The Banished One

Chapter 1: A House that could be a Home

Wind cut harshly through the trees, causing him to pull his thin collar closer to his chin. Pine needles showered down on him as he sat crouched, mostly hidden from the road. Shivering slightly, he glanced around, hoping to see what he was anticipating. A faint sound carried toward him; a steady rumbling mixed with the crunching of gravel.

A yellow school bus pulled up, the wind blowing the dust it had kicked up away from the trees he was using as cover. After a few moments, the doors opened, and a young girl exited the vehicle. She waved and began to walk down the dirt driveway that lay before her as the bus pulled away.

"Jaycee, wait," the boy called as he crawled from his hiding place. "How was school?"

She smiled lightly, "It was fine, Ms. Steiner was not there today so I wasn't asked any questions so that was nice."

He returned her smile, "That is nice." The two held hands and began walking down the dirt path, their faces buffeted by the wind. Jaycee shivered, he quickly pulled off his thin and worn jacket, wrapping it around her.

"You will be cold though," she countered.

He shook his head and smiled at her. "I am fine, I got used to it while I was waiting for you."

She eyed him wearily but did not protest any further. Her older brother had always looked out for her, he was always going out of his way to make sure she had what she needed. "Did Mr. Turner let you do any work today?"

"Yes, he paid me to shovel the horse stalls. I bought stuff to make macaroni and cheese, your favorite," he finished smiling brightly down at her.

"What did you get yourself?" she asked inquiringly.

"Macaroni and cheese," he replied without looking down at her, but his voice remained positive. "We will have to make it as soon as we get home, I am not sure how long until he will get back."

His tired and worn shoes kicked up dust from the frozen ground with each step, rocks digging in roughly to the battered soles. He looked down and noticed that Jaycee had a hole starting at the big toe of her left shoe, making a mental note to see if he could find her a better pair at the secondhand store in town. Her attire was old, but in far better shape than his.

"When are you going to start going to school again?" she asked him, without looking up. "Every time Principal Evans sees me, he asks about you, I think he is worried about you."

Clenching his jaw, he tried to reply without annoyance in his voice. "I told you, it is none of his business what I am up to, if he asks again, just tell him I have a job."

"I did, but he always says that you are only fourteen and should be in school, not working," Jaycee replied timidly.

"Don't worry about it for now, eventually he will take the hint that I am not able to come to school," he said as he forced a smile, hiding how much he feared Principal Evans reaching out to his father.

The two walked in silence, slowly approaching the dilapidated house they called home. Paint pealed from the wooden slatted siding, pieces of which were barely hanging in place, portions of the gutters hanging limply; windows covered haphazardly in plastic. Their home was surrounded on three sides by fields owned by the Turner family. The fields were currently cleared and frozen, awaiting the coming storm that was blowing toward them, remnants of corn stalks dancing in the wind.

Across the field to their left was a dense tree line, separating the Turner farm from the state funded animal reserve, a fact that many of the hunters in the area despised as they were not allowed to hunt the grounds. A shadow had caught his attention, barely moving, waiting right near a pair of large trees that grew into each other by growing outward, allowing them both to obtain proper amounts of sunlight, though they were currently sleeping and bare. He could have sworn he had seen the shadow move, but now he could barely make out the shape, his mind telling him it was just a bush or a trick of the eye. Jaycee pulled on his hand, as he had stopped walking and was staring at the tree line. Shaking his head, he began walking once more, falling in step with his sister.

The stairs to the porch creaked loudly, bending downward under their combined weight. Jaycee tried to open the front door, grabbing the handle and attempting to turn it, but the door was locked. She frowned and looked at her brother, knowing their dad refused to give them a key. He gave her a slight smile and moved to the side of the wrap around porch, pressing on the frame of the window, sliding it open. Holding the pane, he allowed his sister to crawl in first, before following her, making sure the plastic was properly covering the glass when it closed. He had sabotaged the locking mechanism on this window a long time prior to ensure he and his sister could gain access to the house when their father had locked the door. Using forethought, he had also rigged the window to only open when pressed a certain way so that if their father attempted to check the lock, it would appear to still be functional.

Jaycee placed her bag on the old and worn table that sat in the corner of the kitchen, making sure not to knock the cans and bottles onto the floor. She then ran carefully across the room and grabbed a pan from the drying rack, filling it with water. As she placed the pan on the stove, her brother walked into the room, carrying a box, which he held slightly under the side of the table so he could push all the empty items from the surface.

"What time do you think he will be home today?" Jaycee asked, fear in her voice.

He shrugged, "Who knows, but the other guys will be coming with him today, it's their night to party."

Terror was now plastered on the young girl's face. Words escaped her as her eyes filled with tears. Placing the box on the table, he strode across the room and hugged her tightly. "I won't let anything happen to you," he said in a whisper. "When we are done eating, do anything you need to, then go to the hide I made for you."

She nodded and went back to the stove, watching the water as it began to boil. As she added the noodles, a loud knock rang through the house, causing her to drop the now empty box on the floor.