Home Sweet Home? (fK&C fanfic)

Chapter 5 - Surprise! We're leaving.

36 Days Since We Left Home:

Brooke Keye's POV:

    I sighed and stepped off the bus, glad that school was finally over and I wouldn't have to endure the long hours of boredom until Monday. I walked slowly behind James, dragging my feet and enjoying the pleasant day - the temperature had warmed up and it wasn't raining. James walked into the house and vanished. I finally made it to our doorstep and saw my parents rushing around.

    Confused, I took a tentative step into our living room. The door shut behind me and my Mom looked up. She gave me a tired smile and said, "Hey, Brooke. How was school?" I gave her the answer that I always did: "Boring." Mom sighed and said, "Well, your Dad and I have news that you might like..."

    Even more confused, I dropped my backpack onto the ground, and sat onto our couch beside James and Kevin. My dad came in and saw all three of us sitting on the couch. He stopped and said, "Did your Mom already tell you what is happening?"We shook our heads.

    Dad sighed and gave Mom an exasperated look. Mom smiled and said, "Sorry, I was waiting for you. Do you want me to tell them or do you?"Dad shook his head and let Mom continue.

    "Well, kids, work surprised us with a trip to some sort of retreat in a small town in Kentucky, so we'll be gone from today till Tuesday - maybe Wednesday if something goes wrong. We didn't have a lot of time to see if anyone could watch over you guys for the next several days so-"

    "You're getting us a babysitter?" I interrupted. Dad gave me a stern look and my voice died in my throat.

    My mom continued, "No. No, not a babysitter. Just someone who can spend the days and nights with you and make sure you're okay and that you get to school. As I said, we didn't have a lot of time to get anyone but... two wonderful people volunteered to help us out and watch you guys-" A knock on the door caught my mom's attention and her expression brightened.

    "Oh! They're here!" she said and started towards the door. She opened it with a smile and two people walked in.

    "Joel and Moriah are going to watch you guys for the next few days!" Mom explained.

    I sat there with my jaw dropped. This is going to be an awesome weekend!!

    Joel waved at us and Moriah smiled. For the remainder of the hour, both of our parents lectured us to be good and to make sure we brush our teeth each night. (Her words - not mine.) Finally, they were out the door with all their suitcases, packages, everything.

    There was only silence for a bit when the door shut and we heard our parents drive off. Until...

    Joel sat down and with a smile said, "What do you guys want to do?" 

    For the next several hours, we did random things until bedtime. (Joel and Moriah were insistent on us getting to bed on time even though it was the weekend. Mom and Dad apparently drilled in the fact that we should go to bed on time...)

We watched one of the Star Wars movies since apparently Joel's a fan (Moriah seemed to be falling asleep during it...) while eating leftovers from the past few days that we still had in our refrigerator. Afterward, we went outside even though the sun was starting to disappear below the horizon. The wind had picked up a bit so I removed the hair-tie that I usually wore around my wrist and put my hair into a ponytail.

"You guys have a treehouse? You seem to have a lot of good trees for something like that." Joel said, shielding his eyes from the sinking sun.

Kevin shook his head, "James always says he's going to buy one but then he never does." "Because I'm saving up for a car," James muttered, rolling his eyes. Kevin snorted and replied, "You can't even drive, yet!" "But I will be able to soon-" James started but Moriah interrupted him. "Boys, calm down. Give each other some space..."

I ignored their argument, as I usually did, and said, "We do have a treehouse!" Kevin and James turned to me, surprised. "Come on..." Then I took off through our backyard, ducking underneath branches when needed.

"Where are we going? Are you taking us somewhere to kill us!?" James joked and I rolled my eyes. "At this rate - maybe, " I called back and James faked being scared. I rushed ahead and quickly ducked into the naturally-grown treehouse I had found earlier on. Kevin came running in front of the tree then stopped - unable to see me through the leaves.

"Guys! She's gone!" he called back. James came next, with Joel and Moriah close behind. I quietly stepped out and pushed the leaves back. "Come on inside my humble home!"

Everyone gasped at the same time and it was hilarious. I grinned and held the leaves back for everyone as they ducked inside. They were enough room for us all to stand comfortably - even sit if we really wanted to.

By the time we came back inside, the sun was most of the way down, and it was Kevin's bedtime. When Kevin finally settled into bed, it was also my bedtime and James came upstairs with me, saying he was tired. I fell asleep quickly - something I haven't done for a while - and it was a blessed, dreamless sleep. However, four or five hours later, something woke me up.

    TWACK! "Crap-" came a pained voice. "Joel, what in the world did you do?" came Moriah's voice and she sounded a bit irritated. "Hit my shin against the staircase... it turned invisible for a second," Joel replied. Moriah snorted - but quietly - knowing there were sleeping children in the house. "Come on..." 

I lay in bed, protesting inwardly as to why I had to wake up to every single sound. As time went on, I didn't get sleepier, I got more awake. It was a while after that when I finally decided I wasn't going to fall back to sleep. I slid out from under my covers and stretched - popping everything that needed to be popped. I opened my window and stuck my head out - the wind was cool but not chilly. My hair swayed in the wind and I sighed - outdoors would never cease to amaze me. I pulled myself onto the roof and sat there - taking in the wonderful night.

A/N: I wrote this entire chapter in Social Studies, possibly a bad idea but I wasn't doing anything so... Anyways, the parents are gone and it's the kids with Joel and Moriah. What should they do?! I just might take your ideas into account since they do have an entire weekend with the Smallbone's - including Monday and possibly Tuesday if we have too many ideas. 😂😉 

Thanks for reading!!