Mixed up families, huh?

Chapter Four: Tyson's POV

I felt a tiny jab of annoyance and sadness as my phone vibrates in the cup holder. I knew it was Noah, and I almost answered, but I knew I couldn't. I couldn't hear my big brother's voice without spilling the beans on Reagan's proposed whereabouts.

And I couldn't do that, either.

I couldn't hurt Noah like that if it turned out that Reagan wasn't in Dallas anymore. It would break his heart, so I would bear the pain on my own.

The drive was long. Only around 3 hours, in reality, but it felt like much longer. Car rides without Noah were just boring. I couldn't play on my phone, I had to focus on driving, and I couldn't mess with him or play I-Spy.

The only thing I could really do was jam out to music. It wasn't bad, either, it just sucked because Noah would call me every 2 minutes.

I decided to stop for gas after about 2 hours of driving. As the car filled up, I couldn't help but stare at it. How many family road trips had happened in this rust bucket? How many times had I spilled ice cream or slept in the backseat?

It was hard enough to look at the car every day. The green color that mom had insisted on, to match her emerald eyes. Every time I saw the car, I remembered our trip to Chicago when I was 9.

Flashback

My head was in Noah's lap in the backseat as I slept. The ride was peaceful, for a while. We were in the middle of Joplin, Missouri, on our way to Chicago. Noah was running his small fingers through my dark brown hair while reading some mystery novel. I, personally, didn't like to read.

I was sleeping, stretched out on the leather seats. Mom was singing softly with the radio. She was always a very good singer, with a smooth voice. Made you want to curl up in her lap and listen to her all day. Dad, as usual, was driving. He was just grinning as he listened to our mother.

He hated driving. It never sat well with him, made him nervous. He never usually wore glasses, but he did when he drove, just to be sure. Our dad wasn't ever really afraid of anything, just driving.

I always wondered how they could be so happy when one of their children were missing, but I never asked. I was just glad we could still have fun. As a kid, I was kind of selfish about that. I didn't realize that while I was having fun with my family, my sister was God knows where.

I just smiled while we drove, not a worry in my head. Noah would tap his fingers in beat to the song on the radio every few minutes. It was all great.

Until a truck hit us from my side of the car. I remember it in slow motion. Almost like in a movie.

Noah screamed before it happened, seeing it coming. I sprung up in shock, but was only up for a second. Noah threw himself on top of me, stuffing my head in his chest. Using his arms to cover his head as well. I remember glass sprinkling on my back and in Noah's curls and everywhere else I could see.

I remember my mother screaming. My father cursing. Then, it was silent. My ears were ringing as I crawled out of our busted car. It had somehow made its way to the side of the road, flipped upside down. My head pounded and my knees felt weak. My mother was unconscious in the car, her head bleeding. My fathers arms were scratched up, but he seemed okay. He couldn't get his door open, and I could see him screaming for me. Or maybe at me.

Noah was okay mostly, with only a long scratch on his arm and a few bruises here and there. I was mostly an emotional mess. I was screaming and balling and yelling for my mother and my father and my big brother. I was curled up in the grass, pulling at my hair and pushing at my ears, trying to get the horrible ringing away from me.

My leg was bleeding, pretty heavily, actually. But I couldn't care less. One of my eyes was swollen shut, and that scared me even more. I only stopped shouting when Noah pulled himself out of the car with a grunt. When he saw me, curled up and terrified and bleeding, he rushed to me.

Noah hushed me and rubbed my hair and tried to calm me down. He was crouching in front of me, trying to get me to stop crying. He was crying, too, though. That made me upset. Noah never cried.

We were all okay in the end. We couldn't afford a brand new car, so we got as many repairs to our car as we could.

I never forgot our trip to Chicago.

Flashback Ends

I sighed. As hard as it was to even look at the car my parents loved, it was even worse to be inside.

My mother's perfume was still a faint smell in the car, even after 2 years. I had found dad's glasses in the dashboard. There was still crumbs in the back, from when Noah and I would eat cheese balls and popcorn.

All the memories that followed that car around made me angry. It wasn't fair that our parents were dead. They didn't deserve it, they were good people.

I was back on the road in 5 minutes, after filling the tank and buying a slushie inside.

I was in Dallas in 45 minutes. I realized it would be difficult to find Reagan in the large city of Dallas. So, I would start my search tomorrow. I would do whatever it took to find my sister.

For now, I would spend the night in a motel. I stopped at the Lilac Motel and made my way to the front desk.

I grimaced when I saw a large woman who seemed irritated. She was pretty and a little on the older side. I realized she looked sweet enough, it just might be frustrating to work at a place like this. The place was a dump, to say the least, but I wasn't complaining.

The walls were a deep, ugly yellow color with stains. It smelled like dust and smoke and other not so nice things. I smiled at the woman with an eager look on my face.

She looked up from her magazine and almost scowled at me, I saw her get ready to be rude, but then she saw my face. I don't know what it was about me, I seemed younger than 17. Maybe it was my height, only 5'6 (compared to Noah's 6'1, that was quite short), or maybe it was my baby face.

I don't know, but everyone treated me like an 11 year old. I kept up my act. I didn't hate being treated younger. I grinned sweetly at her and asked for a single room.

"All right, honey, my name is Ellen and I honestly don't believe you're old enough to rent a room." Her voice was scratchy, but she was being nice to me. There was no way I was going to convince Ellen I was 18, considering I wasn't yet, so I put on my best pouty face. Worked on Noah all the time.

"You're right, ma'am, I'm not 18. I'm only 17. But, I'm here to visit my dad from Oklahoma and I have no where else to go. I've been driving all night, but he says he doesn't wanna see me and I'm just so tired..." It was a quick, easy lie. I added some fake tears to the mix and it was enough to make the woman crack.

Ellen stared at me for a second as I let out a tiny whimper to add to my desperate look. She sighed and I knew I had her.

"All right then, but don't tell anyone. And don't cause any more trouble. Sleep well, kid." She went back to her magazine after handing me the key card. Didn't even charge me. Bonus.

I smirked and laughed quietly as I opened the door to my room. The room was nasty, but I honestly didn't care. I was so tired, I just wanted to sleep. But, I knew I had to contact Noah to make sure he wasn't worrying too much.

I threw my bag on the floor and showered quickly. It was almost 2 in the morning, but I knew Noah would answer. He always did.

I pressed 2 on my speed dial and as it rang, I got slightly more nervous. He would be mad, no doubt about it.

He picked up after the 2nd ring. I heard his thick breathing over the phone, raspy and fast.

"Hello?" I heard the whisper clear as day. Noah didn't know if it was me, but you could hear the hope in that one word. I chuckled quickly and heard his sigh of relief at my laugh.

Of course he knew it was my laugh. We knew more about each other than we did about ourselves.

"Hey, big brother."