H.O.P.E (A Super Hero Story)

Chapter 2

Chapter 2: All Over the World

It was decided that the group would start at one end of the world and finish at another. They would spend about five days in each other's country before heading off to the next. Some perks of being a United Nations graduate were the frequent flyer miles. Their first stop was Australia. They left Switzerland and arrived in Sydney the next day. The group spent a couple days in the city, seeing the sights. Alex tried to impress some local ladies with his crude knowledge of Australian slang, and got slapped for his trouble. They spent their remaining time touring the outback, even visiting Ayer's Rock.

Their next stop was Japan. They arrived in Kyoto just in time to see the cherry blossoms bloom, turning the whole world pink. Kumiko's town was having an annual shrine festival, and everyone was eager to visit. Since Miko was the only one who could actually speak Japanese, she ordered the food for everyone, and had tried to break up a fight between Theo and a local who called him a name. The older man was drunk, so he actually tried to take a swing at Miko, but she subdued him with her judo training. For a small girl, she had excellent strength. At the shrine, they all prayed for a safe trip. Before they left, Miko visited her home and retrieved her katana which was a parting gift from her late grandfather, also her sensei.

Their third destination was the United Kingdom. The group stayed away from the big cities this time, staying in the countryside in little inns. Being in Nottingham, they decided to visit the famous Sherwood Forest. They each took a different persona of Robin Hood and his Merry Men. While on their last night there, they were thrown out of the inn after Abby knocked out another guest who commented if her tan was sprayed all over. They camped out the last night, and Abby wondered if she should change her look. Even with the Australian accent, people thought she was Scottish or Irish due to her dark red hair, and that the tan was fake. The others said that other people should change before her.

The next country on their list was Argentina. Thankfully, no one got into any fights or altercations this time, due to them visiting museums and art galleries. While they were there, Val decided to cut his hair, since he was growing it to keep his head warm in Geneva winters. It would have been fine if the others didn't laugh, saying he looked like a Latin pop star. At night, they went to the Camanito Street Museum to see the colorfully painted houses and take tango lessons. Theo and Miko took off almost immediately, but Abby and Alex were still awkward on where to hold each other. People thought they dated because they hung out constantly and both had shades of red hair, but they don't. Actually, only they could handle each other's high amounts of sarcasm after long periods. Alex never had a girlfriend due to his weight, and Abby's strong will was too strong for some. On their last night, they visited Val's house, and had a fiesta.

The last country they stayed in was the U.S.A., but unknown to them at the time, it would be their last few days of freedom in a long while. On the first day, they arrived in Portland, Oregon, taking in the sites, such as visiting the Oregon Zoo and Washington Park. The next day, they took a bus to Alex's hometown, the small city of Bend, on the Deschutes river. On the ride there, they passed a billboard with an enlarged picture of a class of 20 elementary school students smiling at the camera. In bold red words at the bottom of the picture was the phrase "THEY'LL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN". The others asked Alex what that meant.

"My mama told me about two years ago, a group of kids went missing while returning to Washington from a field trip here. They all just vanished, including their teacher and the bus driver. Only the bus was ever found, abandoned and slightly damaged, like from a car wreck. The whole town pitched in to help, even the nearest army base. Two years, and still nothing."

Alex's house was a little walk away, further out in nature from the other houses. It was a simple two-story building, but they added a wrap-around porch, so guests had more room to walk around. There was a big enough front and back yard to hold decent sized barbeque parties. Alex couldn't hold in his grin as he saw his old home.