The Unexpected

Chapter 4- Wow

He was as tall as my captor with a mop of bronze hair expertly styled on his head. His muscles rippled under his t-shirt as he turned to talk to Jordan.

"Is she ready?" the beautiful man asked.

"She agreed, but they removed way more than we originally thought. She doesn't even know what vervain is," Jordan replied, "and she's awake."

"Oh." He looked over at me.

"Yeah. Quite a bit earlier than expected. Not very compliant though. Very touchy."

"Does she need some...help settling into this... new situation."

"Not yet. She is, um...letting it sink in."

There was a lull in the conversation. As soon as it landed in the awkward category, I heard footsteps that struck me and I realized how bothered I was that they were talking about me in third person, as if I wasn't there.

"Excuse me," I shouted stopping the glowing angel in his tracks.

"Feisty, like her hair."

I was pretty sure that was an insult. I squinted at him and stuck out my tongue like a bratty eight year old. He laughed but it didn't look like something he did often. And as much as I hated to admit it, he was right. My hair was divergent, it wouldn't be controlled. I had thick, dark hair that flared at the edges. It was a few shades darker than my chocolate skin, almost black. My mother was amazing at taming it. Today was the first day of a new hairstyle she was trying. She had chosen a french braid that she made to cascade down the left side of my face and it surfed into a side ponytail. It sounded much more beautiful that it turned out, the river of my hair hit a few rocks in its path. It looked like someone had teased the ends of my ponytail and coated it in hairspray so it stayed puffy no matter what. But it didn't look too bad when I put my light auburn beanie with the purple flowers over it, the only thing I kept of my birth mother's.

My outfit looked so good today. I wore a blood-red shirt to match the fall leaves and a pair of khakis my mom bought for me at the beginning of the school year. Of course, I wore my converse. The same that I wore every day, no matter the weather or what I was wearing. They were so old and I don't really know how they still fit, if by magic, which doesn't seem so odd now as I retell my story to you. They were striped like a candy cane but definitely didn't smell like one. I had to wear socks no matter what. You know the smell of your shoes after you mow the grass in the middle of summer. Well, mix that with a guys high school locker room that is what these shoes smell like. I'm not kidding. I have had them forever, like seven years or something. I should probably clean them when I get home. Home seems so far away. Anyway, they weren't really red and white either. They are more of a brown with red stripes. Before I knew it, those same shoes and those same khakis were walking me to the wooden front door. I wanted to stop but I just kept walking. I wanted to fight it but I was just so tired and my legs felt like cinder blocks so I was happy to be able to simply drag them along. I was so sleepy....fading in and fading out...I blacked out for the second..maybe third time that day. When I woke up, I found myself in a car. It was red and looked vintage, but I'm not an expert so I wouldn't actually know. It was shaped funny. It was a very long car and the trunk went in which gave the car the allusion of having wings. The headlights were very square and it was a convertible. White leather seats with a something hanging from the mirror. I couldn't really tell. Exactly how I knew all of this before I opened my eyes was as much as a mystery to you as it is to me.

The angel that came to my rescue in my mother's house was driving this cherry red car that perfectly complimented my outfit. But my captor was nowhere to be seen. I blinked a couple times before I really soaked in all of my surroundings. I looked around. We seemed pretty high up and I saw a lot of trees. But that was about it. I sat up still very groggy.

"Where are we?"

"Good ol' Tennessee"

"Why? Where are we going?" I said my voice still dripping with the remnants of my apparently long nap.

"Texas. I thought you already knew that."

"I never agreed. This is kidnapping," I said, though not really agreeing with myself. I don't think anyone would believe me anyway since I had gotten into the car I wasn't forced or anything. "How long have I been asleep," I asked.

"About two hours," this mysterious man replied.

"What is your name?"

"My names is Marcus. What's yours?"

"Michelle."

"Nice to meet you. I'm sorry for all the secrecy, but I'll tell you when we get to Texas. There is a lot to go over."

"Can I ask some questions?"

"You can ask anything but that doesn't mean I'm going to give an answer."

"Easy question first. Where is Jason or Jordan or whatever his name is?"

"Jordan is in Texas already. I am taking the scenic route because I have a feeling that you don't get out of Pennsylvania much."

"That is true but I don't want to see a bunch of trees."

"I know. No one goes on an adventure to look at some tree. They are just pretty and not that far off the path."

"Fine. Next question is, why did I get in the car even though I didn't want to."

"That is one of the questions I'm not answering."

His vague answers frustrated me but I didn't want to provoke him.

"Ok. Where are you from?"

"I have lived the same place all my life"

"That's not what I asked."

"I'm not stupid."

"Also not what I asked."

"I'm not telling you where we are going."

Darn, he caught me, I thought to myself

"Do you have any siblings?"

He didn't answer at first so I thought I hit a touchy subject. I didn't ask anymore questions. I watched the trees and a few minutes passed.

"One."

"What?"

"I have one sibling. A brother."

"Oh." I wondered why it took so long for him to answer. Did he die?

"His name is Peter."

"Oh." I didn't know what else to say.

"No."

"No, what?"

"No, he isn't dead."

"How did-"

"That's everyone's first question. We haven't had the best relationship."

"Is he missing?"

"Yes."

"Oh." I felt really dumb replying the same way every time.

"Any more questions?"

"No."

"Okay." He stopped the car.

"What are you doing?"

He turned around to look me in the eye. "Go to sleep," he said.

And my eyes closed with the weight of cinder blocks.