chapter 35- No cash No joy

(Ellie)

Today was the day I will be driving the gang to investigate the missing kids.

It was rather hot that day, the sun staring down at your bare skin, the black tar road giving off a musty smell, and your thongs on your feet nearly melting due to the heat.

As much as I wanted to stay home and just be in the embrace of my air conditioning, it seems like God's plan was for me to wait in this blistering heat.

I paced around the van, my mother gave me permission to use that day. I haven't seen mother this excited for a long while.

"Oh dear, you finally mustered the courage to ask your friends over. Oh, I'm so proud. Do they like coffee, tea? You've got to tell me everything," Shelly said.

"Mom, it's just a school project, and you know I visit friends once in a while. I'm not friendless."

"Oh, but you're anti-social. See me, in my day, I had the boys inviting me every day. Oh boy, was I a looker for sore eyes."

"Mom, please I beg of you, don't bring the past up. I don't need that now. I've been stressing over an assessment due any week now, and I need to finish this project as soon as possible."

"Don't bring the past up, baby? Don't you feel the Reminiscence, the good old times, where you look back and just think that you want to relive that moment, not to change anything but to feel that blissful emotion once more...but that's impossible. Sometimes it's too late to know if the present will soon turn into the past, so you've got to make the most of life now. That goes for the future as well. No more wasting your life in that bedroom of yours. Live the life that calls your destiny."

"Yeah, yeah, unlike your generation where it was easy making boyfriends and meeting gals that have the same interest as you, nowadays, it's like finding a needle in a haystack."

"That's because you're not looking hard enough. You think laying in bed, rotting that beautiful life away, is going to get what you want in life, sorry that's not life, little missy.you can make as many fake scenarios in your head of your, I think that sometimes, you forget that you can do the same in real life, honey." She said, "Oh, is that them? Make sure you bring your medicine just in case. It's rare seeing you go to the city. Make sure you have enough money, water, and leave your phone on at all times, you understand, little missy."

As I watched the other side of our driveway, approached by a car, I wondered why they didn't use that car instead of mine.

khaza got into big trouble with his license, Maddie failed her test multiple times, James keeps lying about how he's so close to completing his hours, yet I know the truth that he hasn't even started, and the rest are too lazy to get their L's in the first place.

It seemed Maddie and Maxwell hopped out of the van as Maxwell's dad dropped them off.

"You must be Shelly. I'm Jackson, you can call me Jack, Jackie, but it's a pleasure to meet you. My boy Max here said they are doing a school project, and they wanted me to drop them off."

"Likewise, it's so good my daughter is making friends, and maybe for the first time, actually inviting them over."

Silence echoed between them, awkward.

I held my face in my hands, red-faced. What kind of mother would say something like that? You don't expose your children on the first day of meeting strangers.

I saw Maddie trying to hold her laughter in, while Maxwell didn't really care.

"Well, the first time I see. Hopefully, my son will not make trouble. I'll pick both of the kids up later this afternoon around six-thirty. If you want, I can give my contacts just in case anything bad happens. It feels weird dropping these two misfits off, like they were twelve years old. I almost cried once they asked me."

"Well, let's not jinx it, shall we? And nothing wrong for kids being kids, is there?" My mother said.

After he drove off, it seemed awkward once all four of us were together.

"Does anyone want any drinks, or are you fine?"

"Thank you, Mrs. Stroud. I would like some cold water, please. I have to wait out here and wait for the rest," Maddie said.

"It's Miss Stroud, and it's my pleasure. If you want, you're both invited inside."

My mother walked inside, but before that, she gave me a thumbs up. I wanted to smack my head in embarrassment.

"I just got a text from James. He's on his way, any minute."

I looked at Maddie. I was unaware if this second reality was real, but the reactions from the group seemed so real. Maddie has been inconsistent with how she normally acted lately. I would be lying if I said I wasn't happy, she changed for the better.

But James, Khaza, and Maddie never revealed what I do in the other world. At first, I didn't believe them, but suddenly being knocked out and waking up in bed made me believe something was up. I was angry and scared, some kind of kidnapping experiment was happening to me, until I realized Thomas and Maxwell said they had the same experiences.

I had my suspicions, but I always felt like a second voice inside my head saying I was in the wrong, that whatever they are saying was the truth.

The gang seemed like they were doing research on the abnormal, supernatural occurrences lately, and now they want to actually meet up with the parents and houses of the victims. I've seen my fair share of horror films, and this is leading to some suspicion and familiar circumstances.