Avalon Academy

10+ Hours of Torture AKA Family Road Trip

Quest was puking...again. We had barely been on the road for an hour before Quest began to get car sick. So now we were sitting by the side of the road for the third time as my older brother spewed his guts. Journey, Quest's twin sister and I were exploring the great unknown patch of sagebrush off the side of the highway. I had my camera in case we came across a lizard or maybe even a snake. Journey of course would want to keep it but I knew dad would say no due of the amount of animals we already owned. I was also hoping to get a pic of quest puking for the family scrap book; after all we had a picture of Quest puking for every family trip so far. Legend our eldest brother was arguing with dad next to the truck about moving out of the shotgun seat so Quest could feel better. Everyone wanted the shotgun seat but being the oldest and biggest Legend got to sit there. Legend being 22 of course had his own car but dad insisted that we all rode in his beat up truck to summer camp because it was traditional. I think he just likes watching us fight over the best seats in the car and eventually all fall asleep in the back not caring about space any more. Despite the fact that we always argued for at least a half an hour before getting into the car we always ended up sitting the same way: Dad drove, Legend shotgun, the twins (Quest and Journey) got the window seats and I being the youngest got the hump AKA the middle of the car. Most would complain about this seat, but I don't. I get to be at the epicenter of everything. I get the best spot for the AC coming to the back from the front, the perfect spot to nap all I have to do is lean right or left and I have a pillow, and my personal favorite I am in the undeniably greatest position to drive everyone else in the truck crazy.

Legend huffed and opened the shot gun door and pulled his backpack and jacket out and opened the back and took Quest's stuff out and moved it to the front. He then sat in the seat leaving the door open because the truck was not currently on and it was really hot outside. He looked mad so I decided against going over and bugging him but I wanted something to do. Quest was still puking and I had already gotten a few pictures. If Journey didn't find some sort of animal soon I was going to become an animal. Where was Journey anyways? I started to look around starting to think that dad was going to kill me if I lost my older sister.

Suddenly Journey popped up from behind a rather large sagebrush and waved me over hastily. I opened my mouth to ask what she was doing and she made frantic signals to not say anything. Cautiously I made my way over to her. My cap to my camera dropped to the ground faster than my jaw as I saw what Journey had found. There was not one not two but at least three dozen Rattle Snakes all wrapped around each other sleeping on a rock on the other side of the sage brush. I quickly snapped a few pictures before dragging Journey away before she tried to pet one of them. You wouldn't think that to be a problem with her being 17 and all but she had tried to pet if not adopt every animal in existence. She's had more rabies shots than the average dog and she has been hospitalized three times due to venomous animals. You would think that would discourage one from trying to play with every animal she comes across but if anything it encouraged her. Dad is no help in this situation he insists that we learn from experience and that we need to live our own lives. This thought process usually ends with at least one of us in the hospital at least once a month.

By the time I got Journey back to the car Quest seemed to have stopped and dad was pulling a new shirt out of Quests bag for him. Legend had evidently given up on being mad and was now standing watching Journey in amusement as she told him about our run in with the snakes making it out to be way more dramatic than it was. We watched as Quest pulled off the shirt that was now thoroughly soaked with his insides and all three of us shared a look. The highway then filled with our chorus of screams and we all pretended to collapse on the ground.

"My eyes its too bright" Legend shouted.

"I have lost my innocence!" I screamed.

"He's so pale he must be a vampire!" Journey screeched.

Quest stuck his tongue out at us and pulled his shirt on.

"Quiet down before someone else pulls over and calls the police." Dad said.

We were of course doing nothing that would be worth a 911 call, but dad liked to use that threat to scare us ... not that it really struck any fear. Our chief of police was our uncle Wade who in our opinion was as scary as a donut. We all piled into the car Quest in the front and me in the middle with Legend on my left side and Journey on my right, behind Quest. Journey had done rock paper scissors to decide who had to sit behind Quest who still smelled slightly of puke. After losing Journey tried to trick me into switching but I sat in my spot and refused to move. After a futile attempt to get me to move she slouched in her seat grumbling. She did perk up however when dad asked if we had succeeded in finding anything interesting. She then went through another dramatic retelling with me interrupting every once in a while to say what really happened when she went to far.

*****A few hours, three puking stops, five mindless games and one lunch break later.*****

Journey yawned next to me and I followed suit as did everyone else until dad demanded to know who started the yawning train. I struggled to keep my eyes open in the mid afternoon light and smiled to my self finding a bit of Apple Pie from lunch still in my teeth. I leaned on Legend who grunted but didn't seem to care as I buried my face into his flannel shirt. I barely felt Journeys slim figure as she put a small pillow on my own bony figure and fall asleep.

My dreams as usual were completely insane.

I was in a parking lot. I recognized were I was but couldn't remember what recognized it from. Suddenly three silver minivans with blacked out windows streamed into the empty parking lot at unimaginable speeds. The first two cars pulled into parking spots smoothly and the occupants began to get out all of them varying in ages from young twenties to around ten years old. The last car however continued twards me and I was some how frozen to the spot. I couldn't move at all, even though every fiber of my being wanted to run as far and as fast as I could from the impeding minivan. I looked at the driver who looked more like stone than a human his face emotionless. The person in the passenger seat however seemed to be having the time of his life grinning maniacally. I was going to die a minivan was going to run me over and I was going to die. Again I tried to move, and finding that unsuccessful I braced my self and waited for the impending crash.