Invited

Twenty-Seven - Chevelle

We watched the press conference as a family the next morning. I'm pretty sure I'd held my breath through the whole thing. First, a government official came out and explained the whole situation. The press room was unbearably quiet, even for the TV. I couldn't imagine having to actually be there. Poor Timber. He was probably puking his guts out backstage. Carefully and calmly, everything came out. A scientist confirmed it, and then all of the plans were revealed for how human race was going to survive the next handful of weeks.

Then Timber came on and was bombarded with a million questions all about life on the Achlivan ship. I reached to turn off the television, not wanting to watch him suffer. Because despite his cool composure on screen, I knew he was terrified.

"I'm watching it!" my brother protested.

"Landon, seriously, I was there too. I can tell you anything you want to know." I rolled my eyes.

He did the same. "You're not as cool."

"He's not so cool once you get to know him. You'd be surprised with how boring he is."

"Oh, and you would know." He scoffed.

I wanted to say we were roommates, but I didn't want my dad to start going into a murderous rage. So instead I stated, "We're on the same ship. Yes, I do know."

"You're on the same ship as a celebrity?"

"Yes, only there he's not a celebrity. He's just a guy. Okay? I'll introduce you when we get up there." I pinched the bridge of my nose, a headache starting to come forward. Love my little brother, but he had a tendency to say a lot of annoying things. That's kind of the point of little siblings though, right?

Landon shrugged. "Still cool that there's famous people there. I need to go pack!" He stood up from the couch and ran off.

My parents gazed between one another. Despite being divorced for only a handful of years, they were fairly civil with one another. I know they were happier apart, but when they did get back together again for family functions, I could still also see why they loved one another in the first place. I'd given up on them reconciling their differences a long time ago. That hope was gone. Them simply getting along was a nice change from all of the fighting from before.

Dad shook his head and stood from his chair. "This is unbelievable. And I can't believe you're encouraging him."

"We're invited to be one of those getting rescued," Mom said calmly. "I'm not going to pass it up for pride. If you want to, that's your decision. Landon is my responsibility. I get final say, remember? Chevelle is going, and so are we."

"Then I don't have a choice. I have to go too," Dad said. "But I don't like it."

"I sure hope you wouldn't. If you liked the fact that the Earth was going to be destroyed, I'd be worried," Mom replied.

Dad rolled his eyes and walked out of the room. "You know what I mean."

Awkward. Watching them fight always was. Slowly, I stood as well. More than anything, I wanted to take a nap, but it was time to get ready to go see Wicken's mom. My stomach was rumbling because I hadn't been able to eat anything, I was far too nervous. I needed energy, though, otherwise I wouldn't be able to make it through the afternoon.

My sense of time was indeed far off because I noticed my bedtime came a lot earlier than it did on the ship. In space, I went to sleep at least two or three hours after the sun went down. Back home, I went to sleep shortly after dinner. Not to mention, I woke up at some ungodly hour of the morning. I was up long before the sun was. I'm almost positive the days on the Achlivan ship were shorter too.

"Time to go," I said to my mom. "If you want to stay and get more done, that's okay. I understand."

"I told you I would come with," she said. "Landon is old enough to pack for himself. If he needs more help, he can ask your father. Do you need anything before we go? Something to eat? I noticed you hardly had any breakfast."

I shook my head. "I'll eat when I get back. Yes, I'm sure, and I'll be fine."

"Okay, okay, I won't push."