James slept beside me, holding me in his arms. I didn’t go to sleep straight away. James was the first to fall asleep even though he promised to watch over me, but I guess his eyes didn’t want to agree with him. I lay there watching him sleep and also lay there thinking about everything, afraid to fall asleep because I was afraid of what my dreams would hold if I was to close my eyes. But eventually my eyes won the battle of trying to stay awake and closed.
I slept through the night without any terrifying nightmares awaking me. I woke to the sound of Charlie barking at something from outside. When I opened my eyes I found James staring back at me.
“Morning, Ellie,” he greeted, reaching over to stroke my hair.
I smiled at him. “Morning, James.”
“How did you sleep?”
“I slept alright. I was afraid to fall asleep last night in case I get nightmares, but I didn’t get any of them tonight. What about you?”
“I slept well.” He smiled. “I had a really good dream that you and I got together and my dad was long gone. We were free from him.”
I returned the smile and tried to imagine what life will be about if Mr Waters was no longer here. I tried to imagine how nice people are to James and how we can go anywhere without being judged with whom we are or what happened in the past. Maybe James and I will stay together; maybe we will go our separate ways. I’m not sure whether or not if I would start a family yet. Maybe I could get a job that is more high paying than my waitress job that I wonder if I’m still employ with since I never phone Gale about why I wasn’t at work. But if he has seen the news coverage, he probably thinks I’m with James, held up as a hostage. And when I do get a high paying job, I could take a trip to Paris. Maybe I could even move there and start a whole new life. It may never stop the nightmares, but at least my life would be different once James and I are free.
James went to go take a shower while I got changed. I took the moment to check my messages while he was gone. My parents and Daniel had stopped calling me, but occasionally they still text me, letting me know that they were worried about me and that they wanted me to return home. Truthfully I missed them and my home, but right now I didn’t want to return home. I just wanted some time to myself.
I had several messages from my mother. I answered them one by one.
Hey, Ellie. Just want to let you know that your father, Daniel and I all miss you. Please return home safely soon. Love Mom.
Hey, Ellie, please give me a call. I would love to hear your voice. I really miss you. Take care. Love Mom.
I smiled at my mother’s messages. I wanted to call my family but at the same time if I did, I can imagine my dad on the phone, demanding that I come home like he did to Aunt Zoe the other day. And if I spoke to Daniel, all he would talk about is what an asshole James is and I don’t want him to talk like that.
I put my phone in my pocket and headed to the kitchen. Aunt Zoe wasn’t in the kitchen, but I heard the television on in the living room and headed towards it. Aunt Zoe was sitting on the couch sipping her coffee with Charlie sitting at her feet. On the couch with her were two guys that I didn’t know at all. Either Aunt Zoe or the two men noticed me standing there.
I was about to greet them when mine and James’ picture shows up onto the news bulletin. I stand there still. I should walk away, but I don’t. I stand there to listen even though I know the bulletin will be filled with lies, but I felt like I needed to hear it. I wanted to know what they had to say.
“Still no word on the whereabouts of Ellie Peyton and James Waters,” the news represent said. “The duo has been missing for nearly a week now and the police are running out of options to find where they might be.”
Bull crap, I wanted to say, but I kept my mouth shut. Instead I ask my aunt to switch off the television. I couldn’t stand to listen to another lie about James.
Aunt Zoe stood up from the couch along with the two men that was with her. “Ellie, I would like you to meet my boyfriend Ethan and his friend Ash.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” I greeted them both, shaking their hand. Ethan was tall with blond hair and blue eyes with a slight tan while Ash had dark brown hair that was almost black. He was a bit chubby as well and a little short.
“It’s nice to meet you too, Ellie,” Ethan replied as he and Ash shook hands with me.
“I didn’t know you were dating anyone, Aunt Zoe,” I told her.
“We have been dating him for about a year now,” she answered.
I smiled at my aunt, glad that she was with someone she was happy with. Throughout the years she had on and off relationships. I’m hoping that someday she will be able to settle down with someone.
“Well, it was nice meeting you, Ellie,” Ash said. He turned to Aunt Zoe. “Thanks for the coffee, Zoe.” He turned to Ethan. “We better get going, Ethan, if we want to catch that storm.”
“What storm?” I asked.
“Oh, there’s a storm building up near Plainview and it’s possible a tornado might form.”
I have seen on television of the crazy people who chase tornadoes for a living. It’s not something I would do, but I guess it would be fun to track them down. I have been in them a couple of times when Daniel and I visit Aunt Zoe. She had her house destroyed a couple of times from the storm, but lately she has been really lucky whenever there is one in her town. Her house is usually the one the tornado leaves alone and destroys the house next door.
“Cool, that sounds like fun,” I told them. “Have fun.”
“Oh we will,” Ethan replied with a great big grin on his face. “It’s going to be fantastic out there.”
“Ellie, why don’t you and James go with them?” my aunt asked me.
I was surprise to hear my aunt even ask me that. Truthfully I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go. I didn’t have the thrill to go and chase tornadoes. I have always been scared of them growing up after being in several of them. It could be fun, but chasing them wasn’t for me. And I knew if my parents were here, they would disapprove, especially because I would be surrounded by men and they would make Daniel tag along with me.
But my parents weren’t here and they couldn’t control me forever. Maybe doing this with James will be good for the both of us. At least we could set everything a side and forget what our problems were for awhile and enjoy life rather than running for it. Yeah, we are on the wanted list right now and probably every police in the country were after us. But maybe this is something we both needed to do.
James agreed to go. He had never seen a tornado before and thought it was cool to be able to chase them. I hugged Aunt Zoe goodbye and headed out to Ethan’s car with James in the backseat beside me. Ash turned on his laptop and switched on a program that showed the weather radar. I didn’t understand anything that was on there. He and Ethan talked a bit, discussing how they were going to get there and what road to take. When they decided what they were going to do, Ethan started up the car and we were on the way.
Ethan and Ash talked to us a bit, getting to know us. Aunt Zoe must have told them about James and I was glad they were treating him like a normal human being and not as a criminal.
It was a long drive to Texas. I have never been to Texas before and I was excited about visiting the state. Ethan and Ash talked about the weather to each other while James and I listened to my iPod. We didn’t say a word to each other and just let the music fill our ears.
I fell asleep half way through the trip, resting my head on James shoulder. Hours later James wakes me up when we reach a rest stop in some place in Texas. We were parked in a diner where we decided to stop for a quick lunch. I was glad we stopped. I skip breakfast and now I was starving. We order take away since Ash and Ethan wanted to get back onto the road as soon as possible. James and I order a hamburger and decided to share a box of chips with gravy. I didn’t like much of the gravy. It was all salty, but I ate some of it.
As we got closer to Plainview the clouds started to build up. This cause Ethan and Ash to get all excited about the storm building up. I wasn’t sure what all of the excitement about the clouds was, but I started to get a bit excited as we got closer to Plainview. By the time we reach our destination, the clouds were during dark blue. There was a bit of thunder and lightning about, which made Ethan and Ash even more excited.
Ethan pulled over on the side of the road just out of town where there were a lot of farm lands about. Ash and Ethan studied the clouds, trying to think like the storm. James and I got out of the car to stretch our legs. It was a little windy and the temperature had dropped a little. I stared at the clouds above me as they moved across the sky.
“What is it like being in a tornado?” James asked me.
“Terrifying,” I explained. “It’s so loud as if a freight train is going by.”
“Have you been in any?”
“I have been in a couple. My aunt is usually the lucky one where the tornado decided to miss her house and let it stand.”
James smiled and then glanced over at two black Shetland ponies who had wander over to fence in the field they were in or a nearby farm. They were so adorable. James grabbed a handful of long grass and placed some in my hands before grabbing another bunch. We held our hands out for the two ponies. They nibbled the grass out of our hands, making us both giggle as their tongues tickled our hands.
“Hey, you guys better find some shelter,” James told them as he patted their heads. “A tornado might be coming soon.”
“There’s a wall cloud!” Ethan cheered for joy. James and I glanced over at him as he ran to us. “Ellie, James, come on, let’s get going. We need to head north-west to get closer.”
We piled back into car, leaving the ponies behind and continued down the road. A radio announcement came on, broadcasting a tornado warning. The announcement set both Ethan and Ash off with excitement. I still couldn’t work out what I was so exciting about seeing a twister coming down to earth and destroying everything in its path. Maybe I didn’t feel the excitement because I didn’t have the passion for it like Ethan and Ash, but at the same time it felt good to be on the open road with them, doing something completely different that not many people would be able to do.
I glanced over at James. He had a smile on his face as he stared out the window. I wasn’t sure whether or not if he was feeling the excitement or if he was just happy to be out here and enjoying himself. I reached over and slipped my hand into his. He looked down before meeting my eyes and smiles.
Something suddenly hit the roof of the car. James let go of my hand. We looked outside to see baseball-size hail coming down. Ash warned us both to stay clear of the glass in case it smashes. Ethan pulled over onto the side of the road as the hail continued to hit our car. Some cars nearby also pulled over the side. Within a few minutes the windscreen was cracked. I glanced outside and the green fields look as if they were covered in snow. Ash sat there filming everything with his video camera.
As soon as the hail stopped falling, we got out of the car. Once again the guys were excited over the hail. Ethan picked up one of the stones and decided to record the measurement of it. I picked up one of the stones. I shivered from the cold when my skin came in contact with the ice. It started melting in my hand immediately. On summer days after a storm, Daniel and I would come out to play in the ice, treating it like snow. I have never seen snow. I would like to someday.
Freezing cold ice went down my back. I squealed. I turned to James who was just laughing and so were the other guys. I grabbed some eyes and began chasing James as he took off running. Ash warned us to be careful not to slip. Surely enough I did slip I laugh as my ass froze in an instant.
James came to my side and as soon as he did, I pulled him to the ground with me and shove some ice down his shirt. He laughed. His laugh felt good to hear. There was something about it, like it showed another side of James. Sure I have heard him laugh before, but this laugh felt different. Whenever James laughed, it was like he was forcing himself to do it. It’s like he was afraid to laugh in case his father was ever to find out and then beat him up for enjoying himself. This laugh showed that James enjoyed being out here and that he wasn’t afraid of what his father might do to him.
We soon go back into the car and continued our journey. After a few minutes I saw something forming on the wall cloud which was to the left side of the car. It was still a bit uncertain what it was, but it looks as if it was the beginning of a possible tornado that hadn’t touch the ground yet.
I notify Ash and Ethan. Ethan couldn’t see since he was driving, but Ash could and he got super excited. I expect them to pull over immediately to have a look, but Ethan continued driving until he was sure was a good enough spot to stop. He pulled over to the side of the road of a nearby farm. Some other storm chasers were also parked on the side of the road.
We got out of the car and stood on the side of the road, watching the storm develop over in the pasture. It seemed like hours had past when the funnel finally reached the ground. Even when we were miles away from the storm you could feel a bit of the wind, but of course if we get closer then it will be stronger. I’m hoping Ethan and Ash don’t consider getting closer because I really didn’t want to get any closer than I already was.
I took out my iPod and decided to snap a few pictures of the tornado. James took the iPod from me and snapped a few photos of me with the tornado behind us. I even took a few of him and laughed at the faces he pulled while I took them.
We soon had to move because from the looks of it, the twister was heading our way. All of the storm chasers set off and so did we, finding another safe location so we could watch it from the distance. Ethan said that he and Ash normally gets even closer to the storm, but because James and I were with them, they didn’t want to risk our lives. Aunt Zoe would kill them if they did.
Once the storm ended, we went out for dinner. Ethan and Ash talk non-stop about the storm to us. I was glad when we found a motel to settle down for the night. I was a little surprise that Ethan and Ash trusted James alone with me when they allowed us to share a room. Maybe Aunt Zoe managed to talk them into believing that James wasn’t a criminal at all and I liked that because they weren’t treating him like he was one at all. They treated him like an everyday person. I just wish more people could just trust me that James wouldn’t do anything to me.
James had a quick shower while I rang Aunt Zoe to tell her about today. She was happy to know how much fun James and I had. I went into the shower as soon as James got out. I groaned when I realised he had used up all of the hot water and left me with the cold.
Once dressed, I stepped into the bedroom where James was sitting one of the single beds in the room. He was looking at something on my iPod. He hadn’t even looked up or had seen me walked in.
I walked over to him and sat down beside him on the bed, hugging his arm as I rest my head on his shoulder. He was glancing at the pictures we had taken earlier that day.
“Do you always snoop through people’s stuff when they aren’t around?” I asked him.
James suddenly felt bad. “I’m sorry. I thought you would mind.”
“No, it’s okay, James. I don’t mind you snooping through them. I have nothing personal in there.”
He smiled at me. “We took some good pictures.”
I returned the smile. “Yeah, we did. I don’t think we really took any pictures together, have we?”
I shook my head. “No, we never did. I don’t think we really thought of photos then.”
“Or maybe we never really took them because we were afraid to have fun. I mean, photographs are what captures every single moment in life so you can remember them forever. I have never kept any personal photographs because I don’t want to remember the life I had with my dad. I once found pictures of my parents when they were younger and when I was just a baby, and I could see my parents were happy there. Sometimes I wish I could remember something positive from my childhood, but I don’t. The last photograph that was taken of me was that ugly mug shot of me when I got arrested.”
I knew exactly how James felt even though my childhood was different to his. I had almost everything a child could ever ask for – the perfect family, all the toys I could have, awesome family vacations – but James never had that. Since the incident my life changed and so did my family. We were no longer the “perfect family” we once were. All my family did was fight as they protected me from the outside world, not allowing me to do whatever I wanted but they wanted.
I didn’t tell James that after the incident I didn’t really took many photographs either. I didn’t want to remember anything that I had gone through. But right now I didn’t want to think about the past. The whole point coming out here with Ash and Ethan was to get away and keep our minds off what happened. Thinking about it wasn’t going to make us forget or change anything.
I took the iPod from him. “Well, let’s start taking some good photos together to remind each other of this trip.”
James liked the idea of that. We posed for some photos where we sat on the bed together. We took one with our arms around each other as I snapped the photo. I took another one where James was playing with my hair as I was the only one even looking at the camera with a smile on my face. The last photo we took was my favourite. James took it. We were facing each other, looking directly at each other’s eyes. There was something about the photo, like it showed a story or something of what James’ life and mine could become or what we could have been before the incident happened that day.
“I like that picture,” James said.
I turned to him and smiled. “Yeah, I like it too.”
James continued to stare at me. I stared back, trying to read his mind, but I couldn’t. He played with my hair and then touched my face, stroking it slowly with his fingers. Through his brown eyes I could see he really cared about me and his eyes promised me that he wouldn’t let anyone hurt me at all. I also saw another feeling in his eyes. Love. He loved me and I knew he wanted to take a step to become more than friends. It has been two years already, but I wasn’t quite ready to take the step into a relationship even though I wanted to be with James. He knew how I felt and I was glad he didn’t push me into anything I didn’t want to do.
“We should get some sleep,” I told James. “We have a long trip tomorrow.”
James agreed and then got off the bed, putting my iPod on the bedside table. He told me to lie back on the bed and then pulled the covers over me, tucking it up to my neck. It reminded me of how my mom used to do that whenever I was sick. Thinking about her made me miss her a lot.
“Night, James.”
“Night, Ellie.” He leaned forward and kissed me softly before climbing into the bed beside me. He glanced back at me before reaching over to switch off the lamp that was between us.