The Wanderers

Chapter 6- Bonding.

"You're going down!" I yelled at Travis, laughing. I chased him around the house with a bucket of pink paint hanging in my arms. Just then paint flew across the room and splattered onto my butt. "Timothy!" I cried, as she and Travis laughed their heads off. "HEADS UP!" Katy and Josh shouted as yellow paint came hurtling through the air.

After the serious conversation we had about my father, we'd all ended up laughing for no reason, though I couldn't ignore the slight feeling of hope rising inside me. I tried to push it away but it kept coming back. Katy, then suggested that we paint the rest of the house. It was more like paint ourselves. But I honestly didn't care. I had family and fun and that's all I needed for now.

"Hey Travis! You got a little paint there! I said gesturing to his face.

"Where?" he asked.

"There!"

"Where?"

"There!" I screamed and chucked the bucket of blue paint on him.

"Oh I will have my revenge!" he replied, chuckling, wiping the paint off his face. He lifted me off the ground and into his arms. This weird warm sensation surged through my body. I could literally feel my ears burning. I flailed in his arms like a fish out of water. "Let me go!" I yelled, laughing.

"Yeah yeah. Right after I do this." He replied and then he dumped the whole box of pink paint on me.

Humph. It just has to be me doesn't it?

"TRAVIS!" I screamed and made the mistake of gazing into his eyes. I couldn't pull myself away. He still looked gorgeous with paint on him. Whoa, sorry random outburst. I didn't mean that. Pfffftt. Of course not. Ughhh. Sometimes I am so stupid.

. . .

We surrounded the fire place, letting the warmth of the fire enter our bodies. I sipped my hot chocolate slowly. The smell of cinnamon, whipped cream and marshmallows wafted around the room. We'd finished cleaning up and taken a break. We were cracking jokes and telling stories, just five friends having a good time. "You know once, I had this craze for cats.' Katy said. I raised an eyebrow at her. "And my birthday was coming so obviously I wanted a cat." Katy continued. 'So I asked my mom and she thought cats were a waste of money. She in fact liked dogs."

"So what did you do?" Travis asked.

"Well, I threw a tantrum. What else?" Katy said.

I laughed as I imagined seven year old Katy wailing on the floor.

"And I was quite stupid then-" Katy continued

"Still are" I muttered, cutting her off.

"Ha Ha very funny." Katy said sarcastically shoving me playfully on the shoulder

"Anyways, my mom was fed up and I really wanted this cat so what does she do? Get a dog. Typical mom."

I chuckled.

"Grandpa already had this dog but since he was so old he couldn't take care of him. Mom adopted him and named him Cat. Yes, she named a dog Cat. Now like I was saying I was quite stupid so I got confused and... don't laugh... ended up thinking that I owned a creature that was half cat and half dog." Katy admitted, blushing.

Okay, that was hilarious. We all face palmed and joked around about Katy's I.Q for a while. I had noticed that Timothy and Josh were both being strangely quiet during the entire conversation. During the paint fight they'd gone inside to have a serious talk for a few minutes.

"No but I really loved that cat." Katy explained, gazing off longingly in the distance. I have retarded friends. I'm sorry.

For the first time since the paint fight Josh spoke. "Well I and Timothy have decided to trust and tell you something... the story about our parents."

"Oh yeah... I completely forgot." I reminded myself. I quickly filled in Katy and Travis about Timothy and Josh's parents "forgetting them".

"About a week ago or maybe more a poster was put up near the outskirts of town where the hobos lived. The poster said that there was a job offer, nobody knew what, and there was a mother load of money included in it. That was all. No address, no information about the employer or anything. Yeah... bit suspicious. My mom and dad used to polish shoes for a living, not that great, and we were in desperate need for money. Mom and Dad decided to go for this job and so did most of the hobos who lived in Sector 1." Timothy said

"Oh yeah... there seem to be no hobos in Sector 2 also... strange, isn't it? Do you think they went for this job as well?" Katy asked

"Probably, speaking of which when I was travelling here from Sector 3 something seemed really out of place. Come to think about it, there were no hobos there either."

"Whoa. That's creepy." I admitted, a shiver running down my back. How is it that all these hobos disappear and never come back?

"Anyways" Josh continued." Unfortunately none of the hobos returned, except one. Our mother. She seemed all dazed and confused. She walked into a brick wall five times calling for Jason and Mary and who knows who else. These were all random unknown people. When we asked her where dad was, she said she had no idea whom I was talking about... then she asked us who we were. I told her a million times that we were her children but she didn't listen. Then Timothy hugged her. Our mother threw her off, screaming and ran away. She never came back."

I was terribly shaken. How could the only person who ever loved you, forget you? I heard a soft sniffling sound beside me. I turned to see Timothy's head buried in her hands, knees pressed against her chest. At once Travis and Katy got up to see Timothy. But I stayed with Josh. I gave him a hug. I didn't let go. He cried gently on my shoulder. "It's okay Josh. We're your family now. I'm like your older sister okay? I'll always be there for you." I said this honestly. I meant it.

"You know" Travis said, "Maybe the job offer hasn't reached Sector 4 yet. We could go there and ask some hobos."

"Yeah that's a good idea, also Mr. Oliver; the governor of Sector 4 is still there. We could ask him if he knew what happened to the other governors." Katy suggested.

"Then I think it's settled. Let's go pack up. Because tomorrow, we sail to Sector 4." Travis replied.

I didn't object. I was sick and tired of everything.

I. NEEDED. ANSWERS.