Chapter 4 Last Days

Once I got home I immediately went to Rob's

bedroom. Listening closely to make sure I'm

not interrupting anything, I knock on the

door a few times. He then yanks it open and

sees it's me. "What?" He asks uninterested.

"Im going on a camping trip this week with

Mary, Justin and Jesse don't die," I say and

turn on my heel. "Whatever." He says and

then slams his bedroom door. They say that

when you and your siblings are children you

don't get along but once you grow up and are

adults or almost adults you get along better.

That is not the case with me and Rob as you

can probably put together. I kinda just wanna

sucker punched him all the time. Over and over

again and then say that I love him and I wish

he'd just be a brother and love me back. That

isn't going to happen though and I need to

think about Max and Anon if I'm gonna get

anywhere.

I then went to my room and texted Justin

about Rob and how he doesn't have to worry

about my family at all just Mary's. He replied

pretty quickly and I was off packing when the

doorbell rang and rang and rang a third time.

Knowing Rob was not wise enough to think I

was busy doing something I went down and

looked through the peephole. Seeing an

excited Mary waving at me through the hole.

I open the door and am bombarded with a hug.

"Are you okay? They didn't hurt you did

they?" She asks worriedly. "No I'm fine,"I

close the door and turn to her. "I see that

now, are you ready to hit the road jack?"

Mary comments. She is always so perky it's

really odd. Even if we are talking about our

best friend not being dead and actually be

alive and a crazy person stalking me, she still

just has this light around her. Like a live

audience, laughter is just gonna startup out of

nowhere.

I tell her yeah and go up to get my bag. Before

I go to my room though, I stop at Rob's. There

is a chance that I don't comne back from this

trip alive, I just don't want to leave things the

way they are with him. I know I will probably

return alive, well that's at least what I'm

telling myself but I just don't know and I

really don't' want this on my deathbed. So I

knock on his door. Rob being Rob opens it

and screams "what!". "Can I come in?" I ask. He

rolls his eyes and walks out of the walkway

into the messy bedroom. "Pick a spot any

spot." He says addressing the room with his

hand. I pick the office chair with a pair of

dirty socks thrown over it. He flops on his bed

and picks up his phone.

I take a deep breath and prepare to ask my

older brother the question I've been

wondering most of my life. "Why don't you

love me?" I ask. Roberto clearly wasn't

expecting such a question since he glanced up

from his phone. "Excuse me?" He questions.

"Why don't you love me?" I repeat. "Don't be

a drama queen Carla." I shift in the chair totally expecting such an answer. I

really didn't think he loved me. "It

just..doesn't..It just doesn't seem like it" I

stuttered out. "Look, Your a pain in my ass

and Mama and Marthy clearly love you way

more than they ever loved a fuck up like me,

but here you are still my sister." This is the most vunerable

I have ever seen my brother. He has always

been this tough guy that even though is only a

year and a couple months older than me is

somehow seen as invincable in my eyes.

"What do you mean Mama and Papa love me

no they don't." I mean granted they

do shit on him alot but he does put himself in

those situations by being an asshole to them.

"Was I sick as a child?" I ask " how would I know that you fuckinh weirdo" he seemed pestered but I needed to know. " I need to know rob what do you know about me when I first came here"

" You're acting fucking strange, get the fuck out of my room"

" Rob, max is alive"

"What?"

Knowing he and max were friends too I decided to just say the truth then maybe I could get answers to my questions.

"Max is alive and his kidnapper called me to come get him"

I totally remember rob and Max would play

together when we were kids. Rob is just

looking down at his hands....

"I get it. Max disappearing made me go crazy."

"Hey you promise not to go to the cops?" I say hesitantly as he looks me in the eyes.

his attention now fully on me and what I have

to say. "I'm not going camping. I'm going to

get Max." After saying this Mary walks in and

we both sit down and tell Rob about

everything. He didn't respond to how I

thought he would though. Instead of being all

big bro about it and threatening to go get Max

himself while I stay here. He just cried. Wept

really, and I don't know what to do. "I

thought he was dead. I-" he hiccuped on his

own breath. "I really thought he was dead."

He finally says. Mary left the room to 'go get a

drink of water'. So now it was just me and

Roberto. With me now, enveloping him in a

hug. Oh, how nice it felt. It felt like returning

home after a long road trip. Except home isn't

where you thought it would be.

"Thats it. I'm coming with you." Rob said as

he let go of me. "No, I don't think so." I shook

head side to side. Having Rob come with

me would be like taking a five year old to

Disneyland and saying they can't ride any

rides or eat any food. Hell, I'm trying to say it

would be hell. "Yep, that's it if you don't let me

go with you I'll tell Mama and Marthy." Rob

announced as a matter-of-factually as he

could. "Ugh, okay just don't pack your whole

room. Get a few things and meet us in the

car." I say and leave the room.

When I come downstairs I am greeted with

Justin. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Oh I told my dad I was spending spring

break here so your dad can help me grow

spiritually." Stupid. Stupid is the only word to

describe Justin. "Jay, My dad doesn't know

I'm gone. What if your dad calls my dad and

then my dad finds out and then my dad

comes home and then MY dad kicks my ass?"

I remark. "Chill, my dad is away on a fishing

trip for spring break and will be out of

service. He really doesn't believe me but for

the sake of our relationship we have to act

like we know one another isn't full of shit." He

explains. "Whatever, help yourself to the Food in the fridge." I say as I grab my bags

and head for the door. "Oh, Mary didn't tell

you? I'm coming with you all." Pinching the

bridge of my noseI sigh. Turning to Mary she

gives me an innocent shrug. "What? How was

I, of all people gonna say know to this

adorable face?" She says fading into baby talk

as she squeezes Justin cheeks and gives him a

kiss. "Okay, then change of plans. We are

taking my mom's mini van so we can all fit." I

say and change the keys from Mary's car to

my moms.

Behind me I hear the faint sound of my

friends whispering that I'm in a bad mood.

They have the nerve to say I'm in a bad mood.

Sorry for raining on your spring break parade

with my I thought you were dead friend who

was kidnapped and now I have to be the hero

and go rescue him but I haven't even

processed this whole thing and on top of that

I have a stalker and I could have been the one

kidnapped if Anon wasn't a complete idiot

and took the wrong person and UGH. I need

to calm down. By now we are walking to the

car and I am getting in the driver's seat. I can

not have anything but Max and Columbia

Ohio on my mind. Holly Berry Inn. Corner of

something and Nineteenth. Sycamore.

Sycamore and Nineteenth. I wrote it down on

a sticky note just in case I forgot. Good thing

too.

After everyone has gotten all situated we pull

up to the gas pump and Robert hops out of

the passenger seat to fill the tank. I handed

him a fifty from my emergency money that I

pulled out using my debit card from my

college fund. I figure if I die on this trip, I

won't need college in a couple of months.

More importantly I think if my parents ever

found out about this rescue mission, I might

never be able to leave my house in order to go

to college.

Rob has been on his best behavior so far.

Mary and Justin have been all over each other

two rows of seats back. I look in the rear-view

mirror to see them both fast asleep. We

haven't even left town yet. We have only been

in the car for an hour at most and they are

already asleep. A few minutes pass and

Roberto enters the car once more with some

Twizzlers in hand. "Want one?" He asks with

a grin. "You remembered!" I practically yell. I

used to eat these religiously as a kid. I take

one out of the package and yank it with my

teeth. As happy as I can get in this situation

that we're in.

While I drive my mind starts to drift to Max.

The last time I saw him he had ash-like black

hair and the palest of skin tones you could

find. He kind of looked like a male snow

white. He was a couple inches shorter than

me but he could run faster than me. His

favorite color was blue and his favorite show

was ICarly. What will he look like now? Did

Anon hurt him? Is he beyond saving, is he

beyond bringing back into civilization with

other people? I have so many questions that

Anon doesn't want to answer and I feel stuck.

Roberto must have felt this too because out of

nowhere he says "I'm scared to find Max."

Taking my eyes off the road for a split second

I look in the rear view mirror to make sure

Romeo and Juliet are asleep. "Yeah me too, I

just haven't seen him in so long ya know?"

This was the first time I had ever talked about

Max and how he was effecting me since Anon

contacted me. Even more weird, it was to

Robert.

We've been driving for a couple hours now

and I was tired so we pulled into a almost

deserted Seven-Eleven so Roberto and I could

Switch places. While we were sitting there

enjoying the silence, I saw the same thing I

did when I went running the other day out of

the corner of my eye. Except this time Rob

saw it too. "Thats weird and you say this

happened a couple days ago too?" He inquires

after I tell him about the other morning.

"Yeah, I thought I was just sleep deprived." I

giggle. It still trips me out that me and Rob

are getting along. More so then the psycho

that has Max and possibly is trying to kill me.

I just hope this last day is just the beginning

of a new and improved relationship with

Roberto.