Floating in the Abyss ✔️

Chapter 20

We walked out of the airport and I shivered because it was actually quite cold.

"Are you cold?" Chris asked, noticing.

"I'm fine." I shook my head, smiling to convince him. He put an arm around my shoulder and pulled me close as we walked. I could tell he was strong, but he was very gentle with me.

"Can we get food on the way?" Laura asked.

"Good idea. I'm kind of hungry myself. Where should we go?"

"McDonalds is easy." Laura added.

"Good idea. Let's go to the one on the way, not here. This one isn't very nice." He made a face. I giggled slightly. We arrived at the car and my eyes widened. It was a shiny white and super high off the ground. I hadn't seen a car like this before, but I liked it. Chris put the bag in the boot and then walked around to open my door, helping me climb up. I was still slow.

"How was your flight?" He asked, once we had begun driving.

"Good. It was full."

"That's good. What did you think Ash?" Chris asked.

"It was fun. Taking off was so cool." I smiled, leaning my head on the window and slipping my shoes off.

"That's my favourite part as well. Did Laura let get you a snack?"

"Yes, I got cheese and crackers."

"Nice choice. No chocolate?"

"I already had a Caramello." I smiled at him.

"Ah, fair enough. Get comfy by the way, it's about two and a half hours until we get home and we'll get drive through food." I didn't know what drive through was, but I figured it was where you didn't have to get out of your car.

"Did you have to drive all the way here?" I asked.

"Yeah, but I don't mind. Anything for my girls." He smiled. I found myself smiling too.

We drove and I listened as Laura and Chris spoke about the upcoming school sports. It sounded like they didn't all play the same sport surprisingly. I think I'd worked out that Austin and Jonah played soccer for school and Ryan plays football. River just watches the big competitions.

We were driving steadily along for about forty minutes before Chris took an exit to the service station where McDonalds was.

"What can I order for you Ash?" He asked, pulling behind another car in a lane labelled as 'Drive Through'.

"I don't know what they have." I said quietly.

"That's fine, how hungry are you?" Laura replied to me.

"A bit." I told her. She smiled as we pulled up to a machine. Chris spoke to the machine and it spoke back, repeating our order. There was a lot of food.

We pulled up to another window where Chris payed and then went to the third and final window where we waited for a food. We got handed three brown paper bags and then continued on. Laura checked the contents of each bag before passing one to me.

"Let us know if there's anything you don't like. Chips are best first because they're better hot." She winked.

I reached into the bag and pulled out the red container of chips. After eating them all I classified them as one of my newfound favourite foods, although I could tell already that they weren't something I'd be eating regularly. Next was a small box labelled chicken nuggets. There were 6 small pieces of golden chicken in there which tasted so good. I couldn't believe the amount of food I'd tried since I met Laura, and so far, there was not one thing I didn't like. Majority of my diet previously was small amounts of old bread and a dodgy apple. Nothing compared to this kind of food.

"How was it?" Laura asked, noticing I'd finished.

"Really good, thank you." I smiled.

"No problem at all. We're less than 2 hours away now but get comfy. No one is going to be there when we get home. We have the whole house to ourselves." Chris laughed.

"What did you do with Nick?" Laura laughed.

"Told him to go and get his own food since I wasn't making dinner for him. He said he was going to stay at a friends house."

"You're cruel!" Laura laughed. Something about both of them made me want to smile. They were happy together, yet I didn't feel out of place with them.

"He's twenty for goodness sake! Can't the boy get his own food?" Chris exaggerated.

"He just loves my cooking. That's why you can't get rid of him."

"You're cooking is pretty good." He laughed. "Ash wait till you try her pasta. That's everyone's favourite."

"I'm excited." I smiled. They continued having their conversation whilst I shut my eyes for a bit. I listened to them talk happy whilst I slowly fell asleep.

"Shh. It's okay." Chris told me when I started to wake up from movement. I realised I was in his arms with my head laying on his shoulder. "Go back to sleep." He told me calmly, walking into a room and turning the light on.

"Are we here?"

"Yeah." Said Laura, appearing behind him. She pulled back the covers on the bed, which was nearly as big as the one back at the hotel, and Chris gently laid me down.

"Do you need anything?" Laura asked.

"Is there any water?" I asked quietly, realising I was thirsty.

"Of course." Chris answered, leaving the room to go get some. Laura turned on a small light next to the bed and turned off the room light.

"You fell asleep in the car." She smiled tucking me in. Chris brought back a water bottle and I took a large sip before sitting on the bedside table. "Sleep well." She kissed my forehead and walked out with Chris, half closing the door behind them. I couldn't believe that I was finally here. I was finally back home, with my real family. A family that cared about me.