Wrongfully Exiled

Chapter 2, Part 2: So Near, Yet So Far

Even though she was excited about the possibility of being free, Lila still felt numb. Her vision was going blurry as she sat in her kitchen, ears blocking out the sounds of adults arguing. Her hair was curled in cute little ringlets, a practice curl for tomorrow, where she knew she was to look her best. Innocent and young was the ideal look she was going for. Her head was tilted to the side, her blue eyes glossed over and dull.

Everyone was sitting in her kitchen.

Matthew and his mother and stepfather. Jonathan and his mother and father, along with his little brother, as he couldn't stay home by himself. Mya and her mother. George and his father. All of them, along with Lila's mother and father.

It was a huge argument, really. They were supposed to get together to discuss who they would pick as a lawyer for the five of them. However, it quickly turned into an accusatory screaming match between parents. "Your son did this", "your daughter did that". All of the adolescents sat on chairs at the same table, looking across the table at each other with worried eyes. If this was going to be their last day of freedom, they didn't want it to be a big argument. They just wanted to have some family time, but it seemed as if fighting over who did what was more important to the parents.

Suddenly, Mya's phone rang, interrupting the conversation. All of the adults stopped talking and looked toward her with sharp, annoyed eyes. She turned red, knowing that they were all looking at her in anger. They didn't want to be interrupted. She quickly pulled her phone out of her hoodie pocket and looked at the name.

It was Kylee, her friend.

She looked back up to the adults as her phone continued to buzz and she nervously laughed. "I'm so sorry," she fibbed, "it's work. I think my boss is mad because I didn't give her a specific reason as to why I can't go in tomorrow. I should probably give her a brief explanation. May I please use your living room?" she asked Lila's parents quickly and they both nodded. She smiled and nodded, then pushed out her chair and swiped the answer button. In order to push down any ideas that it wasn't her work phoning, she started her conversation with a sly, "Hey, I'm so sorry that I can't make it to work tomorrow. Just let me leave the room, and I can explain it all to you in a minute," she said calmly and smiled at her parents, walking down the hall toward Lila's living room. It was a large room with a couch and a television, which was playing a children's television show for Jonathan's brother to be entertained by.

"Where were you last night?" Kylee hissed into the phone. Mya could sense her anger, mixed with a little bit of hurt and concern. Kylee was confusing like that, but Mya knew that she meant the best.

"Listen, I got into a little bit of trouble. I'm hoping that everything turns out okay. In the meantime, please tell your parents that I thank them for driving me to the dance and stuff, okay? And, I mean, thank you, too. You've always been such a good friend to me, and in case I can't see you after tomorrow, I want to let you know that I care about you, Kylee," she spoke, becoming more and more frantic with each sentence.

"What? What in the ever-loving crap are you talking about? What kind of trouble are you in?"

"What, your parents didn't get a call from mine?" Mya questioned, finding it odd that her parents didn't first call hers when she first went missing, just to see if Kylee had seen her. She figured that the police must have contacted her parents as soon as the event had occurred, and that there mustn't have been time to call Kylee's parents.