Missing in Action

My eyes slowly opened to the sound of someone calling my name. The voice was familiar, but I was too tired to place it. I grumbled before burying my face deeper into my pillow. My pillow began to vibrate as someone laughed, telling me that this wasn’t a pillow. I sat up straight as I rubbed my eyes. I stretched my arms above my head as a yawn passed my lips.

“Sleepy heads awake,”

I smiled as I looked at Joe. He returned my smile with one just as cheerful. I rubbed my eyes as I yawned once more. “No thanks to you,”

He gasped as he put a hand on his heart. “I’m the one who woke you up. I was going to tell you that we were about to land,”

My smile grew wider as I held back my giggle. “Well how would I know, I was asleep, remember,” Joe narrowed his eyes in a playful glare. He crossed his arms over his chest as he began to mutter about how little respect he had. I couldn’t help but to laugh at him. He made things more enjoyable without trying. I continued to giggle as I laid my head on his shoulder.

Once the plane landed, we grabbed our stuff and departed the plane. It wasn’t until I stepped off the plane that I became nervous again. The horrid truth began to enter my head. I was starting a new life. A life as someone I didn’t know. I was in an unfamiliar place, yet it was a place I called home. A term that was used to define a safe haven meant nothing to me. I no longer knew what home meant. I no longer had a place that I felt safe. My home had been taken from me. Actually, I never had a home. My home was a lie.

We walked through airport security, finding that things were the same as LA. Paparazzi swarmed the airport in its entirety. It was hard to determine who was a passenger and who was paparazzi. Everywhere we turned, there was someone taking a picture of us. Big Rob and my body guards were having a hard time creating a path for us to walk through.

“Are you going to be called Viola or Gabriella now?”

“How does it feel to be a Jonas?”

“How does it feel knowing that you were lied to your entire life?”

“Do you still consider your kidnappers your parents?”

“Mr. Jonas, are you going to press charges against the kidnappers?”

“Kevin what does it feel like to have your little sister back?”

“Nick do you remember Viola at all?”

“Joe what’s it like having another sibling?”

“Viola do you hate your kidnappers? Can you tell us how much?”

Things became more overwhelming with every step that I took. I could feel my eyes beginning to water as people continued to scream questions at us, at me. The blinding lights, the large amounts of people, this was all too much to handle.

I reached out and grabbed the arm of the person in front of me. Joe turned around to face me, confused. His face instantly relaxed once he saw that it was me. He pulled me into him as we walked through the airport. I couldn’t help but to feel safe as Joe held me. I felt as if nothing was going to happen to me as long as Joe was with me.

Despite his embrace, I was still overwhelmed. More tears began to form as the paparazzi began to yell questions at us. They didn’t care about how hurtful there questions were, in fact, they wanted their questions to be hurtful. They wanted to provoke an answer out of me. They wanted me to scream, yell, cry, anything that they could use as news.

I sniffled as I blinked back my tears. I didn’t want to cry. I refused to cry. I wasn’t going to let this get to me. I wasn’t going to show everyone that I was upset. I was going to hide my emotions for as long as I could.

“Its okay” Joe whispered, “Just ignore them. Everything is going to be fine,”

I wanted to believe him. I wanted to believe every word that he was saying, but I couldn’t. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t bring myself to believe him. Everything seemed to be going wrong. There was no sign of things getting better for me. This was the way that things were going to be. I was going to be asked questions like this by everyone, not just paparazzi. This was my life now. This was what I would have to endure for the rest of my life.

After what felt like hours, we made it from the airport to the truck. I was sitting in the backseat of the truck with Joe. Kevin and Nick were sitting in the middle while Mr. Jonas and Big Rob were sitting in the front. I looked out the window, seeing the crowd of people trying to get to the car. Airport security and my body guards were keeping the crowd under control. I watched the chaotic mess as we pulled away from the airport. The crowd grew smaller and smaller, the further away we were.

A tear escaped my cheek as I watched. This was my life now. This was who I was, a chaotic mess. I was no longer a normal girl from Maryland. I was the famous Jonas sister who was kidnapped as a child.

Another silent tear passed my chin. I couldn’t hold them back any longer. Tears began to flow from my eyes, down my cheeks. I sniffed as tears rapidly began to flow. It wasn’t long before Joe pulled me into his chest. He rocked me back and forth as he began to rub my back. All I could do was sob harder and harder.

I couldn’t hide my emotions for very long.