Other side

Ch 11// Parents are going... away?

The next day was already Monday. The alarm rang and Kerry sat down. It was half eight in the morning. After the usual morning routine, she entered the kitchen. She made breakfast. Her sister was already gone because the train is leaving at 7.24. 

Kerry sat down at the table. Her father entered the room.

"Good morning!"

"Morning, dad!"

He took breakfast cereals from the shelf and milk from the fridge. Sitting at the table in front of the daughter, the man yawned, poured the flakes into a bowl, poured them with milk and mixed.

"What are your plans today?"

"Em... nothing special. After lessons I have nothing to do. Can you take me home after school?"

"What time?"

"About three o'clock."

He thought for a moment.

"I can't. I have evening shift today."

"I see. Well, again I will have to walk."

"Fresh air will not hurt you."

"I know just... three times a week? I have fresh air even if I am not walking all that way to home."

"Don't squeak. Imagine that you would have to double that time if you had to walk to school,"  said Kerry 's father and put a rather large spoon in his mouth with breakfast cereal, "by the way, I and your mum need to talk tonight with you two."

"About what?"

"Will see, we will talk about it at the dinner, when everyone will be here."

"Okey."

After breakfast, Kerry took all her belongings and went downstairs. Dad had already started the car and was waiting. After getting in the car, Kerry and Dad drove towards the center.

********************

The girl got out of the car, said goodbye to her father and headed for the school entrance. Kerry went to the second floor, at the beginning of the hallway she met her classmate.

"Kerry! Morning!"

"Good morning Lisa," they hugged.

"Well, how you feel after yesterday's adventures?"

"Honestly? A little tired, you?"

"I'm fine."

Jennifer came out of the toilet and came to his classmates.

"Hi girls!"

"Hey Jenifer, how are you?"

"Has been better."

Kerry wanted to ask why, but then Edwin ran towards them.

"Good morning, have you seen the changes? Geography does not happen tomorrow."

"Yea, I saw. You now why?" Kerry asked him.

"Does it matter? By the way, can you give me copy your math homework, please? We need to hand it in today."

"What prevented you from fulfilling it yesterday?

"Oh, forgot."

"Again?"

"Yea, I know... well, can you give me?"

"Okay, but this is the last time, you hear me?" saying this, the girl took the notebook out of her bag and handed it to the boy.

"Yes, thank you! You saved my life."

"Again," Lisa smirked. 

"She at least saves lives unlike you" the guy said.

"Oh, I see? Who gave you to write off a chemistry project last week? Well, who?"

You, you. But do it less often than Kerry. Whoa, don't say anything anymore. Thanks again, Kerry!" Edwin waved his hand and plunged into the crowd.

"He is incorrigible," Jennifer said.

"Not so bad, but Kerry, you have to stop giving these charity services once, not only to the others, but also to Edwin," 

"Yea, yea. Let's go to the class."

A few minutes before class began, Edwin handed the notebook to Kerry. The bell rang.

*****************

Kerry put her belongings in her bag and, nodding to her friend, with a hint, let's go, she and Lisa left the classroom. Edwin ran to them.

"Finally the end of the lesson."

"Yes! It seemed that she would never stop talking."

"What are your plans today, wanna go somewhere?" asked Philip who had came next to them unnoticed.

"I am busy, sorry dude!" said Edwin.

"I also have plans," said Lisa.

"Okey, then maybe next time. Bye!" said Philip and went towards exit.

The others said goodbye, took their jackets and also went out of school.

"Kerry, did you and Eloisa found anything about the lake we saw yesterday?” Edwin was curious. 

"Well, we were looking, but nowhere it is shown that such a lake exists, as if it did not exist at all."

"But we were there, saw it, right?" said Lisa.

"Yes, but according to the maps it could be said that the lake should not be there at all, that we just pretended it."

"Told you, you wouldn't find anything," said Edwin, "ok, I will try to find something tonight too."

"Good luck with that." answered Kerry.

"Okey, bye! Till tomorrow!" the gay waved and were gone.

"Okey, then bye to you too sweetheart!" said Lisa and hugged Kerry.

"Bye bye, kitten!"

The girl crossed the street and continued along the main street. After a few minutes, she walked off the main road and into the woods, through which a rather wide gravel road led. She could also walk along the main street, but thought that this time she would go a longer way. The wind gradually calmed down, but did not disappear. The tops of the trees swayed in the wind, there was silence all around, the young woman could only hear the rustle of the wind, the cars driving along the main street rang in the distance. The sun shone through the trees, creating a wonderful view, the air was a bit foggy, which made the view even more beautiful. Ten minutes later, the sky darkened. It was almost four o'clock when Kerry left the forest and saw a private house. After passing several houses, she saw in the distance the road leading to Lisa's house, where she was celebrating her anniversary. The sky was cloudy, and it was raining from the sky, and in a few minutes it was getting stronger. Well, it was raining, the girl was starting to run, she hadn't taken her umbrella with her, her legs were already completely wet, water drops flowed from her hair over the soaked jacket.

Kerry was approaching the main road. After running over it, the girl approached the apartment buildings. The wheels of passing cars splashed water, small streams splashed from the gutters. Kerry was completely soaked when she reached the front door. Running under the small canopy, which was a little sheltered from the rain, the girl removed her hat, and began to sneeze water from it and her hair. The girl was frozen due to wet feet and wind. She was overwhelmed by small tremors, so she hurried inside. Just as a girl crossed the threshold of her apartment, took off her jacket, hat, thin scarf and shoes, immediately went straight to the bathroom, grabbing dry clothes on the way.****************

Kerry sat calmly at the table and finished her homework. Shortly before six, Kerry went to the kitchen to help her mom make dinner. Upon entering the kitchen, the air smelled wonderful, the aroma of oven-baked roast and potatoes had filled the entire room.

"It smells wonderful, I see that the process has already started without my help."

"That's fine, you'll be useful, too, "said Kerry's mother, cutting red tomatoes over the bowl, "remove the dill from the freezer, but from the refrigerator fresh cucumber and sour cream."

The girl did everything and, approaching her mother next to her with a wooden board and a knife, started to make a salad.

"Mom, why do we cover everything so solemnly today, with flowers and napkins, and that roast?" Kerry asked doubtfully, "I'm not saying it's bad, we just don't usually do anything like that at dinner."

"I know there is a reason for that," said mom, "patience until dinner is on the table, then your father and I will tell you both something."

Kerry didn't like this mystery, she remembered that her dad had told her in the morning that she would have to talk about one thing, but she hadn't mentioned one. Everything was done in the kitchen, all that was left was to wait for the roast to be ready.

A couple of minutes past six, a voice came from the kitchen: 

"Dinner is ready!"

Kerry has been waiting impatiently for dinner. The aroma of roast, which was already on the table, had filled the whole apartment and because of that the young woman's stomach was already throbbing with hunger.

Everyone was sitting around the table and enjoying dinner. The roast had come out fabulous, juicy and with a crispy edge, just the way Kerry liked it. After a while there was an awkward silence at the table. The mother looked at the father all the time, according to their expressions they were trying to decide who should start talking. Finally dad coughed and started talking:

"You both probably already know that mom and I wanted to tell you something today," he fell silent, then he inhaled and resumed speaking, "well... mom and I will be leaving tomorrow."

"W-what?" Kerry was shocked at these news. The same reaction was her sister:

"What? How to understand it, leaving?

"Oh, your father said it wrong," the mother looked at him with an angry look, "what he meant was.. we will be gone just for a while... like on vacation."

"Actually," after digesting a mouthful of potatoes, Kerry's father spoke, "on a business trip, but in principle - yes, on a short vacation."

"And you just tell us now?" Kerry looked with unbelieving eyes to her mum and then dad, "day before you are leaving?"

"It happened," said the mother gently, "you see, we only found out about it ourselves yesterday, but we can no more refuse."

"Wait a minute," said Emily, "but why do you both have to leave?"

"You see, I was offered to drive immediately, even without prior notice, with a paid business trip for me and another person for two weeks. This is very urgent because of a problem that I will have to solve urgently, I can't tell you what kind of problem. Fortunately for us, no one in the office accepted such an offer due to haste, without preparation, so I applied. Since my wife and I work in the same job, we are partners - we both have to go," dad explained, he seemed a little worried.

"But why for two weeks?" without understanding Kerry looked at her mother questioningly, but she did not look at her daughter, dad answered instead:

"Because the problem to be solved is huge, it will take several days, if not a whole week, to solve it. One week is like compensation for haste and unplanned spending. Part, of course, will be repaid, but they will not be able to do without financial consumption."

"Why did you agree?" Emily asked.

"I said already, no one else was going to go, and mom and I will have a great rest, of course, only when the problem is eliminated."

Kerry looked at her mother questioningly, but she specially turned away from looking into her daughter's eyes. Standing up, she approached the sink, pretending to want to wash the dishes. For Kerry, the move seemed artificial and a little strange, she didn't understand why her mother avoided her."That means you won't take me tomorrow morning, will you?" removing the subject from her mother's gaze, Kerry turned to her father.

"No, we will leave early in the morning, you will still sleep."

"And how will we make a living?” Emily asked, "This was probably the last good dinner."

"I bought food," said mother without turning, and continued to wash the dishes, "some time should suffice. But in any case, we will leave you money if something unexpected happens, because you will not be able to contact us."

"What? Why?"

"Because of the problem to be solved, I have already said, I cannot say - what, but I can say that it will have to be solved outside the zone, no one will be able to contact us or we will have someone."

Kerry was already accustomed to these excuses, she knew that her parents worked in a secret base from time to time, but usually they gave at least some hint as to why she was leaving. This time than, no hint. Besides, it was usually for a few days, they had never gone away for so long.

“But what if something happens to you both?” Emily asked.

"There is nothing so dangerous there," dad lied, not letting his daughter see it.

“But what if something happens to us?” Kerry asked thoughtfully.

"Don't exaggerate, Kerry. Nothing can happen in this place, there is such a quiet area here. Unless you try to get into trouble yourself and will protect yourself, nothing bad will happen to you," said the mother.

Kerry wanted to say, what if I was suddenly attacked by demons? But she kept quiet, knowing that her parents would think she was just kidding.

"But..."

"Calm down, Kerry, really. Everything will be fine," Emily addressed her sister.

Yea, whatever," the girl replied indifferently, leaned back in her chair and pushed the plate away with her fingertips.

"Will you eat it?" asked her father, looking at Kerry's uneaten piece of roast.

"No, I have no appetite," Kerry said, walking to her feet and exiting the kitchen.

The father looked after Kerry, then sighed and, looking at his daughter's plate, took a piece of roast with a fork and threw it into her bowl. But he also had no appetite.

"Eat it, darling. It's the last one left, don't want to throw it out." father looked at the roast with doubt, but in the end he put a mouthful in his mouth, chewed and swallowed. In the meantime, Emily had also left the kitchen unnoticed.

"It will pass to her," approached her husband from behind, the woman put her hands on the man's shoulders, "she will calm down."

"I know, but it is still painful to look at Kerry, even though we could..."

"No, under no circumstances. You said that we must not disclose it," she muted her voice so that only he could hear her, "you know what the consequences may be if we disclose.'

The man nodded, placing his hand over one of the woman's hands, which was still on his shoulders, he received wife's fingers and squeezed them gently.

"Hopefully she will be able to forgive us if she finds out, but we must try to prevent it," the woman leaned over and kissed the man on the forehead.