Chapter Five: Goodbye House (pt1)

It was kinda weird to run in the hallways of my own home... it looked almost just like it had been that fateful morning when everything went bad. Some clutter was still in the hallway and used clothes thrown on the floor, but now most of the drawers had been left hastily open- and there were things left out that hadn't been before.

Isabella and I didn't waste any time before storming through our bedroom. I dumped half of our underwear drawer inside of my backpack, making sure to grab our thicker socks, before starting to stuff some of our undershirts in there as well. Isabella was already rifling through our closet and pulling the sweaters that were in the back off their hangers.

"Let's use my suitcases!" Alexander panted as he dragged in the suitcases he and Andres had used. He had removed the contents of his missing brother's so it was empty and ready to be filled. He didn't hesitate before starting to help Isabella pack some of our jeans and sweatpants inside the suitcase.

"I'm gonna go grab some of Camila's clothes- I think there's a duffel bag in Papi's closet!" I gasped out as the memory came to me.

I practically tripped into my parent's room before tearing through their closet until I dragged out the three black duffel bags that they owned. I unzipped one before dumping my mother's entire underwear drawer inside before tossing jeans, sweaters, tank tops, a pajama set, her sandals and long-sleeved shirts in there as well. It was a bit weird packing away shoes -especially for someone else- but I chose to stuff her hiking boots and running shoes... there was a little more space in the bag so I ran out into the hallway where the big closet with all our winter gear was.

I pulled off my mother's heavy jacket, mine, Isabella's, my dad's, Camila's, one of the spares, and the smaller baby-sized ones for Olivia and Eva. I was able to stuff three of them in my mom's bag before squishing the other ones in one of the other bags. Since mom's bag was full I dragged it into the hallway before tossing it down the stairs so that someone already on the first floor could start bringing it to the RV.

Alexander nodded at me when I bumped into him in the hallway, before he tossed the full bags of things he'd packed with Isabella down the stairs as well. He helped me stuff the two bags with Camila's, Olivia's and Eva's clothes. One bag was just for their collective stuff before I started collecting all the diapers from the nursery room.

There were unopened packs that I just tossed down the stairs without thinking about too much, but the baby powder, wet wipes, baby thermometer, blankets, the spare breast pump, Mami's kangaroo were all tightly stuffed into the duffel bag with winter coats. Alexander had to pick me up so that we could reach the string for the attic stairs, I was the one to go up there and throw down the sleeping bags, lanterns, big beach towels, and the three tents since Alexander didn't know where any of that stuff was. I even opened up the box with the winter hats, gloves and scarves before grabbing a couple and tossing them down as well.

"I found our old school bags!" Isabella panted after she helped us dump the bags downstairs, "Let's grab some more clothes."

"Can I get one for the bathroom stuff?" Alexander wiped his brow.

Isabella bobbed her head as she lead us to the closet where she'd pulled out some of our old bag backs. Alexander grabbed the biggest one before hightailing it to the bathroom. "Don't forget Mami's private bathroom!" I called out to his retreating back before grabbing two of the bags for myself and sprinting towards my room.

"I forgot to pack shoes..." Isabella gasped as she fell to her knees in front of our closet.

"Grab our boots! The winter and rain ones... sneakers too!" I instructed her as rifled through our drawers to find our thermal underclothes, I'd found Camila's old ones in her room, so I knew we had to have them. There! I stuffed some shorts and leggings into the bags too, before looking around my room. I grabbed my tiny blue puppy from my bed and stuffed her into the bag as well before grabbing Isabella's Teddy as well, our DS and Gameboy were abandoned on the side table... I shrugged my shoulders before packing them, the games and chargers in there as well. We'd be spending a lot of time in the RV, we were bound to get bored sometime.

"Should I grab our raincoats?" Isabella murmured as she struggled to zip up the backpack.

I grabbed mine from the floor and slipped it on, "Just wear it."

She nodded, copying me, "What about the babies'?"

"Vamos, let's toss this down and get them." I didn't look before tossing the filled bags down while Isabella grabbed the empty ones and ran into Camila's and Olivia's room. We found their raincoats without any problems before I pointed to the 'special' box with pacifiers, "Grab that Izzie, let's get some soft toys for the girls and go down."

"Kay." Isabella practically zipped around the room with me. We only grabbed the toys that I knew were their favorites before I ran to the nursery to grab the boppi-pillow from Mami's rocking chair... she'd complained softly more than once that she missed the nursing pillow.

"Izzie wrap our pillows up in one of the blankets and let's go!" I shouted as I tossed the new bags down the stairs. I could see Alexander already helping bring out things on the first level. I heard my sister squeak in response before I ran to help. We dragged the linen and blankets off our beds before dumping our pillows, in the middle and wrapping it up like a burrito before throwing it over my shoulders, "Let's go!"

"Wait!" Isabella hesitated in the hallway before running towards the closet and rifling through the bottom, she grabbed a couple of the photo albums before returning to stuff it in with her blankets, "Now we can go!"

I sprinted down the stairs with Isabella on my heels before running out of the house towards our RV. Almost all the adults were out on the street bringing stuff from my house into their new RVs... though it looked like they'd broken into the house of one of our neighbors and were grabbing everything they could from there too. I almost collided with Alexander trying to get into our RV, but he steadied me before running back towards the house. Isabella and I dumped the linen in the master bedroom before running back out.

We became gofers the second we got back to the house, anything that was dumped into our arms sent us running outside before we'd sprint back. I'd made the trip four times when movement in Mr. Nielson's backyard made me freeze. Isabella and Alexander were in the house and there weren't any adults too close by, feeling a bit like an idiot or like Harry Potter I hesitated before slowly and quietly going to peer through the fence.

A small woof made me flinch before a wide grin stretched across my face.

It was Dottie!

I opened the fence and fell to my knees, I was immediately slobbered in wet doggie kisses. She was too skinny, the beautiful retriever had lost a lot of weight since I last saw her. Small yips were the only warning I got before two of her puppies slammed into my side and started nipping at my overalls.

"Screw it." I mumbled under my breath. No one was around, so I picked up the two squirmy puppies before running towards our RV, Dottie hot on my heels as we ran up the short steps. I dumped the puppies onto the bottom bunk, "Com'on Dottie, up!" I commanded the golden. Once she jumped up onto the bed, I told her to "Stay." before closing it off so that they couldn't get out.

Mr. Nielson's back key was under the doormat, just like it always was, I unlocked the door and quietly moved through the house. It didn't smell like decay, and my shoulders relaxed. The only reason Dottie must've survived this whole time was because of the doggy door leading outside so that she could drink rainwater, and the destroyed bags of almost emptied dog food spilling out onto the floor.

I grabbed Dottie's leash and harness from the closet before I stuffed the rest of the dog food and all the treats from the cupboard into a plastic garbage bag... I hesitated for a moment before stuffing another garbage bag with the wee-wee pads, some of Dottie's favorite toys, doggy hairbrushes, and nail clippers. I found Dottie's last puppy sleeping on the dog bed, so I cradled him to my chest and ran out without looking back.

This time Alexander was in the RV when I ran in. His eyes were practically popping out of his skull as he looked at the now awake puppy in disbelief, "Estas loca!" he hissed.

I shook my head, "I couldn't leave them there."

"Them?" he whisper-shouted.

Without another word, I opened the compartment hiding the bunk beds and dumping the last puppy near his mother. Dottie only huffed in semi-content as she panted, not looking like she was willing to move at the moment as she settled.

One of the puppies sneezed cutely, as my cousin began murmuring curses under his breath. I quickly rummaged through the garbage bag before laying down two of the wee-wee pads onto the mattress underneath the puppies in case one of them had an accident.

There.

All done.

Words 1709

Translation:

Estas loca? - Are you crazy?

(So... it's been a while... sorry? I've been really busy and kinda -okay, like a fucking lot- overwhelmed by real-life problems. Honestly, I am so pissed about my situation that I physically cannot bring myself to vent even through here because it'll just make me more angry and upset, which will make me even sadder because I don't want to be the type of person that unloads their problems on their readers... so that's all I'm going to say on that. And, I'm going to try and be a little more on top of posting my fics more regularly.

On to other things! This chapter was a little boring, but I'll be posting the next one very soon, either this weekend or on Monday. Anyway, I just want to give a quick news update for those of you that came to fic after reading Ripple Effect; so, as of now, my self appointed due date to start updating season 2 in April is still in effect... so I'll be posting the first chapter in a couple of weeks. If you guys want to have a good laugh check out Tim Urban's TED talk on procrastination... the panic monster is strong in me right now.)