The Unexpected Visit

Chapter 19

I wake up and yawn. What an odd dream. I wish it was real, though. I turn over to see Anna slowly waking up. I climb out of the sleeping bag, wake the boys up to get started with breakfast, and work on the fire. When I finish with that, I go into the tent to change. After I'm dressed, I start to pack up my side of the tent. Anna has already started which makes there not much to do. Anna and I finish packing up before breakfast, and start unpacking the tent. Jackson watches as he cooks the food.

"Owen, are you done? I think once the girls are done, we can pack up the tent," Jackson says, turning slightly to see the tent behind him.

"Yeah, I'm almost done. When the girls are done, come in and help me," Owen says, grunting with the effort of trying to lift something.

"Go ahead, I can finish the tent. It sounds like Owen needs Jackson's help," Anna says as we start to roll up the tent.

"Okay. Jackson, I can finish this, how about you go help Owen?" I say, taking the pan from Jackson and nudging the bacon, receiving a rewarding sizzle. I can't think of a better sound than bacon sizzling in the morning sun.

"Alright, thanks. Owen, I'm coming in," Jackson says, climbing into the tent.

Soon, the food is ready, thanks to Anna helping me. I'm pretty helpless trying to cook something, whether I'm in the kitchen or in the middle of nowhere. Owen and Jackson finish packing up and approach the campfire. We are all eating when we hear something. It sounds like an animal but we can't be sure. We quickly finish our food, and Anna and I put everything away while Owen and Jackson erase any signs that we were here. Once we finish, we take our bags and set off on a run. It doesn't take long to reach the buggy the boys left behind on purpose. The boys run ahead and put their stuff in the bed, load the buggy with fuel, help us with our stuff, and tie it down. We are all in the buggy and about to take off when I turn around and see a bear.

"Step on it now, Jackson! A bear is chasing us!" I shout, turning quickly and buckling in.

"Hold on, we are in for a bumpy but fast ride!" Jackson shouts as he slams the accelerator.

It doesn't take long for us to lose the bear, Jackson chooses not to listen because no matter how many times we say "The bear is gone," or "You can slow down now, it's gone," he just doesn't listen. We reach the proximity of the boat around 9am which gives us plenty of time. The followers shouldn't start looking for us for another hour, and by then, we will be out at sea. I think I might leave a note on the buggy telling them to return it and that we will be back. I hope that Dad won't come after us; that would make things difficult. I wonder where we will find Brooke. Anna said that she is almost 100% sure that Brooke plays softball but she will have to check social media to be sure. Apparently, everyone on the mainland has a social media account "insidemylife".

I am really looking forward to playing soccer for The Warriors; I haven't played in what feels like forever. I wonder if I will see anyone I know. What will happen if I do? I'm pretty sure I, as well as Jackson, are missing people now; at least we now are too old for the foster system. Don't get me wrong, they were better parents then my real parents are appearing to be, they took care of me and they paid for me. As bad as that sounds, they really did the amount of money they spent and invested in me vs. the money the state gave them to take care of me; well let's just say that it didn't come close. I hope I won't be left to my own thoughts on the boat ride. Anna told me that she can drive a boat, so I'm hoping the boys will tell me what happened while I was unconscious. We approach the boat. It looks like a regular motor boat and there seems to be everything we need on it.

"Anna, how come you guys never came to visit after Jackson left? Not even just you and dad, I know why you wouldn't have brought Jackson, but how come I never saw you?" I ask quietly, looking over at her as we get closer to the boat.

"We did visit, we even brought Jackson. We watched you as you grew up but Dad said that we couldn't get too close to you and couldn't be seen. By the way, don't go back to the boyfriend that you had here. I don't like him at all; he never seemed to be interested in you and was only really looking for one thing. Should we encounter him, I will not hesitate to give him a piece of my mind or tell him to beat it. I will not let him get anywhere near you. If he does, I am giving Owen approval to get mad at him," Anna says, serious.

"I never knew. I wish that I had though; I never would've dated him. How come even when I looked you guys weren't there?"

"Those were the times we weren't watching; we couldn't stay all the time. I would've liked to grow up with you and not have had to wait until we needed to run to try to fix what our parents messed up," Anna says, looking sad again.

"Cheer up, gloomy. We have arrived," Jackson says, getting out of the buggy and taking bags out of the bed.

"Why does this buggy have a truck bed?" Owen asks, trying to reach the things in the very back.

"I don't know. I think dad might've had someone modify it," Jackson grunts, climbing into the truck bed.

"Either that or he did it himself," Owen says, taking a bag from Jackson and putting it on the ground.

"Do you two need any help?" Anna asks, looking skeptical. It seems her mood has shifted, which is good.

"No," Owen grunts, picking up three bags and pretending they weigh nothing. Good luck with that, babe.

We walk over to the boat, take a brief glance, and start to load some of the things off the dock and into the boat; it looks like someone was here recently and cleaned it. Anna goes below deck to check out the bunks while I explore the top. I look into the cabin-like room where the steering wheel is--it's pretty spacious. I soon meet up with Anna and begin unpacking. About a half hour later, they call us above deck to set off and say goodbye.