After All This Time

Chapter Thirty-Four

A little while after we got in the car to go to the ranch, my hair started drying. And I didnt care for it properly when I got out of the shower. So it could be a problem, also because I didn't know what we were going into at the farm. I leaned into the door as far as I could and pulled down the mirror and tried to start braiding, but it was more difficult than I thought. I kept hitting my hands on the roof of the car, just trying to get sections. Everyone started glancing at me to see what I was doing. I didn't want to cause any more noise so I just gave up and sighed.

Five watched me give up and put his hand on my leg. I looked up at him and he mouthed to me, 'Want me to?'

I nodded my head and he sat up straight, Five quietly patted his leg motioning for me to lay down. I folded my legs against the car door and laid my head in his lap. I took the hair tie off my wrist and handed it to him. Five grabbed it from me and put it on his own, and then sectioned the middle-top part of my hair. I shut my eyes and let him do whatever he wanted, and soon, I semi-fell asleep. I could still hear everything that was going on, but I wasn't completely conscious of it.

A little while later, I felt us turning onto a gravel road. I opened my eyes and saw that it was the same turn where Five and I were trying to convince Vanya to come with us to go home. Five had his hand on my head, as I was looking out the window. I put my hand on his other one, and sat up. He looked at me and his hand from my head fell to my waist. I looked in the car's mirror and saw that he did three braids going into a high ponytail, the one in the middle was the biggest, it was a dutch braid, and the two smaller ones on the side were french. I squeezed his hand with a smile for a thank-you.

"What the hell?" Vanya spoke as she looked through the windshield.

The rest of my family and I looked out the windows and saw this massive cloud with lightning and snow coming out of it, and in the middle straight lightning going down. Vanya sped up the car and sure enough, it was Sissy's farm. The lightning was going straight down into the barn, and snow covered more than half of the property, like the house, barn and some of the field. We pulled into the snow covered driveway and parked in front of the barn. Almost as soon as I opened the doors I got chills, my outfit was not equipped for the weather, and it was even colder because it was leather.

"You think whatever's going on inside is causing the cold front?" Diego asked.

"Considering there is a giant snow cloud above the building, the odds are high." I responded.

Then a woman with blonde wavy hair came running out of the barn door with a shotgun in her hands at us.

"Sissy!" Vanya yelled. "Sissy!"

Sissy cocked the gun and aimed it at all of us, "Get back! All of you, just get the hell back!"

Five grabbed my arm and pushed me behind him, just in case she actually fired her gun.

"Sissy! Hey! Hey! What's wrong?" Vanya held her hand out in front of her.

Sissy looked at all of us, traumatized, "Carl."

"What did he do to you?"

Sissy shook her head, "He's... He's dead. Harlan tossed him aside like a rag doll, same way you sent those policemen flyin'. What did you do to him?"

"No-"

"Vanya, what the hell did you do to my son?" Sissy pushed.