Coming Home

Coming Home ~ Chapter 2

Instead, I feel dry paper. Dry paper. The picture had taken shape under my fingertips, and above my hand is a small ball of water which I probably sucked out of the picture. Dismissing the water, I carefully pick up the picture with shaking fingers.

A girl, maybe six or seven with black hair and dark eyes. A woman with light brown hair and dark blue eyes. A sleeping baby with a tuft of brown hair carried by a man with black hair and forest green eyes. And at the bottom, clinging to the mother's leg, is me. Unruly black hair and big blue eyes. I couldn't have been more than two.

This is my family. I think, excitement growing in the pit of my stomach. I actually have a family.

I feel small indentations on the back of the image. Carefully turning it over, I see the messy writing of a young child on the back. The words send a flash of anger through me, directed towards my parents.

They lied. Mom and Dad, I mean. They aren't coming back. You need to come to us. We're moving to Blackshore, and we are changing our last name to Fowel. Come back, little sister. Please. -Avia

I flip the paper over to the picture side again, looking over the people. The girl with black hair and eyes. She must be Avia.

I look at the picture in shock for a few more minutes. Then, I sprint up to my bedroom. I pull open my drawers and get my things. Spare clothes, money, the necklace, the note and the picture. It's all I have.

I put it all in a backpack, except the necklace, which I carefully hook around my neck, and sling the backpack over my shoulder. I enter the main lobby-type place in our new building, ignoring the looks from everyone. It was white, marbled with red, brown and blue. Elemental colors. It was cool at first, but now I pass by without a second thought.

I walk up to the front door, and push it open, walking into the street. Before I could take a few steps, a voice calls out from behind me.

"Arika?" it asks. I turn around, to see Lynn, her posture formal. "There's a problem inside. We need your help." She says. Eyeing my backpack, she speaks again. "Where are you going?"

"Away." I state calmly. "You can figure out your own problems now, since you are the Head of Water." My voice is slowly getting harsher as I let out bits of my anger. "Unless you can't. Wouldn't surprise me." I finish, turning back to the street. My voice dropped to a bittersweet tone as I say the last words. "Bye, Lynn."

-----

There's a research center in the city. I haven't been there myself, but I've heard about it. It's fairly new, and it has maps of the known world, history, and almost anything I could think of. It's where I'm heading now.

I walk up to it, the size taking me by surprise. The large sign that says Icewood City Informative Center is bright green and looming over me. I push open a door, and make my way to the map section. I find where I am, Icewood, then find Blackshore. It's almost ten thousand miles.

Looks like they wanted to get as far away from me as they could. I think. I approach one of the people at the desk. "Uh, hi, do you think I could have a paper copy of the map of the country?" I ask the small redhead at the desk. She nods and passes me a folded map.

Tracing my finger along the map, I make a route between cities. I grab a pen and draw the route in, then push open the door to the center to go back out to the street.

First, I'm going to need transportation. I think, looking around and taking a deep breath. There is nothing I can see, so I start to think of ideas.

Bus? Too expensive. Hitchhike? No, I don't have enough food. Steal a car? Nobody in their right mind leaves their car unlocked anymore.

I continue like this for a few minutes, thinking of ideas and scrapping them. There is a fault too big to ignore in each of the ideas I have.

Sighing, I sit on the ground in defeat. There is no way I will ever be able to walk there, and there definitely aren't enough connecting streams and rivers for me to get there through the water. I'm stuck.

I rest my hand on the ground, letting the water creep towards me. As it washes away some of the dirt piled around me, and I see a gleam of metal out of the corner of my eye. Curious, I walk over to the now uncovered metal.

The water washes away more of the dirt, revealing a pair of handlebars. I grab them, and pull with all of my strength. The object breaks free of the dirt coffin it was trapped in.

Water continues to wash the dirt still stuck to the object until I can see the frame. Wheels, solar panels, and a slim metal frame, and a black helmet hooked to the middle of the handlebars. It was an old, but still functional, solar powered motorcycle. It must've gotten washed up during the floods a few years back, and the dirt had hardened around it. Nevertheless, I let out a shout of joy. It starts humming to life once the light hits the panel, and smile breaks across my face.

I think I found some transportation.