Tainted

Chapter 48: The Shattered Globe

"Her beast, his beauty?" I read the t-shirts that John had just bought for Jesse and I.
"Yeah! You guys can be a cringy couple and wear matching t-shirts now!" John cheers as the crowds swarm around us in Disney World.
"Na they were already a cringy couple," Chris states and my gaze turns to him as his arm is slung over Katie whose shirt reads, Cinderella while my brother's states, Prince Charming.

Jesse and I exchange a side glance before both turning away and facing the giant castle that stands to our right.
"So do you think like legit princcesses and princes stay in there? From like other countries and stuff?" I question to Jesse and I watch as he shrugs
"I mean this place is as close to a stable government as we have so I guess so," Jesse nods staring up at the large castle.

"Ok folks it is our time to leave," Naomi appears out of nowhere with a large churro in one hand and a dozen balloons in the other.
"Hey where'd you get the churro from?" John complains while his eyes remain glued to the churro as if it were his future wife.
"John you had one of these like 10 minutes ago," Naomi points out as he leans over to take a bite from hers but she quickly moves it away.

"John quit it we have to go!" Naomi exclaims before kicking him in the shin.
"Ow!" he screeches and grips onto his shin dramatically.
"We've been here for almost 7 hours straight and if we want to make it to New Orleans before the Fourth of July in Texas then we'll have to hurry on up," Naomi nods.
"There's still like 5 days left until the Fourth," Jesse points out.

"Yeah I know, it's just I'm on a diet and this is my fifth churro today," she comments while turning for the exit and leading us out. As we slide through people Jesse's hand stays in mine, the same place it's been all day and I can't help but instinctively scan everyone's face in case it may be Christopher's. I know he's supposed to be in South Dakota but he must know of Chris's and mine disappearance by now and if he still hasn't shown himself to my mother yet then something must be wrong. Not to mention my mother's emails have only gotten shorter and shorter, more vague and knowing her she would want to know every single detail about the trip but instead she simply tells us the depressing reports on my father.

"You alright?" Jesse's low voice cuts through the air and pushes me out of my thoughts quickly.
"Yeah everything's fine," I give him a tight smile and try to pull us closer towards the group but instead Jesse stops dead in his tracks. He turns to me and I glance up at him as his eyebrows draw inward, "Don't lie to me Kira," he instructs, "You know neither of us can afford that. If something's wrong, tell me," he speaks his last words softer as his thumb grazes my cheekbone.

Glancing back at our friend's retreating figures who still haven't noticed our absense I turn back to Jesse with a sigh while quickly runnning both hands through my hair and heading for the van.
"It's my mom Jesse," I breathe as our pace quickens, "She's been distant lately and hasn't been sounding like herself, even through the emails she sounds different, almost like a different person and it scares the shit out of me Jess. What if she hasn't been taking her medication or if Ryan―" I start before Jesse cuts me off.

"Kira," he places his larger hand in mine and intertwines them slowly, "Whatever is going on with your mother you can't control, we have our instructions and that is to make it to Texas and stay there until further notice. We can't contact your mother, I know as hard as it sounds but we can't, we can't contact anyone." I hear the dispair in his voice just as we reach the van. He pulls me in after him as Chris and Katie start to cuddle together in the front Jesse and I take the very back to continue talking.

"I'm sorry," I appologize to Jesse as I let out a shaky breathe, "I'm sorry you haven't been able to talk to your family in the past couple weeks, or that I dragged you into this whole screwed up mess where no one wins and―" I choke out a sob and quickly cover it up hoping no one heard in the front.
"Hey, hey, hey," Jesse removes the hand from my mouth and places my head into the crook of his neck, "It's not your fault, if it is anyone's it's mine for pulling myself into it all. And honsetly Kira," he places a hand behind my neck so I look up at him, "I'm glad I did."