Tainted

Chapter 56: The Call

"So what's there to do today?" Chris asks awkwardly as John waltzes into the room after his fifth shower to get the stench of crap off of him.
"Anything indoors," John butts in immediately and we all nod in agreement as I can't even imagine what might happen the next time John steps foot on a farm. Heck I can't even imagine what's going to happen at the alpaca farm.

"How about a game of cards?" Katie suggests with a sly grin.
"I call being dealer!" Jesse shouts and hops off of the couch that we were on and dives for the coffee table that's in the center of the living room.
"Hey no fair you were dealer last time!" Chris accuses as we all settle around the table.
"You snooze you loose," Jesse grins while shuffling the large deck of cards in his hands.

As the boys begin to bicker amongst themselves I lean back on the couch and let out a large yawn as I barely got any sleep last night due to the conversation Jesse and I had. I know that we won't catch my father soon, and I know that we'll have to be relocated as well and lose all contact with him. I'll never be able to see him again and I'll have to live with the fact that he's going to move on one day, and that I'll have to do the same thing.

So for now, while we still have each other I can't help but gaze at the side of his face as a large smile stays sprawled across his while he argues playfully with my brother as if he were his own. His hair falls past his ears making him look ages older as well as his tan skin and bright smile lighting up the whole room. I'm going to miss this, I'll miss John and Naomi's jokes, Katie and Chris's love-struck gaze, but most of all I'll miss Jesse, everything about him. The way he laughs at my jokes that make no sense at all, or the way his crooked smile creeps along his face when he's planning something, but I'll especially miss those eyes, those dark green forest eyes that I remember as black from the first time I'd laid my eyes on him.

That's when John's phone rings. The very phone that is supposed to block all outside calls and only allow 911 calls or ones to each other. All our heads snap in John's direction as he digs in his pocket for the small device, pulling it out he examines the number before flipping it open and holding it to his ear although I want to scream at him to put it on speaker and let us hear the conversation.
"Ryan?" John questions.

My heart stops and gets caught in my throat for a moment before it turns into a steam engine and begins pumping so much blood throughout my entire body I begin to feel lightheaded just at the name. John nods his head slightly as we hear murmuring on the other side of the phone before his face suddenly falls drastically into an unknown emotion.

His eyes glaze over and a small sigh escapes his lips, whether of relief or fear I can't tell as his face still holds no emotion.
"What?" I don't hear the sound but rather watch as his mouth forms the word breathlessly.
"Right now?" he seems to regain his composure slowly.
"We can't just leave them―" he's suddenly interrupted by shouting over the phone and clamps his mouth shut with a clear look of annoyance and reluctance on his face.
"I know I'm not on a vacation but these kids are my responsibility I'm not just going t leave them," he hisses and turns around as if to block us from hearing the conversation and that's when I'm reminded I'm not the only one who's in the room with John. My head snaps over to see Jesse's face wearing a worried and even scared expression while my brother's one of confusion and Katie strictly fear.

"Yes, ok, yes I understand, I will inform Naomi," his voice sounds defeated and he flips his phone shut, facing away from us he stands like that for almost a full minute before slowly turning around. Confusion, indifference, and anger all dance and switch across his face as he tries to make sense of what he heard over the phone which he has yet to explain to us.
"What happened?" Naomi is the first to speak and John's eyes meet mine first then slowly move around the room before settling on the window with his eyebrows drawn in.