Deep Waters

Chapter Seventeen

"Welcome to your new home."

I stepped out of the car and looked around me. We were at a secluded farm in the middle of nowhere. The main house in front of me had baby blue siding and light-grey stone with white shutters are the many windows. The house looked to be aged but it was large. "Our temporary home," I corrected our driver.

He nodded once as Aria climbed out of the car and stood beside me. "Right..." he spoke. "Well, unlike the last place, here you can basically wander around as much as you want. There's a small town a few miles down the road, but all that is there is: a gas station and a couple of small stores."

"And how long are we here, again?" Aria asked, not looking very happy at the environment around her. She was probably regretting wanting to stay in hiding with us, though it wasn't like she had a choice anymore.

"You are going to be here for the next year unless we find Charles before then," he informed us.

"Or he finds us," I added.

"That will never happen."

"It has literally happened every time until now, so never say never," I reminded him.

The thought of being stuck in this small town for the next year bugged me. On the bright side, we had the freedom to roam around the whole town and could basically do whatever we wanted all the time. Though, I didn't know exactly where we were in the country. Since we were on a farm, I figured we were likely still on the west coast, but to me, that didn't sound like good planning. Shouldn't we be going all the way across the country to a place thousands of miles away from Ohio?" That seemed like the best option for our safety to me, but apparently my opinion didn't matter when it came to where we were being moved.

The front door of the big blue house opened and out walked a girl who looked to be around my age. She was wearing jeans and a red T-shirt, with her long brown hair tied into two braids. She walked up to us with a bright, slightly crooked smile on her face. "Hiya! I'm Hazel." Aria and I both shook her hand and introduced ourselves. "I can take 'em from here. You're good to go," Hazel told our driver. I started to notice her southern accent, though it wasn't too thick.

He nodded, looking very happy at her permission to leave. "Goodluck girls." I furrowed my eyebrows at the guy's choice of words and watched him jump into the driver's seat and speed away. Well then.

"Come on inside," she said gesturing for us to follow her. "Your luggage is upstairs and all 'yer friends are in the kitchen gettin some dinner." And she was right. We walked inside and turned right, and there we faced a large southern-style kitchen with all of our friends in there laughing and putting together sandwiches.

"Hey!" Gavin greeted us, drawling out the word. "It's about time you two showed up." I just chuckled at my brother and made my way to Kason who was leaning up against the counter. He greeted me with a kiss on the cheek and wrapping an arm around my back. The comfort of him was really effective after entering such a foreign environment.

At that time, a dog ran in front of me and seemed to dance around in a circle. It was an adult Golden Retriever who seemed very happy to have so many visitors. "This is Nemo," Hazel informed me, walking up to us and petting him. "He's usually an angel, but he gets really excited when he gets to meet new people." I smiled and knelt down to pet him. I never had a dog and this part of my experience here actually excited me. Nemo licked my hand in response. "And this is my brother, Sam."

I looked up to find a guy I'd guess to be in his late twenties staring at me. Unlike Hazel, he had dirty-blond hair, but they both had the same round brown eyes. I straightened up and gave him a small smile. "Nice to meet you." Sam just nodded once in response and glanced at Kason, who wrapped his arm back around me.

"Everyone can eat in the living room if you want," Hazel announced. "There's more room in there." Gavin, Holden, Marla, and Sam all walked out of the kitchen and turned right, where I was assuming the living room was. Aria and I turned to the countertop covered in many sandwich options and started building one for ourselves.

"You okay?" Kason asked me, pushing a piece of hair behind of ear. I nodded, genuinely feeling okay in the moment. "You're safe," he told me, kissing me on the head before gifting me a closed-lip smile and leaving to follow the others.

After watching him leave my sight, I looked at Aria who had a wide smile. "You two are cutest."

Chuckling at her words and rolling my eyes, I finished making my sandwich and followed the direction the others had gone and found my way to a large living room. There were three couches, an ottoman, and a TV in the middle of the room. I sat down in the empty seat between my brother and Kason. Aria walked in just a moment later and sat beside Holden.

"So, your dad is a psychotic murderer?" Sam suddenly asked.

Gavin nodded. "Yeah, basically."

"Cool."

We sat through a few moments of silence, none of us really knowing how to add to that conversation. "Thank you for letting us hideout here," I finally spoke up.

Hazel smiled kindly at me. "Although we are getting paid to have you stay here, we really don't mind having you here either way. The money is just a benefit. We can use it to buy better farming equipment and supplies to build a bigger barn," she said, looking excited about the plans. "Plus, it can get a little lonely around here, so to me, it's a win-win."

"Where is the rest of your family?" Marla asked the siblings.

"Our parents are on a business trip," Hazel answered. "They drove to an auction across the country and are visiting Mom's parents while over there. They'll be back in a couple of weeks."

"Where exactly in the country are we?" Aria tried asking.

"Can't answer that," Sam quickly spoke up. "We've all sworn to keep our mouths shut so don't even try."

I sighed, the plan in the back of my brain getting shut down. I guess we were just going to find a way to entertain ourselves wherever we were until we could catch Charles. 

***

Thanks for reading:))

Predictions on any of the characters or events that may happen? Do you think they will catch Charles or will Charles find them first?

This book is going to be full of surprises that's for sure;)

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas if you celebrate<3

Love you all.

~Emily