Carlisia grabbed an extra outfit and placed it in a bag, in case she needed it. Her uncle was coming today along with her car. They had discussed their tripping plan last night on the phone for hours.
They were going to drive to Tacoma and go to LeMay-Americas car museum, something Carlisia was very excited for. She was obsessed with cars and hockey even though she didn’t seem like the sporty type.
After that they would tour around, go to the mall for some random shopping then go get pizza before going back to the hotel and driving back early next day. That was the plan for this weekend.
Carlisia had tried to get the incident that occurred three days ago out of her head.
The day she lost Zane’s friendship and ran off into the woods.
However she did not remember going back home. That was the very first thought when she had woken alone the very next day in her bed smelling of cologne to her mother’s sympathies and disappointment.
She hadn’t talked to Zane for so long and it was hurting her so much but there was nothing that could have been done.
Carlisia buttoned up her shorts and quickly slipped on her open toe pumps. Today was a very hot day and Carlisia had decided to dress accordingly choosing a pair of crop top with some shorts and of course the flat pumps.
Her uncle would be here any moment now and even though she had wanted to go pick him from the airport but her uncle had insisted on arriving himself. Carlisia’s ears perked up she heard car door screeching to a halt outside her window.
She rushed to her window and saw a familiar black Mercedes with a truck behind it most probably containing her cherry red Sedan.
Carlisia grinned window down at the man who got out from the backseat and rushed down the stairs, taking two steps at a time.
“Carly-” Her mother begins to say but she runs past her and out of the door and jumps into her uncle’s arms.
“Hey-hey. Wow. I guess you missed me.” Uncle Jim says and Carlisia nods still hugging the life out of him and her uncle chuckles
Her mother comes out of the house and smiles at them even though she felt a bit envious looking at her daughter loving her brother in law like that while she failed to make a comfortable place in her heart.
“Hello Jim. Please come in.” She says courteously and Uncle Jim nods at her.
“Nice to meet you too Maria. I’ll be in a moment but first I have to show Carlisia something.” He says and her mother politely nods before going back inside to Ben who was cooking lunch while the boys slept. Today was a Saturday after all.
Carlisia looked at the truck and smiled widely.
“You got me my Sedan?” She asks and her Uncle grins.
“I got you something even better.” Her uncle replies and motions his head to the on the driver’s seat of the truck. The back door of the truck begins to move down and Carlisia mouth hangs open as soon as her eyes land inside it.
“Oh My-” She says but stops short as she looks at her uncle grinning at her reaction.
“You got me a-” She begins and her uncle nods and with that Carlisia’s mouth forms into a grin as she pounces at her uncle again who grabs her and twirls her around before putting her back on her feet watching her squeal and jump with joy looking at the sleek Acura Nsx.
“Oh my God! Thank you so much!” She screams hugging her uncle again and he laughs.
“Consider this an early birthday present.” He says and Carlisia kisses his cheek.
“I love you.” She squeals and her uncle pats her head in delight that he got her the perfect thing.
“Come on lets go inside while Mr. Ross here takes out your car from the back so he can leave. He is a busy man.” Uncle Jim says and Carlisia nods as they make their way inside the house and into the kitchen where Ruben stood drinking orange juice from the carton and my uncle chuckles at him.
Ruben looks at Carlisia questioningly.
“Oh, yeah- Ruben this is my Uncle. I told you and Elijah he was coming.” Carlisia says and Ruben finally remembers.
“It’s nice to meet you Sir.” He says and her uncle pats his shoulder,
“You too son.” He says then looks at me.
“Carly why don’t you get your bags so we can leave, it will be a long drive besides I forgot to get the hotel booked.” Her uncle says scratching his neck and Carlisia nods quickly going up the stairs and returning with her duffel bag but her uncle was no longer in the kitchen.
“So you are leaving? Is it something-” Ruben asks her as she looks for her uncle.
“Oh no! It’s just a trip to Tacoma. I’ll be back tomorrow morning. If you want, you and Elijah can come too.” She replies and Ruben shakes his head at her kind gesture.
“No thanks Carly but me and Elijah already have plans. Don’t worry and stay safe.” He says and hugs her and Carlisia nods.
“You ready to leave?” Her uncle asks walking into the kitchen and Carlisia nods enthusiastically slinging her duffel bag over her shoulder.
“See you later Ruben. Tell Elijah I said bye.” Carlisia says and Ruben nods.
Carlisia follows her uncle out of the front door squealing.
“Have fun!” Her mother says and she nods.
“I will.”
Carlisia hugs her mother and then Ben as the driver courteously takes her bag and places it in the boot of the car.
No later she was in the passenger seat of the car arm wrestling with her uncle.
“So what do you think about living here?” Her uncle asks as Carlisia struggled to win.
“Its okay but it rains here. A lot. I got sick in practically the first week of school!” She says not mentioning the assault or all the things that were off about this place.
“Hmm, no wonder you seemed a bit pale. You know I can call Dr. Desmond to check up on you.” He says and she chuckles.
“I’m fine! It was just a small fever. Nothing big.” Carlisia replies chuckling and her uncle nods relaxing. He worried too much.
“So how work? Any eye candy you want to tell me about?” Carlisia says wiggling her eyebrows and her Uncle laughs.
“Oh, you know I don’t have eyes for anyone. They are all so boring. Any cute boys in your new school?” Her uncle says.
It was a shock how the both of them could talk about stuff like this so casually.
“Pushh. You know me Uncle Jim.” Is all Carlisia answers and the both of them burst out laughing.
This was going to be fun.
The weekend went by pretty quickly with them goofing around. LeMay lived up to its expectation and many of the other tourist points there as well.
It was fun and beautiful.
Carlisia grabbed the suitcase she had gotten there to carry the presents she had got for her mom, Ben, Ruben and Elijah.
The driver came to grab it but Carlisia shaked her head smiling at him.
“Thank you but I can manage sir.” She said and the old man smiled at her.
“You had fun Carly?” Her uncle said grabbing Carlisia’s duffel bag and she nods, giving him a small smile.
“Yeah. It was the most I had gotten out since I moved here.” Carlisia replies as her uncle slams the boot of the car shut and the both of them made their way up the steps to the front door.
Carlisia knocked on the door and no later it opened to a groggy Ben. His hair still messed up well he couldn’t be blamed it was six in the morning, on a Sunday.
Carlisia looked at him sheepishly. She barely remembered any moments she talked to him properly.
“Hey, Ben. I’m sorry for-” Carlisia begins to say but to her surprise he hugs her.
“Its your home, no need to be sorry. Come on. It really early. I didn’t know you guys would be driving back so early.” Ben says and Carlisia shrugs going in dragging the suitcase behind her and her Uncle follows, saying greetings to her step father.
“If you need anything-”
“Oh, No please. You should continue your sleep. I’m going to go to my room and my uncle was just leaving.” Carlisia says and Jim shakes Bens hand.
“I feel horrible your leaving like this. So early. I would have loved if you could have spend some time with my family.” Ben says and her uncle nods.
“Me too. But business calls. I had to cut my trip short because of this urgency. Maybe next time?” Her uncle replies, which was the truth.
“That would be great.” Ben replies and pats Carlisia’s shoulder.
“Go get some sleep kiddo.” He says and trots away up the stairs and no later the sound of the door closing is heard.
“Come on. Lets get this stuff to your room then I can leave. I don’t want to be late.” Her uncle says and Carlisia starts walkng to her room dragging the suitcase behind her while her uncle carried the duffel bag and a few shopping bags consisting of assortment of clothes and Candy.
“He’s a nice guy.” Her uncle comments and Carlisia nods as she opens the door to her
“Yeah. Very sweet too.” Carlisia replies. She wanted to add that Ben could never replace her father but she didn’t in fear of him hearing her.
“He thought Zane was my boyfriend.” Carlisia says but her heart beat began to race at the mention of Zane.
She heard her uncle chuckle but then sighed as he sat on her bed and patted the space next to him, urging her to sit down and just as she did an unreadable expression crossed his face.
“You know Carly, when your dad joined the army I was devastated.” Her uncle begins and Carlisia looks at him wanting him to continue.
“Your dad and I, we were very close since childhood, our mother died when we were just children. We grew up practically with each other because our dad, your grandfather, would be gone a lot. So I guess my reaction was completely legit. I didn’t talked to him for days and so he left for his first mission with me angry with him. I didn’t even say goodbye because I felt like it would be my last. You weren’t even born then. But you know what? The moment he left and realization dawned on me that I might not talk to him again I began to feel so ashamed of myself. It may seem hard to believe but I would cry for him. I should have been proud for him. I mean he was saving the world, protecting it for greater good while I was angry at him for leaving me. My way of expressing sadness. Right now, when he is no longer here, I think I myself am to blame that I could have spent that time with him, cherished all the moments then, to fill the holes in my heart now. Carly your father was a hero. My brother was hero. Remember that. I know that you’re sad about Zane leaving you and that’s completely okay but don’t make the mistake I made. I want you to look through the pain, the sadness and enjoy every moment with him. Do you want him to leave thinking you hate him?”
Carlisia didn’t even realize that she was crying as she shook her head.
“No. See you still care for him. He’s your just like you other twin, a bit manly but twin nonetheless. People die and you move on but it’s the way they die that matters. Your dad died a hero and Zane will die a hero, in the battlefield or not. He would always be a hero. You should be proud Carly. Smile for him , Smile for the fact that your friend is living his dream, that he is a hero. Call him and tell him that.” Her Uncle finished and Carlisia nodded before hugging him.
Both of their eyes were red and her uncle took a deep breath before getting up.
“Now I’m going to go. Alright, and I want you to call Zane talk to him. Not now but sometime later okay? I know he said words he regrets too and you should give him a chance.” Her uncle says and Carlisia nods.
“Good girl.” Her uncle replies and kisses her cheek.
“I’ll call you after the meeting” he says and leaves closing the door.
Carlisia takes a deep breath and wipes her cheeks with her sleeve. He was right. She wouldn’t want Zane to leave like that.
Carlisia vowed to call him later since he would be sleeping right now in Sydney, and decided to get her mind off of this and decided to make breakfast.
It was still early and she was starving but first she decided to shower.
No later she came out of the bathroom dressed in a pair of sweats and her fuzzy bunny slippers. She clips her wet hair and then makes her way down the stairs and into the kitchen taking out the stuff for the traditional American breakfast; eggs, bacon, pancakes, orange juice and coffee.
Carlisia worked her way through slowly cooking just for the heck of it and by the time she flipped the last pancake on the plate she could hear footsteps descending down the stairs and no later a groggy Elijah stood in front of her his eyes still closed as he sniffed the air.
“Maria that smells great.” He replies in a daze as he walks towards the fridge and Carlisia chuckles.
“Mom’s not awake yet.” She replies and Elijah’s eyes burst open as he stares at her.
“Carly!” He whisper shouts in joy and rushes to her hugging her.
“You came back.” He replies happily and she nods.
“It was just a trip. Besides, I made breakfast.” She says and he looks at the devouring food at the table as Carlisia made her way to the kettle filled with coffee and pouring him some.
No later more footsteps were heard and Ruben and Ben along with her mother stood in front of her still in their pajamas.
“Wow this smells great.” Her mother says as she sits on one of the chairs of the dining table and the rest of them follow suit.
“And it even looks good.” Ben says and she smiles.
“Thank you.” She replies as she grabs a pancake and starts munching on it.
“Oh My God you’re good. Now I’ll never have to eat Elijah’s cooking again!” Ruben says and everyone laughs while Elijah glares at him and mutters ‘bastard’ underneath his breath.
Carlisia quickly finished while everyone helped themselves to a second and got up.
“Where you going?” Her mom asks her and Carlisia motions towards the stairs.
“I got you guys some stuff. I was going to get that. I’ll be down in a moment.” She answers as she makes her way up to her room and moments later come down with four big wrapped boxes.
She gave one to her mom who looked surprised like everyone else. She had gotten her a black dress with matching clutch and heels from Marc Jacobs.
“This one’s for you.” Carlisia said smiling widely as she gave Ben the large black box, which consisted of a jacket and matching shoes and tie also from Marc Jacobs.
“Here you go.” Carlisia said as she gave the remaining two boxes to Ruben and Elijah which consisted of an Apple IPod touch and a Rolex.
They looked at her astonished as she grinned at them.
“Come on open them!” She said excitedly and watched as they took the lid of the boxes and looked at the presents astonished.
“WOW. This is awesome!” Elijah said and Ruben nods.
“Thankyou so much Carly.” He said and she grins.
“It nothing.” She replies. After all she had gotten all of this from only half of her monthly allowance, which her Uncle gives her.
“Carlisia this is lovely. Thank you sweetie.” Ben says and hugs her and she smiles.
“Its lovely Carly but you didn’t have to buy any of this.” Her mother says still shocked how her daughter got the money to buy stuff worth hundreds.
“Mom I got it from only half of my allowance. Besides, I would rather spent it on something useful lie this than it staying in my bank account.” Carlisia replies watching as they looked at her happily.
Carlisia quickly slipped away going back to her room oblivious of the eyes of the man hiding in the shadows of the forest, looking at her.
A wicked grin plastered on his face. She was the girl.
His master would be happy. Very happy after all he had found their enemy’s mate.
The man took out his cell phone and dialed his lord’s number, grinning like a maniac, his pointed teeth lightly grazing his lower lip as her traced his tongue over them.
“I’ve found her my lord. I’ve found her.”