Eleven
1573 Words
I gulp. "Hi, Nicholas." He still has that mischievous grin on his face.
"And hello, Peyton."
"Hi." She squeaks.
"Izzy, why would you think I want to inject my son?" Nicholas puts his hand to his forehead. "Why can't you people listen to my directions?"
"I-I'm sorry, boss I didn't mean to-" Izzy protests.
"Enough!" Nicholas' voice booms as it fills up the entire space. " Take the duct tape off of him."
Izzy obeys.
"And the rope."
This time, Demetrius is the one to act. He gets a knife from one of the drawers and cuts the rope.
Toby immediately gets up and runs over to us. "Stepson! I am your stepson! How do you not get this?" He demands, looking hurt because Nicholas messed up.
"Son flows easier." Nicholas barely even acknowledges him and he walks back over to Izzy and Demetrius.
"You know what do to." He says to Izzy, and Izzy, Larry and Bob all grab Demetrius at the same time, throwing him down on the dentist chair.
"No! Please! Why are you doing this? I-I didn't do anything wrong!" Demetrius pleads.
"You know what you did." Nicholas snarls. "Boys, take care of him, will you? I have to take my children home."
"What are you doing to him? Please let him live!" Toby begs.
"That's enough, Toby. Kids, let's go."
Me and Peyton start walking towards the small hallway but Toby stays put.
Nicholas has to pick him up and take him out of the room.
Once we get back into the main room with all the machines, he puts him down, still hanging onto his arm. Toby isn't moving so Nicholas has to drag him all the way back to the big double doors. He pushes a big red button and the rocky tunnels reappear.
"Let's go, guys." Nicholas motions for us to follow him, and we start the trek down the hallway once again.
There's lots of silence until Nicholas breaks it by asking, "What were you guys thinking? How did you find the tunnel? And why would you go down it?" It's clear he has a lot to talk to us about.
"We were thinking, Hey it's a secret tunnel. That's cool." I answer.
"Well, we didn't find it on purpose. You see, Freaya here was snooping around and she pushed a random button on the remote control for the radio. " Toby glances over at me.
"Freaya was the one who led us down it. I didn't want to go at first because I was scared, but I overcame it."
"Oh, really." Nicholas scratches his chin. "So, what I'm hearing is, all signs point back to Freaya." He looks at me and I put my head down.
"That would be correct." My head's still facing the ground as we continue walking.
"Glad that we're on the same page." We walk in silence awhile.
Why did Nicholas tell Izzy to inject Demetrius with that serum? Did he kill Demetrius? If he did, why did he kill him?
You know who would want to know about all this? Hawk.
Hawk.
He could help me interpret everything that's happening.
Hawk, my friend that I've known since second grade.
Friend.
That word, for some reason, is throwing me off.
But why?
Maybe, just maybe, deep down I want to be more than friends. Maybe...
Stop that, Freaya. You're being ridiculous.
Those eyes, that hair, that smile...
Oh my god shut up he's just your friend!
That smile...
No!
That hair...
Stop it!
Those eyes...
You like him.
What? No I don't!
Yes, yes you do.
You love him, you love him, you really really love him and you're gonna get married and I'm gonna be the flower girl!
Stop it, conscience, there will be no wedding. And...is that from despicable me?
Yes. Well, I changed it for gender's sake but yes.
Thanks. I...really appreciate that.
You're welcome!
I DID'NT MEAN THAT LITERALLY!
Hehe!
Eventually we reach the doors leading back to our house again. All I want to do right now is have a private conversation with Toby and Peyton about what happened today, and get their input. Without getting interrupted by little humans.
As soon as we walk back in the house, we're confronted by the whole gang. At the back of the crowd is my mom, looking overwhelmed and frustrated.
"Where were you? What took so long?" The questions come at us in rapid-fire mode. The rest of the kids eventually run off but my mom stays, holding Jaelyn and Keaton, one in each arm.
Nicholas pulls my mom off to the side to talk to her and Peyton, Toby and I make a break for the bedroom. We each get into our respective cubes and shut the doors.
The first thing I hear from my speaker is Toby.
"What the crap was that? Okay, I need explanation here. Why did I almost die today?"
Peyton sighs. "I don't know, Toby, why don't you ask the psychotic dude that tried to inject you with that green stuff."
"It's a bit late for that now, don't you think?" He asks sarcastically.
"What I want to know is why Nicholas has a tunnel leading to a secret lair that he built in our house." I jump in. "None of this makes sense. It just doesn't add up."
"Who were those other guys though? Bob and Larry? They really didn't do much of anything." Toby is just as confused as I am.
"Well, it's pretty much my bedtime so goodnight." Peyton states, fake yawning.
"Peyton, it's literally 6:30 pm." Toby tells her as if she didn't know.
"I know that. I'm a tired gal, give me a break. We did a lot of walking today."
"I could use a nap too." I say.
All of a sudden, Nicholas comes over the loudspeaker.
"Would all children please report to the living room for a family meeting. Thank you very much."
We all groan as we open our doors and crawl out of our cubes and down the ladders. We see our whole family seated on the couches in the living room. I didn't even know it was possible to round up all of the kids at once. Trying to round up all 12 of us is like herding cats.
"Come, come, sit down, sit down. Your mother and I have a big announcement to make." Nicholas stands up and smiles, gesturing for us to sit down.
"Oh no, not again." Toby groans. "You can't be having another kid! That's virtually impossible!"
"No, no, it's not that." Nicholas pauses. "Although...we could." He looks over at my mom, who's shaking her head violently and mouthing 'not happening.'
"You all are gathered here today because we're going on a trip."
"A trip? But we literally live in a glass dome that separates us from the outside world! Where is there to go?" Peyton asks.
"We are going... to the MainLand!" He exclaims. He seems to be the only one that's excited about this.
The MainLand is nothing to get excited about. It's a desolate wasteland of nothingness. Why would Nicholas ever want to go there?
"Mom? Were you in on this?" Peyton questions. "Did you even have a say in this?"
"I'm sorry, Peyton, I couldn't stop him. You know how he is when he gets his mind set on something." She's rocking Jaelyn in the rocking chair, shaking her head.
"What the heck are we going to do there?" Toby groans. The little kids have no idea what the MainLand is, therefore, they're ecstatic. They're all jumping around and shouting "Vacation! Yay!"
I sigh. I'm not looking forward to this trip, I've already had enough surprises. I don't want any more.
I guess I have no choice now.
When have I ever gotten a say in anything, though?
"We leave tomorrow." Nicholas says, beaming from ear to ear. Mom is still rocking Jaelyn and Rilynn and Keaton are sleeping.
The rest of the kids have disappeared. I think my mom and Nicholas have stopped caring where they go because they can't get out of the house. Our security system would go nuts if they tried to leave.
That, and they're too busy with the babies.
After the 'family meeting' is over, Toby, Peyton and I walk back to the kids' room. We all sit there for a minute, waiting for one of us to say something.
"So..."Toby starts, his head down and hands folded. "I guess we're going on a trip."
"Yeah. I don't want to go." Peyton jumps in.
"Me neither. You never know what could be waiting for us out there. Maybe the intention of this whole thing isn't for the family, it's for Nicholas."
I pause. "Wait, no, scratch that. It's definitely just for Nicholas." I nod my head.
"Well, whatever happens, we're a team, right? We always gotta be there for each other. It's who we are. We're the oldest three kids, and that makes us the role models. The big three." Toby states confidently.
"Big three." Me and Peyton say at the same time.
"First came me, and mom said..." I whisper, smiling.
"Gee." Toby finishes. "Then came me, and dad said..."
"Whee!" Peyton exclaims. "Then came me, and they said, that's three! Big three!"
"Big three!" We all shout as we pull each other into a group hug.
Now this is what family is all about.
- Writer
