13 Years of Struggle

Chapter 56

9 years later…  

                “ Nathaniel, you get back here!” I yelled as I ran after him. 

       “ Not happening mom!” He yelled as he ran out the front door.  

                      I groaned heavily as I ran out the door past him. He ran down the street and he stopped and he stuck his tongue out at me and started taunting me. “ You can’t catch me mom! You’re slow!”

                     “ She’s slow because she’s old!” Josh yelled as he ran out of the door past me and down towards Nathaniel. 

                        I sighed and leaned against a lamppost to catch my breath. Yeah so it had been 9 years. Nathaniel and Josh were my twin sons. Though I loved them a lot. They were evil children. But I still did love them.  I was now 35… old I know. I was almost a middle aged woman. 

                   For the last 9 years nothing much had occurred. Clinton had grown in size to around 750 people. Ashby had grown to 300. Clinton had a council made up of Anais, Becky, Amir, Marla, Regina, Alejandro, Noa, Kala, Amani,  Janet, and Kolson. My god Kolson is old now. 21 freaking years old. He's now 6 foot and taller than both me and Anais. He just shot up when he turned 13.  

                        Victor, Gemma, and Adeline had gone out west somewhere. From what I heard it was somewhere in North Dakota. Bruce had gone up north towards Maine and we heard nothing from him. Nothing at all which made me worried about if he was still alive or  
not.  

                     I walked past a few planter box gardens as I approached Nathaniel and Josh. They both looked similar to James which reminded me too much of him. He was still locked up in that cell. I only visited him once. 8 years ago.  

                     “ Can you 2 please behave once for mommy?” I asked as I kneeled down in front of them.  

                     They both shook their heads at the same time and ran away down the street again. Ugh I would have to go catch them. I sighed and turned around. Anais was standing there. She was smirking with her arms crossed. “ Getting in a workout?”

                      “ Well yes. Since this happens everyday I’m so thin." I replied as I took a deep breath. 

                        “ That is good I guess.” She said as she walked over next to me. 

        “ What are you doing here anyway? You are supposed to be on guard duty until 3.” I looked up at her. 

                     She shrugged. “ I got Janet to do it for me.”

         “ Cool. So you want to help me catch the little monsters?” I asked as we stared at each other. 

                 She sighed.  “ I don’t really feel like it. The last time I did chase after them with you I fell in that small pond over where Amani and Noa live.”
           “ Just come on.” I yanked her arm and she groaned as we started running after Nathaniel and Josh.  

                        We ran down the street together towards where Nathaniel and Josh had run off to.  We ran down the direction of another street and I heard yelling and rustling. “ Oh 
God what have they gotten themselves into now?”

                   “ Let’s hope for nothing bad.” Anais replied as we came to the source of the yelling.  

                    We saw Javier and Kolson. Kolson was holding Nathaniel in his arms as Nathaniel tried to rustle away and Javier was holding Josh. Kolson looked at us and he smiled. “ Are you missing something Claire?”