Hide & Seek 2: The Return of Mr. Harmon

Chapter 6: Adventure Time

Caleb stares at her, unafraid. "What are you doing?"

Carmen is shaking as she points the gun at my brother. "How do we know you're who you say you are? Hmm? Did your ashes get mixed up, too, or whatever?"

Before I can even think, my fist slams into Carmen's nose. I don't feel bad about it, but sadness quickly overcomes me. "Don't you ever point a gun at my brother! Don't you ever do that! If you touch him, I'll-"

Carmen is sobbing and telling me that she's sorry, over and over again. She's bleeding. Caleb pulls me away from her for a second. He lays his hand on my cheek. "It's okay. Nothing can hurt me right now. I'm already dead." He walks over to Carmen. "I won't hurt you. I promise," Caleb says.

***

"So ya need ma car to go to Texas?" Bone says. Bone is Carmen's eighteen-year-old brother. He's this chubby guy with a soft face, small blue eyes, and a huge nose. He wears a cap to cover his messy hair that he tends to never comb. Bone is no nickname. That's his real name.

Carmen shrugs. "Well, we were hoping you could drive us?"

Bone looks over to me. "If I say yes, would ya friend over there give me a kiss?"

Carmen flicks him. "Don't be a prick," she says.

I don't really want him to come with us now. He sits up off of his chair that he plays video games in. "Tell ya what, I can't come. I have school. But, if you can find a friend that knows how ta drive, then no problem." He shrugs. "I'm also not paying you for gas."

Carmen looks at me.  "Jerod and Doreen have a car."

Jerod and Doreen are two of our closest friends from school. Jerod is a little nerdy guy that's eighteen years old. He's super shy and he's never had a girlfriend. Doreen is a tall British girl. She's seventeen. I'm not sure if she's ever been in a relationship. She's a hardcore gothic girl who loves the colors black and purple. Carmen and I  think Jerod likes her, but he doesn't admit to it. She is extremely pretty and those colors really fit her.

***

"An adventure? Sounds groovy!" Jerod exclaims, running back into his house. "I'll be done packing in a jiffy."

After Jerod is done packing, he gets in his car, and the four of us head over to pick up Doreen.

"Brother? That's your brother?" Doreen asks  looking at Caleb. She starts oooing and awwing over him, just like the Harmon's did when they first met him. Thinking about how they pretended to love him and then turned around and killed him makes me upset. Caleb only blushes and smiles like the cutie pie he is and was. 

"I am so ready to go," Doreen says, She always talks in a low voice, dragging her last words. 

So we're all together getting ready for our long, nine-hour journey. I haven't told them anything about the book. I just told them I need to return something very important to someone. Good thing they are willing to go, because most people wouldn't be. I will tell them the truth sooner or later, but I choose later.

However, later would come sooner than I thought because our first stop would be their first game... if only I knew.