Floating in the Abyss ✔️

Chapter 61

It was Friday afternoon and we were all outside, hanging out in our bathers, switching between swimming and lounging. It was a surprisingly hot day, especially for October, and the sun was out. Mum and Dad are leaving early tomorrow morning, so the boys didn't have anyone over, and we were having a family night. Elyse was coming over sometime tomorrow and would stay until Tuesday. She'd visit during the rest of the week but wouldn't stay for long.

I'd swum for a bit, but it put mum on edge, since she wasn't confident in my abilities. Ryan or Nick would get in with me, so that I could hold on to them, but other than that I just stayed out of the water.

"Dinners ready!" Dad announced. He'd made a barbeque, with all kinds of foods. It was my first ever barbeque, so they were sure to make it a special one. Nick was doing the cooking for the next week, whilst they were gone, so who knew what foods we were going to be eating.

"What do you want Ash?" Dad asked, grabbing my plate first.

"One of those." I pointed to the skewers I'd made with mum earlier. They were just small portions of vegetables on a stick, but I wanted to eat them since I'd made them.

"What else?" He asked, I shrugged. "I'll choose then. Here's a chicken burger and a sausage."

I sat down and waited until Nick came to sit next to me. I didn't know what to do, since there was a heap more food on the table.

"Can you help me?" I asked sheepishly, as he sat down.

"Yeah." He smiled at me comfortingly and then helped. We put cheese, lettuce, tomato and cucumber in my burger, then added the sauce. He also gave me a side of salad, which all seemed a bit much, but then again, I'd already been given the smallest roll and the smallest burger.

It was kind of difficult to eat, since my mouth wasn't big enough to bite it properly, so I had to really squash it down before I could bite anything.

"How is it?" Nick asked, watching me as he made his. He added just about everything. There was a lot of green on his plate too.

"Good." I nodded, smiling. I really liked the chicken and the tomato was sweet. The lettuce was okay, and cucumber was something I'd eaten before so that wasn't new.

The sausage was okay, although I preferred the chicken. The salad was very lettuce-y and I didn't really like the weird watery stuff on it either.

"That's dressing." Nick told me.

"It's yucky." He laughed at my face and didn't make me eat it. I'd already eaten lettuce anyway, so I just sat and ate my skewer. The grilled capsicum was my favourite part of my entire dinner.

Once I was done, I sat there and waited for everyone else to finish. I was so full afterwards that that's pretty much all I could do.

Except for Nick, all the boys got back in the water afterwards, swimming and splashing, completely ignoring the fact that they'd just eaten. I'd be sick if I even tried to swim now.

I laid down on the grass, groaning as I did eat.

"Did you eat too much, honey?" Mum asked.

"Yeah, I feel like I'm going to explode." Her and Dad laughed quietly. "It's not funny." I frowned.

"You're right, it's not." Mum agreed, forcing herself to stop laughing. Her smile didn't disappear though. "River showed you how to message us whilst we're gone, didn't he?"

"Yep." I nodded. River had sat down with me earlier, showing me how to text, call and use WhatsApp, which was what we were all using to talk to Mum and Dad whilst they're away. He also added me to the family group chat, which everyone was on, and showed me a heap of other tricks that I could do on my phone. I downloaded a few new apps, and he showed me the games I could get, which were really addicting. I asked if I could get the app that Nick had, with the video of the ducks, but River said no. I didn't know why. I also called each of my brothers so that we both had each other's numbers. I'd had theirs but they didn't know mine.

He also showed me how to put it on silent, in preparation for school. We were allowed to have our phones on us, to check our timetables and make urgent calls, but we weren't allowed to use them in class. One of the apps I got was the Monarch app, which I would have the login to once I had my laptop.

"You call us if you need anything at all, honey."

"What's the time difference?" I asked.

"Vancouver is behind 18 hours, but one of us will answer at any time. Nick is in charge too, so he'll be able to help you with anything at all."

"Teddy is coming home before you get here."

"Yeah he is. Not ideal, I know, but also totally fine to work with. Elyse is going to pick you up and take you each day, and someone will pick you up and bring you home. That's when you'll need your phone." Mum explained.

"It's going to be strange without you here."

"We won't be gone for long. Everyone will take good care of you." Dad helped me up from the ground, hugging me tight. I yawned and leant my weight against him. "Tired?" I mumbled a yes and closed my eyes. He lifted me up and sat down in one of the chairs, letting me rest my head on his shoulder. The fact I was small made it easy enough for me to sit with him. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep.

"We're leaving Ash." Mum gently rubbed my arm as I awoke. "Call us if you need anything, honey." She hugged me and kissing my forehead, before moving back so Dad could say goodbye.

"Bye princess. Be good for your brothers okay?"

"I will." I nodded, kissing his cheek as he hugged me.

They both left the room, but I could hear everyone talking, so I got up and went out. They were crowded around the front door, watching as Mum and Dad got into the car. I leant into Ryan's side sleepily.

"Hey baby." He picked me up.

We waved goodbye as Nick drove off, taking them to the airport.

"Let's go back to bed." River said, getting a mumble of agreements. I held on tighter to Ryan, letting him know I wanted to stay with him.

We all went upstairs, disappearing into each room, me with Ryan. The house was quiet as we laid down in his bed, falling back asleep.