Blast From the Past [On Hold]

Chapter 2

Mom's standing before dad, her left hand on his blood-covered cheek. His eyes are closed, his breathing steady but rapid. Mom's other hand comes up to cover his other cheek. Slowly, she leans up to him, lips slowly connecting.

"They can't know that we're their kids," I whisper to Tommy, who has his eyes closed and his finger above his stuck out tongue. "At least, not yet."

Tommy nods, opens his mouth to say something, but thinks against it and closes it again.

Slowly, we make our way to Dig, who's standing away from our parents. He's smiling, watching them with pride.

"John Diggle?" Tommy asks, moving to get in his line of sight.

Dig has to look down at my twin, for Tommy stands at only five-foot-seven-inches.

"Yes, that's me, and why might you two--" Dig glances at me before turning back to Tommy "--be doing on the island of Slabside Maximum Security Prison?"

"We were visiting our dad," I half-lie. "We were on our way to our private plane when we saw you."

"Why would I be of any importance to you?"

"You used to work for Oliver Queen, right?" I cock my head, looking up at Dig.

He nods.

"Well, we go to school with William, we're just glad his dad's out of prison," I lie again.

"Really?" Dig raises his eyebrows, narrowing his eyes at me.

I nod. "Yup."

"Okay, well, goodbye." He brings his hand up and begins to wave.

"The thing is," Tommy looks at his phone that has no reception here, "that our mom just texted, saying she needs to go to a conference and is leaving us here. Could you take us home?"

Dig nods, the corners of his mouth pulling up and his eyes crinkling around the edges. "Of course, I'll take you right after the lovebirds are finished."

"We're done, Dig," dad's deep voice comes from behind us.

"Okay, then let's go."

"Who are you two?"

"I'm Megan, and this is Robert," I answer, using our first names we never go by unless we're in trouble.

"And why are you going home with us?"

"Their mom had to leave in a rush after they visited their dad and left them here. I thought we could take them home," Dig answers for us.

"Okay, let's go then," mom smiles.

I suck in my breath, holding it there until mom passes us with dad. 

"She's so young," Tommy whispers, starting to follow.

"Yeah, so is he." I run up to catch Tommy's pace. "Hey, long legs, slow up," I snicker, knowing he doesn't actually have long legs.

He shoves my shoulder, making me stumble back a few steps. I shove him back.

"Hey!" He yells, brushing off his shoulder. "That's not fair!"

"How so?" I question. "You did it to me." I put my hands on my hips, cocking my left hip out as I catch up to dad.

"Hey, you're Oliver Queen. It's great to meet you. William always speaks greatly of you."

"You know William?" he asks, turning his head sideways to look down at me.

"Yeah, Robert and I go to school with him." I smile, looking back at my brother, who is mimicking what I say and rolling his eyes.

Dad looks back, too, smiling at how stupid Tommy looks. "He seems like a nice boy," he says, turning back to me.

"Yeah, sometimes, but only when he wants the cheerleaders to notice him. I've never liked the popular kids, though, I like sticking more to math and computer science. We're working on building computers right now, but I mastered that when I was five, so it's pretty easy. I'm babbling, aren't I?"

"Yes!" Tommy yells from behind me.

I ignore him. "And I'm going to stop in three, two, one."

I look back up at my father, who has the biggest smile he has ever smiled since I can remember. He turns to look at mom, who is also smiling. "It's a mini you, Felicity."

I smile, mumbling under my breath, "You don't even know the half of it."

"We're here!" Dig yells, setting everyone out of their smiling trances.

"C'mon, sis," Tommy yells, running past me, "race you there."

"Hey! Not fair, Robert Thomas!" I yell back, quickly running up to him.

He's beside the plane, mouth agape. "You just called me Thomas," he whispers.

I cover my mouth with my hand, letting my warm breath warm my suddenly cold hands. "Frack," I mumble. "Uncle Barry's gonna kill me if I mess up the timeline."

"Really? I had no idea!" Tommy throws his hands up in the air. 

I punch his arm while pinching the underside of his brachium.

He shrieks.

Satisfied, I climb up into the jet with everyone already on. I sit in the back next to a window, placing my school bag at my feet. I grab out my iPod and earbuds. Sighing, I plug the cord into the device and put the buds in my ears. I put it on my favorite playlist of ninety's country as I get comfortable. I reach down to my bag again, this time grabbing my book, Scythe. It's an old book, at least, in my time it is, but it was--still is--one of William's favorites.

William is at college, Harvard, to be exact. Tommy and my's younger sister, Moira Ann, is in her sophomore year at the age of eleven. Tommy and I are in high school at age twelve, well, thirteen starting today. We're seniors at Cornerstone Academy. Lexis, our little sister, is ten. She's a freshman, though. We're all grades above where we should be. We actually aren't picked on for being younger, we're actually respected. Tommy because he's on the football team, and me because I'm the sister of Tommy.

I jump when Tommy throws himself down in the seat next to me.

"Hey, sleepyhead, we're in Star City again," he teases, grabbing my book from the floor, where it had fallen, and pulling my earbuds from my ears.

"Hey!" I cry, grasping at empty air as I try to grab them back. "Mom gave those to me when I got that A+ on my paper. Where are yours? We both got a pair!"

Finally, I manage to grab one bud. I carefully pull on it, telling Tommy to give them back. His hand opens and my white-corded earbuds fall to the ground in a clatter.

"Robert! Get back here!" I yell, swiftly placing my belongings in my bag and running after him.

When I catch up to him, I jump on his back and try to push him to the ground.

"You weigh nothing, sis," he laughs.

"Curse mom's genes," I mumble, jumping off of him and catching up to the rest of the group at the front of the plane, by the cockpit.

"Ready?" Dig asks, giving me a small smile.

I smile back, saying, "If we can leave that loser--" I stab my thumb in the air above my shoulder, pointing back to my twin "--then yes, I'm ready."

"Hey!" Tommy protests, grabbing onto the handle on my bag as I push my way through our family. "What would mom say?" 

"She would laugh at you and say 'good job, Ari,' while high fiving me," I laugh, looking back at the younger version of our mother, who was laughing. "See?" I whisper when I let him catch up to me.

He looks back at the adults, and sure enough, they're all laughing.

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbles, turning and walking back to the adults.

I follow, staying on the left of the line, next to mom, while he goes on the other side next to Dig once we all get outside.