The Taking

Chapter 2

Mom rolled her eyes. "Eat with your mouth closed, mother." She avoided the topic. 

"Ungrateful brat." I heard Gran mumble under her breath. "Who does she think changed her diapers?"

"Stay put. Mom says one more time to her before grabbing all of our jackets and hands them each to us. 

Trent runs out the house first and calls, "shotgun". Charlotte groans in protest and runs after him. I follow behind them, before over hearing mom say, "Wyatt will be here in a few minutes. If you are not here when he arrives, I told him to call me." 

"Are you my mother?" 

"No. I'm your daughter. You're not young anymore mother, so stop being so dramatic and just listen for once." Mom unlocks the car using the car remote."If you promise to remain here and behave with Wyatt, I'll buy you a can of Molly's famous jam—if it's still there."

Gran's eyes widened in awe. It was like she had forgotten the fact that she was arguing with her daughter a few minutes earlier. 

"It's still there and you better get me my favorite cherry jam!"

"Will do. Let's go kids." Mom says while softly mumbling, "Before your Gran sneaks into our trunk."

--

Trent got to sit up front. All he had to do was lick his palm and touch the door handle. Charlotte stomped her feet heading to the back seat glaring daggers at his backside until mom and I got in the car.

"Forty-five minutes just to drive down to town. Why does Gran want to stay up here?" Trent asks, while tuning the radio for something other than the weather, or news station.

"She's a stubborn woman." Mom says, as she pulls out the drive way and the car descends down a slope.

"How long has it been since you were here mom?" Charlotte asked.

"Too long. I was 17 when I left. Straight out of high school. And just because I was 17, doesn't mean any of you should be moving out too. This town may be small but it was overwhelming. I had no choice but to leave." She doesn't speak for a few seconds and then changes topic. "This place hasn't changed much. I noticed yesterday, as we were passing the shops. Nothing has changed since I left. I wonder if some of my old friends or classmates are still around. I would hope they left this place too."

"Where are we going first." I ask excitedly. I really wanted to explore.

Out the window I see some boys about Trent's age walking up the street. They looked like they had gone for a morning walk, but why were they dressed in short sleeves and jeans? We were in layers of clothes under a puffy thick jacket. Weren't they cold? 

They were perspiring through their shirt and the fabric was sticking to their skin. For how young they were, they looked really big for their age. Not overweight, but muscular. All of them seemed to be in the process of extensive conditioning. 

Where the students in this town mostly athletic geeks? 

I felt like such a creeper intensely observing these boys, but it was honestly curious. For a rich town, they should be able to afford proper workout clothes. 

Mom made a turn and soon we were greeted with a series of small shops. I watched people greeting each other and sharing laughs. Some teens were sitting around some tables at what looked to be a coffee shop. Some were wearing thick clothes, others were not...how strange. The community was so much different than life back home in the west coast. Again this is a small town. Houses were probably far apart from each other because people got little privacy around here.