The Unexpected Visit

Chapter 31

We see her. I know it's her, even though I haven't talked to her yet. We are attending a softball game. We were about to leave because Lily was getting restless, but I looked away from Lily, and standing at third base, ready to get to home base, is Brooke. I was getting worried we wouldn't find her; there were only two more states to go to. We're in Tennessee right now. Finally, we found her!

"Anna, Jackson, Owen. Look at third base," I say, poking Anna.

"Wait, that's Brooke!" Anna says in disbelief.

"No way!" Owen says, running his hand through his hair.

"It's her! We found her!" Jackson almost shouts.

"I can't believe it..." I say quietly.

"I knew we'd find her eventually," Jackson says confidently.

"No you didn't. You thought that this whole trip might be in vain," Owen says, punching him in the shoulder.

"Guys, chill," Anna says, moving closer to me to get a better view of third base.

"We may have a problem now that we've found her: we have to convince her to leave....." Anna says, barely above a whisper.

"Lily, interrupt," I say, looking Lily in the eyes.

Ruff! And she takes off running.

"Oh no, our dog got off her leash! Somebody catch her!" I yell, faking panic.

"Somebody get that dog before it interrupts the game!" Someone shouts. I smile--that's her job.

The command "interrupt" means she has to fake a chase and run to the field. The soccer team helped me train her with that. It also helped with her running onto the field during games because most times, she would only do it on command. Sometimes, if something was about to happen to me, she would be there before anyone else noticed that something was wrong.

Lily is done being chased and runs onto the field, right after Brooke gets to the home plate. I shout again about Lily getting off her leash. Brooke runs after Lily and I give a sharp whistle, the signal for Lily to ease up and allow someone to catch her. She's slowed down, but is faking being tired.

"Lily! Come!" Anna shouts, knowing she won't listen because Anna isn't the alpha.

I run out to get Lily myself because nobody is catching her, even though she slowed down slightly. I'm almost to her when suddenly her ears perk up. I know what's about to happen, but I really don't want it to. I instantly stop running, hoping to stop it, but I can't. Lily rushes to my side. I see out of the corner of my eye Anna, Jackson, Owen, and a bunch of people I don't know rushing towards me, including Brooke. I know the coughing will start in about a minute if I don't do something; I've got to do something! What do I do? I fall on my hands and knees, trying desperately to fight the coughing fit.

Panic envelopes my mind as the coughing fit starts, my vision swimming in and out. I briefly see the blood on the ground in front of me and hear Lily growling at the strangers, surprisingly not Brooke. Anna, Jackson, Owen, Lily, and Brooke are crowded around me. Brooke is asking what's wrong and if there's anything she can do. I know Anna is ignoring all the noise and focusing on me. "Don't pass out, you're okay; you've been through this before," Brooke is watching our exchange, and then she looks at me closer, her eyes widening. I think she realized that we are her biological siblings. She starts to say something when I pass out.

I slowly wake up, not opening my eyes due to the brightness. I hear Anna arguing with someone, Jackson, his girlfriend, my team, Jay, Vallie, Ava, Lily, and Owen. I squeeze Owen's hand, letting him know it's too bright but making sure he knows I don't want people to know I'm awake yet.

"Hey, someone shut the blinds; it's really bright in here," Owen says nonchalantly.

The blinds are shut and Anna instantly knows that I'm awake. She shoos out all the people of the room, except Jackson, Owen, and of course Lily.

"Beca, I know you probably can't hear me right now, but you're in a hospital. We've been getting to know Brooke and we told her everything: about our parents, the island, and about what we need from her," Anna says.

Based on her vagueness, I think there is a nurse hovering, waiting to check on me. I'm satisfied for now with what she's told me so I go back to sleep.

A few weeks later, I'm out of the hospital, and both the soccer season and the school year have ended. Brooke came with us to Florida and finished the school year there. We haven't had much time to hangout together because of school and seasons ending, so Anna has declared that we aren't allowed to come back home until we've hung out. Luckily, she gave us all money and keys to the scooters. Lily is fast enough to keep up and we aren't going far. We get to Hilton's Hill Road to go shopping, even though I don't really like shopping.

"Come onnnnn, do we have to?" I ask, knowing she's going to say yes.

"Yes, we were told to hangout and this is the best place to do it. Plus, it will have somewhere for Lily to get a drink. I heard they have a mall just for dogs here. You love those kinds of places, remember telling me that in the car ride to Florida?" Brooke asks, parking her scooter and walking to the pet place.

"Yes, but I was also delirious then. You know that I hate car rides, even though my dog loves them to no end. Anyway, we probably should do what they said and get to know each other," I say, catching up to her easily.

"No better way than shopping," She states.

"Sure," I respond sarcastically.

A few hours later, we get back to the scooter's, me with a bag that has a few things for Lily and Brooke with who knows what. I lost track of what she was buying after the clock store that neither of us got anything from. We go to lunch in a café right next to our scooters so we can keep an eye on them. Lily gladly drinks the water that was given to her. She isn't very good around the heat, but luckily, the island is around 50-60 degrees almost all the time except winter, when it gets really cold.

When we return to the apartment, we realize that we probably know each other better than the rest of the family does, besides Anna; she knows all of us really well. Owen, well...the only person he's really interested in is me, but he does talk and be friendly with my family. When we're alone, however, I think he forgets that they're in the next room. That's usually only when we start a movie, knowing that everyone else will trickle in as the movie progresses. He likes to make sure he gets in enough cuddling to last him a while.

"I see you two get along better now. We have a problem though, come inside," Anna says, looking worried.

We quickly enter and realize the problem. The police are here.

"Hello, officer. Lily, down," I say, looking at the officer, making eye contact, and then telling Lily to behave.

"Hello, do you know what brings us here today?" He asks, indicating his partner.

"No, I don't. Would you mind telling me?" I ask innocently.

"Your brother, sister, and you are all classified as missing people. Your other sister is considered kidnapped," He says, acknowledging each of us in turn.

"Sir, we aren't missing anymore, that's one thing you can cross off. As for Brooke being a victim of kidnapping, that's not true. She told her adoptive parents that she wanted to switch guardianship over to Jackson and Anna, and that was done. So, why are you really here, officer?" I as, buying time for Jackson to get help.

Within seconds, both officers draw their guns and the door to the apartment breaks open with the force of a bunch of people. The fake officers are caught by surprise. When Anna answered the door, she called the real police and recorded the whole conversation. Our friends broke down the door, and are standing between us and the fakers. The real police should be here in a few moments.

"How did you know?" One of the officer asks.

"I recognized you, Eric," I say quietly, emerging from the protective barrier with Lily by my side.