Willow Springs

Chapter 4

"Richard is Aurora awake?" My father shouted up to me. I looked at my clock and saw it was three in the morning, only thirty minutes before we were due to leave. Aurora was always a heavy sleeper, even sleeping through a rare earthquake we once had. I on the other hand always struggled to sleep, made only worse when I was either worried, nervous or excited about something. That night it was a mixture of all three, I don't even think I had slept more than an hour before my father knocked on my door to wake me. He knew how hard it was to wake Aurora and said later on that he had knocked on her door three times before he shouted to me to try.

"I haven't seen her yet dad, I will go check on her," I shouted back, before checking how I looked in the mirror. I was dressed in my favourite sand colour chinos, with a blue long sleeve t-shirt on and a dark blue zip-up hoody. My hair was messy as ever, but I never really cared about my hair, I did that day though. I was nervous about my appearance and how my future school friends would judge me. Taking one last look I gave up on my hair and opened my bedroom door and heading over to the guest bedroom which Aurora always stayed in when at mine. "Aurora are you awake?" I asked as I gently pushed open the door. I couldn't see anything inside, it was pitch black. The blind was down and all I could manage to make out from the light shining through from the hallway was Aurora's shape in the bed. So she was still asleep, I thought to myself. Typical Aurora. "Aurora it's time to wake up," I said gently shaking Aurora as I crouched at her side.

"What time is it?" Aurora sleepily asked, her eyes blinking slowly. I could just make out the colour of her eyes as she smiled up at me.

"It's three AM, we have to be going in thirty minutes. Father tried to wake you but had no luck. He said you wouldn't wake up."

"Sorry I was just so tired, but I am awake now. I will see you downstairs in a few minutes."

Aurora came downstairs just as my mother had finished cooking breakfast. As usual, when we were going on a long journey she had cooked breakfast, but this time it was bigger than normal. She had cooked, pancakes, bacon, eggs, sausages, hash browns, toast, croissants and even made a fruit salad. There was so much food it covered our table with the different plates, all piled high. There was more food than for four people, but my mother didn't care. The different smells mixed in the air and immediately made me hungry. I found it hard to resist tucking into the food but managed to until my mother and Aurora sat down. It all looked so appetising to me but it was the meat I went for first. I piled the food onto my plate and tucked right in, eating about twice as much as normal. There was still some food left when we were done eating, so my mother packed it into plastic tubs for our long drive.

My father had already packed our bags into the car when Aurora and I were still in bed, all that was left was our backpacks which we put both puts on the middle seat in the back of the car. Aurora picked to sit behind my mother, so I climbed into the back behind my father. It was so dark when we pulled out of our drive and started our long drive up to Scotland. My mother was the first to fall to sleep, I think she only managed to stay awake for about two hours. Aurora and I spent the time talking and having fun together, but now I can't remember what about it. It helped me relax more than I think I would have been without her been there. But just as the sun was rising Aurora was soon asleep again. I tried to as well but I couldn't sleep, my nerves was kicking in again. It still wasn't bright enough to read so I grabbed my Sony headphones and mobile phone and listened to music. I thought it would help me fall to sleep, but even that didn't work.

We had been travelling for about three hours when my father turned off the motorway and into the service station. It was a massive complex with three different restaurants and four shops, even an arcade. As the car drew to a stop Aurora and my mother woke up, a little confused about where we were. My father was quick to explain that we were about halfway to Willow Springs and the best place for us to have a quick stop. We didn't stay for long, maybe only half an hour or so. Just enough time for my parents to get a cup of tea and Aurora and me to play some games in the arcade. Her father had given her some money to spend on the journey up, though I remember thinking £30 was more than enough money, with her father been so rich I don't think he minded. Aurora paid for us to play about five games on some racing game because I left my money in my bag. She didn't seem to mind though, and in the end, she even won every race but I didn't care.