The Calling (DrTrollinski & Zhai)

[Zhai]

"You should have Pepto Bismol for breakfast." Mia bantered at her brother, waiting for Carl to leave the room and following after to lock the door. She pocketed the key again, and followed him down the short hallway back to the arch with the curtain. What was that for? Oh yeah, just on the other side of the entrance and front desk. Mia barely remembered that from just last night, and chalked it up to being frazzled with trying to get her maybe dying brother to a bed. Mia tried to remember where the breakfast room was, and followed her nose instead. "Keep straight." She muttered to Carl, walking side by side with him in the wide hallway space.


They must be getting close because Mia could smell all kinds of food. Lucky for them the breakfast room was an open, wide, and bright room just a few feet from the entrance of the Inn. It was next to empty, with only one person gingerly walking around the outskirt of the room where all the food was set up. The man looked middle aged and he looked up just as Mia and Carl rounded the corner. Settling for something, maybe because other people had come in, he grab wrapped muffin and left, smiling and nodding on his way out.


Great. They had the place all to themselves.


Mia wasn't excited about having to eat breakfast because she was more tired than anything, but she knew Carl would make a fuss and it was way too early in the morning to argue with him over food of all things. She walked in, sat her bag in an empty seat, and started doing what the man in here prior had done, walking the edge of the room where food was sat out on the wall hugging counters. There was an assortment of fruits, jellies, cheeses, crackers, bread, muffins, bagels, and much more. It was pretty much a diner's menu spread out over the entirety of a wall to wall counter. Mia grabbed a bowl and settled for fruit, lots of fruit.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Ha. Right. I'm too hardcore for that sort of thing, sorry." He grinned and then slapped her shoulder as they went out of the room. He wouldn't deny that he was feeling much better than last night, but still a little shaky. The fruit and cereal layout was a good plan, but he was going to have some of the cooked stuff on the side. Carl was empty, like, completely. There'd been no food left in his system since he threw up last night, so he felt like he hadn't eaten in weeks. The question was, what drink would he settle for?


All could be decided when they got there, of course.


When they did get there, Carl was surprised. A large hall with a buffet bar. Sausages, hash browns, bacon, tomatoes, baked beams, black pudding, toast, bagels, cheeses, fruit, cereals, jellies, crackers, breads, muffins - Everything was there. There was just a... It was incredible. It was one of the nicest things Carl had seen since they'd been away from home - He was placing a bet that Mrs Greene would somehow find an error with every last bit of food here, but at the same time, he was betting that she'd actually sit down and enjoy it. As long as she was with these two, he doubted that she'd even care what the food was like.


Careful there, Carl.





Maybe that was an overstatement.


Anyway.


He walked up to the cereal bar and looked over what there was. Muesli, porridge, bran flakes, cornflakes, Coco Pops, Rice Krispies - He got a bowl of muesli, mixed it with some apples, pineapple chunks, peaches, bananas, and some diced tangerines. He took that to the table Mia was sat at after pouring some milk onto it, and then began tucking in.


"Before we go anywhere, I'm getting a cup of... tea." He nodded. He made that decision on the spot - laying off coffee for a while. "And a plate of all the cooked stuff, too. I'm not passing all of that up." He chuckled. "You want some, too?" He asked.

 

[Zhai]

"I didn't think you would pass any of this up, even if your stomach was falling out of your ass." Mia smiled, searching through her bowl of fruit for a different piece of fruit to eat other than the crowd of melons on top. "I don't want any tea." Her nose wrinkled and she stuck the tip of her tongue through her teeth. Carl should know she hated tea and would rather drink whatever coffee poisoned him rather than a cup of tea. She stabbed at a grape, successfully pierced it, and brought it out of the bowl, inspecting the little green fruit. It wasn't spoiled or brown anywhere, and it seemed firm. Mrs. Greene would be proud of this place fruit.


There was still no one in here and it didn't appear as if there was a rush to get to breakfast from anyone still checked in at the hotel. The hallway sounded quiet and there was only the soft whirring of a juice machine and Mia's forked occasionally hitting the bowl. It seemed sage enough an environment to discuss their plans of action. Mia continued staring down into her bowl, again dividing through the fruit in the bowl. When she finally spoke, she cleared her throat first just to peak Carl's attention. "When do you think the bus will leave?"

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Mia, you don't get it. My stomach already did fall out of my ass." He grinned. "I'd eat this if I was knocking on death's door because of organ damage, you know me." He chuckled softly and began shoving the fruit and cereal into his mouth. It wasn't very often that he ate stuff like this, but it was definitely worth it today. It felt like everything he'd lost was being replenished, and seeing as his stomach hadn't exploded this morning, he was hoping he'd be alright.


Christ, he was praying that the diarrhea wasn't still in affect.


By the time Mia was done inspecting her grapes, Carl was half way through his cereal. He was starving. He wasn't done, though, he felt like he could eat the same thing all over again, but no, he was going to go for the proper breakfast. There was only a little bit of muesli and a heap of fruit left in his bowl, so he'd finish that off quick and then make himself some tea, or something.


"I know you don't want tea. You hate tea. I meant the breakfast." He chuckled a little and shoved the last of the fruit into his mouth, quickly chewing it and swallowing it. "I know you too well, Mia. You want me to make up a plate for you? Or maybe just a slice of toast, or something?" He asked. "Up to you, to be honest... I'm definitely getting something, though. We'll talk about the buses when I get back." He said.

 

[Zhai]

The fruit was starting to look and taste less appealing, and now she was only pushing around the extra pieces around; stacking the pieces around the side of the bowl, stabbing at them and piling them up. Strange that the hunger that had made her sick early this morning was now gone. Disappeared. A few pieces of fruit and a glass of orange juice - that was all she felt she could manage to get down. The thought of - maybe - going home was overwhelming everything else in her body, and she was too busy concentrating on that one spiraling thought.


Mia finally gave the fork-and-fruit thing a rest, settling the fork down on a napkin on the table and sliding the bowl into the middle of the table. Leaning into the table and fold her arms across it's top, she smiled and shook her head at Carl's inquiry. "Nah, I don't want anymore. Just ready to find out when this bus comes. Get on the bus. Get out of here." She sighed, resting her chin on her forearm and poking out her bottom lip momentarily. "I can't shake the feeling that Lydia is going to just show up here, have a pancake, and drag us back." It was unrealistic but the feeling was still present. It was more overpowering than the feeling that her parents would come home; that feeling was slowly burning out.


"I don't know..." Another sigh. It was starting to get depressing - and annoying - to Mia how much she found herself sighing these days or just having a mental breakdown every two seconds. Maybe she did need a cup of tea or a cup of coffee to calm her nerves. Mia played with the thought and watched Carl eat, hoping he didn't turn blue in the face and take off for the nearest bathroom right after.

 

[DrTrollinski]

He smiled a little and then put his spoon down in his bowl. "Don't you worry yourself, okay? I won't let anyone do anything to us - I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that we get home. If you worry too much, I'll start to worry about you worrying, and that would be a disaster." He chuckled and then reached over, setting a hand down atop her own and then squeezing it for a moment. "You wait right here, okay? I've got something that might help you calm down." He said, and then hopped up from the table and went over to the breakfast bar, putting the dirty bowl down in the required place so that the staff could come and wash it.


Now, this is where the fun began. He started to stack up a plate with all of the breakfast stuff he wanted - two scoops of scrambled egg, three sausages, four hash browns, four rashers of bacon, a big scoop of baked beans, two slices of toast with butter, and finally, some skinless tomatoes in rich and hot tomato juice. Awesome stuff so far. His plate was crammed full of stuff, but there was more to get. He got a knife and fork, and then used one hand to put two cups under a hot drinks dispenser. He hit a button, and then it started to shoot out hot and creamy cocoa into each cup.


This was a blast from the past. Carl and Mia always used to sit and watch TV in the living room during the Winter, sipping hot cocoa, or they'd lie in either person's bed with them and watch TV with them in there, instead. It was a nice memory, and he hoped that this would help her just get her head around things and relax a little.


He walked back with the two cups in one hand, and the behemoth breakfast in the other, and then sat down opposite Mia again and slid her one of the cups, smiling at her. "You drink that. It'll help, I'm sure... It's the best thing they've got up there right now." He chuckled a little and then started to tuck into his breakfast. God, he hadn't had a breakfast like this in weeks now.

 

[Zhai]

It was almost eight already. Mia looked away from her watch, leaned her chin into her hand, and listened to Carl behind her. There was the clicking of dishes. soft scraping, more clicking, a hissing, and Carl's foot steps moving left to right. If she hadn't known the food was already cooked, it would sound like Carl was back there working his ass off to make some five star meal. The urge to resist looking at her watch was overwhelming, and she lifted her chin out of hand, turned her wrist, and glanced at the watch's face. Seven hours, fifty seven minutes, and ten seconds in the morning. It was still creeping toward eight in the morning.


Satisfied her watch was still working she rested her chin back in her hand, just in time to watch a cup come into her view. Brown, hot, and chocolate. This couldn't have been what he was working so hard on back there, was it? Mia straightened in her seat, pulling the cup closer and watching Carl settle down with a massive plate...everything, probably. The plate was pregnant with food she didn't even know was up there and watching Carl eat invoked a mixture of feelings. Sure, it was awesome he was finally eating but she was feeling nauseous watching him eat. Maybe it was because she wasn't feeling very food savvy this morning or maybe it was the amount of food he was managing to put away.


"It must not be the best thing up there." Mia smiled, dipping her spoon in and out of the hot chocolate, letting the excess drip back into the cup before doing it again. "I'm going to ask if they have a bus schedule or something. You just keep practicing for the State Eating Contest, okay?" Mia rose out of her chair, took the cup, ruffled Carl's hair, and walked out of the breakfast area. Hm, it was still quiet out here. Maybe the hotel was empty or something. It was actually kind of creepy being in an maybe-empty hotel, but Mia gingerly made her way down the hall, through the drape, and into the lobby area. Front desk empty, too.


"Bus schedule, bus schedule,.." She repeated the words hoping a bus schedule would magically appear, and walking around the perimeter of the counter and scanning through a pile of brochures delivered her wish. Bus schedule; just one left and Mia didn't need to take it. One quick look over and she now knew the bus left at nine. Only an hour left to wait around.


"Bus leaves at nine." Mia sauntered back into the breakfast area, choosing to stand instead of sitting.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Okay, that's fine." Carl said, continuing to munch down on his breakfast that he'd created at the bar. He noticed that she wasn't sitting down, and he didn't like it when people were standing when he was sitting. It bugged him a little, and I guess you could say that it unnerved him, too. He reached up and pulled on her wrist to force her to sit beside him. After that, he reached across and grabbed the hot chocolate and put it in front of her again. She was going to drink that. He looked at his watch (which was quite a nice one that his dad got him for his fourteenth birthday) and then smiled a little.


"Then we've got one hour. Drink." He said. "You seem to be on edge. Like I said, don't panic, enjoy your drink - If you don't, I'm going to deliberately eat slower, okay?" He winked at her and patted her shoulder, and then went back to eating and occasionally sipping on his hot chocolate. He'd been doing some thinking about when they got home this morning. It was funny, to be honest, they'd been panicking so much, when realistically, the chances were that things were going to be absolutely fine.


"You know, Mia. By now, the police would have already checked our house if Lydia called them. Hell, if she didn't, even she's probably checked our house." He chuckled. "Wait... No, she wouldn't have our address as far as I know, so we're fine on that side of things. Anyone else who would have came looking for us would have checked our house right away, so I'll go ahead and say that we should be undisturbed when we get back - We can take a day or two to hunt around the house and see if we can get some leads, rest up, take a shower, gather up some more cash and what we need, and then we'll be lickedy-split and on out way to the top, you know what I mean?" He smiled and then shoved half of a sausage into his mouth and chewed on it. Christ, he was pretty much half way through his breakfast already

 

[Zhai]

Mia was about to turn away, debating on whether or not to double check the bus schedule, when she felt her brother's hand grab her wrist. It wasn't rough, it wasn't too tight a grip, but it was enough to pull her back and more or less force her to sit in the seat. If she didn't sit, then he would have just pulled her into the table. "That's your cup, crazy." The cup that Carl slid in front of her, she slid back to him and held up her other hand, lightly shaking the cup she already had in her hand. She smiled softly, shaking her head, "There must be something in those eggs making you go crazy."


Sipping on the now barely warm hot chocolate and uncomfortably shifting in her seat, she listened to her brother's teasing. Drink the chocolate or he eats slower, hm? "Carl, you couldn't eat slower if your hand was made of cement and there was something blocking your mouth." She laughed almost privately, sticking her tongue out and dipping it into the cup. Definitely this hot chocolate could use a piece of real chocolate melted into it or more chocolate syrup.


Carl was going over a new piece of his plan and Mia was quietly listening, still swishing the remaining half of the hot chocolate in its cup. There was only a little but left to drink, just like there was only a little more of their escape until they were at their destination. Well here's to finishing what you start, right?; and Mia tossed back the last of the hot chocolate, one full gulp and she was done. Feeling sick in the end but done with the hot chocolate. Now if Carl was holding true to his threat, he'd finish eating.


"So ride the bus, get to town, sneaky-sneak around, and then...what> To the top of what?" Carl's last bit of the plan was confusing, well..more like it didn't make sense. To the top of what? "What are we going to do after?" Mia put her empty cup back on the table, and inched Carl's still full cup towards him. If she couldn't waste it, he couldn't waste it.

 

[DrTrollinski]

He watched her drink it, but kept up his speed of eating nonetheless. "If my hand was made of cement, I'd be able to do a lot more things more efficiently, if you get what I mean." He tried not to choke on his food as laughed at his own ill-humored joke. What could be better than this? A nice breakfast, his sister, a cup of hot chocolate, and a plan to stay on the run for God knows how long. There isn't anything better than that, is there? Of course not, I mean, he always wanted to do this. Always.


Sarcasm intended.


"Yep, take the bus, get home, go and stay inside for a few days while I dig around and look for anything that might offer us some sort of lead. We'll make sure things are all cool, keep an eye out, and that's that. When I say about me digging around--" He paused and shoved the last spoonful of scrambled egg into his mouth and quickly chewed and swallowed it. "-- that's not me trying to cut you out of anything, but think of it like this - Dad was the one that sat me on his lap on most nights when he worked at home and showed me a load of stuff about computers, and over the years, I started to learn. After all, the first time he introduced me to it all was when I was five years old." He stopped once more and ate his last hash brown.


"Another thing I've picked up from him, is what people use as passwords, most commonly. For parents, they use something that relates to their family or their children... In dad's case, it was a little more complex, but after so many years, I've noticed that he used the same apparently 'unbreakable password' for every document, and for access to his computer. I think I'll be able to find some answers there, but this is a father-son thing - No one else gets to know that password, and even if I told you what it was right now, you wouldn't be able to remember it all. Trust me, it's crazy... How dad does it, I just don't know." He chuckled. "And when I say 'to the top' - I mean to the top of the ladder. We find a way to make things right. That's what I mean by 'the top' - It doesn't sound simple, but just remember Murphy's Law, okay? What can happen, will happen." He winked at her and then went back to eating his breakfast and gulping down his hot chocolate.

 

[Zhai]

Mia opened her mouth, stuck out her tongue, and scrunched her nose - just to show what she thought of Carl's little joke. In the end she smiled at not necessarily at his joke but his amusement at his own banter; she hoped he didn't choke on that mouthful of whatever he was eating and she leaned forward in her chair just in case she needed to punch him in the chest. On second though, she wanted to punch him in the chest regardless of if he was choking or not, but she withheld from doing it.


"What if 'what can happen, will happen' doesn't happen?"Geez, she should consider becoming one of those show hosts on game shows, because she was really reeling out the question this morning. Even she hated hearing how many question she had to ask Carl but it was all for good reason. Not only was he going to leave her tucked away somewhere while he played James Bond around the town, but she'd be tucked away somewhere and in the dark on everything. Now seemed like a good time to shake down every inch of his plan, get all the details, and even if she wouldn't remember half of what Carl was saying right now - at least she had comfort in knowing she asked.


"And I don't want to stay at home, Carl." Mia whined and leaned her shoulder into the chair's back, poking out her lip in the beginnings of a pout. "It's going to be so boring sitting in a hole waiting for you to come back. And the house is empty and Mrs. Greene is gone. What if the police have seized the house or something?" Her ill attitude continued, and Mia could feel herself growing anxious for Carl to change his mind. It was like he was cutting her out, even if he said he wasn't, and she felt like he was leaving her behind because she might slow him down or blow their cover. In addition to that, something else peaked in her mind; he was probably going to see Jen.


This thought had Mia stiffen up, suck in her poked out bottom lip, and clear her throat, as well as forsaking her prior complaints. "Y'know...I can just sit tight. Do my homework or something.." Mia stood out of her seat again, pacing through the empty tables and back towards the still empty and quiet hallway. "We don't have much time to get to the bus area. We walked pretty far from it last night, so we need time to walk back to it."

 

[DrTrollinski]

He slowly lowered his head and dropped it down onto the table. "I'm not going to be going anywhere..." He sighed a little and then sat back up, gulping down the rest of his drink. "Dad's computer isn't anywhere else but home, is it? I don't need to go out. We can be sitting at home together, and the only difference in what we'll be doing, is that I'll be busy being intrusive and going through all of dad's files and emails, alright?" He said. He was doing his very best not to add a venomous touch to his tone, but that was incredibly difficult - He still managed to do it, though.


"Please just sit back down." He said. He was really starting to get sick of how much Mia was moving around. It was starting to get irritating, and he was very slowly beginning to lose his temper. He was usually a really patient person, but with the events and bullshit of the last couple of days, plus the fact that he was still tired, he really, really, really wanted things to just settle down, just for a while.


"The police wouldn't have seized the house, because the house has no evidence to us running away - They might have checked it, but they have absolutely no reason to seize it. Secondly, you're definitely not doing homework. We're not going to be back at school for a while, so the last thing you'll want to be doing is Mister Jenkin's homework, or anything like that - I don't know when we'll be back at school, or when we'll be back to living normally, but--.." He suddenly felt the need to stop eating. He wasn't hungry anymore. He was just pissed off. He dropped his knife and fork onto his plate and rubbed his face, and then slowly stood back up and picked the plate up. He walked back to the bar and put it back in the place where all dirty plates went, and then turned to Mia. "We'll figure it out, but please... We're fine, and we're on time, okay? The bus drive from here to Clayton can't be that far, so let's not panic."


He walked up to her, placed his hands on her shoulders, and then took a deep breath.


"Everything. Will. Be. Fine. Okay?" He said softly, squeezing her shoulder at the last word, followed by hugging her briefly for a few seconds. "Lead the way, Mia." He said, and then turned towards the door and rubbed his forehead again.

 

[Zhai]

So he wasn't leaving the house? Well now that made her feel stupid and petty, and she didn't want to suffer how ashamed she probably looked; so Mia continued looking into the empty hall with her back to her brother. No use to letting him relish her I-fucked-up-face, and so staring at the wall like an idiot was better than giving him that satisfaction. Mia didn't want to seem like she was totally ignoring him and instead of giving him a full blown acknowledgement, she wanted to keep just a pinch of her pride; her head turned just enough so she could see him from the corner of her left eye, "Gotcha." And turn away. That was it. Mia still felt like her brother couldn't see the apologetic look on her face and she still said her piece. Maybe she should have listened better. Maybe Carl should have explained himself better!


Finally someone was coming down the hallway. Mia leaned out just enough to look down the long stretch of dimly lit hallway, and watch whoever it was. Damn...it kind of looked like Jen if she was a red head. Wow. It was scary watching this girl who looked like Jen casually walk down the hallway, and Mia could literally feel her mouth part as her jaw dropped. Half of what Carl was saying was escaping her ears and it sounded like he was speaking from the other side of a glass. The girl walked right past Mia, waving and smiling all Jen-like, and Mia was about to watch her disappear in the lobby until she heard something about not doing homework'.


At that her head whipped around so quickly she almost slapped her face into the side of the wall she was leaned against, but luckily narrowly escaped that embarrassment. There wasn't a valid argument she could present as to why they should do their homework and instead she did an inner hissy fit, cursing her brother out in my mind at telling to purposely neglect her homework. Yeah, they wouldn't be stepping foot in school for...shit, she didn't even know how long, but she could at least do the homework for peace of mind; or maybe even mail it to the school so she got the grade for it. Running away wasn't an excuse for missing assignments.


Alas, she maintained her silence and withheld complaining about not doing her homework, watching as Carl held her in place for a few Carl-encouraging type words and hugged her. The hug itself she felt was forced because she watched him rub his temples. That was something he did when he was stressed. That inner stress level maximum cap had been breached, and she smiled triumphantly to herself. There was something liberating about stressing him out, like getting back at him for telling her no to homework.


Mia shouldered her bag, left the breakfast area, pushed through the drape into the lobby, and slowed down walking towards the exit. Where was Jen look-a-like? Her eyes searched the small lobby area and even looked towards the front desk, only to be met with an aged smile from someone she hadn't seen before. Mia smiled back, small but honest, and pushed out the door towards the sidewalk. It was morning but it wasn't very bright outside; just the clod covered light and a subtle breeze. Maybe it was going to rain. Mia hated rain and instantly rolled her eyes.


"What are you expecting to find on his computer?" Mia spoke up, hating the small slice of silence in the beginning of walking back towards the bus station.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"I don't know, a stack of porno and some bank details." He said, in quite a snappy manner. He clenched his fists, and then looked down at the ground. His whole body was starting to vibrate from how fucking furious he was getting, but he didn't know why, it was like one of those kettles that you put on the stove to heat up - soon, he was going to heat up so much that steam started coming out of his ears in a classic whistle-like fashion. He was getting to the point where he looked like he was going to explode, and he'd had plenty of those moments. He was just insanely stressed out, and there hadn't been many times over the past couple of days where anyone's tried to stop it. Mia had been comforting him and taking care of him when he was sick, but there was nothing there to eliminate his stress.


In fact, he hadn't even seen her look the slightest bit concerned over how stressed he was getting over everything. It was like he was alone in the war in his head again, and it was horrible.


Come on, Carl. Stop it.





No. No, he wasn't going to just stop. He was really fired up now, and there was nothing that could stop him. The questions, the stress, the rush, the panic - everything. Everything was getting to his head, and he couldn't tell why. This wasn't what he wanted to go through, he was screaming at himself on the inside, telling himself to just cut it out, but it wasn't doing anything. No one really realized how much it seemed to physically wear Carl down when he got angry - he never really showed it when it happened, because it only lasted for ten minutes, but in that ten minutes, it felt like he'd just done a week's worth of exercise in the course of an hour.


".. Everything is so fucked." He snarled quietly, not directly at anyone. "Everything is--" He brought a closed fist up to his head and struck himself a few times. Ouch. That kind of hurt, but the pain was a blur. "-- Fucking fucked!" He said again, shaking his head furiously, and then sped up his walking speed to try and get the two of them moving as quick as possible. He wanted to go home. He didn't mean what he said. He had everything under control, or so he thought, and he was going to make sure that it got carried through.


But first, he needed to get rid of this anger.

 

[Zhai]

It was hard for Mia not to notice - rather hear - Carl's sped up breathing beside her, and she quietly glanced over multiple times, trying to deduce what was pumping him up. Sick again? He didn't look sick when he finished breakfast and walked out. Was he thinking about something she said? Maybe it was when she commented on him leaving her behind. If he wanted an apology she would give him one! It was honestly her misunderstanding that led to her pouting, and she didn't want Carl to feel responsible for it. She knew that even if he knew it wasn't his fault he would still feel like shit because if it. Fine, she could and would apologize to him.


Mia coughed quietly to herself, grabbed the straps of her pack, and opened her mouth to speak "Look I'm s-" End of speech. Carl's explosive explosion cut her off and she whipped her head over to look at him, watching him come undone at the seams in the middle of the sidewalk. In the middle of fucking public! She looked around them, watching as the small amount of people who were outside turned to look in their direction, some of them even stopping dead in their tracks to take in the show. Mia wanted to scream at them to keep fucking moving or start paying for the show but that would look just as bad as a guy punching himself in the head.


When she'd stopped mean mugging enough people that they stopped looking and kept walking, she turned to see Carl had picked up the pace. Shit. "Carl, Carl, Carl." Mia called his name, jogged to catch up with him, grabbed his bag, and dragged him to a convenient alley between two buildings. Out of the public's eye and off the side walk, she pushed her brother against a wall and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Tight. Really tight.


Whatever it was that was escaping Carl. Whatever it was that had been eating him up from breakfast to now - she figured it must be so bad that he just needed a moment to let it all out. So she would wait for him, trapping him with her arms and body against the wall, and listening to his labored breathing.


"What's wrong?" Mia spoke quietly next to his ear, locking her hands together and still leaning against him. "What the fuck is happening, Carl? Tell me what's wrong? Is it something I said be-....because I'm sorry for whatever I did or didn't say. I'm sorry for what I said at breakfast, y'know...I was just..being an asshole and I didn't understand what you were saying and I'm sorry." She paused, taking a breath of her own and unfucking the next set of words she had for her brother. "I'm sorry I was asking so many questions. I'm sorry if you think I don't trust you because I do. I love you and I trust you and I would follow you back to Lydia's house if you said we should. I'm just...sorry."

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Christ, don't be sorry!" He yelled, and then put his arms around her and squeezed her really tight as well. He didn't want to let go. It was like a life aid in the middle of the ocean to prevent him from drowning. At some points, he wondered why he grabbed this life aid that had come into his path to keep him afloat, but at the same time, he wondered why it wouldn't just let him sink. He held onto her, refusing to even move from the spot as he lowered his head and put it on her shoulder. It was all a blur. He could only see red, and he wanted to let it all out the only way he knew how, but he couldn't do that now.


He'd never hurt her. He couldn't bring himself to do it.


"You're not an asshole, god damn it." He cursed, still hugging her as tight as he could manage. His deep breaths were really raspy, and he struggled to actually make them deep breaths. He just wanted to start breathing quickly again so that he'd never calm down, but he needed to do it. Just for her. He needed to try and calm down so that she didn't keep degrading herself the way she was. He just needed to take a deep breath, close his eyes, and think happy thoughts.


He took a deep breath.


He started to gently rub Mia's back and feel her clothes against the palm of his hand.


He pictured a nice scene after his college days where he was married and had children of his own, and lived in his own house and had a happy life. He pictured it all. He pictured all of the people he was going to meet along the way, and he thought about how Mia would be the great and almighty 'Aunt Mia' - That would be pretty cool, and that was something he'd like to see one day, but it was never going to happen unless he stayed calm.


"I'm--.. I-I-I'm fine..." His voice shook, and he took another deep breath. "It's not you... It's me, it's all me, honestly... You can ask as many questions as you need... It's fine. I just haven't explained everything I should have. I'm sorry." He said. Great, now he was the one apologizing - it was the truth, though, it wasn't really Mia's fault at all. "I'm fine now, I'm fine. I promise." He hugged her again and closed his eyes, his head set on her shoulder.


Well, at least he managed to calm down this time without smashing something.

 

[Zhai]

Mia felt tense in her brother's sturdy grasp, barely breathing and searching for the right words to say back to him. He'd not only brushed off her apologies and denied it was her fault but now he was shouldering the blame on himself. It didn't take the weight off of Mia's shoulders and she didn't feel relieved at Carl wasn't angry at her. Now she just desperately wanted to know what was actually eating him up inside so much that he would literally lose his shit in the middle of the sidewalk. In public. In broad daylight.


Carl's grasp was firm but Mia managed to peel out of it, patting her brother's shoulders as breathing space was made between them. He was panting like he'd just finished a race and she was hardly breathing at all, and it was partly out of being nervous for Carl. Right, get your breathing together, Mia. She sucked in a few deep, calm breaths and took that time to look towards the opening of the alley. The amount of people wandering around - from where she could see - had increased, and instead of the couple of people sprinkled around, there seemed to be a constant flow passing the opening.


On the edge - not only from Carl's meltdown but to get to the bus - her wrist turned and she stared into the face of the watch. Damn, there's only just about twenty minutes left until the eight; and she wasn't positive if eight was when the bus came or when the bus departed. Regardless, it was better to be early than show up late.


Angling herself back towards her brother, still concerned about him but back in mission-mood, she aimed to pacify him with a hasty embrace. "Carl...whatever you're going through inside it's going to be okay...okay? I'm here with you every step of the way and you know that." The last part wasn't a question but an absolute. There was nowhere she'd rather be than stuck in the middle of nowhere in this stark town and in this alley having a heart to heart.

 

[DrTrollinski]

He was calm now, well, calmer. He didn't know if he was going to flip out again, but he knew that Mia was here - If Mia had walked away, he didn't know what he'd do - Christ, he knew she wouldn't do that, even though she did walk away at the diner. He hadn't forgotten that, and he doubt that he would for a long long time, but that wasn't the main focus here. The main thing was that they were still together, and they were closer to home than they had been over the last few days, so that meant things were starting to pick up.


He listened to her as she spoke and simply nodded at everything she said. He was agreeing with her and showing that he understood everything she said, and that he believed her. He reached up and put his hands on her shoulders, gently squeezed them, and then looked into her eyes. Alright. Things were going to be fine. She'd said so herself.


She was here for him, just like he was there for her.


"Alright," He said, nodding again. He gave her another hug and then took more of a calm and less forced deep breath, he patted her back, rubbed it again, and then pulled away after a minute or so. "Thank you for understanding, Mia... And for being there... It--.. It means a lot, okay?" He said, putting on the best smile he could without seeming too sad. He didn't do a very good job, but it was believable enough.


".. Shall we make a move? We've got an empty home waiting to be filled, haven't we?" He gave off a sad chuckle whilst sniffling and wiping his eyes with one hand.

 

[Zhai]

"Come on, Carl. Turn that frown the other way around...we've got a bus to catch and like you said, an empty house that needs filling." A few encouraging pats on his back again before she led the way out from between the buildings and back to the open street. Yes, there had been an increase in the amount of people roaming around and it only made her personally panic, wanting to rush to the bus stop immediately. What if some of these people were going to take the bus, too? What if there was no more room for them? Just recently Carl was commenting lightly on how much time they had to get to the bus, and here it is nearly thirty minutes or more have passed since then and they're about to be rushing to the only bus to leave this place until nearly eight o'clock at night. If it wasn't now, then it was twelve hours later.


Mia narrowly avoided bumping shoulders with a few people in the process of blending into the foot traffic and finding the right directional flow. Anxiously she glanced over her shoulder, got a visually confirmation Carl was still following, and turned around in time enough to avoid a glass door in her face. "Geez...I thought people would still be sleep at this hour." Not so much luck with that thought. There was more action now in the wee hours of this morning than there were last night, and she thought night was when the real fun began in these kind of places. Whatever. They wouldn't be in this town much longer to find out.


Between nervously and constantly staring at her watch, and weaving around the slower walking crowds, Mia managed to make it back to the diner's corner. After standing there for the only minute that could be spared of their time, she navigated blindly back to the bus station - or more like the parking lot deemed the bus area. "Shit the bus isn't here." Panic. Time to panic. "Damn it. We missed it or something. Where is it? Shit, shit, shit.." Mia rambled off with a continued succession of curse words, staring at her watch and debating on whether it was wrong. There wasn't a bus in the parking lot but there were people lingering around, just as they were doing, and she stopped cursing to think clearly. "Maybe we're...early?"


It was still five minutes until eight.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Carl wasn't a huge fan of crowds, which was quite funny, seeing as he was the school trend-setter and would have all of his friends swarming him on a daily basis when break or lunchtime came around. There was just always that reserved spot for Mia next to him - that was the way it went at the lunch table. He always said 'Seat's reserved' and no one would question it. He was going to have to make more room for Jenna whenever they got back to school - He could do anything like that. You'd think that someone that had such a strong influence would be really mouthy and cocky towards other students and teachers.


He wasn't.


No, no. Of course he wasn't. He was a brainbox, just like Mia - They were sort of equal in terms of knowledge, and so on, even though sometimes, Carl noticed it was either him staying at Mia's level because he felt bad, or Mia staying at his level for an unknown reason. We've been over this point previously, but at these times, it just sort of felt more apparent. It turns out that twins aren't all about loving and learning to share, right?


"Of course we're not late. We're fine." He squeezed her shoulder and then looked down at his own watch. "Seven fifty-five." He said, and then pulled out his phone, which still had a bit of signal. The time was the same. "Seven fifty-five on the phone, too. We're fine. It might be late - Everyone knows that all buses are late, it's just the law. I don't think I've ever seen a single bus show up on time." He chuckled. He walked her over to the little station and then leaned against the wall outside. He didn't really want to sit down in there - not because of the dirt and grime, but because of the fact that he didn't want some weird person to come over and sit down beside him - take that old man back at the other town, for example.


"And now, we play the waiting game." He smirked a little and ruffled his own hair.

 

[Zhai]

That was true. The three things that were universally late were the bus, movies, and delivery food. Sometimes their parents were late when they said they would come get them at a certain time but that was understandable. However the bus should be here when the bus says it's going to get here. People rush over here to make it on time - like they had. Then again, Mia hadn't necessarily double checked if the bus was coming at eight or leaving at eight. Next time they were stranded in the middle of a town running for their sanity and lives, then she'd remembered to check if the bus leave or arrives at what time.


Mia didn't sit, just as Carl chose not to, and it was simply because of a mixture of nerves about missing the bus. She could almost laugh at the humorous scene playing in her mind where she would finally decide to sit on the curb or relax for just a second, and the bus shows up and leaves right at the moment; and she can't get up fast enough to make it to the bus. In that foolish thought, Carl got on the bus, too.


Okay, so it made her smile a little and she leaned against the wall next to Carl, finally realizing the absurdity of her own mind and needing just a moment to relax.


Her head swiveled curiously around, her eyes stopping to observe the few people other than themselves in the bus parking lot. A woman with a smallish suitcase that she'd turned into a seat, sitting in a vacant parking space and thumbing through the pages of a thick book. A couple, guy and girl, having a silent disagreement that wasn't as quiet as maybe they thought it was; she could hear them talking about being lost and something about running low on cash. Another woman who was off from the crowd, leaned against a light pole and looking around through dark, reflective shades.


"Quite the crowd out there, huh?" This would be the people they'd be riding with, and it didn't count if there were already people on the bus waiting to get to the next town down. Just as Mia was about to comment on their riding companions the bus finally sped into the empty lot, hissed to a stopped, popped open it's doors and out came one or two people and the presumed bus driver stepped off.


Everyone slowly picked up their things, loaded the bottom of the bus, and finally stepped on. Mia huffed quietly and watched the bus drivers all but eat up a cigarette a few feet from the bus. "I guess this is...this is almost it." She smiled and excitedly bumped shoulders with her brother, making haste to get on the bus and into the first empty seat she saw - two seats a little towards the front of the bus and right beneath an air vent. Last time she was dying of heat on the bus although it sounded like the air conditioning was in full force.

 

[DrTrollinski]

So many people. He still didn't know why he didn't like crowds. It was moments like this (and when he was in the shower) that random thoughts just popped up to him and gave him a slap around the face to make him think about them. Everyone thinks about stuff when they're in the shower, or staring out of a bus window. It was all the same sort of thing, and that was just it. What sort of questions, though? Well, let me give you some examples of some of the things that had flustered Carl's mind when he was standing there in the shower or waiting for something without saying anything:


What happens when you die?


What's the reason behind life?


How did we get here?


Why does time sometimes go so slowly?





You get the idea.


When the bus finally came into view, he grinned in excitement and then hopped up onto it as soon as the doors flew open. "To Clayton." He said to the bus driver, and he simply got a nod in response. Thank god. They were on the right bus, and they were going to be home before they knew it. How awesome was that? That was pretty fucking awesome, in Carl's mind. He could only wonder what could be waiting for them when they got home - He had some research to do on his dad's computer to see if he could find anything that would give them some leads - there was bound to be something there that lead them to somewhere. They needed to find their parents, that was a definite.


He just needed to figure out how.


"That's right, sis. Almost it. Almost there." He nudged her back and then sat down beside her under the vent. It wasn't a good idea considering that it looked like it was about to rain outside and would be much colder then, but oh well (rain in the Summer was truly a beautiful thing). He dropped an arm around her shoulders and then took a deep breath, remaining silent as he sat there. When the bus finally started moving, it seemed to go North. Their town was North. This was good. They'd be in Clayton in a couple of hours.


He had a feeling Mia would fall asleep. She looked exhausted after last night, and sitting here in silence wasn't something anyone could do if they were tired. She'd crash out at his side in time, he was certain.

 

[Zhai]

Sleep didn't claim Mia until nearly an hour into a drive that was lifelessly similar and just as dull as the ride to the town they were departing. More trees that looked the same, more fields with nothing in them, and the only difference with this ride was even though it was in the early stretches of the morning, it was dark from the thickening clouds; and when the rain began attacking the window and pattering against the top of the bus, then she felt the lulling beginnings of sleep. Carl's arm was still cradling her shoulders and she turned to tuck into the side of his body instead of taking refuge against the window. Last time she did that she was sure she'd walk away with a mild concussion from all the bumping and jarring motions, and her head banging against the glass. This time she'd take a more comfortable position.


"You were so worried about pedophiles on the bus but the lack of scenery is so much worse." Mia sighed, thoughtfully tapping her fingers against each other. "They should show movies on here or something. I'll write a letter...a letter to the bus company." Her yawn interrupted her thoughts and thankfully so; she was beginning to sound like her Mother, talking about writing letters and suggestions to companies.


Mia finally fell asleep and the next however long passed quietly until the hissing of the bus and the pulling motion out of her brother's side brought her out of her deep - very deep - sleep. She sucked in a shallow breath, flinched out of brother's arm, and stiffened in her seat. Good thing she didn't drool or sleep with her mouth wide open, but she casually checked Carl just to see if he had an ominous wet spot on him. Clear and clean.


Exhaling softly and with relief at the same feat of not drooling - yay! - she crept to the edge of her seat, staring out of the window. It was still dark, the image of gloomy if you had to put a background with the word, and there were no longer an entire environment consisting of just trees. There was now a mixture of what Mia considered true civilization - cars, houses, stores, villas, some tress, and most importantly - people; there were several umbrellas moving casually along the sidewalk, standing near a bus stop, or rushing to a car for the person to get in.


Ah, a mall! Mia recognized that mall and almost wanted to start crying on the spot, or better yet, to tell the bus driver to stop there and let her off! She didn't even need to buy anything. Just be in the mall, wander aimlessly through the stores, inhale the food court scents, and then when she had money she'd come back.


"Carl...we're here..." Her words were small but it was only because she was still choking up about the mall, and she leaned back into her seat when the scene had passed.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Carl was happy to see her sleep after a while. He made sure his arm was wrapped right around her, and then he settled down a little himself. He only slept for twenty minutes or so because he was too on edge about missing their stop, and that was what kind of woke him up. He didn't disturb Mia, though - He was happy to see she was catching up on some well-deserved rest. At the talk of writing a letter, Carl sighed - It was true what they said, most of the time - Most daughters do go on to be like their mother, but that isn't always the case. It definitely was with Mia, though. Oh well, as long as she didn't turn out to be as irritating or panicky as mom did, Carl wouldn't mind - She'd beaten that step already, and Carl was just hoping that it would stick.


"I can see that we're here, Mia." He grinned excitedly and then threw an arm around her shoulders once she leaned back again. Ah. That was better. He'd sort of enjoyed holding her close like that over the past couple of hours - It reminded him of being the 'big' brother; how many times had he been in this position now? Many times, from what he remembered - It was usually always him to fall asleep last. Carl and Mia were so cute when they were younger - They'd sit on the couch after drinking their cocoa (they'd only sleep there on Friday nights after school. Sometimes Saturdays - You know, back in the day when nine o'clock was 'late'). He'd sit there, his arm around Mia, and then he'd wait for her to fall asleep, and then he'd snuggle up and crash out with her. It was only like that when they were really young, though - The stage where they'd hug each other whenever they wanted. Age four, five, and six, for the most part - It was cute back then, but now, whenever people saw it, they thought of it as the 'relationship' cute. God, they only ever made that mistake once when Carl came down on them for assuming such a thing.


Soon enough, the bus pulled up into the town center, and they were finally home. The town wasn't huge. In fact, it was somewhat small, but it was definitely more busy and exciting than any of the other places they'd been over the last couple of days. The bus had to circle around the town to get here, and Carl felt like a match in a fireworks factory. Everyone could see him. He was sure that a few heads turned - it wasn't that late at all. Some people were out of school and walking to the store to buy something while they were on their break, and others were just hanging around. Yeah. Some people saw him, and he knew it too well. Wednesday mornings always seemed busy, for some reason. It was what Carl liked to call 'Midweek Madness'.


"My god..." He got up and lead Mia off of the bus. There was no one they knew around, thankfully. As soon as the bus pulled away, he turned and gave Mia the biggest hug of all time, a huge grin glued to his face. "We made it!" He said in delight, rocking her a bit from side to side. "Holy shit... We made it." He released her, and then rubbed the back of his head. "Let's get home, sis... I want to be in our house again." He said.

 

[Zhai]

It's still very...surreal. That's the best way to put it.


The town looks like, well how it looked like before, except for the weather; instead of the normal clear skies, it was dark and ominous, raining so heavily it sounded like dry rice being shaken in a bag. It was chilly, too; and Mia looked around calmly, watching people run past with umbrellas high or their hoods pulled over their heads. Cars that were waiting behind the bus impatiently pulled around it and sped past, their tires splitting through the built up layer of water on the road. She looked at each of the cars, hoping one of them was her parents vehicles and personally regretting if one of them were Lydia's or the police. In this weather it was unlikely Lydia's truck could even make it out of that mud-trap drive way, and it'd probably get stuck halfway up before it made it the road's shoulder.


An urge to run around in the rain was easily suppressed and Mia threw up the hood of her jacket, deciding to make it home first before celebrating their return. It was easily twenty minutes or longer worth of a walk back to their neighborhood, and then of course the five minute walk down the end of their street to their house. Not to mention they'd have to avoid neighbors, friends, or anyone else that'd recognize two kids who were supposed to be in foster care until further notice.


Mia turned to Carl, tightening the straps of her bag against her back and preparing for the walk. "I guess we can start walking, huh? The rain isn't letting up any time soon." Decided, she turned around and casually crept from beneath the bus stop's glass overhead. Rain that was escaping the edge of thick, nearly a wall of water, and she ducked to go head first through it and into the rain. Damn it. She hated rain. She hated snow. She hated anything that wasn't sun and shine. Cloudy skies was even sometimes okay.


Parading down the street she was overly familiar with, she continued clutching her hood tightly over her head and near her face, narrowly avoiding puddles and bumping shoulders with passing people. She just wanted to make it home in one, soggy, soaked to the bone piece so she could strip out of her clothes, get into her shower, and into her own bed. Ah! Just thinking about her own shower and clothes and bed was honestly enough to pump her up to run home! However she remain calm and contained, only smiling awkwardly to herself and doing her best to search through the thick rain and keep heading the right direction.