Paige

Chapter 9

I finished my breakfast and walked down to Mason's apartment. My mom gave him money to rent a small house for a month in an apartment building just a few blocks from my house a while ago.
On the way there I thought about my brother. I wondered what he looked like. I wondered how old he was. I could ask Mom but I don't want her to get worked up again.
It was one of those apartment buildings where you had to push the persons apartment number and they could hear your voice and they would unlock the door for you.
Apartment 4G... I thought as I pressed the button.
"Hello?" I heard a familiar voice talk through crackly speakers. It felt so good to hear Mason's voice again, like it was a vaccine I had to take to stay healthy.
"Hey! It's me!" I said.
"Paige! Oh my god come in gorgeous!"
I love it when he does that.
I heard a click on the door and it opened. I walked up the stairs to his apartment with the envelope of pictures in my hand. I knocked on the door and it opened instantly. A pair of arms wrapped around me like ribbon, lifting me up in the air and twirling me into a room.
"Oh my god I missed you so much." Mason said. He kept kissing my cheeks as I giggled. A lamp that sat on a desk started to flicker violently until it finally popped loudly, a small puff of pretty colored smoke came up from the lamp.
"I suspected that." I said laughing. Mason grabbed a pillow from the couch and waved away the smoke before it could set off the fire alarms.
"So what brings you here?" He said, putting his hands on my hips.
"Well, I came to bring you these." I said. I handed him the envelope. He opened it and smiled. He went through the pictures and laughed at most of them.
"These are so cool, but they belong to you. You should keep them." He said.
"Oh no. We can share them, considering we are practically going to live together..." I said, trying to give him a hint.
His eyes light up. He puts a huge smile on his face, "Wait! Does that mean!"
"Yes... I'm going to Africa."
He can't contain how happy he is. He spins me around and hugs me really tight.
"Oh my god! I can't wait for you to meet my parents! You're gonna love it there! There's so many different places to go and things to see and the animals! Oh my god the animals! There's so many-"
"Okay! Okay I get it! You can tell me all about it."
We spent the rest my visit laying in Mason's bed cuddling. He told me all about Africa. He said that my uncle could change weather. He brought rain and regular temperatures to the hot plains. My mom's sister brought plants and grass so they could eat. My cousins could create animals. He knew about my brother, he was just six when he died. He could duplicate things by the thousands if he wanted to. His name was Andrew.
--
When I got home that afternoon, my mom was on the phone.
"Really! Oh that's great! Thank you! Ok you too! Bye!" She said very excitedly.
"What was that about?" I asked.
"I just booked a boat for you and Mason to go to Africa!"
My face lit up, "Really! Wow when do we leave!"
"Tomorrow morning!"
That meant that I had until tomorrow morning to say goodbye to everybody.
"Ok. I'm gonna go say goodbye to Carly and Jess. When I get back, we should watch a movie marathon. I want to spend one last night with you."
"That sounds nice. Omg like toats we should have a slumber party! Pillow fights!" My mom said, flipping her hair and trying to act like a teenager. It was pretty funny when she did this.
"Haha, very funny Mom. Okay I will see you later." I said as I walked out the front door.
It struck me as I was walking to Jess's house how much I was going to miss Mom and my girls. I should invite Carly and Jess over tonight too so we can all hang out together and watch Harry Potter and Twilight.
I knock on Jess's door. She opens it and greets me with a huge smile, "Hey! What brings your fine ass here!"
"I have some really big news. Call Carly right now." I said. She lets me in and grabs her phone.
Carly- Hello?
Jess- Paige has some big news. Get over here chica.
Carly- Okay!
Jess hangs up. She reaches into her fridge and pulls out three Coca Colas.
"This must be some big news, you usually just call."
"Yup, it is." I say with a slight smile.
Carly shoots through the front door unannounced, making us jump.
"What is it! What is it!" She pleads, taking her Cola.
"You won't believe this but..." I take a really long breath just to annoy them, "I'm moving to Africa."
Their faces looked like they were going to explode.
"WHAT!!!"
"OH MY GOD!!!"
"You're leaving us!!!"
"Why would you go to AFRICA!!!! Why not New Jersey or something!"
That's all I heard come out of their mouths.
"I know I'm so sorry. It's only for a little while," They started to cry as I talked, "I need to go with Mason for certain reasons. I don't think I can tell you. I will be back before you know it!"
"Well when are you leaving?" Carly said over tears.
I slowly said my words, afraid of their reaction, as if I was going to set off a grenade.
"Umm... Tomorrow... Morning..."
"WHHAAAAAAT!?!?!" They looked like wild monkeys running around the kitchen. Jess's mom came into the room to see what was going on.
"PAIGE IS FREAKING MOVING TO AFRICA OH MY GOD!" They said at the same time. Her mom gasped and joined them in the monkey tantrum. Carly and Jess's moms were like my second moms.
I hugged them to calm them down. They cried on my shoulders as we huddled together like penguins. These past two days have been such an emotional roller coaster.
I invited Carly and Jess to come to my house for movie night. Of course they agreed. We walked back to my house and my mom already had everything set up. She had blankets piled on the couches, ice cream bowls and popcorn set out, and the first movie of Harry Potter was paused on the intro on the T.V. Of course she knew I was inviting my girls.
"Your mom is awesome." Carly said.
We ate and talked all night while watching our favorite movies. We had a competition to see who could throw the most popcorn into their mouth. We had a long funny argument on whether Jacob or Edward was hotter.
Carly, Jess, and I have always been on Edward's side since the book came out, but my mom would not give up on Jacob's six pack.
We all fell asleep in the living room after one happy night.
--
I was running down a winding stone path. All you could see was bare willow trees. The sky was eerily grey. I could hear footsteps behind me. I turned around to see a man chasing after me. He held an axe in his hand and his face looked scarily angry. He was getting closer and I was getting slower.
While I was looking back at the man, a dog came from behind me and slammed me to the ground, biting my neck. The man reached me on the ground. He had jet black hair and wrinkles all over his face. He lifted his axe and it slammed on my head, my vision went completely black.

New chapter coming soon! :)