Stolen From Paradise: The Road So Far

Chapter 1

"Hey, mom; I'm home!" Lanie called out, as she stepped inside her house, shutting the door behind her.

"Hey, sweetie! How was school?" She heard her mother call back. From the direction her voice seemed to be coming from, Lanie assumed her mother was in the kitchen, so that's exactly where she went.

"It was good." She answered. She placed her backpack on the ground, underneath the counter, and slumped herself into one of the kitchen chairs. "Mrs. Young gave us a pop quiz, but I think I actually did pretty good."

"That's good- I'm proud of you, sweetheart." Linda told her daughter, as she started rinsing one of the dirty dishes in the sink.

A soft smile formed on Lanie's face as she played with the ripped fabric of her jeans. "Oh, hey, how's Logan feeling? Any better?"

Linda bent over and placed the dish into the dishwasher. "He's a little better. His fever broke a few hours ago and he seems to have most of his personality back today, so Mike's in his bedroom with him, keeping him company.

Lanie's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "He didn't have to work today?"

Linda shook her head. "He took the day off."

"Oh." Lanie said. "Can I go see him?"

"Sure." Linda answered. "Just be quiet when you go in, in case he's taking a nap. And make sure you wash up after you leave his room."

"I will." Lanie nodded, pushing herself up from her chair. She then walked down the hall, towards the bedrooms, and quietly walked up to her brother's bedroom door. Seeing that it was cracked, she gently, trying to minimize the amount of squeak that came from it, pressed opened the door and peaked her head inside.

"Lanie!" She heard the high-pitched voice of her seven-year-old brother call, excitedly. Smiling, Lanie let go of the door frame and entered fully into the room. She immediately walked over to Logan's bed, to sit on the opposite side of Mike, who was also sitting by the child's feet.

"Hey, sweetie." Mike greeted.

"Hey." Lanie replied.

As soon as she made contact with the bed, Logan sat himself up and threw himself into her arms. A gesture which Lanie gladly accepted and reciprocated.

"Hey, buddy. How're you feeling?" Lanie asked him, readjusting her position, a bit.

"Better." He answered. He then pulled away from the hug and stared into his sister's eyes, an excited smile on his face. "Dad and I watched TV the whole day!"

"Lucky." Lanie said, with an exaggerated gasp. "I wish I could've joined you."

"Yeah, me too." Logan said. "Daddy, can Lanie stay home and watch TV with us, tomorrow?"

Mike laughed. "No, kiddo; Lanie's got school."

"But so do I!"

"But you're sick." Mike reminded him.

"Oh, yeah. Well, can't we just pretend she's sick? A-And then we can have a family TV party!" Logan suggested.

"'Ya know what, buddy? I would love to, but I have a test in my biology class tomorrow that I can't miss. But, you know what? On Saturday, I don't have anything to do, so we can have a TV party then, okay? And then, in the evening, we can go Trick-or-Treating, get so much candy, which we can then eat while we watch even more TV. How's that sound?" Lanie suggested.

Lanie wasn't too sure if Logan would even be healthy enough to go Trick-or-Treating in two days, however she wasn't going to tell him that. He absolutely loved Halloween; it was his favorite holiday. She figured if he couldn't go, she'd try and get as much candy for him as she possibly could, however even still, she knew he'd be super disappointed that he couldn't go, as well. Besides, if he kept getting better at the rate he currently seemed to be, Lanie was fairly confident that he'd be well enough to go Trick-or-Treating. So why upset the poor kid when he'd probably end up getting to go?