Out of The Blue

Chapter 17

     I was literally just contemplating looking under the shelf, but I would have never imagined I would find a hole. We all gaze at it in silence.

     "There's the cabin!" I hear from a distance but faintly. We all look at each other and as if we can read each other's minds, we nod answering the question: "did you hear that?"

     They found me but how! Bob and Alice have a puzzled look on their face. They are heard a far distance away, so we probably have time to grab whatever is in the hole and bolt out of here. Alice grabs ahold of her stick and Bob his samurai and we all turned to the hole. I stick my hand inside and feel around for something, anything.

     "Hurry!" Alice urges. You can just hear the faint and cynical chuckles echoing through the woods. Their chuckles and whistles of glory are getting closer and closer. Bob hurries to the car and quickly moved it to the back of the cabin. This hole is deep and wide inside. Who knows what could be creeping inside, what kinds of animals or insects are crawling from within, which is why I am trying to be careful, but I need to be quick. I reach deeper inside, anxious, desperate, and rushing. I can't only feel my heart's strong pounds, but I can also hear them. I'm sure Alice can too. My breathing has accelerated, and I can no longer steady myself.

     "Marie, hurry!"

     "I'm hurrying!" I yell back.

     I can't feel anything movable; this hole is so deep!

     "Wait, wait, wait! I feel something, like a box!" We both let out a relieved sigh. I reach deeper to grab it.

     * Distant chuckles – I get a hold of the box - call of victory - pulled out the box - the men getting closer yet still far - moving shelf back in place - they're almost here - running for the back door – "We did it!" - Slammed the car doors shut - cabin invaded... my cabin – gone. *

     I'm panting and starring into nothing as my body moves to the bumps of the roads. That was my cabin. They invaded my cabin... just like home was invaded... my home. Ripped apart. Won't be able to come back to it because it's taken and will be wrecked like my cabin. Destroyed. That cabin was the only thing left to feel like I still had a connection with my parents. My cabin used to belong to a man who was my blood family - which I still somewhat doubt - and was passed on to the next and the next until it would be mine to take care of, make memories, and pass it on to my children and the children of my children. 

     Good luck finding this. We should have walked, it'd be less bumpy and probably quicker, this is no 'road' adequate for a car.

     "Did you get it?" Quickly asks Bob looking at me through the rearview mirror. Shaking and trying to hide it, I hold up the box and gently smirk. All of us give into a smile as we gaze at the box and slowly, a fit of laughter. I am in physical pain, but this kind of laugh felt good after quite a long time with pain. Laughing, laughing, and laughing. Laughing like we're crazy. I mean, we're all a little crazy.

                                                                                               ~~

     We reached the outside of the woods. It's a desolated place; you have to walk for quite a while to get back to the city, probably somewhere close to an hour. What do I do now?

     "We need to take you back home right away; the police have been looking all over for you," Bob added after a moment of silence. "Everyone has been looking for you."

     "There was a huge search party. Almost everyone from the neighborhood was looking." Alice said.

     Wow, really?

     "Well, not everyone but a pretty big group."

     I wonder if my stepfamily was involved. The only reason they'd probably even care would be because by law I'm their responsibility. How do I return home with this box without being questioned?

     "Everyone kind of thought you ran away and no one doubted it, I mean look at how your family treats you. I wouldn't doubt it either but what gave it away for me was that you would have told me."

     That's true and I wouldn't have doubted it either if I'm being honest.

                                                                                        ~~

     We came up with a good plan to hide the box: I am to hide this box in Bob's trunk, then, I get checked, interrogated, or question, and afterwards, Bob will give it to me when no one is in the house. I made him promise he wouldn't open it because I feel something special with it. A connection even though I never met the man or seen what's in the box, it's personal to me for some reason. Bob is a man of his word and when he makes a promise, he makes a promise. I trust him.

     What about the men? and Evan? What if they come back? What if they flee to some other country but I'm still in danger? I hope they get caught and put in jail. This is going to bother me for the rest of the night. I still can't stop feeling that strange connection with Evan. It's so odd and I detest it! I'm not catching feelings. No, it can't be that, this feeling is different.

     I pushed the thought away in disgust and stared out the window examining the trees and its leaves. But I'm not focused at all on them, I'm starring into nothing and they just look like horizontal streaks of orange and red paint. Smudged and blurred. Focus on something else, like the trees, actually look at the trees. What's in the box? What if I find money? That would be great, it would have a different look since it would be from the 1800s. 

     What if there's gold? Or a map to treasure? I giggle at myself, that's enough thinking and wondering for the day. But the curiosity is driving me wild! Now, anticipation has made its arrival and joined curiosity as well. They've mixed and that's never good. Can't and won't be able to stop thinking about what's in this box. Or their invasion, that's really sticking to me. It just feels so familiar to when my parents - whom were my home - were invaded. They took something that is important to me; when I was ten and now.

     I will get my cabin back... I will get my parents back.