Oasis in Ohio

Chapter Fourteen

I like to dedicate this chapter to HereLiesADreamer they are a wonderful person but they don't see it yet. So just because you're you Bex, this is now a chapter for you! ❤
Stay strong my friend.
(I also recommend their books, they are beautifully crafted/written)
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At one point I had been given Bella to hold. I guessed she was asleep from exhaustion but damn, she was sleeping forever. We had been walking forever when a highway finally came into view.

"Is that the highway we need?" I asked from the back.

"Yep, that's Lincoln Tunnel highway. It'll be a long walk, maybe a day and a half but it'll take us to New Jersey." My dad warned for up front.

"Wow, that's a long walk." I commented.

"Mmmm." Was all I heard in my left ear as Bella woke up.

"Morning Bella." We all said.

As she stretched in my arms birds started chirping like a goddess was waking up.

"Well good morning goddess." I joked.

Bella gigged a little as she rewrapped her arms around my neck, pressing the side of her head into my chest.

"Mmmm good morning." She said in a raspy, sleepy voice.

We walking in silence for a few moments as Bella woke up some more. "Are we there yet?" She asked once she got past the waking up phase.

"Not even close. We haven't left New York yet." I told her.

"Walk faster then! I want more Poptarts."

"There's a few in your bag ya know?"

She whipped her head up at me, eyes wide, and demanded I handed them over.

"I can't with you in my arms."

She then popped herself out of my hands and walked around to my back. Helping her as best as I could from memory I helped her get her Poptarts. Happily, she walked next to me, a huge smile on her face as she opened the foil covering to reveal the blueberry flavored contents. She stuffed her trash in my pockets as she took her first bite.

"Cso, where aref we?" Bella asked around a mouthful of food.

"Just about at the New York, New Jersey border." I replied, reaching for her hand.

She lightly took it as she took another bite.

Other than our mom's witty banter and comments we all stayed silent, it's not like there was much to talk about. Like what were we going to say? "Hey how'd your life fall apart after the disease?"

I will say, the little comments mom said we're pretty funny, but also immature. She would make comments on how the clouds looked like butts and cats jumping to grab a bird. I personally didn't see it but Bella did and she got a chuckle out of it.

Rolling my eyes at them I strained to see ahead of us. Against the horizon I could just make out the outline of what I guessed what was the tunnel.

"Is that the tunnel up there?" I asked.

My dad looked up. Studying the horizon before saying "Yep that's it alright." He tucked the map away before speeding up.

Our mom quickly was at his side again, the sudden movement made Honey jump and start meowing. Quickly coming her down, my mom turned back to the road in front of us.

I myself wasn't to far behind but Bella was. Turning back I noticed how she was struggling to keep up. Walking back to her my legs cracked- popped- whatever you wanna call it- in an unnatural way. I didn't pay much mind to it as I got Bella onto my shoulders and sped up to our parents again.

I made my steps exaggerated and bouncy, making Bella laugh as she bounced on my shoulders. Careful to keep her on my shoulders I started leaning down with every step.

Step, lean. Step, lean. Step, lean. Step, lean.

Bella wrapped her arms, as best as she could, around my neck as her butt slid from side to side. To keep things interesting I would change up my walking style. I went from step lean to larger steps then to a skip step, then repeat.

"Ow! I'm laughing so hard my stomach hurts!" Bella said, followed with a fit of laughter.

I didn't get how she was laughter so much at this but it kept her happy so I kept doing it. Looking back up again towards the tunnel I saw that it was way closer now.

"Wow that was fast." I thought aloud.

"Yeah, well, it only takes 17 minutes to walk from Bryant Park to here." My dad commented.

"Oh."

"Look at that cloud! It looks like a puppy!" Bella shouted, pointing at the sky.

Following where she was pointing I saw the cloud she was talking about and it really did look like a puppy. To me it wasn't just a puppy though, it looked like a puppy with a ball in it's mouth.

"Yeah it does. What else do you see?" Wincing at the ache in my feet from walking so much I kept her distracted.

And with that she was off, naming every different thing she could. Not knowing much she called multiple clouds the same animal. I never told her how some of them didn't look like what she believed them to be.

This went on until we reached the ramp up to the tunnel.

"We're hereeeee!" Our mom cheered in a sing sing voice.

"Yay! Can I get down now? I wanna check it out!" Bella asked.

"Sure." I let her slide off my back, again unnatural popping noises came from my joints.

"Xavier? Are you okay? It sounded like your entire body cracked." My mom asked, concern lacing her voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just think my body isn't used to this much moment." Plastering a smile to my face to help seal the deal on how I was fine. I truly did feel fine but I could tell everyone thought otherwise.

No one pushed the issue further. We all just turned back to the ramp and started our track up it.

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When we made it to the top my legs were throbbing. Never having walked up a ramp like it my legs did not like it. Poor Bella though had almost collapsed halfway up.

Searching the sky for the sun I noticed it was becoming dusk. I silently hoped that we wouldn't walk all night.

"Let's get into the tunnel and then we can stop and have dinner." My dad told us.

With a deep sigh of relief I pushed my legs further. Thankfully after going up the ramp it goes down underground, making the walk into the tunnel itself easy as pie.

We walked three minutes into the tunnel before it got too dark to see. Settling down against a wall our parents pulled out some food we could eat. Honey had curled up long ago, fast asleep from the blanket of warmth coming from the now golden glow of the sun.

Pulling out our blankets we settled down with Honey. I felt bad keeping her in the cage but we could lose her if we did.

Watching as the last rays of the sun slowly took it's soft, warm, glow away from us, I drifted off into a deep sleep- Bella once again curled in my arms.

~Thanks for reading!
Sorry for the long wait for this chapter, I'm adjusting to having a baby around. Updates will slowly become more normal as my schedule settles down.
Enjoy the story :)~