The Islanders

Marooned: Chapter Two

Chapter 2

I was late coming home after school because I had a bit of extra homework I wanted to complete and now I was burnt out so I slowly opened the gate to my house and walked up to the front door as my heart leaped into my throat then dropped to my stomach. I don't think I've ever been more nervous about asking my parents for anything than right now although I'm not sure as to why. Sluggishly, I turned the doorknob and walked down the cool grey hallway that goes to the red living room and sat my well used bag down on a floral chair placed by the window and noticed it was strangely quiet. Scott was probably at a soccer game or reading a book and my parents were probably still working.

It was weird because my parents were normally home when I get back from school, at least until after dinner. I went into my kitchen for a snack and saw a piece of paper on the fridge, my parents never kept anything but a few magnets on the fridge, they said it collected too much dust.

I took off the magnet and held the paper in my hands. It said: 

Sorry sweetie that we aren't home, had to get something for dinner and run an errand. We should probably be back between 4:30 - 5:00.

Love you

It was addressed to me and was clearly my mom's writing on the note. I knew because she always writes it fancy like, she says it's more proper. Why was I given two of the weirdest parents in the world?

After a couple of minutes passed by and the last bite of my granola bar was gone, I heard the clicking of my mom's shoes and my dad's chuckle just outside the front door. While the knob turned and my parents walked in, I swear my pulse sky rocketed. 

"Hi darling. How was your day at school?" said my dad as he hung his coat on a hook.

"It was good..." My mom threw a strange look my way.

"Is there something you need to tell us?" She used the same sing-song voice from when I'm sick. 

"No. Nothing that can't wait until dinner anyways." I'm pretty sure they sensed the nervousness that I so badly tried to hide.

"Well then I'll put dinner in the oven and question whether you're my daughter or an alien." My dad giggled at my mom's corny joke. Trust me, he always does; I think it's why they fell in love in the first place. They had the same lame sense of humor which sometimes gives me a warm feeling inside but usually just makes me want to throw up. 

I decided to sit down and watch a show as my parents waited in the kitchen and talked about politics or something. The show I was watching was I Love Lucy; it's an old black and white TV show but I love it and perhaps even more because of its lack of modernity. And as I started getting lost in thought, the oven beeped telling me that life's going to be nerve racking for me from this point on.

I helped set the table and waited in my seat as my mom and dad sat down with their plates and handed me and Scott ours. I felt more and more edgy with each bite they chewed and moment that passed so I decided it's time to ask them.

I gathered together the bit of courage I needed to ask and spoke,"Would you let me go on a cruise with my class in May?" they looked back and forth at each other while Scott huffed which made me regret asking with him in the room and then, as if they had telepathy they said "Yes" in unison. I was in shock of how easy that was and I felt a small weight lifted off my shoulders until my mom started saying something.

"You can go as long as you clean your room, the bathroom, and the living room and keep it that way until you leave. And we'll need a little more information about the trip." I felt the weight crawl back onto my small shoulders again. And to make it worse, those were the grossest rooms in the house. Usually my parents are tidy but with them being busy with work, me and my older brother, Scott, are left to clean it and neither of us have been doing that good of a job. But I was reluctant to do it anyways, what could be the harm?

I decided to start with my room. Bad idea. Half the time I played with my old things and a quarter of it was spent doing nothing except lying on the floor and staring at the roof but I did eventually finish. I  was disgusted when I cleaned the bathroom. I found a couple of Scott's socks that he probably used while playing soccer. And believe me when I say that there is nothing more horrid then finding one of those in a place you commonly use. On the bright side, once I put them into the dirty laundry in another room the dense smell was gone; it did help too that I sprayed a load of my dad's cologne in there.

The time that was spent cleaning the kitchen was with distractions like the bird outside the window that was really annoying and I spent a few minutes trying to shoo it away. Also, while I was washing the dishes I started making bubbles and popping them. The duration of tidying parts of the house was spread over the course of five days but I did it.

My parents said they would sign the paper and that night I had a strange dream, it was about the trip.

At first I was on a boat and we were sailing over a crisp and clear ocean and the boat was soothingly going with the motion of the waves. But then, without hesitation, the boat jolted quickly and sent everything and everyone towards the front of the ship except me. I was standing too close to the rail and fell overboard. I started to sink even though I was once so close to the surface but I couldn't swim up fast enough to breathe. I woke up panting and once I collected my thoughts I looked at my clock which said 1:43, so I tried hard to go back to sleep while hoping I wouldn't have that dream again.

                                                                                               ***

The next day at school I told my best friend, Jack Richard, about the dream I had last night. He told me that I have nothing to be scared of, that it was a dumb fear, all in my head. I guess he's right but I couldn't shake off the feeling that there was some truth to my dream besides the boat and the miles of waves surrounding it. Hopefully the trip doesn't turn into a titanic remake, sorry Leonardo and Kate.

                                                                                              *** 

My mom helped me pack my luggage and made sure I had plenty of things to bring. I also placed a family picture into a Ziploc bag and put it in one of the pouches, you know, in case I get homesick. Before I could take a moment to breathe, the grand field trip day came upon us and I'm officially packed and waiting to go onto the bus. Miss Wakowitz gave us only one instruction:

"Have fun! But without getting in trouble or else I will seriously send you swimming back to land. Is that clear?" Everybody nodded their heads with fear - Miss Wakowitz rarely jokes. She also reminded us again when we got to the dock.

I kept getting a strange feeling that my dream - sorry, nightmare - is going to happen. At least part of it might. But then again, Jack could be right. I really hope he is or else my parents will be waiting a long time for me to come home. Which I won't.