The Dome Chronicles: Lies

Fourteen

"What?! Wait, what do you mean, send a missile towards the dome? Who is this Kappernick guy?" Peyton talks quickly, barely leaving room in between words for her to breathe.

"Look, I have no idea. Let's talk tomorrow at breakfast. We can get our own table. Sound good?" Toby asks.

"Sounds great." I jump in before Peyton has a chance to reject the idea. "It's getting late, we should get to bed. see you at 9 am sharp."

"Sounds like a plan." He confirms.

"Be there or be square!" Peyton sings cheerfully.

"Shhh! You'll wake up the girls!" I scold her.

"I'd rather be square." Toby mutters. "Anyway, see you at 9."

"See ya." Peyton and I chant unanimously.

After that, there's just fuzz. I turn the walkie back to channel 1 and flip off the light on my side of the bed.

"Good night, Peyton." I whisper.

"Good night, Freaya." She whispers back.

I toss and turn, trying to fall asleep. I can't stop thinking about Kappernick, whoever the heck that is, and how our dome, our home, is in danger of being destroyed.

The exact words that came out of Toby's mouth were Nicholas' sworn enemy. That means that they can't exactly be on the best terms.

Makes sense.

But why? Were they playground buddies in grade school but their relationship fell apart? Are they long lost brothers and Kappernick just changed his name?

So many questions.

And not. enough. answers.

The better question is, why would this Kappernick dude be out to get us? All of us Nikotopians living in our own little dome...

In our own little world...

In our own...little...

Just like that, I'm back in the future dream again.

I left off right where I woke up last time, except I'm not in the bathroom anymore. Instead, I'm back at the table, sitting right where I was before.

"Alright everybody, sit down." My mom announces. "Come to the table, please."

Immediately after, everyone who isn't already sitting down at the table obeys, except for one kid that wasn't in my first dream.

Well, that's weird. Maybe mom and Nicholas had another kid after the triplets?

The boy I don't recognize is standing in the kitchen, stirring something in a pot. He looks like he's about 7 or 8, judging by his height.

"Nicky, I think that's done." My mom says to him, and turns off the stove.

The boy, whose name is apparently Nicky, nods and gets a pot holder out from the drawer. He takes the pot off of the stove and brings both the holder and the pot over to the table. After setting them both down, I finally get a good look at his face.

He's a striking resemblance of Nicholas.

Nicky...

Nicholas...

WAIT A MINUTE.

No wonder his name is Nicky, he's named after my stepfather!

Just as everyone is about to start dishing up, I hear Hawk clear his throat. I look over at him.

"Ahem." Everyone's eyes dart over towards us.

"If everyone would hold off with the food for a minute, I have a little something to say. I want to eat too, I know, but it'll only take a minute."

Hawk stands up, pulling me up with him. His hand reaches out and grasps mine. I can feel that it's very sweaty.

He's nervous about something. But what? I don't even know why he's...

"Freaya..." He starts.

...Here.

"Yes..." I answer. What could he possibly be doing?

"Oof da. Wow, this is hard. Ummm..." He reaches his right hand into the pocket of his jacket, while keeping his right hand grasped onto mine.

"I've...obviously known you for a very long time. Ever since Primary school." I can see tears welling up in his eyes. I reach out and wipe them away.

"It's okay," I whisper.

"And we've been through a lot together. Through thick and thin. Through the good times and the bad. And...ummm... I don't want what we have to ever stop. Ever." The tears are streaming down his face now, but I can tell that they're happy tears.

"I don't either." I whisper, gripping his hand tighter.

Without hesitating, he gets down on one knee.

"Freaya Natalie Parker, will you marry me?" He opens the tiny black box that he's holding in his hand to reveal a beautiful diamond ring.

I just stand there, bewildered. I hear a collective gasp.

"Yes! Say yes!" I look over and see Peyton nodding her head furiously and giving me a thumbs up.

"Of course I will." I answer, a huge smile forming on my face.

"Oh my gosh." I can tell that Hawk is over the moon because there's a huge smile on his face. I don't think I've ever seen him so happy. He stands up and puts the ring on my left ring finger.

He pulls me in for a hug and gives me a kiss on the top of my head.

"I love you." He whispers.

"I love you, too."

My family starts to clap, and I look around. My mom has happy tears streaming down her face as well. Peyton is running towards me, her arms open. The rest of the kids are either just sitting there smiling or dishing up food.

"I love you..." He whispers softly in my ear, embracing me in a tight hug.

"I love you..."I whisper back, barely containing my excitement.

I wake up to find that my arms are clasped around Peyton. She has a disgusted look on her face.

"Dude! Get off of me!" Peyton yells.

Aaaaand I'm back.

"Sorry...I'm sorry. I had a dream and..."

"No doubt, man. You kept saying I love you and I was like, bro, I love you too but please...don't ever do that again. Ever." Peyton sits up and gives me a blank stare.

Well, this is awkward.

"What time is it?" I ask her, changing the subject.

"8:45. We should get the girls ready." She leaps off the bed, pulls the room divider to the side and starts to shake the girls awake.

I lay back in the bed and pull the covers over the top of me.

All I need is two more minutes of sleep...

"Freaya!"

"Whaaaaat."

"I told you to get out of bed, you lazy bum!" Peyton shouts. She's standing in front of the bed, a sleepy-eyed Abby and Devyn right behind her.

"Breakfast is at 9 and it's 8:50! Let's go! Hup 2 hup 2!" She claps her hands which motivates me enough to get out of bed.

"Ughhhhh." I groan. "Why do we have to be up so early?"

Once I get myself dressed, I motion for Abby to come over by me and pick out her clothes. As she's walking over, I hear a knock on the door.

"Oh crap, that's Nicholas." I shut Abby's suitcase.

"Wait here." I tell her. I grab the door handle and swing it open.

"Is everyone in there ready to go?" He asks. He's rubbing his hands together like people do when it's really cold.

"Almost, I think it's just Abby and Devyn that need to get dressed." I tell him.

"Well, maybe you guys should have set your alarms earlier." He snorts. "You did set an alarm, didn't you?"

"Y-yeah we did. It just didn't go off. Stupid hotel alarm clocks, am I right?" I spit out nervously.

Nicholas looks unconvinced. "Yeah, right. You have five minutes." Just like that, the door closes and he's gone.

"Are you kidding me?" I grumble.

"What? Why are you crabby, Fra-ya?" Abby c***s her head like a puppy.

"I'm crabby because I need more sleep." I say. "Now, let's pick an outfit, shall we?"

She nods her head, jumping up and down. "Yay! Breakfast! Breakfast!"

I giggle and give her a pat on the head. "You silly goose."

Somehow, Peyton and I manage to get both of the girls dressed in under 5 minutes. At 8:54, we're out the door and starting the journey downstairs.

"Can I press the button for the ewevator?" Devyn asks in her cute three-year-old voice.

"Sure, sweetie." I smile as she runs out of the room and towards the elevator.

Abby strolls out of the room right behind me. "But I wanna press the button, Devyn!" She yells as she sprints after her sister.

"Hey! Guys, don't fight. Abby, let Devyn do it now and you can do it later, okay?"

They both nod their heads in unison.

Man, I am rocking this big sister thing.

Peyton walks out of the room slowly, letting the door close behind her. She's looking at something on her phone.

"He-looo! Earth to Peyton!" I wave my hands in front of her face. "Are you here, because I'm here."

"Huh? What? Yeah I'm here." She turns her phone off. "Whatchu want, bro?"

I shake my head. "We're going down to the lobby now and I wanted to make sure you didn't miss the elevator."

I hear a ding.

Saved by the bell.

We all jump in the elevator and I press the button for the lobby. Within a minute, we're down on the first floor again.

After we exit the elevator, we take a right and enter the restaurant. I see our family off to the right, rearranging tables so we have one big long one for our whole family and trying to keep track of the little ones at the same time.

"We're with them." I tell the cashier sitting at the front.

He takes a split second to look up from his phone and give us a nod, signifying that he sees us.

Right when we walk in, Devyn sees my mom and yells "Mommy!" then takes off running in the direction of the group. I can see my mom turn her head and smile, picking her up and twirling her around.

Nicholas turns his attention towards Devyn for a moment, giving her a kiss on the top of her head. Then he looks at Me, Peyton, and Abby, giving us a menacing, almost evil stare.

All I give him back is a somewhat mischievous smile.

"Attention, little humans, big humans, and very tiny humans!" Nicholas yells over the crowd. "Find a spot to sit and start looking at the menu. Ask the nearest big human if you need help. Ready, break!"

Just as we all start to sit down, the giant TV at the head of the tables starts flickering, showing flashes of various colors.

"What's going on?" Peyton asks nervously, turning her attention from the menu to the flashing TV.

Without hesitation, Nicholas jumps up and grabs the remote from the front counter. The guy sitting at the front looks up for a second, then shrugs and continues to do whatever he was doing before.

He presses a button and all of a sudden, a man with dark skin and jet black hair appears on the screen.

Well, this oughta be interesting.

"Nicholas, My man! How're you doing?" The man on the screen shouts, smiling and clapping his hands.

"Benjamin." Kappernick looks thrilled to see him, but it's clear that, right now, happiness isn't a two way street.

"How are you? It's been so long, man! I've missed you! And look at all those beautiful children of yours...you are so blessed, you know that?" Benjamin says sympathetically, making pray hands and putting an empathetic look on his face.

Nicholas scoffs. "You're claiming that you really care about me and my family? Nope, I'm not buyin' it." He swings his body to the other side of the chair and crosses his arms, pouting like a two-year-old.

Kappernick just laughs. "You're such a child, Nicholas, and you always have been. Now, will you let me tell you what I called you for?" He raises his eyebrows.

Nicholas groans. "Ugghhhhh, fine."

"Well, my old friend, I'm calling today because I wanted to see your lovely face, but also to tell you that your world as you know it is in danger." Benjamin furrows his brow. "You better watch your back, Nicholas. There's a storm coming."

Kappernick reaches his arm out to press a button on the camera and the screen goes black.