School Lockdown

Chapter 9: The Safe House

We drove for hours then finally we turned off the highway and onto a dark street in a country town. We were out of LA by now but I had no idea where we were. I was following Casey and my parents were following in behind me. We hadn't packed much as we were in such a hurry so I hope we stop somewhere with a shopping mall to get some more things if we're going to be in hiding for a long time. It was about 3am at the moment, I hope we get to our destination soon as I wanted some sleep. Now I know it's bad to drive while sleepy but I didn't exactly have a choice.

We'd stopped at a gas station as we were passing through a small town. My parents had called me saying they needed to stop for petrol, so we all got a top up and some snacks as well. The gas station clerk watched us pick up the snacks and bring them to the counter. He began scanning our items and looked at me and then Casey before saying

"Hey I saw you two on the news yesterday. Aren't you supposed to be in jail or something?" He pointed at Casey.

Casey grabbed our items the clerk had put in a bag before saying

"No, I am innocent." Before turning to leave.

"Huh, you don't seem so innocent to me after shooting that girl in the arm. And now what are you doing? Kidnapping her, hmm?" He waved his hand at me waiting for an answer.

"That's none of your business is it?" Casey said, his voice slightly rising.

I pulled at his arm and said "Let's just go" before dragging him out of the store.

Outside I asked how much longer we had to drive as I did a big yawn.

"It's not very far now, only another 40 minutes or so. Nobody will find us." He said.

"Where exactly are we going?" I asked.

"Wait and see" he replied.

I noticed my mother fast asleep in the passenger seat of my dad's car as we went to carry on the journey. As it got to 25 minutes past 3 in the morning I felt my eyes start drooping. I shook my head and forced my eyes to stay open. We should be there soon then I can rest. I turned on the radio and blasted the music to keep my brain awake singing along to the songs. Another ten minutes passed and just as my eyes started drooping again I saw Casey begin to slow down off the 100km road and indicate to the left. I followed suit and my parents followed me. He turned off the highway and went down a few country roads before pulling into a long driveway.

We stopped outside a three story house. A garage door opened, I'm guessing Casey must've pushed a button unless someone else was in the house. Casey drove in and we followed. Once Casey drove inside the single garage he drove down a ramp leading to a lower part of the house. We followed slowly and emerged into a fairly large parking lot in the basement of the house. Casey parked in a spot so we did too. He got out of his car and went to the trunk to get his luggage. I grabbed my suitcase and locked my car. I leant against my dad half asleep while Casey explained to him where we were. I vaguely heard part of the conversation. That we had come to his cousin's holiday house on the outskirts of San Diego. We had to stay for at least two months and couldn't leave the house for any reason or contact the outside world. So basically this was a nice looking prison.

I was led up the stairs and laid down on a bed. Before I completely fell asleep I heard Casey whisper "We'll talk in the morning." Before softly closing the door.

I woke up at about 1 in the afternoon with sunlight streaming in the window. I was still in the same clothes as yesterday. I found my suitcase in a corner so I grabbed some new clothes and found a bathroom. From the looks of it I was on the second floor. After I was done I went down the stairs and followed voices to a kitchen.

I heard hushed, angry voices. One voice seemed to be my mother while the other seemed to be Casey. I slid open the tinted glass door and walked in. As soon as they saw me they stopped talking.

"What's up guys?" I asked them.

"Oh we were just talking about how you're going to be able to finish your senior year honey." My mum replied.

"But there's less than a week left, and I already have enough credits to graduate, what does it matter?" I asked.

"Yes I know dear, but as you know the school has the holiday policy where if you're going away before the graduation ceremony you have to book in advance saying you won't be attending or you won't get your diploma. And as we're not allowed to tell the school anything of what's happening they won't let you receive your diploma, so you can't get accepted to any colleges." My heart dropped, that meant I wouldn't get into my dream school.

"So what do we do?"

"The police are the only ones in on our whereabouts for the next two months and what's going on so they are going to come up with an excuse to the school so they should hopefully let you graduate."

I relaxed only a little after hearing her say "hopefully"

"Anyway..." my mother said. "As we are in hiding, we must have no contact with the outside world, meaning we must not use our phones or any other device."

She produced a box in which her own cell phone was in. She held it out in front of me gesturing to put my phone inside. I opened the screen and saw a message from Emily. "Hey, where r u? You haven't answered my calls, r u ok?" It read.

My mother saw me open the chat screen and snatched the phone out of my hands dropping it into the box.

"But can't I just tell Emily? She'll be getting worried then word will spread I've disappeared without a trace and they'll all think Red got me! Then she'll call the police." I begged my phone back.

"I'm sorry Devin, but rules are rules, we cannot have contact with the outside world. And if Emily does go to the police, they already know what to tell people if they start asking questions about any of us."

"What will they say?" I asked.

"They know to tell everybody that you, your dad and I have gone on a holiday because the stress of the lockdown was too much for you and you were too nervous to go back to school. And if people ask about Casey they will tell them that he has taken his family away out of state for a while because he was nervous for their safety which is mostly true, except we're still in California."

That reminded me, I hadn't met Casey's family yet, after we arrived last night I was hardly awake.

At that exact moment, a woman in her late 30's walked into the kitchen with an adorable little girl at her legs. Casey walked over to them and gave his mother a hug, then bent down and picked up the little girl. He walked over to me and introduced them. "Devin, this is my mother, Lauren, and this is my little sister, Angel." What a gorgeous name for a gorgeous little girl. I thought to myself.

I said hello to them both. Angel pointed to my pink shirt and said "I like your shirt, that's my favourite colour." She grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the stairs. "I want to show you my mermaid doll. She has a pink tail." My mother and Casey smiled as I was pulled out of the kitchen.