Into The Waves // Book I

Flashback

Laneya grabbed her brother's hand impatiently, lugging him towards the front door. Josh just rolled his eyes.

"Hold on, Lenny." Currently, he was trying to put away the dishes. Today was the day their parents came back from the Capital. He wanted the house to look clean and organized. He wanted his parents to be proud of him for taking care of himself and his sister, with limited help from the Walker's, of course.

Laneya pulled on his hand again.

"You know, this would go quicker if you were helping."

Laneya just shook her head, the open window sending stray strands of hair dancing around her face. "That's so boring."

Josh chuckled. Laneya thought any house chores were boring, especially because she had to help out more than usual for these past two weeks.

Once the plates were lined up in the cupboard, Josh shut the doors, letting Laneya pull him to the front hall and out into the daylight.

Winters in District 4 lacked snow, but supplied them with lots and lots of freezing cold rain.

Outside it was drizzly, a certain chill hanging in the air, clinging to their skin and clawing into their bones. Josh pulled his jacket tighter around himself.

Laneya was a ball of energy as they walked towards the station.

"Why do you think they went to the Capital? It must have been very important if President Snow had requested them specifically."

Josh nodded along. He sixteen, the oldest of the Byrne's. He worked and trained hard, was resilient, and responsible. Yet their parents hadn't even told him why they had to leave.

"This is just a business trip to the Capital." They had said. "We'll be gone two weeks, and the Walkers are there to be with you if you need any help."

Laneya was only ten. That made it difficult for Josh to voice any of his real assumptions out loud.

Why had their parents left with such a small explanation? Were they really going to the Capital?

Their jobs, a chef and a fisherman, couldn't have caught President Snow's attention unless they had known each other prior to the time they had their children.

I'll just ask them when they get back. Josh decided. It would only be a few more minutes now before they arrived at the station.

The clouds above them thundered in the background. Hopefully, they would be able to get home before the storm broke.

"Maybe they have some secret work with the Capitol's government that we don't know about." Josh answered his sister's question.

Laneya gasped. "Maybe they're spies and explore the ruins of District 13!"

With that sentence Josh quickly changed the subject. Talking so freely about District 13 was frowned upon, unless you were learning about it in school, which they weren't. "So what do you look forward to most when mom and dad get back?"

Laneya didn't even have to think. "Showing them my new dive off of the diving rock."

The diving rock was a large rock a few yards away from the beach behind their house.

The siblings often played on it, flipping, jumping, and creating all sorts of games. The water around it was deep enough for Josh's head to dip underwater when he placed his feet flat on the sand at the bottom. That was nice, considering he was tall for his age and always touched the bottom.

His lips formed a grin. "I'm going to challenge dad to another swimming contest. This time I will win."

Laneya laughed. "You never win, Josh."