Boarding School - SBI

Chapter Nineteen

After the long ride home, the brothers had driven over the even gravel path leading out of the school and the entire way down the path Wilbur could hear the gravel crunching loudly under the car's worn tires.

They then drove out of the surrounding forest, which still had its tall, tired looking trees, watching everything that went by. The little animals, the birds, the deer, and the strange metal boxes that occasionally came through. So, when Wilbur, his brothers, and a close family friend by the name of Zephyr drove through, the trees took note.

The little black car drove next to a creek, then over a cobblestone bridge that went over it. Later, after seeing a deer, they went over a few trickling streams. Wilbur guessed streams flowed faster when it had rained in recent times. But it was too cold for rain, and it had snowed little in the past several weeks.

When they reached the driveway that would lead to the familiar house, Wilbur started trying to wake his sleeping brothers. Zephyr, Phil's friend who got them from school, had arrived early in the morning, so Wilbur encouraged Tommy and Techno to sleep on the way there. They should be a little happier with some sleep in them.

They had a long driveway, so it took the car a bit to get to the top of the drive, where their house sat.

"Tommy, get up." Wilbur said, while shaking his brother again. Techno had woken when they had turned into the driveway, saving Wilbur from having to reach over Tommy and shake him awake. Techno could be scary when you woke him up. He was not a morning person.

Zephyr got out of the car and walked over to Wilbur's door. Xe opened the door.

"I'm glad that you've woken your brothers up. You are a good kid." Zephyr said kindly. Xe was a pleasant person, and it was times like these that made Wilbur regret not spending more time with xyr.

"Thank you," Wilbur said. He pulled himself and Tommy out of the car. He was grateful both for the ride and the compliment. It wasn't often that people noticed how much Wilbur tried to do for his brothers, much less his brothers themselves.

Wilbur pulled on Tommy for a solid minute before deciding that he was just going to leave him in the car. Zephyr had long gone, and Techno was walking up the stairs to their house with their bags.

"Fine then. You're on your own, Tommy." As Wilbur grumbled his parting threat, he moved away from the car and walked up the stairs to his home.

The main house, built in relative recency, and Philza was the second or third owner. Wilbur had lived in the beige coloured house his entire life. As he walked up the steps, he took note that the step he had broken had yet to be fixed. He had dropped a really big, really heavy book on it, which had left a slight divot in the stonework.

Wilbur sat down tiredly on the step next to the divot. He needed some sleep. He watched Tommy get out of the car and pull his bag out from the trunk to bring with him. Wilbur had to get his bag too, before he went inside.

Wilbur was glad that Tommy hadn't thrown a tantrum about getting out of the car a few months ago when they first arrived at school. Tommy had kept a respectful attitude then, leaving Wilbur to wonder where it had gone. Especially since the school had sent an escort to bring them to Darwin. Wilbur wasn't sure why they had, but they did.

On their way back home for winter holiday, a very close family friend, Zephyr, had asked Phile if xe could pick the boys up from school. Phil, of course, said yes. Xe was practically an auncle to the boys, and Phil knew they would be happy to see xyr. Unknown to Wilbur, xe was also planning on spending a few days with them. And Phil was right, they were happy to see Zephyr and have xyr drive them home. Although it came to a surprise for Wilbur, he was expecting Phil to pick them up.