The Long Haul

Chapter 10

Still hesitant to accept what was staring right back at him, he took a seat stealthy in the back. Maybe she was in the bathroom and would be back soon. He knew that he had to stay until the end of the meet to be certain. He had to have absolute certainty on this in order to determine his next steps.

With each passing minute that Alex didn't appear, a piece of him wondered if she was really good at lying, or if he actually had a blindspot for his little sister. He'd interviewed countless people over the years, and time and time again, family members would say how their loved ones never would have done this or that, but he'd never understood it because it was always so obvious that they had, in fact, done this or that. But maybe it was this blindspot that people had that didn't allow them to see the bad in someone they'd always known as being good.

Sixteen year old Jay gripped the little six year old's hand tightly. His sister was like a loose cannon on the sidewalk if he didn't keep her closeby. He wouldn't put it past her to skip out into traffic because she was so easily distracted. Currently, she was hopping down the sidewalk, which was causing their three block commute from the train to take an eternity. Jay wasn't known for his patience, but it was surprising what he could muster up when it came to this little rugrat.

Ever since she'd started kindergarten this year, it was their daily routine to go to/from school together to save their parents the hassle. Jay had been annoyed about it at first as he saw it as losing some of his own independence because he was suddenly responsible for a mini Halstead, but it eventually grew on him when he saw how much the girls liked seeing him so kind and gentle with his little sister. So it had its perks - he was a teenage boy after all.

Once they got to school, Jay made a point to take the long route to Alexa's room, so he could pass by the high school hallway, just in case there were any curious...female...eyes that spotted him. And as if clockwork, Natalie cooed, "Oh hey Jay."

His cheeks flushed red and he enjoyed it. Turning to meet Natalie's eyes, he innately loosened his grip on Alexa. While her brother was busy flirting with the girl, Alexa took in her surroundings, trying to find her next adventure. She spotted two open doors to her right that piqued her interest. And being six years old, she had to figure out where the doors led. She just had to or she wouldn't be able to move forward with life. It was like an itch that she had to scratch.

She wiggled her hand free from Jay's and took off running through the doors into the auditorium. Unfortunately, Jay wasn't quick to react and the little rugrat got a head start and had already managed to run into the seating and duck down by the time he'd gotten inside the room.

"Alexa!" he called out. He scanned the seating as the panic started to creep up when he didn't readily see her anywhere. "Alexandra, come out now!" Still no movement or reply.

Alexa covered her mouth to keep her giggle from escaping. She was pretty darn good at playing hide and seek. She was totally going to win!

Jay started making his way down the main aisle, sweeping each row to see if he spotted the brown haired girl with her stupid unicorn backpack. How was she this good at hiding?! When he made it halfway down and hadn't spotted her yet, he instinctively knew that he had to switch up his tactics if he were ever going to find her. He softened his voice and whispered in a singsong way, "Aaaallllleexxxxaaaaa....I'm going to find you."

His eyes constantly scanned from side to side. "Oh Alexa...where are you?" he called out playfully, knowing she'd buy right into it.

By that point, Alexa was squirming with excitement like a fish out of water. She could no longer contain her laughter. "JJ!" she called out with a giggle.