Project L-137

Chapter 10

I kept my back to Trevor when the sound faded out of my ears. I slowly turned to see his arms by his side and the gun clatter onto the floor.

"Trevor?" I said.

"I...killed her," He said. He sounded like he was out of breath. He turned around to face me. I reached out and put my arms around his neck.

"I know. But she was going to kill Lydia," I whispered in his ear. I felt his hands linger on top of my body before placing them on my back and gripping me in a strong hug. I felt him nod at my statement like he had a reason. But it doesn't hurt any less. Monster or not, she was still his sister. I let go of him and he let go of me.

"What do we do with her," I asked, walking over to Lisa. Her dark brown hair wasn't like mine. Instead, her hair had blonde highlights that were not natural. Her skin was the same light tan as Trevors and her rosy cheeks were still a little pink.

"We bury her. I don't want her to stay like this. I want to do something for her," He said, looking away from her.

"Ok. Do you want Lydia to stay here with me or do you want her to go with you?" I asked, turning to face him.

"I want to say goodbye to her," I heard Lydia's voice from behind me. Her soft soprano voice almost cracked when she said it.

"Are you sure? You don't have to if you don't want to," I said to her. She repeated herself with a stronger tone.

"I want to say goodbye to my sister," She said, walking over to me. She was only an inch shorter than me but I met her eyes almost evenly. I nodded and looked over at Trevor.

"We can stay here for a few nights. We have enough food for maybe a week or so. Lydia, you can take my room and I can sleep on the couch while you sleep in Jared's room," I said.

"Wait, your brother isn't here?" Trevor said. That's when I had a light bulb moment.

Jared would have heard the engine outside of the house. He would have enough time to get out of the house before I even stepped out of the car. Where was the only place he would actually go? The only place nobody would think to look unless it was me or Dad?

My eyes went wide and I started running outside to the backyard.

"Amber?" Lydia asked.

I ignored her and kept running until I reached the huge oak tree that was in the very back corner of the house. I climbed up the ladder that was nailed into the trunk of the tree.

"Amber where are you going?" Trevor shouted.

I kept climbing until I reached the top of the tree, where the treehouse started and slammed the small door open. I peeked my head through and that's when I saw him staring at me with wide, dark brown eyes. I pulled myself into the treehouse and he walked over to me. He stopped in his tracks as I stood up from my sitting position.

"Amber?" He said. I nodded trying to let the smile crawl onto my face.

"Hey, Jared," I said. He ran to me and I opened my arms to wrap around him. He slammed into my body and wrapped his arms around me.

"I made a promise to not leave you didn't I?" I asked.

"I missed you. I knew you would come back for me," He said.

I let go of him and he did the same. I met his eyes and I already knew there was a question about dad. Before he could ask, I spoke to avoid the subject.

"Come on, let's get out of this treehouse and back inside ok?" I said. He nodded, and I went out of the door before he could. As I went down the ladder, I couldn't help but think about what I am going to say to him about Dad. He just got me back but can he afford to know that Dad is dead and that he has been for months.