Free Falling

I looked up at my door to see Matt standing there. “What’s up?” I asked, not meeting his gaze.

“Do you and your mom usually fight like that?” He asked, taking a tentative step forward.

I gave a small laugh, “Mom and I don’t exactly see eye to eye on a lot of things.”

“Where are you planning on going?” Matt asked, after a few moments of silence.

I shrugged, not meeting his gaze, “I’m not sure. I’ve never had to leave with Hazel before. I don’t know where to go with her or where she’d be safe.”

“Where do you usually go?” Matt pulled out my rolling desk chair and sat in it, much to my annoyance. I didn't want to be having this conversation right now.

“Wherever I felt like,” I shrugged, studying my hands. “I’ve been in the mountains, forests, caves, heck, the Grand Canyon.” I paused for a moment. “None of that is safe for a one year old.” I looked up when Matt didn’t say anything, he was deep in thought. “What’s up?” I asked, an eyebrow raised.

“Hazel’s only a year old?” he asked, astonished, making me nod. “She looks and acts like a two year old. She’s so tall and talks so well!”

I gave a small laugh, “Yeah, it’s part of the DNA they injected me with. It didn’t bother you that I’m almost as tall as Jimmy?”

“I-I guess I didn’t notice,” I could see Matt attempting to mentally picture Jimmy and I standing next to each other. Then shook his head, “That’s not what I came in here for.”

“Oh?” I asked, starting to make a mental list of the things I needed to bring along for Hazel.

“Instead of living in the wilderness,” Matt started, making me look towards him. “Why don’t you and Hazel go on tour with us? You’d be constantly moving.”

Matt continued his explanation as I tuned him out, thinking. Constantly moving is always a good thing for me. There would be a semi safe place to keep Hazel, and chances are we’d have a good supply of food. “Okay,” I cut him off from finishing his explanation.

Matt looked surprised that I had agreed to the tour so willingly. “Really?”

I nodded, “Just don’t be shocked if Hazel and I disappear at times. If I get a single whiff of danger, I’m out until it’s gone.”

Matt nodded in agreement, as Alex poked her head into my room, “Hey your mom left for work. We should go to a park.”

I nodded, standing up. “Gather your friends and valuables, we should get out of the house until everything blows over.” I went to grab Hazel, and nodded towards Alex. “Cadiz?”

“Heck yeah!” Alex ran out of the house and jumped into my car.

“Let’s go to the park,” Matt motioned to the rest of the guys to follow Alex and me outside and to the cars.

“Keep up!” I called from my car. “Road gets a little twisty!”

***Matt’s POV***

“Keep up!” I heard Ann call from her car, she had the biggest grin on her face. “Road gets a little twisty!” She jumped in her car and started it up, I followed suit, then followed her to the park she had picked out. After about twenty minutes of driving and some twisty roads, we made it to the park. Ann, her friend Alex, and Hazel got out of the car and went towards the play equipment. The guys and I got out not too long after and looked around at the park.

The park was surrounded by trees which enclosed two little lakes. The play equipment was old and metal. The water fountain that was there looked like it was from the prairie days. It had a pump you had to manually move to bring the water up with.

“Don’t drink the water!” Ann shouted towards Zack as he went to pump some water.

“Why not?” Zack whined, making me chuckle.

“You won’t like it, trust me,” Alex laughed as Hazel came down the slide, making Alex catch her.

Zack grumbled as he walked away from the pump. Ann shouted that she had water in her trunk he could drink. She flicked her hand and the trunk to her car popped open. I was never going to get used to that.

We hung out at the park, just enjoying being outside. Hazel was having the most fun. She was able to stretch her tiny wings, without worrying about someone seeing her. Ann explained that they usually went to the farm to do flying lessons, but they hadn't been able to do that recently.

"Baby girl," Ann cooed to Hazel, bringing her wings out. "Flap flap," she flapped her wings trying to get Hazel to replicate the motion. Hazel eagerly copied Ann and was able to get into the air a little ways, before dropping back to the ground. Ann quickly folded her wings in and put a jacket on when a couple of fishers came by. She got Hazel into a jacket to hold her wings back, which she didn't like at all.

We stayed at the park until Lorie called Ann’s phone a little after five. “Fine, we’re coming home,” Ann snapped into the phone. Her previous good mood, completely vaporized by the phone call. She looked towards me then shrugged, “Let’s go back.”

We arrived back at the house not too long after the phone call. I glanced in the window to see that the house looked like a disaster zone. “Trav!” Ann yelled from her car towards the house. I looked towards the porch to see a boy sleeping in one of the patio chairs.

“Want me to wake him?” Alex snickered, making Ann roll her eyes. Ann got Hazel out of the backseat, then walked up to the porch. The guys and I trailed behind, not sure what we were going to be doing once we got into the house.

“Hey, Travis,” Ann said, shaking Travis' arm gently. Travis opened his eyes then gave her a smile. “How was work?” Ann asked, giving a small laugh. “When’d you have to get up today?”

Travis groaned, rubbing his face then stood up, “Five.”

Ann shook her head, “You could’ve gone in the house.”

Travis gestured towards the door, sleepily, “It was locked.”

“Well it’s unlocked now,” she waved her hand towards the door, making it click as the lock opened. She gave him a kiss as he passed her, then glanced towards me. I wasn’t sure how to react. Everything that has happened recently was new to me. I was still processing everything.

“What happened?” Travis asked, looking around at the upturned furniture surrounding them. Ann sighed, taking in the mess. I glanced around as I walked into the house, the couches were upturned, with slashes in the cushions. Papers were strewn all around the dining room, a few chairs were broken. The walls had holes punched in them, a mirror had broken and shards were scattered all along the floor.

Ann took her hand over the mirror shards and concentrated. The shards slowly flew into the air and she directed them towards the garbage in the kitchen. Lorie came into the room from upstairs, a scowl on her face, “Where were you all day?”

“At Cadiz,” Ann snarled, as she picked up some of the papers. She had put Hazel in the highchair to keep her out of the way.

“You didn’t let me know,” Lorie crossed her arms. What was her deal? I asked myself, a frown on my face.

“You were at work!” Ann shouted, exasperated, her arms flew up in the air. “I’m sorry I lost track of time!”

“That’s not the point,” Lorie hissed. I turned towards the guys and motioned for them to start picking up the living room. I wasn’t sure how long this argument was going to take, but I wasn’t going to butt into it.

“Well get used to it!” I heard Ann shout back. “I’m going to intentionally let my phone die once I leave, just so you can’t get a hold of me!”

It appeared that Travis and Alex weren’t getting involved either, as they helped pick things up. “Where’s the dog?” Alex muttered, as she looked around the room, rolling her shoulders as she did. I looked around, I hadn’t seen their dog since we walked into the house.

Ann and her mom were still arguing in the other room. I moved into the dining room to see what I could do to help in there. I picked up some chairs only to find a gigantic python curled up underneath one. I took a couple steps back with a yelp of surprise, before I became hypnotized by it's eyes.