School ended, and we Coopers' were back at home. It was after dinner, and even though we had been nagging since entering the house, our parents had kept it from us. Until now.
"TELL US!!!" Jack bounced up and down on the couch beside me. "I WANT TO KNOW!"
Mum and dad shared a glance. "We just have to wait 2 minutes", mum told us. "We agreed we'd all tell you at the same time".
Jack groaned. "URGH. You guys are so annoying".
While he complained to our parents, I glanced down at Brendon. He was quiet, like usual, but his foot was bouncing, and I saw a small smile on his face. "Excited?" I asked him quietly.
He nodded. "Yes! I can't wait to go on holidays again!" my little brother grinned at me.
Before we knew it, it was time. Time to discover where we would be going.
Time to discover the place that would change our lives.
"Now, our annual Cooper-Johnson-Watson holiday will be a cruise this time", began dad.
I rolled my eyes. "Where to?"
"New Zealand!" cried mum.
Us kids sat there in amazement. "Okay, cool!" I replied, happy I was going to see my good friends for at least a week, because all cruises from Australia to the land across the channel last at least 10 nights.
"Awesome!" exclaimed Jack. "Can we go skiing or snowboarding?"
Mum laughed. "We won't be anywhere near the slopes, and when we go, it'll be near summer".
Only Brendon sat silent. I nudged him while Jack was chatting to the parents. "Hey. You okay?"
He looked at me. "Yeah. Just... fine". I looked at him accusingly. He blushed a little, and turned back to face mum and dad. It wasn't until we went back upstairs to our rooms to get ready for bed that I actually found out what was wrong.
*****
"Hey", I said, walking over to my littlest brother. Curled up on his bed, he seemed the perfect picture of misery. I sat beside him, rubbing his back. "Are you alright?"
Still with his back facing me, he replied, "Yep, I'm fine".
"Really?"
We sat in silence for a minute.
"You know, you did a great job of hiding it from mum and dad. But you can't keep the truth from me".
He rolled over and faced me. "I don't want to go to New Zealand", he confessed sadly.
"Why not?" I asked, confused.
"Because", he replied. "They have all sorts of natural disasters there".
"Brendon, nothing like that's going to happen. They occur once in a blue moon. You'd have to have very bad luck for an earthquake occurring or a volcano erupting to happen".
"But I have back luck at the moment", explained my brother seriously. "I've lost so many Pokémon cars in bets. I never win those random luck games. And whenever I'm about to win in car games, I run out of petrol or get hit by one of the computer drivers. It will be just my luck that something happens on this holiday".
I should have listened to my brother's strange and kiddie worries.
"Stop worrying about nothing", I told him, putting him on the shoulder, trying to bite back my smile. Losing Pokémon cards luck? Oh my gosh, seriously, Brendon? "It's not going to happen, alright? Just think of all the exciting things instead".
*****
Yeah, Emily. You do that. And don't worry about the bad things that could happen.
Oh, right. Too late.
You can't get them out of your head now.
YOU ARE READING
Death on Holiday
Teen FictionI shrank back, pushing his hands away. As my brother glanced nervously at me, I rolled over. I didn't want to see him, or more accurately, I didn't want him to see me like this. I knew deep down I was a mess. But there was no way I could be cured. H...
