The Remains Of Me

Chapter 8: Where Are We Now?

The car ride was long. Too long to be exact. I fell asleep multiple times and awoke to him still driving. He never stopped. Its been hours or even days since I had a drink or any type of food. I was weak. Tired. Restless. I never spoke to him. He would tell me things about what he did in the past 4 years. I didn't care. I didn't bother to listen. I went off into my own little world. Where I was with my father and mother. We were all so happy. My little world is what kept me sane. The thought that one day we would all be together. I closed my eyes again. Going back for another slumber. A good while afterwards, Luke pushes me awake. I move back so he doesn't touch me again. He turned back to face the front. I look around to see where we are. I couldn't believe my eyes. He drove us to Canada. We were supposed to go back to Oregon, not Canada. I spoke though my words weren't clear,

"What's going on? Why are we here?"

He handed me a passport. Not even replying to my questions. I was to weak to ask again. I just took the passport and opened it. There was a picture of me. With some other things. What really caught my eye was my name. It wasn't my name. "Scarlet Baker." Who on Earth was that? I asked Luke,

"Why doesn't it have my name? Who's Scarlet Baker?"

He smirked. At least this time, he replied,

"I had to give you a new name so no one could find you. We both have new names. From now on you call me Josh. I'm Josh Baker."

I didn't understand why. We were supposed to go back to Oregon. Why wouldn't he want anyone to find us?
Unless...

"No one knows you found me huh? That's why we aren't going back to Oregon. No one knows and you want to keep it that way. Why?"

He stayed silent. He focused on the road ahead of us. I stopped asking. There was no use. I was just so confused about everything that was happening. Why didn't he tell anyone? Why does he want me to himself? All these questions shot through my mind like bullets. It hurt my head. I just stopped thinking about it. I went to my little world and fell asleep.

******
Its been a year now. A year living in Canada. It was nice at least to be back in the cold climate. I missed it. Life moved on like nothing happened. I was in school again. Which was great for me. Luke...sorry "Josh" had a job and a "girlfriend." He talked and bragged about his significant other. I didn't think she existed. He's never brought her home or anything. No pictures of her either, just the imagination of her. I just let it be. Let him have his own little world. I was 10 and he was 20 at the time. I had more maturity in my pinky than his whole body. I never questioned why we were here. When I did, he never answered. So there wasn't a point. I just accepted it and moved on. As far as he knows I'm happy living here. Secretly, I'm planning to find my father. Luke or Josh is just mind bottling crazy. He would come home drunk in the middle of the night. I hid in my room so he couldn't get to me. Who knows what he'll do. He'd come home and you'd hear things being thrown. Yelling. Crying. He scared me honestly. I didn't want to live there but I had no choice until I find where my father is... I tried to contact my Aunt Luci but she never answered. I figured she didn't recognize the number or she had a different one. I didn't know what else to do. I just had to sit there and wait. Waiting seemed like the longest thing ever. In reality, it actually became the shortest.