Faultless

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

           I woke up the next day to the same routine as the day before: breakfast downstairs with the boys and Lisa. This breakfast was different though. It was very quiet. Hardly anyone said a word and I could feel the tension in the air.

           On the way up the stairs to take a shower, Arnold scurried up to me and caught my arm, “I think we should,” he whispered in ear, “Start packing.”

           I quickly took a shower and packed up all my things. I wondered what had made Arnold want to leave so quickly. Yesterday, we had briefly discussed the possibility of leaving, but it didn’t seem likely to me that we would. Once I thought I had everything I absolutely needed packed, I headed over to the guest room where I found Arnold and Louis arguing.

           “We can’t just leave,” Louis started before he was interrupted by Arnold.

           “Oh yes we can! And we are!”

           “We? Who says Remi wants to go with you?”

           “She’s already packing her things!”

           “Well…but we don’t know where to go from here. Why are we leaving? I thought you liked Lisa and John and we were actually making some progress into getting all this figured out.”

           “I do like Lisa and John, but there’s too much tension between them and Kali and David. I have this feeling that David and Kali are up to something and I don’t want to risk us getting caught.”

           I couldn’t stand to hear anymore, so I walked into the room. Both boys silenced themselves as they looked over at me.

           Louis rushed over to me, his blonde hair falling into his eyes, “Remi,” he started quickly, “Please don’t tell me you’re going along with Arnold’s insane plan to leave again.”

           “Well,” I started, “I did pack my stuff, but I didn’t realize you didn’t want to go.” I shot a glaring look. “But someone made it seem like you were both on board to go.”

           “We have to leave,” Arnold said, angrily, “It’s not safe here. Do you really want to risk getting caught?”

           “No,” I said, “But I agree with Louis. We are finally getting things figured out with Lisa and John. If we just leave we’ll never be able to stop McCain. And besides that what will Lisa think of us? She let us stay in her house, kept us fed, and bought me new clothes. Do you know how much it would hurt her if we just left?”

           “You can’t always think about other people all the time, Ramona,” Arnold said, “Sometimes you have to think about what’s best for yourself.”

           “Well what if we don’t want to go?” Louis said, “What if we decided to stay here?”

           “I’d say go for it. But I’m leaving. And realize that if something goes wrong, I won’t be here to save you.”

           “What if something goes wrong for you when you’re out on your own? Nobody will be there to save you either,” I said, defensively.

           “Yeah, well, the difference is I can take care of myself. You guys can’t.”

           “We can too!” Louis shot back.

           “Guys, stop,” I said, “We can’t argue. We have to stick together.”

           “Oh, no,” Arnold said, “Not the ‘all for one, one for all’ speech. I hate that speech.”