The Secrets We Keep

Chapter 12

Erika

I knew Anthony took Elijah back to his hometown, so it was one less thing to worry about right now. It was Thursday and I had been spending more time with Mat than I probably should have spent. We had been trying to figure out the reason Anthony tried to imply we were responsible for the disasters in our lives but none of it made sense.

"I got it!" Uriah shouted.

"I swear to the god Bubba if you say anything stupid I will end you!" Alana said with a death stare that could kill.

"Pfft no! I wasn't ha.... what if we weren't humans? I mean, obviously, the twins are weird as hell but! Think about it! Ricky can throw a fit and a fire can literally start out of nowhere! The same for Zeric, but instead of a fire, he almost like boiled dad from the inside. I saw that kid that threw up all over the hallway in elementary school. He had just called Erika a freak and Zeric heard him. I swear he made him blow chunks!" He was so sure of himself this time. "Oh come on, you can't honestly tell me you think I'm wrong!"

"Okay Uriah, if that were the case, why wouldn't mom or dad talk to us about it?" Zeric questioned like he thought Uriah was on something.

"Well that's all I got so far.... ummm not that page, not that page, not that one....." Uriah was flipping through notes he'd been writing down.

"Ugh stop Bubba! Okay not that this isn't fun, but I have a prior engagement that I must tend to." I said in hopes they would get out of my room so I could get ready, but none of them budged. "Okay let me make this more clear," they all looked at me, "OUT!"

"Well damn! That was rude." Bubba chuckled as they all took their leave. After I got cleaned up and ready, I caught a whiff of his scent. I hurried out to the entryway where he stood talking to Zeric. He looked up at me with his beautiful eyes and smiled.

"Well hey there darlin', you ready?"

"I am." I kissed my brother on the cheek as he told me bye.

"Dont be out late Ricky. We have a big day tomorrow."

"Dont worry Zeric, I'll have her home before midnight." Mat chuckled at my brother's show he had going on.

"Ok dad, can we go now?" I joked with him as we turned to leave. My birthday wasn't till tomorrow, but I wanted it to be over already. I was a little nervous tonight. I hoped to calm down before he noticed anything.

"So what is on your mind?"

"Umm just tomorrow, I guess we are supposed to have family come in for our birthday, and I'm not ready." I wasn't lying, my father pretty much made it impossible to just have a normal as possible birthday this year.

"You could always skip it and come with me instead."

"I wish, but oh well, I'll just have to deal." We talked and had a great time the rest of the time we spent together. My birthday date was everything I wanted and more. As promised, I was home 10 minutes before midnight.

"Want me to stay?"

"Ugh I wish! But Dante is on a rampage with everything for tomorrow." I said, rolling my eyes. "Maybe next week?"

"Whenever you want. I'm up for it." He looked at the ground for a second. "So hey, I was thinking after tomorrow you should come and officially meet my parents." I panicked.

"Your parents? Umm, is that a good idea? Won't Danny's dad lose his mind?"

"Umm well, Danny's dad will be who you're meeting."

"Wait.... Danae is your sister?" I was shocked.

"Yeah ha I didn't want her to tell you, I know how girls are about friends dating siblings. I mean I wasn't cool when she ended up with Anthony, but I guess that's life."

"So, big bossman is your dad?!"

"Yes Erika." He chuckled "he's my dad."

"Wow.... umm sure if you want me to." Before I knew it, he had me lifted up, spinning me for a second.

"Yes I do. Thank you!" He walked me to the door and gave me a sweet kiss good-night and left. I had a heart attack when I heard a growl from behind me. I turned so fast I could have broken my neck.

"What was that?" My father was angry with me like always.

"I went on a date, that's all."

"You have no sense do you?!" He boomed at me. I looked at the floor and fiddled with my hands, hoping he would just let it go.

"I'm being cautious. He is a good person."

"You stupid girl! Do you know what could happen if he finds out?"

"What the hell are you talking about?!" My voice was growing louder with every answer I gave him.

"Did you know they could take your brothers or your sister and lock them away? Is that what it's going to take for you to snap out of this stupidity?"

"How dare you insinuate I don't care about them! I take more care of them than you ever have!" He scoffed at my answer.

"You? Take care of them? Please, you can't take care of yourself! Or...... nevermind Erika, get to bed!"

"No, finish what you were going to say!" I was curious.

"No I'm not--'"

"Say what you were going to say!" I yelled so loudly I probably woke my entire family.

"Your son! There... I said it. You can't even take care of him Erika!" My eyes burned from the tears forming.

"You......... know about him?"

"Yes," he sighed deeply and rubbed his face, "just get to bed." When I turned to head up the stairs I felt all of their eyes on me. I looked up and I ran up, passed them to my room. I looked at my clock and it was 11:59. I sat on the floor holding my chest trying to stop the burning I felt in my heart. I cried myself to sleep that night. My dad has said hurtful things to me before, but this was by far the worse. I woke up the next day with the biggest headache of my life. I walked out of my room and was met by Alana and Uriah, yelling happy birthday and popping party poppers in my face. I was not thrilled, and they could tell.

"Can we not?"

"Sorry sissy, we thought you'd like our surprise for you," Alana said as her smile changed to a frown. I was about to answer her when my father came storming out of his room.

"You two do not leave this house, a very important bit of people are coming and you will be on your best behavior. Do you understand?" My father was never the most affectionate man, but over the last year or so he has become less of a father to me and Zeric, and more of a tyrant, I guess.

"Sir yes sir."

"Erika, maybe for once you can just do as you're told instead of being a smart ass, yeah?" He asked in a dead serious tone.

"Maybe if I would, if you actually explained things, I wouldn't have to question everything you say!"

"I do not answer to you Erika! What I say is what goes, not the other way around!"

"I don't get how we got stuck with such s**t parents!" I spewed these hurtful words with venom, knowing my mother could hear how I felt too. I looked at the people I called family and decided to just spend the day in my room. I slammed my door shut hoping I could get away with staying here all day.

I lay in bed all morning in hopes my one wish I had today would come true. I decided to watch movies. It was the best way to get me out of a slump. I got through three Disney movies and I was trying to figure out which to watch next, but I was bored out of my mind now. Suddenly, my door opened and my siblings ran in. They all looked like they had seen a ghost.

"Ricky! Hey, so people are showing up and they are dressed up like, like ummm.....well they're dressed up fancy and there is something I can't put my finger on but they seem off!" Uriah yelled in a panic, that made Zeric land a hand over his mouth instantly.

"Calm down, and explain like you did with me."

"Okay I'm sorry," Bubba took a deep breath and exhaled, "so a guest arrived, but they smell funny like we could all SMELL them and have you seen the outfits mom and dad got us? They look like we are going to some type of gala, like I can't even explain it honestly, but I don't like it." I was confused now.

"Why would anything be off about them?"

"I don't know but dad bows to all of them and he keeps calling them elder." For being young, Uriah was smart as hell. I looked at Alana to see what she had to say.

"Ricky, I don't think they are family like dad said."

"Okay, but why would mom and dad lie? That doesn't make any sense," Zeric finally questioned.

"What if they had to? I mean think about it you had to lie about Elijah."

"Can we stop bringing up the baby? What is it with everyone talking about him like he is fair game?" I wish no one knew about him at this point. "I lied about him for his safety, and so he could have stability! Mom and dad moved us around, they didn't leave us somewhere safe."

"True, I think you guys need to get out of here." Bubba sounded worried the more he thought about everything.

"And go where Uriah? Hmm?"

"The lake house." He finally said.

"Umm negative! If I'm leaving, I am going to spend my birthday with mathias!" I wasn't sure how much of a good idea it was, but it wouldn't be the first time one of us ran away and some away time with him would be totally worth it.

"Won't mom and dad know? I mean it's been in our family for who knows how long?"

"Maybe sissy, but it's the best choice we have right now. Call Mathias to meet you or pick you up and get going."

"No. We are going alone. Erika and I will have each other and that's all we will need when we get there......we can't take the car."

"Then I will call Mathias and no one will know where we are going.You two will stay here, we can't afford for us all to go without being noticed."

"No, we go alone. You two will..." Zeric was set on not telling Mathias where we were going for some reason.

"Don't worry about us, we will make it to you before you know it," Bubba said with confidence.

"There's more arriving soon, so get a bag packed and ready to go. Do not call us, when we can we will come to you." Alana smiled at us. When they left, we got a move on packing for a couple of days. Our home was filling little by little with people we didn't even know of. When the last of them arrived, Zeric and I made our way back to my room, since my window faced the side of the house and we were less likely to be seen leaving. I went to grab my zip-up hoodie I normally used for my runs and I smelt something out of place. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't something I hadn't been able to notice before. I paused and snapped out of whatever it was.

"We have to go before dad comes for us." I walked up to my window and looked at Zeric with a smirk.

"I'll call Mathias as soon as we hit the forest border....... hey have you realized this is the first time we have run away together?" He smiled excitedly as we climbed out of the window. As soon as our feet hit the ground, we ran. We were running full speed, faster than we had ever run before. Zeric was still just a smidge slower than I was. When we reached the forest line, I called Mathias.

He was eager to agree to my request to come away with me for a few days.

"So wait, you're running away and you want me to take you?" He chuckled.

"Well, I mean we aren't running away, just going to our family lake house for a couple of days. I don't want to be around my dad for my birthday this year."

"Okay then where are you?"

"We are down by the riverbank right off the road."

"Okay, I know where, I will be right there." I felt my heart leap hearing him agree to take us. I looked at Zeric, who still didn't look thrilled about him coming, but knew we needed a way to get there, since we didn't want to bring my car. About 10 minutes past and true to his word, Mathias pulled up and we climbed into his blue truck and we were off to our lake house for however long we needed to be gone for. I couldn't help but notice how good Mathias looked today. He was scruffy but it fit him well. The smell of fresh rain filled my senses and I felt like I was on top of the world. When I looked over, Mathias was looking at me and his eyes weren't his normal teal color. They darkened to almost as dark as the deep ocean, but I liked how he looked, and it made me want him even more all of a sudden. I held back to the best of my ability, but it almost hurt how hard it was to do so.

Uriah

We went downstairs and our house was filled with people we had no idea about. I felt my sister hook her arm to mine as we made our way through to our parents. My dad turned around and saw the twins weren't with us.

"Where are they?" His whisper didn't hide his anger.

"I'm not sure we went up to get them and they were gone." My father slammed his fist on the table and stood up. He glared at me and my sister and excused himself, calling the elders with him to his office.

"If you two know where they went you need to tell me." My mother's voice shook with fear.

"We don't know mom, I'm sorry."

"You need to get out of here. Take Erika's car and go. Don't stop until you're far enough. You can leave the car and run." We looked at her and I couldn't help but wonder what she was afraid of.

"Momma, we aren't human are we?"

"No, Bubba we aren't now go! Please. As soon as I can come and find you all." She started to sound panicked.

"Mom seriously?"

"Alana, take him and go please, I promise I will explain everything when I find you." Our mother hugged us and opened the back door to sneak out of. Once we were out, Alana ripped her long dress around her thighs so she could run, and I pulled my jacket off and ripped off the sleeves of my shirt. Once we were able to run, we chose not to take the car because I was sure my dad would track it somehow. We weren't as fast as the twins, but we were fast enough to put a good distance between us and our house. As we were running, night started to fall and I was getting tired, so we took a break. We sat against a huge tree to catch our breath but it was short-lived when we caught a terrible smell.

"Eww Uriah what died in your stomach?"

"Oh shut up Alana that wasn't me!"

"Then what is that terrible smell if it didn't come from you?" Alana asked as we started to stand up. I glared at her and I was worried about finding the source of the smell. I swear it was death but it was suddenly gone. An uncomfortable feeling settled in my stomach and Alana did too I could tell by the way her energy changed. We started to walk again but it wasn't without complaining.

"We should have just taken the car!" I yelled at her.

"Shut up Bubba! I'm sick of your voice! We are almost there, you big cry baby!" We had been walking for what seemed to be all night and I was pretty sure we still weren't even close to the lake house. Alana just said it so I would stop complaining, but that was going to be a short lived accomplishment for her.