griffin…' My flashed back to the day that he had to leave.
He had told me to never tell his secret, and he warned me about some people.
"Now, whatever you do, watch out for shifty-looking people in trench coats." A ten-year-old Griffin instructed.
"Wow Griffin. That could be anyone in the rain." A ten-year-old version of me replied back a bit sarcastic.
He noticed and fidgeted a little bit giving me a stern look.
"I'm being serious. They're not nice people. They gave me this scar!" He said in a really angry tone as he pulled down his shirt collar a little.
I gasped and gently touched it.
As soon as my fingers made contact, though, he withdrew.
"They're called Paladins. People who want people like me, Jumpers, dead. They'll stop at nothing until we're off the face of the Earth." He informed.
'Angry. He's filled with so much hate over them.'
I got sad and Griffin took notice to that too.
He gently grabbed my shoulders and looked me in the eye.
"I'm going to leave because I have to. I don't want to, but I want to make sure that you're safe." I nodded, with tears running down my face.
I grabbed onto his black shirt, tugging it a little, and pulled him into a hug.
He hesitated for a second or two, and then he hugged back.
"See ya." He said as he broke us apart, and then he jumped.
"Now Melody. I want you and your siblings to be on your best behavior since Mr. Roland is here." Mom instructed.
"How do you know 'Mr. Roland'?" I asked her.
She seemed a little shocked by this question, but quickly recovered.
"He's in the same business with us." She said calmly.
I started to feel sick. So they knew more about Griffin than I thought or they let on.
It would explain the list down in the 'secret room'.
They're Paladins?
Is that why Griffin had to leave?
Questions started to fill my head as I started to get pale.
I felt my stomach whirling around and my body getting weaker.
Anne took noticed and walked over too me.
"Are you ok, sis?" She asked with concern in her eyes and tone.
I nodded and straightened back up.
"SO!" Mom yelled happily.
"What's for lunch?"
She looked up at me expectantly like I knew all of the answers in the world.
"I don't know. You never brought food back." I said in a bored tone.
She looked at Mr. Roland for a second, and then back down sadly.
I really knew the reason why they didn't get any food and stuff.
They were out trying to kill another Jumper.
They might have succeeded, they might not have, but somewhere along the way, they picked up Roland.
The more and more I looked at him, the angrier I felt.
He's the reason Griffin had to leave.
He's killed a bunch of people for really no reason.
I restrained my self.
"Perhaps, Anne and I could go to the store and get some things." I asked.
Anne looked at me gleefully.
She loved to go shopping.
Any shopping was good, it didn't matter with her, and since I was the one driving, she gets to go to Starbucks or something of the sort.
Karen sighed and flicked her wrist.
"Fine, fine. Go, go." I smiled and Anne jumped up and down twice before sprinting to her room.
I walked casually over to my room.
I looked around at everything.
Drawing books and game magazines stacked messily in a pile on my dresser and random letters, cards, and papers along with writing utensils scattered all over my desk.
My little nightstand was neatly placed under my nature calendar.
My bed, unmade from not being back into my room, was now a little damp.
I walked over to it and made it.
I turned back around to the little entryway.
I remembered when Mark would get mad at me and try to barge in, but I had my feet pressed halfway up the wall with my back against the door so he couldn't enter.
I stifled a laugh.
The door then opened and startled me a little, thinking that my memory came to life.
It was just Anne.
"Hey, hurry up! We're going to go shopping!" She said happily and closed the door.
I let out a breath that I didn't know that I was holding.
I shook my head, knowing that she never really grew up.
I walked into the only bathroom upstairs and found that Anne wasn't in it.
I put some eye shadow on and a little mascara.
Then, I did my hair in a messy way and put hairspray in it to hold it.
I walked out and back into my bedroom and grabbed my awaiting purse.
"Anne! It's time!" I called out to her.
"Here!" She called back, hopping out of the hallway and into my bedroom. I smiled at her.
She was so pretty.
Her brown eyes seemed to pop out with the mascara and eye shadow she put on.
Her dark brown hair was in its normal wave, but more neat than normal.
She was blessed not to have big breasts, but big enough that it fit her slim body well enough.
She wore an Abercrombie shirt that was layered and some hydro pants.
If you just looked at her face too, you'd see her black hoop earrings.
I smiled.
"Alright, let's go."
She smiled back and walked out.
I followed her and closed the door behind me.
I don't like it when mom and Mark go into my room.
We walked into the living room and said goodbye to Chris, though, everyone thought that we were talking to them.
Anne, though, made it more exact.
"Bye shorty!" She yelled as she left the house.
I could briefly hear when I closed the door behind her, Chris yelling: "I'm not short!"
I chuckled.
"You know, he's going to hit a growth spurt really soon and HE's going to be the one calling YOU shorty." I informed.
"Yeah yeah, call me when he does."
We both crawled into the car and I started it up.
We started down the country roads until we hit our little town.
"Fist, Wal-Mart."
"But that's on the completely other side of Springfield!" She complained.
I looked at her.
"My car, my rules, my list."
She sighed and rolled down the window.
She knew that I was fine with that because I always loved to feel the wind.
I smiled a little.
"So, how's school?"
She looked at me.
"Fine I guess. I need help in math again."
My smiled widened at that.
I was great in math.
I was in senior math when I was a sophomore.
"No boy trouble?"
I asked her with amusement in my voice.
She looked at me questionably.
"No, well, Alex keeps trying to get me to go out with him and so does Steve, but I'm not going for them and they won't get the picture."
I laughed.
"That's just how guys are. You ask for them to leave and they won't because they're dense and you yell at them to leave and they think that you're playing a game."
She laughed at that.
"True, true. What about you? You had a bunch of guys going after you. Why didn't you try them out?"
I looked at her for a brief second before returning my eyes to the road.
"They weren't really all that great. Mostly, they were stupid and just wanted some. Besides, I didn't like any of them like that."
She nodded.
"What about that one boy?"
I looked at her quizzically before looking back at the road.
"You know, that one kid that you used to hang out with all of the time when you were younger. The one that showed up out of nowhere and left just as suddenly."
My heart skipped a beat for a second.
I paused.
"He's gone. I don't think he's coming back." I explained solemnly.
The air got really tense and neither of us said anything for the rest of the way.
Reality hit hard, though, and my words kept ringing in my head.
He's gone.
He's not coming back.
He's gone.
He's not coming back.
He's gone...
"There's the store." Anne said quietly, like if it were any louder, I might shatter.
I saw it and nodded.
I turned on my turn signal and went into the parking lot.
Anne rolled up her window as I parked and turned off the car.
We got out and I locked it as we entered the store.
