Meet Dilemma

The Journey Begins

"Rise and shine sleepy head! It's 9 AM and we have an 8 hour drive ahead of us."

Pierce had already put ours bags into the car and fixed a quick meal before departing. I got up, put on my clothes, brushed my teeth, and hopped in the passenger side, while Pierce hopped anxiously in the driver's seat.

"You ready to begin this Journey?"
"The Journey has already begun!"

He backed out of the driveway and headed towards the interstate. I loved riding with Pierce because, unlike other long boring rides, he kept me entertained. We would listen to music, play little games, and occasionally stop for a quick bite to eat and a little stretch.

Before we knew it, we were 4 hours into the trip (halfway there). Pierce and I switched seats and I began the second half of the trip to give Pierce a break. After many miles driven and many breaks taken, we arrived in D.C that evening. We couldn't even imagine what would take place that next day, but we were ready to embark on the first step of the adventure.

We had chosen to sleep at the hotel right across from the airport, but when we got there, it was extremely crowded.

"We should've reserved a room, Pierce."

"I didn't even think that deep into it."

We went up to the desk and tried to get a room, but every room had been checked into.

"Where are we going to stay now?"

We found a smaller hotel just down the street and checked in. It wasn't as nice, but we didn't care. What we really cared about was making it to Majuro and finding Hope.

That night, I noticed that Pierce was, once again, thinking to himself.

"Soooo... what's she like?"
"Maria?"
"Yes Maria. What's she like?"

He paused for a second.

"She's cool I guess."

"Pierce..."
"I mean ... she is ..."
"You like her, though."
"I know, Journey, but I'm bad at expressing my feelings."
"You can tell me..."
"... I think I love her, Journey."

I honestly didn't know what to tell him. I understood how he felt, but I didn't know how to say it.

We didn't say anything else to each other that night. We just fell asleep.

...

I woke up in the middle of the night from a terrible dream. It was about my father. I went to visit him in prison, but when I saw him, he began to tell me that I was the reason why he was imprisoned. He yelled "It's all your fault!"

I was crying so hard that I woke Pierce up.

"Journey, what's wrong?"
"I think my dad hates me!"
"You haven't even met him."
"What if I'm the reason why he's in prison, Pierce. What if I'm the reason????"

I hadn't cried this hard in so long; the last time I cried was when Hope went missing. Pierce stayed up with me all night, reassuring me that it was only a dream.

The time had come to head to the airport. To avoid missing the plane, we got there two hours early and waited in line. Two hours flew by and it was time to board the plane. We had a 13 hour flight, so I decided to catch up on my sleep. I didn't sleep the whole time, though. I couldn't. Pierce kept waking me up.

"Journeyyyyyy... it's so boring!"
"It's a... flight!"
"Wake upppppp!"
"Go to sleepppp."
"You're no fun."

We arrived in Majuro that night.

It was dark, so we decided to find somewhere to sleep and start the search tomorrow.

...

Majuro was SO beautiful. We had to take a break from the search and spend some time touring the island. I was surprised that not many people visited Majuro. I see why Hope wanted to live there; after touring, I wanted to live there, too.

After a morning of touring, Pierce and I decided that it was time to get back to searching. We put aside our tourist ways and started our search back up.