The World We Once Knew

Chapter Thirteen

Logan

I stare after my grandfather until I no longer see his figure. Then I get on my bike and ride back to everyone else. I'm still bloody when I pull in and everyone is still up. They take one look at me and I see the looks on their faces. Grandma Ginny goes into her tent crying, Grandpa Shane just stares at me and my dad has the look of sorrow, pain and disappointment. 

"Who were they?" my dad chokes out. 

"The ones who killed Grandma Regan." I say "Grandpa Mason showed me the way." 

My dad bows his head; "Of course he did." He says as he sits down and holds his head in his hands. 

"Go get yourself cleaned up. There's a stream about a quarter of a mile east of here." says Grandpa Shane.

 I listen to him and find the little stream and clean myself up best I can. When I get back to the others, everything is packed up. My dad leads the way and I'm by myself in the rear. Grandma Ginny can't even bring herself to look at me. I did what had to be done and I don't regret it.

We travel until its time for lunch and Grandma Ginny starts the cooking. My dad tells me to go scout ahead. Unwillingly I do as I'm told. As I mount up and start driving away I see my dad stoop down to talk to Grandma Ginny.

"You need to attempt to be nice to her. You have to remember that we live in a world where there are no police." says Benedict.

"I know. I know. I just wish that she wasn't so much like Mason. He has a bad influence on her." says Ginny.

"I know, but he's gone now." says Benedict.

"It doesn't matter. She's already killed those people. I've been through this with her mother and her aunt. I didn't want to have to go through it again, but here I am. I'm just so sick of watching the people I love murder people out of revenge. And when she starts having nightmares about their eyes staring at her, you are the one that's going to comfort her, not me." Ginny almost shouts.

Raising his voice a little Benedict says "That's fine but she is your goddamn granddaughter! At least act like you can tolerate her! God you're acting just like my mother!"

I come back and hear my dad yelling at my grandmother, "What's going on?" I ask, walking over to them. Grandpa Shane just shakes his head. Annoyed I go back over to my bike and sit down. Grandma Ginny goes back to cooking and my dad goes over to his bike, then after a few minutes he walks away. For some strange reason I feel like I'm being watched even though when I look around there's no one but my family and they are not even paying attention to me. But I just can't shake this feeling.

After lunch while Grandpa Shane cleans the dishes, I clean the weapons I used. I forgot to and now there's dried blood on them, at least it isn't sticky. When I put them back I realize that Grandma Ginny is watching me, but I ignore her. She's being a hypocrite. I know for a fact that she has killed out of revenge before. Everyone in my family has. Once Grandpa Shane is done we mount up and ride for only three hours this time. We stop and make camp. My father rides ahead and finds an old abandoned hotel that still has running water. So we, or should I say the adults, decide to go there so we can shower. When we get there we go around and look for some rooms that are not to bad to use. I find one on the thirteenth floor, away from everyone else. I just need to be alone right now. I need to get away from their judgmental eyes. I shower in a huge shower that takes up an entire wall. Then I go into the other room, the one with the bed. This will be the first time I will ever sleep in one of these 'beds'. I lay down on it and actually find it quite comfortable. So comfortable in fact that I end up falling asleep for a little while.

"Do you know where they are going to take her once we get down there?" Shane asks.

"Kylemore Abbey." replies Benedict.

"They're taking her to Ireland?" Shane asks.

"Yes." sighs Benedict.

"Will she be safe there?" Ginny inquires.

"Probably not, she's going to spend the rest of her life on the run." Benedict responds. It was quiet for a while.

"That's no way to live, especially not for a young child." Ginny states.

"At least she will be alive." Retorts Benedict.

"Will the nuns even take her? She's not religious, let alone Catholic." Shane says.

"Yes, they will take her. The nuns have helped out many people, including people in this family. They promised my brother that they would protect her for as long as they can and for as long as she stays." replies Benedict.

"Good." Shane says.

 Ginny just nods. "Dinner is almost ready, want to go get her?" Ginny says to Benedict. 

He nods, gets up, and starts walking up the stairs to the thirteenth floor. When he gets up stairs he has to find the room that his daughter is in; "Logan! Logan! Where are you?" he shouts. Finally after checking all the other rooms he gets to the last room on the floor. He knocks then opens it. He walks in to find her asleep on the bed. He waits a few moments and realizes that she looks really young. Almost like she did when she was a small child, "Sweetheart, hey it's time for dinner." he says gently. 

Opening my drowsy eyes I nod and try to find my shoes. I walk down to the fifth floor with my dad in front of me. I never realized until now just how much he's aged. He's only thirty four years old but he walks hunched over, giving him the appearance of being much older.

When we get to the fifth floor Ginny already has dinner on plates. She hands me mine and gives me a half hearted smile. I just take the plate and go sit down. After everyone has a plate Ginny comes and sits by me. I move a little bit away from her. When I look into her eyes I see nothing but pity and sorrow. I look away and eat. It's my turn to clean up. So I clean my plate and the pots that are empty, while I wait for the others to be done. This is the only time that I actually like doing the dishes. Ginny brings over the other dishes and puts her hand on my shoulder. I flinch without meaning to. She averts her eyes and walks back to the others. I notice that she shares a look with my father. Once done I put the dishes back into the bag and walk up to the thirteenth floor. I don't bother saying goodnight to anyone. As I'm walking I get a sudden burst of anger and punch a hole in the hallway wall. My hands starts bleeding but I ignore it and keep walking back to the room. Once there I go to the bathroom and wash my hand, then crawl into the bed. I try not to close my eyes but my body forces me to. I don't want to but I see their faces, most importantly their eyes.

I wake up to lightning. It's raining really hard. It's a bad storm, now I'm glad that we came here. I get up and go to the bathroom. Once I've splashed my face with cold water I decide to walk around the building for a while, not wanting to go back to sleep. I find the gym and decide to work out for a while. When I look at the clock again I see that it's five A.M. I go upstairs, shower, and head back to the fifth floor. Grandpa Shane has breakfast cooking and my dad's down checking on the bikes. Ginny is in the shower. My dad comes back up and says that we are going to stay here until the storm dies down.
We are here for days. Every day is the same: I get up around three A.M. and work out. Next I shower and head down to breakfast, after I go exploring the building. I go back around noon for lunch, then go back to exploring. I go back to the fifth floor for dinner around six P.M. Then I go up to the thirteenth floor trying not to go to sleep. Every night I wake myself up. I just can't get their staring eyes out of my head. I also can't shake the feeling that I'm being watched.