Travelers

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Merry-
After lunch Benedict and I were sitting on the couch still watching a movie. I sighed and said," BENEDICT!" He looked at me with a wrinkled forehead and said," what?" I said," I'm sooooo bored!" He said," what do you want to do?" I said," if I knew that I'd be suggesting we do that..." he laughed and said," well when you think of something let me know." I pulled out my phone and started to go through the texts from Jerry I had been ignoring. They read:
*Mer... I didn't know. I sorry.*
*forgive me, please. I want to be a better brother.*
*Dad found out and divorced mom.*
*Tom is trying to sober up... so far it's been a week.*
*I want to be your friend if you don't want a brother. Call me some time.:)*

I was shocked. Those five texts just turned my world upside down. I said," You'll never guess what my brother just texted me." I handed him my phone and he read it. He said,"that's good." I nodded. I said,"I'm still bored!" Benedict said,"ugh. That's it. You're gonna get it!" He jumped on me and started to tickle me. I grabbed a pillow and hit him. I laughed and said,"stop!" He said," you walked me with a pillow." He picked me up and threw me over he shoulder. He says," I will conquer this great land! I have captured the great American princess. I shall become president of the world!!" He marched around the hotel room with me laughing on his shoulder. I said," you will never become president! I shall rule!" He said,"then you must be tortured." He threw me on the couch and started to tickled me. I laughed and laughed. I finally rolled off the couch onto the floor. I said," you are an evil man!" He laughed evily, which was very funny and said," it takes one to know one!" I said," I am NOT evil!" He said," yes you are." I grabbed a pillow and hit him. That started a pillow fight.
After our pillow war we both collapsed onto the couch completely exhausted. The clock said it was two o'clock. I said," let's go see the Hollywood sign!" He laughed and agreed.

Benedict-
I drove us to the Hollywood sign. We took pictures. After the Hollywood sign we went to dinner, and went back to the hotel. I said," want to go to the Grand Canyon tomorrow? We can camp out in the canyon." I said,"yes!" After making all the plans we went to bed.
I'm the morning I was making breakfast when I heard Merry coming out of the bedroom. She was about to say something when her phone rang. She answered it and said,"hello.... yes, this is she... um...what?...okay... okaaay. No, I don't want anything from that horrible place...No, I won't be coming back.... no, I don't want to talk to anyone. Bye." I looked at her and said,"something wrong?" She looked up from her phone. She looked stunned. I stepped towards her. She said,"my whole family has been arrested." I said,"what!" She said,"yeah... that was the FBI. Apparently Jerry turned my whole family in... then they asked if I wanted anything from the B&B before they sold it. Then they asked if I wanted to talk to my family. Again I said no." I said,"wow." She nodded and sat down at the table. I want back to cooking eggs. I asked,"are you okay?" She said," yeah... just my entire family has been arrested. Jerry made a deal for turning them in. It's surprising." I said,"I'm sure it is." She said,"well... anyway. We leave in an hour right?" I handed her a plate and said,"yep! It will take us two hours to fly to the nearest city to Grand Canyon. We leave in fifteen minutes." She nodded.
After eating we left for the airport. The flight there was smooth. Merry told me about the phone call in detail. After she told me I dozed off. I am completely exhausted.

Merry-
After Benedict and I talked for a little while Benedict fell asleep. He had looked exhausted. He had been looking exhausted for a few days now. I wonder how he has been sleeping... after we landed we rented a car and drove to a store to buy what we needed to camp out in the canyon. We bought a tent, sleeping bags, pillows, and food. We packed it all into hiking backpacks. Then we drove to the Grand Canyon and took pictures. We started to hike down after lunch. I said,"it's stunning." He said,"it is." But he wasn't looking at the scenery he was looking at me. I blushed but turned to look at the canyon so he would see. The walk down was tiring but non the less stunning. We would see the occasional lizard or snake. To many for my comfort. When we got to the bottom we set up our tent. Benedict started to a fire to cook corn and beans over. I sat and watched. I said,"you seem to know what your doing." He said,"I used to always go camping with my family. It comes naturally." I said,"that's good because if I was alone I'd end up dying. I have NO camping experience AT ALL." I smiled at him. He said,"then its good I'm here." I said,"yeah." He cooked the food for us then we got in the tent, both exhausted from the hike down. I turned the brightness down on my phone so I could play a game on it while Benedict slept. Some time around midnight Benedict starting jerking in his sleep. I stared at him for a moment. Do I wake him up? All of a sudden he started to say quietly,"stop... no... NO!" He was having nightmare. I said," Benedict? Wake up. It's a nightmare." He jerked up. Sudden,y he shot out of the tent. I followed him. He was standing. He was breathing heavily. I said," breath deep. In, out." After a few minutes he settled down. I put my hand on his arm and said," have you been having nightmares?" He nodded. I stepped forward and hugged him. He put his head on my shoulder. We stood there for a few minutes in silence. I said," for how long?" He said," I don't know. The last couple nights more often." I asked,"why didn't you tell me?" He said," it's hard to talk about." I said," we are friends. You can tell me anything." He said," okay then there is something I've been meaning to tell you." I stepped out of his arms and said,"what is it?" He said,"I have feelings for you Merry." That completely shocked me. I was expecting some family secret or something, but this... I said,"wow." He said,"you don't have the same feelings do you?" He looked so bummed. I said,"no that's not it. You just surprised me... i do have feelings for you." I stepped forward caught his eye. He had a little smile on his lips as he gently lifted his hands to cup my face. I wrapped my hands around his kneck as he pressed his lips gently against mine. After a few seconds he pulled back lightly. He had a small smile on his lips. He looked like who was a man dying of thirst and who had just been given water. He said,"I've been wanting to do that since you decided to travel with me." I said," I'm glad. Thank you so much for getting me out of my family. You saved me from a miserable life." He put his hands around my waist. My hand were still around his kneck. I asked,"what now?" I saw a mischievous glint in his eye. He says,"now I give my girlfriend another kiss and then grab my sleeping bag and sleep out here." I smiled and said,"Always the gentleman." Again he leaned in to kiss me.