Ryder

Chapter 4

I stepped out of the cold rain and into the warmth of my home.  Ryder gently strolled in, moving only her eyeballs to look around.  She looked sort of high. 

"Oh, Ryan, thank goodness you're home!  I had begun to wor--"  My mother said, coming in from the kitchen.  I didn't know how to drop a bomb like this.  She obviously didn't know how to recieve one.  She stared at Ryder, open-mouthed, and then squealed.

"Honey!  Get in here!  Ryan's brought a girl home!  She's in the room, right now!  Come quick!  I need proof that I'm not dreaming!"

Classic mum.

Dad walked into the front room, grinning.  He was still in his gray suit from work.  This was too weird: he never looked happy while he was in his work clothes.  But when he caught sight of the girl I was with, he immediately stopped, ending his spot in the Ryan Book of World Records.  "Well, erm, she--she has....pretty eyes...?"  My dad sure knows how to compliment people.

I sighed and looked at the ground nervously.

"Mum, Dad....I'm not....we're not....well, it's a long story."

Mum and Dad exchanged raised eyebrows.  They knew that whenever I said "it's a long story", anything could happen.  

"We have time."  Mum was suddenly snapping to attention, as if just realizing that Ryder were a living, breathing organism.  Her voice was tense, her arms crossed, which should've tipped me off.  But the exasperated look on her face cancelled out the other motions.  

"Well....this is Ryder.  I sort of found her in a basement."  The looks on their faces made it seem as if I had just admitted to murder.  "So, um, I, well....why don't you tell them, Ryder?"  I figured that this would be the best way to go.  She looked up into the horrified faces of my parents, and told them the entire story.  By the end of it, my mother looked as if she were about to cry, and was clinging to my father, who looked as equally shocked as I probably had.  I didn't blame them.  Mum was a sucker for sob stories, and my dad was her only source of comfort. 

"Oh my God....you....you poor girl....Please, Ryder, stay with us as long as you like!"  My mother choked, dabbing her moist eyes with the corner of her sleeve.  Amazing....now we officially were Ryder's closest definition of family.  She looked up again, awe in her large, silver eyes.

"Really?"  She asked, as if she thought my parents were joking.

"Uh...perhaps we ought to think this thr--" My mother cut my father off, vigorously nodding her head.

"As long as you need, dear."  Mom stopped dabbing her eyes and smiled.  Ryder grinned back, and I saw a glimmer of hope shine in her eyes.

"Thank you so much," she whispered.  My mother came up and hugged her, stroking her tangled mess of hair.  Or, at least trying to stroke.  Her fingers got caught a lot.  

"Come on, let's go get you washed up.  Then, we can brush out your hair, and give you a proper haircut...." my mother rambled on, leading Ryder away.  I was left in the room alone with my father.

"Congrats, bud.  You just found yourself another sister."  Dad scruffed up my hair as he walked by.  When was he going to realize that I was too old for that? "Speaking of your sister, I'm going to go pick her up.  Be back soon, Ry."  He took one last look at me, and headed out the door.

Now, my only company were my thoughts.  What was I getting myself into?  Now I had a strange girl in my house, living with us.  What would I do at school?  Would she come with me?  She seemed about my age.  The kids in high school would kill her....they did that to almost every freshmen, but her case would probably be much worse.  I took a deep breath.  I went into the kitchen to grab myself a snack--I always found comfort in an Oreo or two.  I heard mom draw the bath water upstairs, and it wooshed through the pipes above me in the ceiling.  I listened to a muffled voice and footsteps coming down the stairs.