Quicksand

The next morning dawned with a chill in the air, despite the fact that the weather was quite warm. Parker and I had lain in my mother’s bed the previous night, neither of sleeping but instead talking to each other about everyday, trivial things.
It wasn’t until three am that sleep deprivation hit both of us, and the tears began to flow. We talked about what it would be like when I moved away, and how my family would react to having a new member joining its ranks. Parker held me close to his chest while I cried and in return, I squeezed his hand tightly even when it started to hurt.
But then, morning came. Light shone through the small window, illuminating the fast approaching circles under Parker’s eyes and the way his shirt hung off his skinny frame. Parker’s thumb was running circles on my waist and his eyes drooped threateningly.
“I guess I’ll have to call the school,” I mumbled, having no intention of moving at the time being. “Tell them I won’t be coming back,”
Parker didn’t say anything; I could tell his was slowly drifting off into sleep. His hand stilled and his breathing grew deeper and heavier. The alarm clock on my mother’s bedside table told me that the time was 7:02 am; around about the time people would be waking up for school.
Slowly, as to not wake him up, I shifted Parker’s arm off my waist and got up. I wouldn’t be sleeping if my life depended on it. What I really wanted was to see my mother, but seeing as neither Parker nor I had our driver’s license, it would take forty minutes on a bus, which I wasn’t too sure I had to spare.
My father would be sending a car. He did not specify at which time he would be sending a car, nor how I would be able to distinguish between this car and any other car. But I knew my time in this house was limited.
I sat in the living room, just outside my mother’s bedroom, careful not to make too much noise because I knew Parker needed his sleep. Just sitting on the sofa and observing the little things I knew I would come to miss about this house.
Three hours later and I had packed up the bare essentials I needed for moving away, conveniently enough all of my prized possessions fit into one small travel suitcase. Sparing majority of my clothes, besides the garments I had grown attached to, I wheeled the small suitcase beside the front door.
I had woken up Parker to sit with for a while, we watched daytime soaps, ate cheap popcorn and tried our hardest not to cry anymore. When the inevitable car horn sounded from outside, my heart sank and the deadening look in Parker’s eyes told me his had, also.
Parker walked me to the door, peering out his eyes bulged. “Holy shit,” he breathed. “Who is your Dad?”
I looked out the window to understand what he was talking about. Sitting on the dodgy street that I had grown up on was a full-blown stretch limousine, fit for a party of twenty.
I let out a sharp exhale at the sight of a uniformed chauffer walking up to the front door. “What the hell is this?” I breathed, glancing at Parker.
Parker didn’t say anything but gave me a slight push towards the car. I gave him one last hug before I started to cry again and advanced towards the car without looking back.
“I’ll visit,” I heard Parker mumble and I nodded, turning around and hugging him tightly, he squeezed my waist and planted a kiss on my cheek.
Behind me, I heard the chauffer give a slight cough. “Miss Elizabeth?”
I turned around. “That’s me,” I croaked.
“Right this way, if you please,” he indicated the car with a wave of his hand. I nodded and released Parker’s hand.
The chauffer opened the door for me and I clambered inside the spacious limousine, having enough space to stretch my entire body out. I noticed a bottle of cooled water sitting in one of the numerous cup holders and took a long gulp, finding myself surprisingly dehydrated.
From the front seat, the driver spoke. “It’s going to be a long journey, Miss Elizabeth. Settle yourself in. By the way, my name is Frank,”
“Hi Frank,” I said with a small smile. “How long is the journey?”
“Close to three hours,” Frank said with a grimace I noticed in the rear vision mirror.
“Long time,” I said with a yawn, noticing Parker’s figure become smaller and smaller as we drove away.
“Feel free to help yourself to anything in this vehicle,” Frank said.
Glancing around I noticed a stack of chick-flick DVD’s and various gaming devices attached to a television I didn’t know hung down from the roof of the car.
“Thanks Frank, but I might have a nap,” I yawned.
“Very well Miss Elizabeth. I will inform you when we reach our destination,”
“Thank you,”
“Oh, and Miss Elizabeth?”
“Yes?”
“I hope you enjoy your time with us,”

I woke up a while later when my neck pulled a cramp from the bad position I had slept in. Massaging it, I gave a small groan and sat up.
“You have awoken, Miss Elizabeth,” Frank said with a startle. “I am afraid I have some bad news,”
My heart sank as a list of possibilities ran through my head. Rejection being the first at the list.
“Bad news?”
“The media seems to have caught wind of your arrival and are giving Masters Nicholas and Theodore some grief,”
“Media? You mean newspapers and stuff?”
“Yes,”
“Why on Earth would they care about me?” I shrieked.
Frank caught my eye in the rear vision mirror with a furrowed brow. Not elaborating further, he accelerated a bit faster and I glanced out the window. Sure enough, a numerous amount of men with cameras and video cameras were snapping pictures of the car and chasing after it.
Whatever remaining blood was left in my face quickly left. I sunk down further into my seat and curled my legs into my chest in the vain attempt that the media would believe the car was empty.
“Be advised Miss Elizabeth, this car has tinted windows. Nobody can see inside,” Frank assured me, however my stomach still had butterflies churning inside it.
Frank rounded the corner and drove up the driveway of a large estate, the long rounding driveway hit the middle at the wide, double doors of what could only be called a mansion.
My jaw dropped and I sunk further into my seat. Once the car had stopped, Frank got out of the car to open my door, however I refused to get out. The door opened and I ducked my head.
“We have reached our destination, Miss Elizabeth,” Frank said, encouraging me to exit the vehicle.
Willing my legs to move, I managed to get my shaky self out of the car and peered around myself. Beyond the gate of the estate I could see hundreds of flashing camera bulbs, clearly they were not permitted on the grounds, but the image of all those cameras clicking like fireworks frightened me.
A large man, who wasn’t Frank, escorted me towards the door and opened it for me to step inside.
“Sit tight, Miss Trent, your father will be with you momentarily,” the man said with a smile before stepping through a door on the left.
I was completely alone in the foreign mansion that I would soon have to learn to call ‘home’. With my small suitcase in tow, I observed the photographs hanging on the wall of the foyer; one was of a man who had my nose shaking hands with someone who looked scarily like Donald Trump.
“Jesus Christ,” I breathed, feeling faint again.
When there was the sound of footsteps behind me, I grew anxious. I turned around to find two teenage boys walking down the large staircase that lead to the remainder of the mansion.
One of the boys was blonde and chatting animatedly to the other one, he seemed to be almost vibrating with excitement at something and was talking with his hands. He was a few inches shorter than the other boy who seemed to be completely disregarding anything he said.
The other one was brunette and very sturdy looking. He had a square jaw and a silent demeanour to him. His hands were shoved in his pockets and, upon closer inspection, I noticed that his eyes looked almost identical to mine, along with his mouth and his facial features.
When the two boys caught sight of me, they froze, clearly not very well informed of my sudden arrival.
“Oh my God,” they both said in unison and stilled.
The air was dead for what seemed like eternity as the two boys assessed me and my physical appearance, which, after a three hour car trip, would not be anything stunning.
The blonde boy gave a boyish grin and bounded forward, grabbing my hand. “Elizabeth? Pleasure to meet you. I’m Demitri,”
“H-Hi,” I squeaked, quite affronted.
“Demitri, give her some space,” the other boy placed his hand on her shoulder, with a smile in my direction. “Excuse our demure manner, Elizabeth, I had only discovered your existence this morning,”
I nodded. “If it’s any consolation, I found out less than twenty-four hours ago,”
“And yet, here we are, one big happy family,” Demitri slung his arms around our shoulders.
“Demitri, piss off,” my brother pushed him away with a smile on his face. “He’s here a lot, sorry,”
I nodded, not quite sure if Demitri was my brother’s boyfriend or just his good friend, but didn’t quite feel close enough to these people to ask them.
At this opportune moment, it seemed I had finally reached my limit. I let out a large yawn and almost lost my balance, fortunately my brother had his hand on my shoulder to steady me somewhat.
“Let me show you your bedroom,” Theo instructed, indicating the stairs. “The tour of the house will commence after you’ve had some sleep,”
“That sounds good,” I mumbled wearily.
With Demitri and Theo flanking my sides I managed to stumble my way up the stairs and down a corridor, not taking notes of where I was heading in any way, shape or form. I could faintly hear Demitri and Theo mumbling to each other as they accompanied me to my new bedroom but I knew they wouldn’t say much to me out of sheer awkwardness.
Theodore stopped at a door and opened it for me revealing a spacious, hotel room-like bedroom completely lacking in personal memorabilia.
“This can be your temporary bedroom until your new one gets remodelled,” Theo said, gently guiding me to my bed.
“I like this one,” I mumbled. “Thankyou,”
Staggering into bed I was faintly aware of Theo and Demitri leaving my room with a gentle click of the door before I fell into a deep, blissful sleep.