Ch.2: A Phone Call From Friends

Rebel's P.O.V.

"Rebel!" A voice cried. I recognized it as Gwen's and ran towards it. I didn't know why I had such a yearning to draw close to my motherly figure, all I knew was that I needed her, desperately. My feet padded against the hardwood coating the floor down the hall. I recognized this place as my old home, one of many. The hallway seemed to never end as I pushed myself to go faster. And finally I had reached the door. My hand wrapped around the doorknob, but it was much smaller than I remembered. My line of vision had dropped a few feet, too. I was shorter. I was reliving a memory within a nightmare. On impulse, I threw the door open and raced over to where Gwen lay crumbled in the corner of her room. I tripped over something on my way there. As I fell I glanced back and noticed that the something was Kale. A very torn to shreds Kale. By the time I had regained myself and brought my feet under me again, Gwen was screaming. A paw wrapped around my throat and my heart pounded.

"They aren't here!" Gwen cried in exasperation. A cold laughter came from another beast who held me.

"Run Rebel!" Gwen ordered. But I couldn't, nor wouldn't leave Gwen there. She was my guardian, my mother. She had given me everything, as far as I was concerned. How could I run from this? How could I turn and leave Gwen and the baby sitting in the line of danger? And then I shook my head. I had lived this before. This had already happened. This was a dream. I could wake up. I would wake up.

"No!" I roared and bolted up straight in my seat. Someone gasped from the front seats and the car was jerked to the shoulder. Kale was driving again, and he slammed on the breaks and made my whole body fly forward. By the time we were still I had caught my breath and regained my former composure of calm, cool, and collected.

"What was that?!" Gwen shouted as she spun in her seat to look back at me.

"Nothing," I lied.

"You had the dream again, didn't you?" She asked solemnly. I sighed and nodded, hanging my head slightly.

"It's not your fault..." She began like always.

"Yes, it is Gwen!" I spat hastily, fists curling, "Why did I run? Why couldn't I have done something? Why is it that I wake up every day and feel that her death was my fault?"

Gwen sat for a moment in silence and I saw her bite her lip as she turned her back on me. That dream was practically haunting me. I've been having it since the accident. I've been having it since I was thirteen years old, and I can never grip the concept that I was afraid. What a coward I was, running from the scene and leaving an eight month pregnant Gwen alone to fend for herself.

"You did do something. You did what I told you to," she said, her voice quivering. I knew she was crying, and it made my blood boil more. In my mind I lash out at myself for my cowardice on a daily basis. By the time Max and Fang got there to stop the attack, Gwen had already lost the baby. It was a girl, and they named it Hope. The name was engraved on the despairing stone placed at the head of her grave. I saw no hope in the situation. From my position there was no hope. That night I had been taken by the Erasers. Turns out, I can't run to darn fast. They caught me, and took me to the labs. I was poked and prodded. Torture was my punishment.

I deserved it.

Look what I had done. I knew that my family was searching for me. They wouldn't find me, I knew that too. So I escaped myself. It took some thinking, about a year's worth, before I finally went free. But I came out a new person, and I've been this new person ever since. Coward is no longer in my vocabulary, but guilt was added.

"It was my fault too, Rebel. I shouldn't have passed out so easily," Kale explained. We were back on the road, and this time the sound of some song blaring on the radio was accompanied by Gwen's sniffles.

•••

We had been driving for a while, who knows how long, when Kale pulled into a little convenient store's parking lot. This would all be normal, if we hadn't stopped at one ten minuets ago.

"Why are we stopping? Did you forget how to drive? Move your-" Before I could finish that sentence my phone rang. I glanced down and noted that it was a number that I have never seen before. That usually meant a sales call, or some freak who I don't know deciding to call me and waste my time. I made no effort whatsoever to answer it, instead I looked up at Kale with a continue glare of frustration at the sudden stop. I found him grinning.

"Answer it!" Gwen hurried. I groaned and complied. I was greeted with loud screams on the other end.

"Put it on speaker!" Kale barked. Again, I followed orders. The screams ceased to giggles.

"H-Hello?" I mumbled cautiously.

"REB!" Two feminine yelps echoed throughout the van.

"Who is this?" I looked to Gwen and Kale, who were seething with happiness. A discontent sigh came from my phone.

"It's me, Eva, dummy!"

"And Ava."

My blood ran cold. Eva and Ava?! On my phone?! I had almost forgotten the sound of their voices.

"Cool," came my usual, bored reply.

"'Cool'," mocked Ava, trying to copy my deeper tone.

"Did you hit puberty? You sound different. Do you look different? I bet you do. Do you still have to wear glasses? Do you still wear basketball shorts? Do you wear deodorant now? I hope so. Remember that time when..." There went Eva.

"Eva, shut up. Let the boy speak," Ava grumbled.

"The deep, husky, manly boy," Eva teased. I could almost imagine her smirk. My cheeks turned hot and Kale laughed at me.

"Freaks," I replied simply.

"You're starting to sound like Dad, Rebel." Like Ava had room to talk. I am nothing like Fang. That old timer hates me.

"Did you miss us? Do you have a girlfriend? Is she blond? You always liked blonds. I heard that Californian girls are gorgeous. I wish I was from there. But this place is cool, too. How tall are you?" Gosh, Eva really knew how to make things awkward.

I said nothing, to their disappointment.

"Aunt Gwen!" Eva whined.

"Yeah?" Gwen chuckled.

"Why isn't he talking?"

"Because he's afraid he'll lose his whole macho mojo."

"Is he hot?"

"No, dear. It's Rebel."

My jaw dropped. "That's not true!"

"That got him talking," Ava snorted. I glared at the phone, hoping the gesture would reach her through the device.

"How much longer until you get here?" Ava asked.

"Just a little while," Gwen said slyly.

"Blane is practically dying! He misses you guys so bad!" Eva stated.

Blane. He's pretty awesome. I haven't seen him since he was four, but I remember that he had dark brown hair and brown eyes. I didn't bother to look at pictures when Max would send them to Gwen, but I'm pretty sure that the kid couldn't have changed that much. I also knew that Max had another daughter named Nichole.

Why did I know so little about the Ride family? I refused to let myself fall weak again. The best way to forget about what happened was to remove myself from anything that could cause me to react like that again. I never answered any calls Ava or Eva sent me, never read their emails, mail, or texts, and I never looked at any pictures. They eventually stopped trying to reach me. And then today happened.

"I gotta go, guys," I muttered.

"No! Not yet, Rebby!" Eva pleaded. I hit end, which made Gwen frown.

"What?" I looked at her with a blank expression.

"Please be nice to them. They really do miss you," she sighed.

"I know."

"You, my boy, are what we like to call a PARTY POOPER!" Kale yelled as he pulled out of the parking lot. That's not what my friends say. Well, maybe because I've never gone to a party and denied myself of a drink, or two. Maybe I am a bit hateful when I'm sober.

Thank you all for reviewing/following/favoriting! :D

To Tobymydog: Rebel's attitude won't change for a while. I'm trying to spice it up a bit and not make the narrator all sunshine-optimistic-cheery like.

If I get 2 reviews I'll UPDATE TOMORROW!

Up next for the next chapter: Meeting the next generations and reading the group's history.