Buried

Chapter 9

I squinted to see if I recognized him. His black floppy hair and his hazel eyes (hidden by rectangle glasses) were unfamiliar to me. I stared looking at his tall thin shape. He looked about my age but he wasn't much taller than me. Maybe four inches or so. "Who are you??" I sharply asked still staring at him. "I'm Sam." He answered quietly. "I heard some noises so I asked my parents if I could go see what it was. But they told me not to so we have to whisper." As he stated this I became slightly more relaxed. I looked around looking to see if I had left footprints in the dirt. Unfortunately I didn't. I looked back at Sam then he asked," so who are you?? And how'd you get here? Because we are pretty much in the middle of nowhere." I hesitated not wanting to give him my real name. But I soon realized that I had to answer so he could possibly help me get home. "I'm..." I paused. "I'm Gorigeia. I was just on a run, and somehow I got here. Is there any chance you know how I could get home??" I asked this sweetly hoping he would buy it and say yes. "Well I might. But first I think I will need to know where you are from." He smiled while saying this. I gave him a half a smile then said," I guess you would... I live on the southern edge of the first quadrant." His eyes widened then he said," that's really far away! And the sun is going down. It could take you up to forty five minutes to get back home walking normal pace. Come inside, my parents will know what to do." He stepped down a few stairs so I could barely see the top of his head. I hesitantly walked forward toward the hatch. "Are you sure?" I softly called down. "Yeah come on!" He said enthusiastically. I walked down then asked him," do you want me to close it??" He smiled then answered," sure, if you know how." I laughed at that; I had done it so many times before it felt like second nature to me. It was a little bit different than the one I had, but I still managed to close it easily. I walked down the steps to see the same layout as I had at my house. I shouldn't have been surprised, but admittedly I was. Sam waved his hand for me to follow him, into the kitchen. As soon as we got there his mom, (or at least the person I thought was his mom) stared at me slightly threatening like. "Mom, this is Gorigeia. She was on a run and she got lost and ended up here. The sun's going down, and it will be down in like a half an hour. She's from the southern side of the first quadrant." Sam said this with such certainty. His mom scanned me with her eyes then asked," anyone can claim to be from a quadrant, how do we know she's not an undercover government agent??" "Mom," Sam said stretching out the vowel. "I can fight like one, but I'm not working for the government. I'm actually working against the government. Besides I can tell you the plan to attack the government. It is starting tomorrow." I said this sounding a little more sassy then I intended. "See mom!" Sam said happily proving his point. I could see her relaxing a little and with that she said," alright. I believe you. But we need to get you home, and that might take a while to think of a way. I will go talk to his father. Sam just stay here." She walked out of the room. There we were, standing awkwardly in the kitchen. After what seemed like one extraordinarily long silent moment had passed, his parents walked in the room. "We can get you home fast and safe. Thankfully we have a passage in our house that leads to all of the quadrants. It still takes about twenty five minutes, but it's faster and safer than outside." It was Sam's dad who had told me this. "But if we want to get you home before 8:50, we better get you going soon." Sam's mom added. "Ok thank you so much!" I said sincerely. "It's no problem Gorigeia," Sam said kindly smiling. I smiled back with only half a smile; I felt bad about lying. His dad opened the big door. "I assume you know what your home looks like??" His dad teasingly asked. I laughed then replied," yes, I know what my house looks like." We walked towards the door. I stopped and turned to face Sam's parents. I closed my eyes then took a deep breath in. I let the breath out then opened my eyes. "My name is Elle. Elle Ushier." I looked down waiting for it to sink in that I had lied to them. But instead of being questioned and or ridiculed for lying, I was met with a shocking hug. I looked up surprised; it was his mom. Then she whispered in my ear," I know who you are. Please be safe tomorrow." She began to cry. She let me go now beginning to sob. She knew who I was just by hearing my name? That was weird. It took me a long moment before I realized that they knew what I had to do. I held in tears. I was met with another hug by Sam's tall dad. "Be safe. We know you can do this," he said softly. A rebellious tear slipped out of my right eye as I thought of what I had to do. I wasn't exactly scared for me, but I was scared for my family. I was scared to fail. I was even more scared to succeed. Because what would happen then?? I was about to say my last goodbyes, but I realized Sam's mom wasn't in the kitchen. She quickly walked in with a folded paper. She handed it to me. "What's this??" I asked examining it. "Open it tomorrow before you leave," his mom answered wiping away tears. We walked into the hall closing the big door behind us. It was a good ten minutes before we said anything. Then Sam broke the uncomfortable silence with," so what was that all about??" I could tell he was confused. I explained everything then he asked," is that why you were crying??" I looked down then nodded. I began to talk about Kasey and Will. I spilled everything to this nice guy who was practically a stranger. "I must sound like an unstable mental patient. I'm sorry for complaining so much," I said feeling genuinely bad that I was whinnying the whole time. "No you don't. You sounded like a person who had a lot of things bottled up and who needed to just let it all out." He said comforting me. I smiled. It was so nice to have a friend who was a boy who would just listen. I mean, Kasey would do that, and I'm sure Will would too if I let him. But with them, there was history and strings attached. With Sam there were no strings. We eventually reached my house. I hugged him and thanked him. Then I watched him leave.