Ok, that wasn’t what I’d expected. “I’d… die,” I finally managed to get the words out. I was in shock. “Yes,” the tracker nodded, completely serious. Beside me, Stacie stiffened. I turned to look at her. She was pale, and when she looked at me, she fainted. “Stace!” I cried grabbing her before she could hit her head on the hard floor.
“Stacie!” I shook her, and she opened her eyes. “Oh, Rhiannon. I was having the worst dream. There was this guy, and he did something to…” she trailed off as she looked up at me, her eyes widening in shock. I could see tears beginning to form in her eyes, before she fainted again.
“Stacie! Oh god, not again” I shook her for a second time. “Stacie!” The tracker came up behind me, and put his hand on my shoulder. “We must leave. Now.” He looked at Stacie, “she will be fine.” He grabbed my arm, and pulled me to my feet. I reached out towards Stacie, and he pulled me away. “We have to go now. Hurry.” Something about the look in his eyes made me go with him. Leaving Stacie lying in the corridor.
“Get your things, and tell your parents you’re leaving,” the tracker told me as he parked in front of my house. It was small, but it was home. “I’ll just grab my stuff, and we can go,” I nodded to him as I went to get out of the car. “What about your parents?” he asked, a confused look on his face. “I’m an orphan,” I smiled sadly.
I grabbed my suitcase out of the closet, and stuffed what few possessions I owned into it. My clothes, a blanket. A couple photos of me and Stacie, plus the only one I had of my parents. My toothbrush and toothpaste. A hairbrush and my teddy bear. My mother had given it to me when I was five, a week before she had died. I’d named it Kitty. Yes, I’d named my teddy bear, Kitty. Deal with it. I pulled up one of the loose floorboards, and grabbed my secret stash of money, which was hidden in little box. I should have about $100 dollars in there.
I ran quickly outside, and hoped back into the trackers car. He was watching me. “What?” I asked, slightly irritated. “An orphan?” he raised one eyebrow at me, like he thought I was telling him a joke. What a jerk! “Yes. No one knew anything about my parents. They left me outside a hospital when I was only a day old. A kind couple took me in, and I thought of them as my real parents, even after they told me I was adopted. But then, when I was five, they were killed in a car accident,” I grimaced, remembering the moment I had found out.
“I’m sorry,” the tracker looked almost sad. For some reason I couldn’t stand to see him upset, “don’t worry about it! When they died, I went to live with my grandma, she was really kind.” I tried to smile, but then I remembered what happened. “But a month ago, just after I turned sixteen, she had a heart attack and died,” I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, but I blinked them back.
“I’m sorry,” the tracker said again, looking even sadder. Crap. Note to self, never get into motivational speaking. “No, don’t be sorry, it’s not like it was your fault Mr… tracker,” aw hell, I didn’t even know his name. “Hmm, call me Eri,” he smiled. I couldn’t help myself, I laughed. His eyes widened, “what?” “Haha, it just, Eri’s more a girl’s name. Don’t you think?” I kept laughing. He seemed to think about it for a second, and then laughed with me.
“So Eri,” I had to stifle a laugh, “what’s the Tulsa House of Night like anyway?” I was curious. If it was anything like those creepy castles in the movies… Suddenly the whole ‘death’ possibility didn’t seem like a bad idea. “I’m not sure, I have never been there myself” he answered me, keeping his eyes on the road. “Wait, so if you’ve never been there? Then how do you know that I’m supposed to go there?” it made no sense. “I have my sources,” he smiled, and I felt like there was a secret behind his words.
“Are we there yet?” I yawned for the hundredth time. “Almost,” Eri answered me. “Aww, but you said that ages ago!” I complained. I was about to complain again, when he spoke over me, “we are here.” I looked up to see that we were parked in front of a huge private jet. “Wow,” I said, my mouth hanging open. I heard Eri laugh, and I looked up,”what?” “You look like a fish,” he chuckled.
“Oh shut up,” I stuck my tongue out at him, which only made him laugh even harder.
