This Is War

Freedom!

That was the first thought Alexa Ferguson had the moment she was released from her three year jail sentence. The cold night air was refreshing for the brunette. The way it sent a chill through her body, it made her grin. Having the fresh air fill her lungs was heaven to her. She tossed her hands up in the air as she spun around taking in her freedom. Sure, she had her moments where she was allowed to go out for an hour or two, but she was always closed in. Not to mention having the walls constantly patrolled by the officers. It wasn't as great a feeling as she was experiencing now. Sure, she had been to jail a few times. But never this long.

Standing in the dark jeans and blue sweater shirt her sister brought for her release, Alexa couldn't wait to get as far away from jail as possible. Yes there were several people that had much longer sentences, but to Alexa, it felt like two lifetimes. No matter how rebellious she got or broke the law, she made a vow to never do anything to get sent back there. That building had too many bad memories. She never wanted to relive them, or go through it all over again.

Thankfully, Alexa's twin sister, Vanessa, was already there and waiting for her. She was the only one willing to drive out and pick her sister up at the county jail. The rest of the family preferred to stay home and do whatever it was they were doing than see their daughter. But that is what happens when you have a child that is constantly in trouble. You tend to forget about them and move on with your life. At least, that is how it was for the Ferguson family.

But even as Vanessa sat in her car and waited, she sat with the light on, a text book propped up on the steering wheel and notebook, furiously taking notes. Just because her sister was being released, it didn't give her an excuse to not do her homework. Vanessa had her whole future planned out. With each passing day, Vanessa was one day closer to being the one thing she had always wanted to be: a lawyer. Even with her nose in her text book, she had looked at the right moment to see her sister practically run out and spin around.

Vanessa couldn't help but laugh. Her sister was out and enjoying it. And now they would have a chance to have some sister bonding time before heading home. The plan was to go camping for a few days. There were many reasons why no one else wanted to come and collect Alexa, but Vanessa is always there for her no matter what. No matter how much her family bashed on Alexa, they were sisters. There was no way she wasn't going to be there for her. But if the roles were reversed, Vanessa wasn't so sure that Alexa would be the one to come and pick her up.

Seconds after Alexa had her moment of freedom, she ran straight for Vanessa's car and jumped in. As she looked over at her twin disgust grew on her face. To Alexa, seeing Vanessa in sweats with her hair in a messy bun, and her nose in the books wasn't appealing at all. Alexa always had to look her best. It didn't matter if she was just going out to check the mail or go out to a party. She had to be good looking. She wasn't sure how or why her sister didn't pick up that habit. But at least it made it easier for everyone else to tell them apart.

Vanessa caught her sister's face of disgust and shook her head. "Don’t give me that look Ali." She said mentally noting what page she was on and closed the book. "It’s almost one in the morning. I am allowed to look the way I do."

Alexa raised an eyebrow before looking away and buckling her seat belt. "Even in there I didn't look as bad as you did now."

Shaking her head as she started the car, Vanessa looked over at Alexa. "And how exactly did you manage in solitary?"

"I didn't." Alexa said not bothering to look at her sister. Yes there had been several times Alexa was sent to solitary. She was never the type of girl to sit back and just follow the rules. If she was, she wouldn't have been in jail in the first place. If there was a fight, she was somehow involved. She spent more time in solitary than in the cell she was first taken into. "Can we just get as far away from this place as we can, already?" There had been a slight crack in her voice and Vanessa caught it right away.

"He hasn't called or written has he?" Vanessa asked as she began to drive away. Her sister only ever cared about one person and in Alexa's time of need, he stopped talking to her.

"I don't want to talk about it." Alexa's voice returned to normal. There was even a hint of anger to her words.

"At some point we do, Ali. He was supposed to be there for you and he just left."

"Enough Vanessa. I said I didn't want to talk about it." This time, Alexa's voice was raised enough to make Vanessa jump a bit in her seat. Alexa had glared at her sister as she drove. She never knows when to stop. She thought before looking away from her sister and out the window.

"I'm sorry, Ali. I just thought...." She trailed off as she kept her eyes on the road. She could tell her sister had changed. She wasn't sure if it was because of spending those three years in jail or if was because Alexa’s former boyfriend, Jason, had just up and left her. As much as Vanessa wanted to keep on asking, she let it go.

There was silence after that. Between the sisters, there wasn't a single word that was said. Alexa had been used to the silence though. For the many months she spent in solitary, it was actually peaceful. She didn't have to hear the numerous women speak or irritate her. Hell even in the car ride she was able to think clearly. She was able to think about what she would do now the she was out. There were several places she now wanted to go and see. And there was one or two people she really wanted to see as soon as they got home.

Vanessa on the other hand, she couldn't stand the silence. She was always a friendly person. No matter who it was, she was able to get them to talk about their problems. But she never could get Alexa to do it. She knew she had put up so many walls over the last year and a half. As determined as she was to get her sister to talk about Jason, she knew Alexa wouldn't do it. There had been nights and visits after Jason left her that Vanessa would try and get Alexa to talk about it. In the end, Alexa would hang up on her or leave from her visit to get Vanessa to stop talking about him.

There were numerous times during the car ride where Vanessa opened her mouth to say something but stopped herself. But after almost driving an hour without saying something, she couldn't help herself. "Ali..."

Alexa looked over at her sister with annoyed look on her face. "Bring him up one more time Nessa and I will jump from this car." She was serious. Alexa was always that way though. You brought something up that she didn't want to talk about, she would find any way to get away from the person.

"Fine." Vanessa said glancing over at her. "I won’t bring him up again if you promise to try harder this time."

"Try harder for what?" Alexa's voice now had anger and irritation in it.

"Not getting into trouble..." She looked back out at the road. "I'm serious Ali. You have to stop. It was three years this time. What if next time its five or more years? The judge already knows the next time you come into his court room it’s going to be bad. And mom and dad-"

"Stop there." Alexa said cutting her off. "I don't even want to know about what they had to say. You could tell me all about it, but the moment I step into that house, they will jump down my throat, repeating the same exact things you will tell me." Alexa was used to the lectures from her parents. For as many times as she had been in jail over night or for the weekend, her parents always gave her an ear full.

"I am serious though Alexa. You have to promise to try to stay out of trouble." Alexa knew her sister was being serious. She didn't call her ‘Ali’. She had said her full name. Knowing Vanessa the way she did, she only ever called her name like that when it was a very serious matter.

Alexa sat there and thought about it as she looked out the window. Could she make that promise to her sister? She vowed to herself earlier that she would never do anything to get sent back. But could she actually do it? Could she stay out of trouble long enough for her sister to forget about the whole Jason problem?

Alexa didn't make up her mind until they pulled up into the camp grounds. By the time they got there, it was almost three in the morning. The moment the car stopped, Alexa hopped out and stretched. As she stretched, she heard Vanessa pop open the trunk and got out of the car. Alexa didn't want to give her answer just yet. She still wanted to think about it, but as of now, she had to help her sister set up camp.

It didn't take them long to get the tents up. With Vanessa's car having very bright light beams, they had no trouble seeing in their surroundings. By the time both tents were up and the blankets were set and ready to go, Alexa dived right in and wanted to go to straight to sleep. She watched as her sister turned off the lights from the car and locked it up. With the darkness surrounding them, she was ready to sleep. But before Alexa could close the tent up, Vanessa stuck her head in.

"You never answered me Ali." Her voice was soft and you could hear it in her voice that she was tired.

With a sigh, Alexa nodded towards her sister. "Alright." She said with the same softness in her voice. "I'll try to stay out of trouble the best I can."

"Is that a promise?" Vanessa wasn't going to just let her have it at that. She wanted to hear Alexa say she promised. To Vanessa, whoever had made a promise to her, they had to stick to it. If they broke it, Vanessa would be crushed and Alexa hated to see her like that. Even if between the two sisters were rocky, they always kept their promises to each other.

"I promise." Alexa said. "Now can I sleep?"

Vanessa shook her head and chuckled. "Yes Ali. You can." She pulled her head out of the tent and walked over to hers. "But tomorrow, we will talk about some things." Vanessa expected to hear some kind of protest from her sister, but there was nothing. There was silence and a few seconds later, there was the sound of slight snoring. With shake of her head and a smile on her face, Vanessa stepped into her tent and zipped it up. "It’s good to have you out Ali." It was more of a whisper to herself as she laid down and drifted off to sleep.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

With the sun up at its highest point and beating down on the tents, it didn't seem to bother Alexa as she slept. It had felt nice to be able to actually sleep in. There was nothing to wake her up. As she slept, her dreams were nothing but memories of her life in jail.

"Ferguson!" An officer called as she tapped on the cell door. Alexa had been asleep, enjoying the dreams of the days before she was locked away. She had been here for a little over a year and she had hated every minute of it. But the sound of her name stirred her from her dreams and shot up in her bed. "You have a visitor." She said opening the door and waiting for Alexa to get up and follow her.

Alexa wasn't sure who it was that had come to visit her. The possibilities weren't endless. She only had three people who visited her so often. But out of those three, she wanted only one person to be on the other side of the glass. As she entered the visitor's room, the officer led her to her window. As she sat down, and a man with light sandy blonde hair with green eyes sat down in front of her. Her breathe caught in her lungs and she couldn't help but grin at the man before her. As they both picked up the phone, a sigh from her end made the man smile.

"Jason." She said his name softly and her love for him could be heard in the way she just said his name.

"I'm sorry I haven't come to visit Alex." There was guilt behind his words. The last time he had visited had been over three months ago.

"I don't blame you, baby." Alexa knew that he was getting his life together. Jason was on his way to becoming a cop. And to have his girlfriend in jail, it made things complicated. Jason's family has always been in the military or police force. And no one could talk him out of doing one or the other. Alexa knew she couldn't get him to change his mind. "This was my fault. And you did what you had to." She ran her hand through her hair.

"Alexa I never thought you would be in here this long. I should have just bailed you out that day instead of leaving you."

Alexa's chest tightened. She hated that day with a passion. Shaking her head she placed her hand on the glass watching him. "You did what you thought was right. I needed to learn a lesson and well... I'm dealing with it."

"If you were dealing with it the right way, you wouldn't be in solitary almost every month." Even on the other side of the glass, Alexa could hear his voice raise. She had to move the phone away from her ear for a second.

Tears of anger began to fall from her eyes. "Let me guess, Vanessa went and told you that." Alexa of course had been keeping it from him. Even in the letters they had written, never once did Alexa mention she was ever in solitary.

"You can tell your sister but not me?" Hurt laced his voice and it made Alexa look away from him and bring her hands down to her side. Jason had watched as she looked away from him. As much as he loved the girl before him, it still hurt him to hear she had been keeping things from him. This is what got her into this mess in the first place.

"I didn't tell you because I knew it would worry you more...I coul- can't do that to you." She finally brought her eyes up to him. "I love you too much to have to see you worry about me all the time."

"Isn't that what got you into this me-"

"Alexa! Wake up!" Vanessa shook her sister trying to get her to get up. There was worry and fear in Vanessa. "Please Ali, get up!" Several shakes later, Alexa was up and staring at a tear eyed version of herself.

"What is it?" Alexa asked sitting up. The mode of big sister kicked in and Alexa had her arms wrapped around her sister worrying about what was going on with Vanessa.

"You've been sleeping all day. I've called your name several times. I had even left to go fishing and when I came back you were in the same exact position you were in the first time I checked on you. I was sure you would have been up by now." Vanessa was always one to worry about her sister. Even when no one else worried, she worried way much more.

A sigh of relief passed through Alexa's lips as she comforted her sister. If it had been Vanessa sleeping that long, Alexa would have freaked out the same way. She rubbed her sister's back letting her calm down.

"I can’t get taken away that easily." Alexa said with a small chuckle. "Look at everything I have been through. There is no way I would get a peaceful death like that."

"Alexa!" Vanessa yelled as she pushed herself away from her sister. "You can’t talk like that. I thought you were dead. You had a few hours out of jail and I thought you were gone."

Alexa couldn't help but laugh. "Relax Nessa. I've just been becoming a heavy sleeper. It takes a good bang on a cell door to wake me. We don't have that out here." It was in that second that Alexa looked around. The sky wasn't bright like it should have been for earlier in the day. It looked like it was getting dark. "What time is it?"

"It’s almost 9 pm." Vanessa replied. "That's why I was so freaked out."

"Huh." Alexa said as she moved away from her sister, looking around. Something in Alexa felt wrong. She had never been the one to sleep that long before. Confusion written well on her face, Alexa had forgotten that Vanessa had just been crying seconds ago.

“Ali?” There was worry in Vanessa’s tone. “What is it?” Vanessa wiped at her eyes. Her cheeks red from the slight breeze hitting her damp skin.

“Nothing. “ Alexa replied as she stood up and got out of the tent. There was a feeling in her bones that she did not like at all. There was a sinking feeling in her stomach. The feeling of something bad was about to happen was overwhelming.

“It’s not ‘nothing’ Ali,” Vanessa took a step towards Alexa. “It’s written all over your face.” Vanessa could see the look that had taken place on Alexa’s face. There was something in Alexa’s eyes that caused Vanessa to worry. The last time she had seen that look, they had been five.

Shaking her head and giving Vanessa a smile, she turned her head towards the fire. She needed to change the subject and needed to get Vanessa to stop worrying about her for a few minutes while she sorted out the feeling in her stomach. “You did bring marshmallows, right?”

“Yes…”Vanessa eyed Alexa carefully before walking to the ice chest they had brought along. A sigh of relief had passed Alex’s lips as her distraction worked. She couldn’t handle another round of questions when she didn’t even fully understand what was going on with herself.

Taking a step towards the fire, the feeling in Alexa’s stomach never left. The unsettling feeling that came over from the moment she woke up left her feeling scared. For the first time in years, Alexa was afraid. She just didn’t know what she was afraid of.

As Vanessa returned to the fire pit with Marshmallows in hand, Alexa tried her best to put the feeling to the back of her mind. She needed to be here in the moment, spending time with her sister. As the girls sat there enjoying the night, in the distance, the sound of several wolves howling could be heard.