Chapter Four

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Chapter Four

Eliza

It’s raining. I looked up at the calendar that hangs above my bed. The date is circled, June 22. Today we leave for the journey. I roll over in my bed to see Cricket scratch at the window. I walk into my closet and change into some jeans and a blue t-shirt.

“Crick, you want out?” I ask her. She meows and scratches the window again. I stand up and look down at my feet, then look up at the window again. I open it up so that Cricket can jump out. I sigh and sit down on the bed to watch the rain patter on the window. I hear the soft sound of feet shuffling on the carpet and the doorbell ringing.

I stand up and open the door. “Oh, hi James. How are you today?” I hear my mom say once she opens the door. I hear James reply casually. “I’m fine, how are you? I’m going to need Eliza.”

I walk into the hall and look at the door where James stands in a navy blue t-shirt and dark jeans. He turns his head at an angle so that he can see me. He waves as I walk down the hall toward the door.

“Mom, you know that it’s the day that we have to go. We have to do lots of things before we go,” I say, getting my boots on and grab the duffel bag that I had left at the door last night. Mom nods and pushes me out the door, “I’ll see you at the leaving ceremony,” I smile as she closes the door.

“I wonder how long this will take,” I say watching my feet as I walk, right, left, right, left. James shrugs and puts his hands in his pocket. “I guess that the kids that are going to school today get an early out to come and see us leave. I sure am scared,” James says looking at the sky where rain is falling from the clouds.

“So, we have to pick up the horses first, right?” I ask James who nods and pulls out a hoodie, which he pulls over his head. The hoodie is red with black stripes. I slap my forehead as I remember that my coat and jacket are in the other bag that I left for Victoria to take care of until we leave.

I see the stable up ahead through the rain. The stable is a wooden structure that my great, great grandfather built for his horses, which almost seemed to be people, as my father’s father had said. “There was a black one and a grey one that was almost all spotted,” my grandpa had said.

“Hey, James, Eliza! I have your horses ready!” Kaylee, the stable manager, my cousin, shouts through the wind and rain. “Good! We’re really going to need them!” I shout back beginning to run.

Ten minutes later we are under in the shelter of my aunt and uncle’s house drinking hot chocolate and eating hot pancakes. “You guys are too nice!” I say taking the last bite of my second pancake. The hot chocolate had tasted like a melted chocolate bar. “Don’t say that, we know how hard it’s going to be,” my aunt, Natalie says setting her mug of eggnog down on the table.

“This isn’t going to be the best day to be on the water,” James says after he gulps down the last of his hot chocolate, “With the rain and all.” I nod and stand up. “I think we better get the horses and be on our way, we have a lot to do today,” I say, picking up my plate to put in the sink. James wipes his mouth and nods.

“I’ll go and get the saddles for the horses, they are groomed and ready to go other than that,” Kaylee says opening the door to go out into the rain, which has slowed to a drizzle.

“Tell Victoria happy birthday for me!” Natalie says before James a closes the door behind us. “It is Victoria’s birthday, isn’t it? I totally forgot,” I rubbing my arms to keep the cold winds to cause goose bumps.

“Here is Scout, and here is Lightning,” Kaylee says stepping toward us while guiding a large black horse and a smaller paint. “Lightning is for Eliza and Scout is for James. Scout is very gentle but can fight very well if he has to and Lightning is strong and can hold almost all your supplies. He is the strongest of all our horses.”

I smile and grab the rope for guiding the gentle giant. “He’s beautiful, Kaylee, thank you, we will really need him,” I say guiding his to the entrance of the stables. “Bye!” Kaylee says, waving.

“What’s next?” James asks me as if I had everything planned out for the day. I shrug and keep walking. “Why did you get the stronger horse?” James whines. I shrug again and look up at the sky where the clouds are starting to clear and the sun is starting to shine through.

“I think that we better go and say goodbye to Vic,” I say changing directions toward the hospital. A few days ago we had figured out all our doubts. She had said that this was going to be a very stressful time and that she would need my help to get through it even if she didn’t think that I could do what I had to.

I agreed to help her and said that I would say a special goodbye to her since she wouldn’t be able to go to the ceremony. “I feel bad that she can’t come. Maybe the elder will let her go when we get to the ocean settlement,” I say tying Lightning to the metal pole that the builders had put in front of ever building after Kaylee and her family protested about a place to put their horses.

I shake out my hair and walk in the front door to the hospital. “We’re here to see Jane Halycoat,” I say to the man at the front desk. His eyes are brown and he has brown hair that is spiky in the front.

“Room 125,” the man replies pointing down the hall. I grab James’ arm and practically drag him to the room were Victoria and her family are staying. I knock on the door before entering just in case they don’t want us to come in.

The door slowly creaks open to reveal Victoria’s face; her hair is all knotty she is in an old t-shirt and sweats. “Happy Birthday!” I whisper, careful not to wake Hannah who is asleep on a chair in the corner of the room sleeping.

Victoria launches out of her chair and into a bear hug for me, the thud on the floor wakes Hannah who’s head flicks up. Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail and she is wearing a t-shirt and sweats just like Victoria.

“I so sorry that we have to leave you! I will send you a letter everyday while I’m gone,” I promise once Victoria lets me go. “You don’t have to be sorry, the elder came here last night and told me that I would be able to go if my mom has her baby before you are done! The best thing about it is that the baby is due tomorrow or on Sunday!” Victoria says, her voice almost too enthusiastic.

“Yes!  Victoria I’m so happy for you! You should probably start packing just in case,” I say giving her a high five. James steps further into the room toward Mr. Halycoat.

“What do you think you will name him?” Victoria and I hear James ask Mr. Halycoat. Victoria giggles before her dad answers, “We have no idea, and we promised Victoria that she could name it because she couldn’t go with you, it’s one of her birthday presents.”

“So what are you going to name him?” I whisper to Victoria who begins to blush. “I decided that I am going to name him James. I think that it’s a good name,” she replies in a whisper quieter than mine.

I smile and imagine a little chubby boy smiling up at me. “Okay, because you guys can’t be at the ceremony for us to leave, James and I decided that we were going to do a special farewell.” I say looking over at James who mouths, one, two, and three.

“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Victoria and a farewell, too!” James and I sing. We made up the end of the song yesterday and decided to sing it not only for Victoria, but also for her whole family.

Victoria and her family clap their hands and cheer for us. “Thank you so much! I will really miss you and I promise that I will send you a letter everyday until I come to you,” Victoria says. I smile and give Victoria another hug. “I’ll miss you to Victoria,” I say releasing her, “Happy birthday.”

Ten minutes later we were back at my house with all our supplies ready except for my other bag of clothing, which holds some shirts and my coat and jacket. “It doesn’t look like anyone’s home,” I say looking through the windows at the darkened house. “Well of course Daisy and Mason aren’t here, they have school,” James says chewing on a granola bar from his pack. I shake my head and begin to open the door.

“The school district let them stay home and they probably let Zera and Zane stay home, too,” I say, taking my first step into the house. Suddenly the lights flick on and a bunch of people pop up, “Surprise!” they shout making me jump back against the closed door.

“You did this for us?” I ask amazed at how much my mom had done while I was gone. There were signs everywhere saying things like “We’ll miss you!” and “Hope you are safe!” Daisy runs over to me from behind the couch. “Liza! I love you!” she shouts. I see Zera and Zane standing back to watch as Daisy runs up to me. I see Zane laugh and look at the back of her pants.

 They were born on New Years Eve at 10:17. The family knows the exact time because right when they were born James and his aunt were in the waiting room and they took a picture of the two-year-old James by the clock in the waiting room.

Zera has black hair and always wears it loose. It falls down to her shoulders and is curly so whenever she ran her black curls bounced up and down. She has long eyelashes and dark eyes. Zane has light brown hair that is always spiked in the front.

My mom walks up to me with the camera in her hand. “Mom, I’m going to miss you so, so, so much! I’ll write to you everyday that I am gone!” I say giving her a hug.

“I’m so sorry that Dad couldn’t be here. He had to work, it was urgent,” Mom says after we pull apart. She holds me by the shoulders and looks me in the eyes to talk to me. “I know, Mom, you don’t have to be sorry,” I say.  My dad is a doctor at the hospital and he had to take care of some of the many patients. The sicknesses had really slowed down but there were still so many people to heal. Mom nods and pulls something out from Daisy’s jeans. In Mom’s hand is a little bit of toilet paper. Daisy starts to blush and runs off.

We walk into the kitchen where there is cake and crackers to eat with all the dips that she has set out on the counter. After we all eat, Mom cuts the cake into pieces and hands it out to the younger kids. I don’t feel like eating. I just ate two or three crackers with a chocolate chip cookie dip, now I’m not hungry and don’t feel like any more food.

Zera walks over to me and sits down. “I bet you’re nervous,” Zera says. Even though she is still 11, she is pretty seemed just like us; sometimes she seems like a six grader even though she is only has just ended 5^th grade. This is the total opposite her twin brother Zane, who seems like a second grader. He is crazy and all over the place all the time but sometimes, Zane and Zera were the perfect group and spent tons of time together. That is the only time that Zera is a little bit crazy. When they are together, they love practical jokes and play them on everyone. That was probably where the toilet paper came from.

“Yep, I think that that is the only feeling that I’ve had since last week. I’m nervous and I’m worried,” I say looking into Zera’s dark eyes. “I guess that James won’t be here for my birthday. It’s tomorrow, you know,” Zera replies, changing the subject and taking a small bite of the chocolate cake that my mom bought at the store.

I nod, starting to stare at the T.V that Mason and his friend Justin are playing video games on. James comes and sits down by Zera. “Is my little sister annoying you?” James asks, jokingly. Zera hits him in the arm playfully and we all laugh.

“I think that we should get the horses prepared to go. If you want to come with us, Zera, that’s fine,” James says standing up once more. Zera sets her fork on her paper plate, which she throws in the garbage. “Sure, I’ll come,” she says brushing the crumbs off her dark blue jeans.

We walk out of the kitchen and into the living room to the game console. Mason looks up and smiles at me before looking back at the screen where Justin’s character blows up and it say that Mason wins.

I pick up my bags and Zera, James, and I walk out the front door and onto the cement steps that lead up to our house. The air is moist and everything in the world seems wet. Our horses wait by the garage looking bored out of their minds.

“Which one’s yours?” Zera asks me, her hands in her back pockets. I walk faster and place my hand on Lightning’s neck. “This one,” I reply, sliding my hand down his neck and to the end of his body.

Zera nods and takes out a little notebook in which she begins to write something. “He looks really strong,” she says her eyes still on the notebook. I nod and say, “That is because he is the strongest horse that we have.” Zera nods and closes the notebook, shoving it into her back pocket.

“Okay, so how are we going to put our stuff in the these little things?” James asks, sticking his hand in his horse’s saddlebag. “I don’t think we can put all our stuff in there, just some of our food and some of our water. Kaylee said something about hooking things on,” I say, patting the side of Lightning’s neck.

Zera walks up to Scout and shows him some hooks that dangle on one of the sides of the saddle. I look at my saddle for the hooks and see that on Lightning, they are on both sides.

I pick up some of our bags and begin to clip some of the handles onto the saddle. “That’s perfect,” I say, standing back to admire my work. There are only two bags on the ground that is waiting for James to hook onto Scout’s saddle.

Zera pats Lightning on the neck before turning to the front to see his face. She pulls out her notebook again and begins to write. I try to look over her shoulder but when I do she snaps the book closed and looks up at me. Her dark eyes seem threatening for the first time for me.

I step back and walk over to James. When she sees that I am not able to see what she is doing she opens the book again and begins the write. Then I notice something, just because you are moving a pencil around on a paper doesn’t mean that you are writing, it could also mean that you are drawing.

I have only seen one drawing from Zera that is outdated from when she was probably three or four hanging up on the refrigerator. She closes her book and puts it back in her pocket.

“I think that we should go to the meeting place for the ceremony,” Zera says walking over to James and me. “I think that you are right but I think that I should tell my mom first,” I say handing Lightning’s guiding rope to Zera who nods calmly.

I jog up to my door, which I open to shout to my mom. “I’m going to the meeting place to get ready for the ceremony!” I shout, slamming the door closed after I’m done with the sentence.

“Let’s go!” James shouts from on top of his horse. I run to Lightning to jump on, offer Zera a hand up after getting on. Lightning and Scout gallop out of the driveway and down the street that is almost all the way covered with sand.

I look back at Zera who has her eyes closed and a calm smile rested on her lips. Eventually we reach the sand so the horses have to slow down. At the meeting place, about 10 people work on setting up chairs and tables. The plan is to have a light lunch and then James and I are going to get on the boat and leave.

I pull back Lightning’s reins as we near the clearing. He slows to a stop and James comes up ahead of be just a second later. Once the workers see us they start to whisper, and then they walk up to the start of the meeting clearing.

“You can’t work here, but you can come and see it,” a voice shouts from the clearing. I see some of the workers nod their heads. One of the workers starts to laugh making all the girl workers giggle and the boy’s chuckle.

I laugh too. The workers start to walk away to get back to work. Zera walks through the entrance. James walks through after Zera, leaving me to stand alone in front of the meeting place.

Finally I walk over to the boat that is sitting on the sand only a couple yards away. It is not a small boat but not a big boat. There is a little room in the bottom with two mats with blankets on the top, a small couch, and a small bookcase. Cozy I think good enough for one or two nights. Up on deck there is a sail, seats, and a small space to walk. There is also a cooler. For food? For fishermen and there fish? I step over to the steps that lead down to the room again. I close the door and step off the boat after touching the fading blue sail.

Zera is now standing on the sand by the boat.  Her hair is wet and she looks mad. “I came looking for you and I fell in the water. I tripped on that rock,” she says pointing to one of the rocks by the water. I see footprints leading up to it and them they stop.

I laugh at Zera who has a slight smile. “Mom’ll be so mad when she sees that I got my clothes wet,” she says. I laugh again looking her up and down. We walk down to the meeting place where James is setting up the last table. Lightning is sniffing at one of the worker’s hand and Scout is just standing on the sand with his eyes closed.

“I want pizza and Doritos and those little triangle sandwiches. Did you notice something? They’re all triangles!” Daisy says and hour after Zera fell into the water. Everyone is talking and eating the food that is set up on the tables.  I nod, half listening. I’m not hungry and tired. I wish that Victoria were here. She would cheer me up and we would be laughing and talking right now. I wouldn’t be in charge of Daisy.

“Eliza! I bet you’re so nervous,” I hear someone say from behind me. I turn around and see Tina, a 15-year-old girl. Her hand is on her hip, nails perfectly pink with no chips in the polish. The other hand holds a plate of food, salad, a tuna sandwich, and chips.

“Hi, Tina,” I say before looking at my chipped purple nail polish. Daisy grabs her plate of food and skips off to the table that my parents sit at talking to our neighbors.

“So, I saw you look at your nails. I could make them look like mine, any color you want after you come back, if you survive, that is,” Tina replies, taking her hand off her hip and letting me examine her nails. Suddenly I wish that Daisy had stayed with me just for an excuse to get away from Tina.

“What do you think? Would you like that? It would give you something to look forward to,” Tina says. I pray that James will suddenly walk up and tell me to come and do something but as far as I can see there is no James in site. I nod and look over Tina’s shoulder as Daisy trips sending a flurry of triangles up into the air. Yes, an excuse! I think running over to Daisy who begins to cry.

“Sorry Tina, I’m in charge of her, I’ve got to take care of this,” I say before I kneel down in front of Daisy who is crying loudly. Just below the bottom of her shorts she has skimmed her knee on a rock that is barely visible underneath the sand. Her plate is on the sand a few feet away from her and all her food is scattered on the chairs, tables, and the sand.

“My…my triangles!” cries Daisy making her crying even louder. I pick up her plate and the few pieces of food that landed on the chairs or tables. Her knee is bleeding, but not too bad. I pull a band-aid out of my pocket and put it over her knee. She stands up and grabs that plate that I have in my hands. “I’m going to go back for seconds if I finish this in time,” Daisy pouts, stomping back over to my parent’s table.

Tina walks over to me, I’m still sitting on the sand feeling like a doofus. “Kids,” Tina says, offering me her hand to pull me up. I decline and stand up myself. “So you want to do the nail thing? It should stay on for 3 weeks,” Tina says looking at my hands, which hang limply at my sides.

“Sure, that’d be nice,” I say, hoping to end the conversation soon. James walks over to me from the back. “The horses are ready, I think that they want us to get onto the boat,” James says throwing his plate away in the garbage sack that hangs on one of the poles holding up the drift wood above us.

I nod and wave to Tina who smiles back, flashing perfectly white teeth at me. “Thank you for saving me from her,” I say. James smiles but doesn’t reply. The horses are tied up on the boat.

“Is it time for you to go already?” I hear a voice say from behind me. I turn around to see Mrs. Akalea and her husband standing by me. I smile and practically dive into Mrs. Akalea’s outstretched arms. When Mrs. Akalea releases me from her tight hug I look up at her husband, Mr. Akalea. Mr. Akalea is a tall, tan man with a broad chin and handsome face. He was just like his wife, most likely to be seen in casual clothes. He worked at the Fish Burger Restaurant and was seen a lot with Mrs. Akalea at school.

“I’m going to miss you so much!” I say, jumping from one foot to the other. Mrs. Akalea smiles and laughs at my jumping. “Eliza, I know that you already know him, but this is my husband, Todd,” Mrs. Akalea says. I look at Mr. Akalea, Todd, again. He gives me a slight smile and I return it. “I think that you need to get over there, the elder is talking to James,” Mrs. Akalea says, using her thumb to point at the boat.

I wave goodbye to Mrs. Akalea and Mr. Akalea and jog over to the boat. “The mats in the bottom of the boat should be able to fold up and can be put on your horse to bring with you everywhere, that’s all I have to say, you should probably get going now,” the elder says. He waves and slowly scoots away with his walker. My parents are the first to come over to the boat.

“Honey, are you going to be okay?” my mom asks me. I nod my head and give her a hug. “We’ll keep some ice cream for you!” my dad says. I laugh and give him a hug. Daisy jumps up and down, waiting for her hug. I pick her up and spin her around until I get dizzy. She laughs and falls down on the sand when I set her down.

People begin gathering in front of the boat that hardly touches the blue water of the sea. James gives his family hugs and we both climb up the stairs that fold in and create part of the wall. We stand by the wall and begin to wave. The people begin to chant our names, I look down at Daisy who is holding out her arms wanting a hug but I can’t reach her.

A mist begins to cover the river of blue in her eyes as the boat starts to float away into the sea. I reach out my arms, knowing I won’t reach her but trying to anyway. The edge of the boat hits the water. I try to blink the tears from my eyes but they come before I can get rid of them. Daisy bursts out crying and lets her arms fall down at her sides. I keep my arms outstretched, reaching for my home, reaching for what I have known my whole life but it seems like I am just a little bit too far away to reach it, to far to touch the thing that I need to save.

Pretty please let me know if their is anything anything that I need to change!