The drive wasn't too bad. Dani and I sang along to the songs on the radio for most of it, for the other part she was on the phone to her boyfriend who was away on business and couldn't come to the lake with us. Not that any of us minded him not being there, well except Dani of course. Sammy just brushed her hair the whole time, that girl is obsessed with her golden locks. And Robin was happy enough scribbling away in her coloring book for 5 hours. Apart from the bathroom break at every gas station, I handled the drive well.
We arrived at our cabin, if that's what you would call the run down piece of junk, half hour late, but it didn't matter. I pulled up behind the mini van and Charlie parked his car right behind mine. All 14 of us clambered out of the cars to see where we would be staying for the next few weeks up close. It looked worse in my opinion. The stairs leading up to the deck were rotting away and half of one was missing. The house itself was just as bad. The wood was greening in places and it looked dirty and unused.
"You can not be serious." Stevie said what we were all thinking.
"Wow!" Jake exclaimed.
"That's the spirit Jake." My father encouraged him.
"No, I mean wow, look at that place." I turned to look at Jake and he was pointing across the lake at our neighbors. There was big 3 story house, no, mansion. It was painted white so it stood out amongst all of the tree's. In the water outside were jet ski's and a parked jet boat. There were kids splashing in he water, but they were too far away to tel how old they were or even if they were girls or boys. In a whole the place was better than our, way better.
"Why can't we rent somewhere like that?" Jessy asked.
"Well, I, uh." My mother stuttered, unable to think of a reason to tell us.
"Because that place is too fancy, we want the real outdoors treatment." My father told us. Most of us rolled our eyes and moaned. Typical dad, he got us the rundown shit when we could have had some posh place like everyone else. We were now outcasts.
"Everyone go inside." My mother said, and we all rushed up the stairs, forgetting they could break and kill us all at any time. Of course every family has the idiot that thinks they can do something when it is clear you can't. Ours is Shayne. Shayne tried to jump the missing step but failed misrebly. He got his leg caught,making him fall straight down hurting the family jewels. I laughed like mad at him before following the rest of my siblings inside. As soon as I walked through the door there was a loud, ear splitting scream.
Jessy, Niki and Sammy were up on the sofa. Robin had hopped up onto the table Dani was halfway up to the loft. Drake and Kyle were standing with their back's pressed against the wall and Stevie, Jake and Charlie were scanning the floor for something. And then I saw it. A giant rat came running out from under the sofa with Charlie's keys in it's mouth, I screamed and jumped up on the table with Robin. Jake made a dive for the rat but he slipped past his hands. Stevie threw a few cushions at him but they missed. Charlie put his foot in front of the rats hole and he dropped the keys and ran off to somewhere else in the house.
My parents came running into the house.
"What happened?" My father shouted, out of breath because he wasn't exactly fit.
"Benny happened." Dani told him.
"That things still here?" My mother squealed in disgust.
"Yes, he's here!" I screamed, freaked out because he could be anywhere in the house by now.
"I'll have to get some traps tomorrow when I go down the hardware store." My father said. "But for now go get your luggage from the car and get settled in your rooms. I was the first to to the door and I bolted it back to my car to grab my suitcase. I wasn't going to stick around to find out where the rat was.
I made sure not to go in the girls room alone. It was a big room and the rat could have been hiding anywhere. There was four sets of bunk beds in the room. I placed my stuff on the bottom bunk and took a look around the room to see if I could spot the mini devil. I couldn't see him anywhere.
"Courtney." Robin's voice brought me back to reality.
"Yeah, Rob." I said, turning to face my little sister.
"Can I share a bed with you?" She asked.
"Sure." I hoisted her stuff onto her bunk as she climbed the ladder to the top. I then sat back down on my bed and started to unpack.
"Everyone dress fancy, we're going to a party!" My father's voice boomed through the cabin. A party shouldn't be too bad. I pulled out my strapless, silver dress and the matching flats. It wasn't too fancy, but it wasn't under dressed. I tied my hair up and then helped Robin with her clothes. She was wearing a pink party dress and I placed a pink bow in her hair. She looked so cute. My other sisters were also wearing various colored dresses, and when I went across the hall to check on the boys they were actually wearing smart looking shirts.
The 14 of us made our way over to the main lodge on foot. It was a big, fancy place. It was made of a nicer wood than our cabin was and the inside was decorated with fairy lights and looked very high standard.
"I am so glad you guys made it." A familiar voice greeted our family. It was Tom, the owner of our cabin. "Well, the kids party is downstairs and the adults are over by the bar." Tom pointed behind him as all of my younger siblings ran off downstairs.
"What are you four waiting for?" My mother asked Dani, Charlie, Shayne and I.
"Kids party?" I retorted.
"Young adult, now go." I rolled my eyes and walked down the pristine stairs. It had that new car smell for some unknown reason. When I got downstairs I found myself on an open deck. There were people of various ages all around. There was loud music and a buffet table with it's own chef. I walked over to the railings so I could see the night sky. It was beautiful.
I just stared up at the stars wondering if Duncan was doing the same, it was going to be ages before I saw him again. I heard the sound of footsteps and someone walking over to me. They stood a few paces to my left, but I didn't see them because I didn't take my eye's of the stars.
"You know, you look even more beauiful now then you did last time I saw you."