Finding Water

Chapter 2

"Wake up Stacey, we don't have much time." Stacey groaned and rubbed her eyes open, and standing there was the same boy who had startled her before. 

"Woah, how did you get in my house?!" Stacey asked, trying to hide her fear. 

"Shh, come on get up and follow me, your housemates will wake up." 

Stacey ignored what the boy asked, and confused asked him, "You mean my parents?" This time the boy ignored her and went into her closet and started stuffing all her clothes into a backpack.

 "What are you doing? Get out of my closet! Actually, get out of my house!" She snarled.

"Hurry, Stacey we don't have time, you don't understand, I have to get you out of here." His voice sounded generally rushed, but Stacey wasn't backing down so easily. 

"I don't think you understand! This is my home. I can't exactly follow a kidnapper, for various reasons." She snapped back. The boy tore a hand through his hair, but she wasn't going, no matter what his reasons were. 

"Look, I know you can't trust me, but please just come." Stacey saw the truth in his eyes and reluctantly agreed. He reached for her hand and twined their fingers as Stacey grabbed her bag.

                                                                              ***

Stacey and the boy-wait, he never told her his name. "What's your name?" she asked, as they walked down the streets, in black unrecognizable black clothing. The boy looked surprised. 

"Oh. I didn't mention it?" when Stacey shook her head, the boy tore hand through his shaggy hair. "It's Dylan. Dylan Alexander." Dylan smirked and she felt herself melt with his smirk.

They kept walking, hand-in-hand, until they had passed the main centre of the city and lots of bars. Finally, Dylan stopped in front of a huge house. A mansion, basically.

"Whose house is this?" Stacey breathed. Dylan laughed.

"Yours," when she looked at him like he was crazy, he quickly added "Well, your parents' house." clearly misreading it.

Stacey shook her head so hard, it probably hurt. "No way. You saw my house a while ago. THAT'S my parents' house."

Dylan bit his lip. "Maybe it's better to let them explain."  Them? Who's them?!  He stepped up to the massive double doors and pressed the glowing, yellow doorbell. 

A woman with beautiful, super-straight blonde hair opened the door. She was about 5'7, and wearing black leggings, Nike Air Z's and a cream colored tank-top.

"You-you found her?" the woman whisper-asked, tearing up when Dylan nodded. The woman hugged Stacey as tight as possible.

"I'm sorry, who are you again?" Stacey asked, squirming uncomfortably.

When the woman said: "Your mom," she cracked up.

"Your serious?" Stacey asked, when she saw her mom's-the woman's serious expression. And when her 'mom' nodded, Stacey fell backward. 

Lucky as she was, 2 strong arms caught her. When he said this: "Maybe it's better to talk about this in the living room, mom?" she realized it was Dylan, and jumped out of his arms, embarrassed. 

"Wait, she's your mom too?!" Stacey held her head when he nodded, trying to wrap her head around everything she just learned.

Her 'mom' led Stacey and Dylan to the pristine white living room and gave both of them cozy blankets. She shivered in the blankets and managed to mumble out : "Wait-so...who are my parents then. The ones I've been living with for 13 years?"

Her 'mom' bit her lip and said, "They...are your kidnappers."

"No," Stacey whispered. I mean, how could they not expect her to be in denial? They just told her that the people who had raised Stacey her whole life, were supposedly her kidnappers?!

"How do I even know that you're telling me the truth?" she asked, backing away. "Why should I even trust you? I literally just met you like, 5 minutes ago, and I met Dylan yesterday!"

Her supposed 'mom' inched closer to Stacey, holding her hands. "I know this is really hard for you to wrap your head around, but Stacey we've been looking for you since you were 2 years old."

Wait-so her kidnappers raised her for 11 years? Stacey could feel the tears rolling down her cheeks but she had a lot more questions.

"Wait-so you're my real mom. But then why did Dylan call you mom?" she asked, confused.

"Because...Dylan's your brother. Older brother, by 3 years." Her mom laughed and Dylan chimed in.

"Yup, I'm your older bro, whether you like it or not." He told Stacey, messing up her hair.

"HEY!" she yelled at him, playfully tackling him.

Once they had all settled down, Stacey decided to ask a few more questions. "So, if Dylan's my brother, and his last name is Alexander, does that mean my last name is also Alexander, and not Wooder?"

Her mom nodded and Stacey got on her knees and clapped her hands together in a praying-like way. "THANK THE HEAVENS! I HATED, and I mean HATED, my-or I guess that last name." I shuddered. "Wooder, ughh."

Dylan laughed lightly as Stacey hugged him and he hugged his sister back and whispered. "I missed you so much, sis." the tears started rolling down. And not just from Dylan.

"Your dad'll wake up tomorrow morning and meet you and I can't wait," Her mother said, wiping her own tears as she released from the hug with her children. "He was so devastated, searching for years and now finally, Dylan found you. I'm just so happy."

"Yeah, dad's gonna love seeing her after all these years," Stacey's brother agreed, getting a plate of warm chocolate-chip cookies and 2 warm glasses of milk. He set them down on a table in front of Stacey and hugged their mom goodnight and Stacey did the same.

Dylan sat down and took a cookie and motioned for Stacey too as well. "By the way, our dad's name is Adam and mom's name is Madeline but she goes by Maddie, you should know that.

"Thanks." Stacey told him. "And not just for the names, Dylan. For finding me." She finished the last of her milk and hugged him.

Dylan hugged her back. "Well, all your stuff for school is in your new room on the right upstairs, 4th floor. Mine is across. See ya at breakfast tomorrow morning."

As Stacey made her way to the elevator, she waved goodnight and the elevator took her up to the 4th floor and Stacey made her way to the room Dylan had said her's was.

Only one problem. There was a keycard lock on it. Stacey looked around and nailed next to the door was a . . . mailbox slip?! Wow this house was fancy. Er-her house.

She slipped in the keycard and stepped into her gigantic room. It was dark, so she couldn't take in the beauty and elegance of it yet, but she was sure it was amazing.

Stacey slipped out of her damp clothes and into some hot pink, silky pj's in her closet. As she climbed in bed, she was exhausted. Stacey's last thought before falling asleep was:

"This is going to be quite the life."