Halloween Mystery

Ella

          El was intently playing candy crush with Wyatt looking over her shoulder. Boys, she thought, They can't refrain from looking at any video game. After losing the level for the tenth time that car-ride, she decided to put down the tablet and look out the window.

El was happy she was going on this trip without her siblings. She loved them but having eight extra kids on the trip would be tough. Well, technically only six others. The oldest, Josh and Sylvia, were already in college. But the rest of them would have followed El around, no doubt. And Chiara, who was seventeen, would just annoy her about liking Greyson. El could NOT let that happen. Everyone knew that Brooke and Greyson both liked each other. If they found out she liked Greyson, drama was bound to happen.

Speaking of drama, she could not wait till the upcoming talent show in November. It was just two weeks away. El was used to performing. She had been singing ever since she could remember, but still the thought of the stage gave her butterflies in her stomach. Or maybe that was car sickness. They had been driving for two hours and still had one to go.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," she said aloud.

Wyatt was quick to comfort her, "Hey, take deep breaths and focus on the horizon. It'll help, I promise."

Wyatt said it like it was some sort of secret, but that was how he always spoke. He had a raspy, quiet voice and barely used it.

After steadying her breathing, El brushed back her jet-black hair with her hand and began to feel better. That was close. She really thought she was going to throw up on Shelly, Brooke's little sister in front of her. Luckily, El had avoided that. But what was she going to do the rest of the ride? Trying not to puke was not on the top of her list, but it seemed the only option. If she looked anywhere but the horizon, she began to feel sick again.

Farm after farm passed by. Some had cows. Others had sheep. Some grew crops. El had never seen the country. All her life she had lived in the suburbs and her family never traveled. There was no one to visit anyway. Her dad's parents had died when she was young, and her mom was an immigrant from Italy. A change of scenery was nice.