End of the Line

by Ottilie Weber

  Quickly, I came back to my senses and rushed Paige and Sean out of the room. The other three were already in the hallway probably curious about all the noise, so we piled into Cole’s room. I really had no idea what I was doing or should be accomplishing, so we huddled together tightly in the closet, just as we had under the table. I couldn’t hear anyone coming. We were in there for a little bit before I came out to look out the window. I saw the little lights move farther away like dancing fireflies, so I knew the coast was clear, at least for now. I let out a big sigh, but suddenly now that the panic of getting caught was gone, the fear shifted to fret over Aaron's safety.

  “So where’s the big shot now?” Cole’s sour voice brought me back from gazing out the window to glance back at everyone who was still in the closet in a group embrace.

  I turned to narrow my eyes at Cole, then went back to the window, biting my lip.

  “He left,” I answered quietly, wrapping my arms around myself, eyes still glued to the outside world, following the firefly-sized lights dancing in the distance, getting duller by the second.

  “Ha, I knew we couldn’t depend on him.”

  “He left to get the men away from us!” I snapped, my hands firmly on my hips.

  I was angry at Cole for taking up that bitter-cheerful tone because Aaron was helping us. Cole had to stop causing fights between all of us. Aaron was trying to lend us a hand, and there was such a small amount of people left that we had to stick together. Aaron had done nothing but attempt to figure out what to do from the very beginning of this mess.

  I grabbed onto the two little ones’ hands and went back into the bedroom. They climbed back onto the bed without a single word, just soft yawns, after pulling the sheets over themselves. Hoping to fall back asleep with their new toys clenched in their arms, I looked at the children before getting in. I remembered falling asleep on top of the sheets. A smile spread across my lips knowing Aaron had pulled the sheets over us. I curled up under the sheets and fell asleep with the feeling of his lips against mine still fresh in my mind.

  A few days later, we were eating breakfast, and from of all the worrying I had been doing, my stomach wasn’t feeling well; my belly was in knots. I was one of those people who grew ill under anxiety. We hadn’t seen or heard from Aaron for a few days, and I was growing restless. He was out there, and men with guns were chasing him. Aaron had no form of protection. On top of that, I had to take care of the five younger ones. I didn’t know what I was doing. Even though two of the five were teens, I knew they were looking to me for signs that we were going to be okay.

  “Just face the facts, Lauren, he isn’t coming back!” A snarl brought me back.

  I shook my head, wondering at first if that voice was my mind talking, trying to eat away at my sanity. Then I realized it was Cole. After finding out his parents were dead, he was taking the anger route of mourning. Not that I should judge how people react to the end of the world as we knew it.

  “It has only been a few days,” I mumbled. I rubbed my face. I didn’t have the strength to keep arguing about this.

  “It’s been almost five days! If they got him, we’re not far off their radar. We have to get away from here!”

  “We have two more days!” I demanded, feeling in no mood for a debate over this topic. I knew I wasn’t ready leave anyone behind.

  Haven’t we lost enough? Would we really become that close to suffering more?

  “Why are we relying on him so much?” Cole shouted, which caused the little ones to first jump up, then sink lower in their shared chair. Over the last few days, they’d become even more inseparable.

  “He saved us!” I brought up; my voice did not come out evenly as I had wanted making it sound like a pathetic excuse.

  “We can keep ourselves alive well enough without him!”

  “We’re a team!”

  “No! This isn’t a team. It’s Aaron the King with you at his feet!” His hands were in tight fists on the table so rigid that his knuckles were turning white and the muscles in his jaw tensed.

  “That’s not true because he’s been helpful since he got us out of the basement in the first place!” I said.

  “Why are we waiting for him? Is it because he kissed you?” he bellowed. “I saw him kiss you!”

  I was stunned, my eyes widened to their limits. I couldn’t think of what to say.

  “He kissed you?” Jill squeaked, her dark eyes broadened with a matching smile.

  “It was just a small one,” I answered shyly, my fingers danced aimlessly on the edge of the table.

  “You’re so lucky! He’s so gorgeous!” Jill squealed, her face glowing in excitement, showing what I had been trying to hold back.

  “Hello, girls!” Cole’s voice became more irritated, causing us to look back at him.

  “How does he kiss?” Her eyes were gleaming with excitement. She was obviously eager for more information and obviously ignoring Cole.

  “He is cute,” Mandy spoke silently while making circles with her finger on the table, her cheeks having a touch of pink hue to them.

  “Girls!” Cole nearly yelled, frustration seeping through the one syllable world. “Come back to earth and see the bigger picture! It doesn’t matter how he looks or how he kisses. We—have—to—stay—alive!” The last few words came out slow and direct. His face was red with exasperation as he stood up, his hands by his sides.

  “I say we vote on whether we leave with or without Aaron,” I finally said, though my mind was already made up, voting was just for show.

  “That’s not fair. You ladies have your minds made up already just based off his looks.” Cole’s brows were fused together, one slightly higher than the other, his head shaking slightly.

  “Are you afraid?” Jill challenged, standing up next to me, just two inches shorter than me, but I wouldn’t want to go against this athlete.

  I thought back to all the night games of Red Rover and Man Hunt. Jill was competitive.

  “Remember, we have Paige and Sean to vote also,” I brought up.

  “They’re six! You can’t be serious!”

  “We can vote!” shouted Sean as he stood up on the chair with his fists on his hips, eyes narrowing at Cole. His attitude didn’t fit his little stature.

  “They can’t vote on something this important.” Cole sighed, staring at me instead of my brother who was still glaring.

  “Why not? Aaron probably would have let them vote,” I answered unsure of that myself, my tone was steady though.

  Cole frowned.

  “Fine, they can vote.”

  “Who wants us to wait for Aaron?” I asked, glancing around the table.

  Jill and I were raising our hands, but Mandy didn’t budge as Cole’s vision was fixated on Mandy.

  “Mandy vote how you want and ignore Cole,” I said sweetly.

  “She doesn’t want to wait. So who else doesn’t want to wait for Aaron?” Cole shot back.

  Cole and Mandy raised their hands. Mandy was looking at the ground though.

  “Sean, Paige, you guys didn’t vote,” Jill brought up, she bent over a little to get more on a level with the two, her palms were against her palms.

  “We don’t know what we’re voting for,” answered Paige, titling her head in a questioning matter.

  “If we should leave the house now without Aaron, or should we wait two more days for Aaron to come here, then leave,” I explained, hoping that it would sway their vote in my direction so I didn’t look like a dictator.

  “Was Aaron the guy that tickled us?” questioned Paige, her face scrunched.

  “Yes that was him.”

  I was smiling at that memory. The scene was engrained into my mind.

  “I want to wait for tickle man!” Paige shouted, her face lighting up.

  “I want what Paige wants!” yelled Sean, putting his hand in the air like Paige.

  “Sorry, Cole, you lost.” I shrugged.

  Now let this be the right choice. I stood up
and walked up the stairs to lay down on the bed in the master bedroom, leaving the others in the kitchen without an explanation or time for rebuttal. I looked down at the bed and then climbed into it, pulling the sheets up to my chin. I held them tightly in my grasp, after bringing my knees into my chest to drift off to sleep. I hoped I’d made the right choice.

  After I woke up, uncomfortable in my jeans, I walked over to one of the dressers and opened a couple of drawers ‘til I found something to borrow to sleep in. Pulling out the fabric, I saw it was still not what I usually slept in, but it would do. I found one of those nightshirts that ended around the knees that had some dumb sports team on it. I changed into it in the bathroom and left the jeans and shirt at the foot of the bed as I hopped back in. I kept an eye on Sean and Paige playing some game. I wanted to be more comfortable. With heavy eyelids I curled up on an angle to watch the little ones.

  I stirred again when the two little ones crawled into bed beside me. I didn’t remember falling asleep. I started to wonder what was wrong with me since I was sleeping the days and nights away. Sitting up, I brought the sheets up to cover the kids. I pushed one of Paige’s braids out of her face and noticed the small smile on her lips that had grown. She was finally having a good dream instead of the routine nightmares. I then looked at my brother and gave him a small peck on his chubby cheek. That was when I heard a small creak downstairs.

  Slowly I pushed aside the sheets, and placed my feet as softly as I could on the floor. I got up and took cautioned steps out of the room. Moving as quietly as I could, I crept out into the hallway and noticed I was alone in the hall. No one else must have heard anything. Just as I was about to go back into the bedroom thinking I was hearing things, there was another creak from the stairs. I tried to squint in the dark. My heart raced as I feared Cole was right and someone was now after us, as I watched a shadow climb the stairs. I couldn’t move out of fear, and the person was on the stairs growing closer. My hands began shaking.

  “Hey.”

  I knew that voice! I jumped closer so I could wrap my arms around his neck, thanking God that it was Aaron and not someone who was out to kill us. I buried my face into the base of his neck as I felt arms envelop me, holding me close to his body. I’ve never been so happy to hug someone before in my life.

  “If this is the welcome back I get for leaving, I should leave more often,” he whispered with a small chuckle in my ear.

  “Don’t even joke like that! I thought you were someone coming to kill us!” I spoke with my face still against the nape his neck, unable to let go of him.

  “I told you I’d be back.” His words were soft. His arms were still around me, and neither of us showed any signs of letting go.

  “You also said you weren’t sure if you would live,” I said, my voice sounding small.

  “I’m here okay, don’t worry. We’ll be on the move tomorrow. Come on, let’s get some sleep now.”

  Relief washed over me as we tip toed back to the room. One of his arms was still wrapped securely around my shoulders, as he soothingly rubbing my shoulder. Aaron walked to the other side of the bed, his arm slipping away from my body and he kicked his shoes off so he could lie down only to have Paige crawl closer to him for warmth. I smiled as he fell asleep not minding Paige cuddling up against him. Then I crawled under the covers to fall asleep myself. I really felt harmony take over the house. Maybe there was a smile on my face like Paige’s.