Journey

Elijah: Cambaar

I suddenly sit up out of the water.

"What's wrong Eli?" Alaina asked

"Should we tell your dad about this?"

Alaina sits up too.

"Elijah, you realize that if we tell my dad he is just going to knock down the trees and build another castle," She explains.

"Alaina, we have made the discovery of the century and you are saying that we should keep it a secret?" I exclaim.

"Yes Elijah. This place should be kept a secret. My dad will just destroy the beauty of this place and do what with it? Build houses?"

"What if this place has stuff that our people really need?"

"Than we give it to them. We can give away herbs and spices and fruits and veggies but we can't give away the land," She pleads with me.

I step out of the water and into the soft grass. Can I really keep this place a secret? I pull on my shirt once again. I take off running at full speed to where the city wall is. I jump over and run to my house.

"Hey, Elijah," My dad says to me as I enter.

"Elijah you're soaking wet!" My mom exclaimed.

"Yeah, I went for a run," I laugh nervously.

My mom sighs.

"You are such a bad liar Eli," She says.

"Tell me Elijah, where were you?" My dad asks.

I stay silent.

"Eli? Tell me where you've been," My mom demands.

I sigh. I know that Alaina will murder me tomorrow for telling but I start.

"I was-," I start.

Than our door busts open.

"Sorry for keeping him so long. We went around the city border and got sweaty so we came back to my house for showers," Alaina says.

My mom gives me a look. I choose to ignore it and lead Alaina up to my room.

We sit on my bed neither one of us willing to talk to the other.

"The silent treatment," I laugh quietly.

"Yes the silent treatment. You left me in an unknown territory soaking wet and cold. You take off running and when I get to you house I have to intercept so you don't tell your parents the one thing I told you not to tell them," She scolds.

"I'm sorry Alaina."

"You better be sorry," She mutters.

She stays quiet and finally I can't take it anymore so I do the one thing I know to get her to talk for sure.

"You know I love you," I bat my eyes at her.

She swats at me.

"Stop it Eli," She laughs.

"I'll stop when you admit you love me,"

I hug her.

"Fine I love you too Elijah," She sighs.

She can't keep a straight face though. She starts breaking into a big smile.

"Why do you do that to me Elijah?" She laughs.

"Because I can't stand it when my best friend is mad at me,"

"Your a dork," She says.

I just smile at her. It's impossible for us to stay mad at each other.

"I'm willing to forgive you Elijah if you meet with my terms," She bargains.

"Oh no Alaina is starting to bargain. Fine, the reward is worth it. What is your bargain miss Alaina?" I ask.

"Don't ever do that to me again," She says.

"Hmm, Thats a high price I'll have to think about it."

She waits for me.

"I have decided that I would rather be friends with you than to ditch you again,"

She laughs.

She checks her watch.

"Oh, I gotta get home," She exclaims.

She quickly jumps off my bed and rushes down the stairs. I walk down stairs and into the dining room where my mom is preparing a meal for us.

"I saw the future leader run out in quite the rush. What did you do this time Elijah?" My dad asks in mock disappointment.

"She just had to go home. Chill dad," I laugh.

"When are you guys gonna date," My mom asks.

My face turns bright red.

"Mom we are only fifteen," I tell her.

"Exactly you are fifteen you should be dating already," She says.

For a second I think she is serious but than I see the smile on her face.

"Sit down Elijah. Eat your dinner," My dad says to me.

I sink my fork into my meat casserole and think that maybe I should ask her out. I don't know though. We've been friends our whole lives. I don't really see her as any more or less than that. Maybe we could become more than that but do I really want to take that chance and risk hurting our friendship because of some possibility of what we could be. I decide against it. I can't risk it.

"You're awfully quiet today Elijah," My mom says.

"Yeah tell us about your day," My dad chimes in.

"Not much to report," I say.

"Come on. It's not like you did nothing all day," My dad says.

"Well Alaina and I talked about some conspiracy theory that she cooked up about us going back to Sol Earth."

My dad seems to choke on the water he's drinking. I pause in my story and give him a suspicious glance.

"It got to stuffy in the castle so we went around the city a few times to help the hours pass more quickly. We got really sweaty and gross so we went back to her castle and showered. Than we raced here," I explained.

They went back to eating. I have a feeling that my dad knows something about what's going on in the navigation room.