Sunshine took forever getting back. Honestly I was ready to get going and she had been gone for over an hour. After about a week of nagging Dr. Death Defying, he had finally allowed me to go grab my two younger siblings, but only if someone went with me. Sunshine had been the only one with nothing to do, so we were supposed to leave an hour ago.
“Trans!” someone yelled, “Are you ready to go?”
I poked my head into the main room where Sunshine stood by the doorway. I nodded, grabbed my gun and mask, and followed her outside. We jumped into the van and Sunshine got it started. She pulled out of the parking lot and started driving towards Sector 5.
“Where do they live?” she asked
“The street number is 16 and the house is Number 7”
She nodded and kept driving. Dr. D and I had found a computer map of the Sector, complete with names. I simply looked up Lauren’s name on the list and we were set. Our cover story was to inform her that our brother had received a college scholarship. We even looked the part in our stolen borrowed uniforms.
Sunshine pulled up next to Number 7 and sat there for a second. She looked at me and I nodded. She sighed and got out of the car, waiting by the front walk for me. I got out and looked down the street. All of the houses looked the same. There was no diversity at all, every house was white and all of the trim was black. There were no plants or flowers in the yards, no swings on the porches.
“Grant…” Sunshine snapped me out of my reverie, “Are you alright?”
I shrugged and started walking towards the house. In all truth, I was scared. I was scared of Lauren and Noah not remembering me, scared of my visit causing them trouble. I paused in front of the door for a second, but finally knocked.
“Just a minute,” a light voice said.
It was Lauren. I sighed heavily and Sunshine tapped me softly.
“You’ll be fine,” she murmured, “Just keep thinking about the good outcome of this.”
I nodded, but there was still a lump of fear stuck in my throat. I almost wanted to go back, but then the door opened.
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She had changed so much. She was taller than Sunshine, and her dark hair was shorter, only going past her shoulders a little bit. She wore a little bit of makeup which made her delicate features stand out and she looked lovely.
“How may I help you sir?” she asked politely
“Lau-I mean, Ma’am are you the guardian of this boy?”
I held up a photo of Noah.
“Yes,” she said uncertainly
“Is he here at the moment?”
“No sir, he’s still at school.”
“No matter. We represent the Board of Education, and we have some very exciting news for you.”
“We?”
I looked around. Sunshine was behind me, letting my height hide her. I pulled her out and stood her next to me.
“We have a very important announcement for you,” I continued, “May we come in?”
She nodded slowly, a little confused, and stood aside to let us pass. She motioned for us to sit down at the kitchen table and after a minute or two of bustling in the tiny kitchen she sat down with three mugs of hot chocolate to warm up the windy November day.
“Thank you,” I said, “Now, about your son…”
“He’s not my son!” Lauren interrupted, “Sorry, he’s my little brother.”
Of course I knew that, but how could the government know that?
“Of course, I apologize. Your brother has received a high academic scholarship to a prestigious college in New Mexico.”
New Mexico was a few states over from our location in Battery City, California. It was the first thing that popped into my head.
“A scholarship?” Lauren looked genuinely surprised, “Wow, I’m…this is great! I mean, he’s only sixteen and I’m already paying for my college so it’ll be great to not have to pay for him so this is, this is just amazing!”
She had tears in her eyes. It made me want to cry as well, she supported herself and Noah and she was only an eighteen year old who had lost all memory of past life and past family. All I wanted to do was stand up and hug her tightly, but we needed Noah to show up before anything could go down.
As if he read my mind, Noah banged into the kitchen.
“Lau!” he said, “We’re going on a field trip and I need your…”
He trailed off and stopped in the doorway. His eyes were fixed on Sunshine and me, but mostly me.
“Lauren,” he said softly, “Are we in trouble?”
She shook her head and smiled.
“Noah,” she said slowly, “These people have good news for us! The Board of Education has offered you a college scholarship!” she clapped her hands excitedly.
Noah nodded, still looking wary. He wouldn’t stop staring at me. Then he turned, walked out, and came back with a photograph in his hands. He handed it to me.
“Do you remember this?”
I took the photo gingerly, holding and inspecting it very carefully.
Of course I remembered it. How could I forget? It was a picture of our youth group at the church I went to before BLi. It was an old one too, from 2018, but that day was so hot that day that I could never forget it. There in the front were all of the leaders, David and Jane, Scott and the Michelles. Then the 6th graders, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th, and then my row of 11th graders. Me, Andy, Emily, Erin, and all of the others. I law Lauren and Mech in the 9th grade row, and Noah with the 7th graders, standing beside Sunshine’s little brother.
“Wow,” Sunshine said softly, peering over my shoulder, “Look how little we were.”
The nostalgia in her voice was unmistakable. I felt it too, 21 year old me who killed draculoids to survive would gladly go back to 17 year old me who worried about college.
Emily put her hand on my shoulder and I looked up. Noah was staring at me again, his expression dark and angry. Without a word I put the photo down on the table and stood up. I walked to the other side of the room and put my hands on Noah’s shoulders. We were both quiet for a moment, but Noah sobbed and threw his arms around me. He was almost my height, it was amazing how much he had grown.
“Noah,” I said, “Noah, oh my gosh.”
I think I was crying too. Noah clutched me tightly, like I would disappear if he let go. Someone gasped behind me and a second later Lauren was hugging me from behind, sobbing into my jacket. We all stood there, hugging each other tightly, we had found each other.
I looked up. Sunshine was smiling at us. I nodded for her to come and join the hug and she obliged. The four of us stood there silently, just glad to be together once more.
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Lauren broke away first and demanded an explanation. She led us into the sitting room and told me to start talking. So I did; I told them about waking up and finding them gone and our parents dead. I told them about walking for miles before a plane picked me up and flew me to Cali. Then my training as a soldier and my job as a draculoid. I told them about meeting the Killjoys and my new life with them. I explained about what had happened after we rescued Party Poison. I told them about how I had seen them but not been able to talk to them, and how I had been planning to rescue them ever since. They were silent for a few moments after I finished before Noah spoke.
“Can we come back with you?”
“Of course!” Sunshine and I both said at the same time.
Noah smile and turned to Lauren.
“Can we go please?”
She was silent.
“Of course,” she said, “But what about your scholarship?”
“The scholarship may have been a ploy to get you to talk to us,” Sunshine said warily, “We don’t actually come from the Board of Education.”
Lauren glared at us for a second, then she sighed.
“Well it worked,” she said, “Sure whatever, we can go.”
Noah grinned and flung his arms around his sister. He let go and ran into another room. Lauren sighed heavily and followed him. A few minutes later they both appeared with backpacks.
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It took twenty minutes to get into the van that was parked outside of the house. The reasoning was of course, guards swarming everywhere.
“What’s with all the guards?” Sunshine muttered
“Every day, twice a day, guards patrol the areas to ‘checkup’ on us” Noah explained, “It’s ridiculous.”
“Okay,” I said, “Plan A.”
20 minutes later we had made it to the van, and the guards hadn’t suspected a thing, (I hope). Sunshine started the van and started to drive back home. In 15 minutes we were there. But something was wrong. There were bodies strewn everywhere in the parking lot.
“No,” I said, “No, No, No.”
Sunshine and I both ran out of the van, Lauren and Noah behind us. From the distance, I saw that most of the bodies were dracs. In fact, only one wore the colorful clothing of a Killjoy. I started forward to see who it was, and stopped dead. A gunshot had rang out, and immediately after I felt an unbelievingly hot pain in my chest, and when I looked down I was met with a dark hole in my abdomen.
Two more gunshots and two gasps. To my left, Noah collapsed, a shot had pierced him in the collar. To my right, Sunshine swayed on the spot, a blood-seeping hole underneath her ribcage.
I lost control of my body and fell to the ground. Sunshine collapsed as well, nearly falling on top of me.
We had obviously been shot, but by whom I would never know.
“NO!” Lauren screamed, her face appearing above mine, “Noah, Grant, please, please no!” she was crying again.
2 gunshots and footsteps. Mech and Bomb appeared and knelt down beside Noah and Sunshine, assessing the damage. I heard a scuffle behind me, and all three of them disappeared.
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I moved my head, looking around. Noah’s eyes were closed and his chest rose and fell rapidly. Sunshine was looking at me. Her glasses had fallen off and her eyes had a glazed look to them. I coughed and felt around for their hands, grasping both tightly. Sunshine squeezed back but Noah’s only moved feebly. He was barely hanging on; we all were.
I closed my eyes and spoke a phrase I had heard Emily, Erin, and Louise use quite often.
“So Long, and Goodnight.” I whispered.
Sunshine laughed lightly, squeezed my hand once more, and then went limp. I squeezed Noah’s hand, but he didn’t squeeze back. I was so cold, yet so hot. There was a light blinding my vision, and I couldn’t see anything. It hurt too much, so I gave in. The light took over everything, and my world faded.
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When I woke up, I was lying on the grass, Noah beside me. All signs of our injuries were gone. I sat up, looking around. It was the field we used to play football on, Laurel Park.
“Hey,” a voice said behind me, “You ready?”
A man stood a few feet away. He was short, only about five feet tall, with long black hair and a guitar slung over his shoulder. He held out a hand and pulled me up.
“I’m Ghoul,” he said.
“Wh-Where’s Emily?” I looked around but couldn’t see her anywhere.
“She’ll be here soon,” Ghoul said calmly, “She’s just greeting another friend.”
Noah stood up and walked over.
“You boys ready to go?” Ghoul asked
“Go where?”
But Ghoul only smiled and grasped our hands.
Then everything dissolved.
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