SEVENTEEN years to Live

23 ●○► EXCITEMENT

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

●○► EXCITEMENT

“We have to go back to the mansion.”

That’s what Bryan tells me after we have some lunch. Yes. We really have to go back to the mansion or else his family will suspect about what we’ve already done. It’s been two days. I know they’re wondering why it’s taking us that long to get my clothes.

“We should go before the sun set,” I tell Bryan, and he agrees to me because it’s the best time for us to leave.

After we talk about it, he goes out the house to get something in the car. When he gets back, he has brought a large bag for my clothes and then we begin to pack my things up. The others join us on the floor/bed to help. No one says anything in minutes. Every one of us is so quiet. I want to break the silence. But I have nothing to say. Until…

“Promise us you’ll visit every day.” It’s Kate’s voice, speaking like I am going away for good. Quickly I glance at her and stop what I’m doing. My shoulders sag and a worried face flashes on my face.

“Kate,” I say, my voice as low as a whisper. “I’m still coming back. I will come here to see you all every day. I promise that. Bryan and I promise that. Right, Bryan?”

Bryan has been so quiet ever since we start packing my clothes. When I mention his name and look at him, he smiles a quick smile at me. He hesitates for a second then looks around the faces in circle we’ve formed as if the answer to my question is on them. “Yeah,” he says, nodding. “We’ll come here every day.”

His answer makes the group stop thinking that I’m not coming back anymore.

When we’re done, Janine carries the bag for me and brings it inside the car. I accompany her outside and notice that the sun is already placed in the sky near to the horizon.

“It’s fifteen minutes before sunset,” Janine says after she slams the door of the back seat. She takes a step away from the car and stands in front of me, lifting her hands to hold mine. “You’ll come here every day, okay?”

Maybe what I tell her a while ago is not enough for her to be convinced that I’m going here every day. Maybe she wants to hear my answer where she and I are alone. For a second I look into her eyes and smile. Then I nod in reply. “Okay.”

“Okay.”

We head back to the house now, but all of them are going out to the porch. They stand there as they watch me go there. When I finish climbing the porch steps I fling my arms quickly at Heather who is the nearest person to me. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” I whisper in her ear.

“Yeah,” she agrees.

I pull back after a few moments and walk over to the next person which is Kate. I whisper the same thing in her ear. And she nods to me in agreement when I draw away from her. Sephred is the last person I hug in the group. He never says anything to me when I whisper to him. He just gives me a thin smile, his eyes sparkling. I smile back at him.

“Mary.” Bryan is waiting me at the bottom of the porch steps. She calls my name as if it’s taking me so long to hug them. Before sunset. Glad the sun isn’t setting yet. After I walk down the porch I wave my hand at my friends and say “goodbye”.

Bryan opens the car door for me and I slide onto the leather seat, the door slamming behind me. I look at my friends and smile a small smile. I hope it doesn’t look as if I am not going back anymore. I keep my smile on my face until the engine starts and we take the road.

We are on our way back to the Weige Mansion now. And I feel kind of nervous and excited at the same time.

Kevin. I will see him again.