Cynthia had responsibilities, she took accountability for her family, it was her job to look after her friends; their safety would always be on her mind, she felt a duty to look after and protect everyone she cared for. Her ma saw that, perhaps the reason why she was happy for her to spend the winter break abroad with some friends; her vigilant and preservative nature made her all the more deserving of a minibreak. Cynthia was very grateful for her Ma, and she was grateful for Cynthia. They had a strong co-dependency that would never break. She thought about that as she looked in the mirror, she was brushing her ash-blonde hair; it was silky and velvety, going down to her shoulders and swaying elegantly when she turned her head. She’d be taking a cruise for the first time in her life, yet alone a V.I.P ticket, she wanted to look the part. Putting on her ruby lipstick and blush, she looked like a star out of a Broadway musical, and she knew it; the fact was rewarding. In her bedroom sat a suitcase, bulging from the content within, Cynthia’s mother always made sure to be well prepared. On the bed was a sangria blouse, one that matched her lipstick, light grey jeans, ones that matched her hair and a yellow hair bow, that complimented her amber eyes. Attached to the hook of the door was a cream-colored jacket, a present from her mother on for her 13th birthday; she held it close to her, it reminded Cynthia of her mother.
Aiden’s father had offered to take them to the Boscouche Coast after a while of convincing, she hadn’t heard the full report back, but she was told that Mr Wyatt may have had some conditions for the journey, she would have to find out once she got there. She put on her earmuffs, her lucky bracelet – another gift from her mother - and left for the door, taking the suitcase with her; struggling under its weight. Her mother was waiting in the car, getting out to help her put the suitcase in the trunk. She sighed as she sat down in the car, that thing was heavier than it looked. She was glad that everyone would be able to come, some parents were harder to convince than others, though the tickets certainly piqued their interest. Only Aiden wasn’t 100% on board, he was still suspicious of the whole ordeal, but he did need a reason to get out of the house for the winter, so he decided to tag along. This news put Cynthia in a jovial mood, Aiden was the heart of the group and the very glue that put it together, everyone was important, now that Cynthia thought about it, Magnus was the motivator; in tough times he’d always know what to say, and when to say it, he was wise. Lucia was the brains, she was quite the overachiever, and her knowledge always helped the group thrive and push forward in tough times. Cynthia saw herself as the mother of the group, the therapist and someone who would always catch you when you fell, her loyalty would never be eclipsed by anyone else. “Are you ready to go Cece?” Her mother asked, getting into the driver's seat.
“Always am!”
(...)
The car arrived at the Wyatt estate at dusk, where she could see all her friend waiting for her. She gazed at the house before her in awe, it was huge. As she grabbed her suitcase with her mother’s help, she found herself still in a fixated gaze at the home before her. She crossed the road and made it to Aiden who was deep in conversation with Lucia, he was wearing a navy turtleneck and black jeans, his coffee-brown hair was slicked back, with gold star-shaped sunglasses sitting comfortably on top. Lucia was wearing a black minidress and low heel shoes, her hair was tied back in a bun. Her outfit matched her eyepatch, which impressed Cynthia quite a lot, she still kept the peculiar Sun-Eye pin on it however, sitting in the middle of her eyepatch as if it was seeing for her. If Cynthia thought she looked like 1 million dollars, her friends were taking the cake for best looking of the night. Cynthia’s mother handed Aiden’s father the suitcase, looking visibly surprised at the sheer size of it, his shocked demeanour becoming even more present after holding it. He hastily moved it to the trunk of his jeep, slamming the door with a deep exhale, Magnus came out from the car to greet Cynthia. “Hey! You look amazing!” He complimented, “Oh? Thank you!” she blushed, Magnus was wearing a white polo shirt underneath a beige plaid waistcoat, he had brown jeans that was accompanied by his signature white blutcher shoes. His chocolate hair was curlier than usual. “You look great also,” Cynthia smiled, “I’m happy to hear, I wasn't sure about the waistcoat” he laughed, Cynthia joined in. Magnus looked up at the sky, which was a gradient of gold and a deep blue, there was not a single cloud in sight, the sky looked endless to him. “The sky looks nice,” he said. “I think it’s the blue hour, happens when the sun is below our horizon slightly,” Cynthia mentioned. “Oh? That’s cool,”
“Yeah, it is,”
“You’d think I’d see more of the sky like this, considering I do like the outdoors”
“You only go outside when it rains, that’s why,”
Magnus shrugged, Cynthia wasn’t too fond of the rain, she found it ‘tacky’, Magnus knew the direction of that conversation and decided to cut it off short; he had no interest in starting another petty debate.
“Alright kids, I’m sure you already know by now that if you want me to drive you to Maine, I’m going to ask for one thing in return,” Mr Wyatt started. He stepped aside from the front door, the other side of which was quite nebulous from the hour and dim lighting from within the house. From within the shadows of the abode, a familiar boy emanated. He had Aiden’s hair and eyes, but a more sinister smile. Jake Wyatt. Lucia could feel her blood boil at the sight of him, he wore a white leather jacket white cargo pants and even whiter sneakers, he had rimless glasses that brought out his emerald-green eyes. Cynthia had to admit it, he looked good. “Well, my condition is that you’re going to have to take Jake with you,” Mr Wyatt finished. Aiden snapped his fingers, “I’m afraid that won’t be possible father, to say we don’t get along well would be an understatement,” he said, ignoring the impertinent scoffs from his brother. “If you don’t bring your brother along, then you can't go, capiche?” Jake walked up to Aiden, “If you want to continue your little ‘vacation’ you’re going to have to bring me along” he chimed, “Not even father wants you around the house it seems,” Aiden giggled, Jake thought about that statement for a moment contemplating the veracity of it, he turned to Mr Wyatt for confirmation, who was staring into the distance, whistling. He slapped his head in embarrassment. “Regardless of the intentions, I'm coming with you, whether you like it or not,”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“We don’t,” Magnus sighed, “I know you don’t, that fact makes this all the more enjoyable for me!” He laughed as he placed his suitcase in the trunk and taking a seat in the car. “I’m not sitting next to that, guy,” Cynthia started, “I'm taking any seat that isn’t next to him,”
“You can sit next to me, in the back row,” Magnus offered, opening the door, “Sounds good to me,” she said, rushing to her seat, making sure Lucia didn’t decide to swipe it from her. “It looks like you two will be next to me!” Jake laughed, pointing at Aiden and Lucia, he focused sights on Lucia more deeply, turning his head in intrigue. “The hell happened to you?” He asked, pointing at her eyepatch, he got no answer, except a mundane face staring at him with disappointment. Magnus tapped his shoulder, “The perfume bottle,” he whispered, “Oh, right, yeah forgot about that one,” Jake scratched his head. Lucia and Aiden took their seats in the car, Jake sitting between the two, being the only one smiling in the entire car. Mr Wyatt took the driver’s seat with Cynthia’s mother, Mrs Lopez, sitting next to him. “Are we ready to go? We haven’t forgotten anything have we?” Mr Wyatt asked. Silence. “I'll take that as a no then!” He guffawed. The car’s engine started up and the car began to set off.
(...)
Two hours into the journey was already exhausting everyone. Everyone except Jake, who had his arms over Aiden’s and Lucia’s shoulders merrily, “Isn’t this great? A nice road trip between good buddies,” The white glow of the rising moon spread around the interior of the car, making everything glow brighter and even making Cynthia’s hair shine with a unique silvery aesthetic; Magnus couldn’t take his eyes of it. However, Aiden and Lucia were brooding, their situation got ever so more infuriating by the second. “Oh, come on, stop looking so monotonous guys, you’re killing my vibe,”. They both gave him a virulent side-eye, Jake shook his head, how could he liven up everyone, he looked out the window from over Aiden’s shoulder; an idea began to form in his mind. “Hey guys, I have a question, how does the moon cut its hair?”, they all looked at him with mild interest, “Eclipse it” He started to titter at his own jokes, Magnus and Cynthia snickered slightly, Lucia glared at them. “You know, I heard something that happened in a school close to ours, there was a kid-napping,” he said solemnly, “Oh? That’s terrible!” Mrs Lopez said, frowning, Jake nodded “Thankfully, he woke up,” giggling even more. Magnus and Cynthia snickered even louder, despite Lucia still glaring at them, Aiden pinched himself to stop himself from laughing. His laughter was funnier than the witty puns, “There’s nothing I like more than sleeping through a road-trip, but they’re always saying ‘keep your eyes on the road!’” Jake laughed. Mr Wyatt and Mrs Lopez chuckled even more, Aiden took a deep breath, struggling to contain his laughter. Magnus looked down, covering his mouth with his hands and punching the back of Jake’s seat, while Cynthia bit her lip, her eyes beginning to water. Jake turned to his father, “Knock knock,” he said, “Who’s there?” Mr Wyatt asked,
“RV,”
“RV who?”
Jake was struggling to finish the joke over his laughter, “RV there yet?” He said before chortling at his own pun again. “Stop it man, you’re killing me here!” Magnus cackled, Cynthia covered her face, giggling. Aiden was pinching himself harder. “Okay, okay, one more!” Jake insisted, straightening up again, “Just a piece of advice, Kilometres are shorter than miles so take your next road trip in kilometres!” They all burst into hysterics, Aiden slapped Jake’s shoulder, “Stop, please, no more!” He cried, hooting. “Kilometres, it’s genius!” Mr Wyatt laughed, Mrs Lopez’s head on the air vent, weak from all of the jokes. Even Lucia allowed herself a faint smile, “this changes nothing between us you know,” She turned to Jake with a face unserious, “Oh, I know, I just wanted to take care of the humdrum atmosphere, now it’s my vibe,” he smiled back.
(...)
Another 3 hours passed, 2 more to go, Mr Wyatt decided to swap seats with Mrs Lopez who was now at the driver’s seat. Lucia, Aiden, Jake and Magnus were fast asleep. Cynthia was looking out of the window, staring at the ongoing cars moving by, they moved so fast, their headlights looked like beams of lights, the sight was mesmerising. It was dark but she could still make out the silhouettes of snowy trees, and the odd cottage or two swimming in the vast green, yellow and white, isolated from the rowdiness of the city, free to live in their own bubble, with the sheep and horses for company. She replaced her earmuffs with her headphones and played some synthwave, picturing any distant futuristic city that would welcome her with open arms. It was a dream of hers, and used to be an escape plan, wouldn’t it be nice? She grinned, satisfied with the thought, and laid her head on Magnus’s shoulder, and slowly fell into a deep slumber.
(...)
"Wakey, wakey!” A shoulder shook them each by the shoulder, waking them up, one by one. “We’re here!”. Lucia was the first to wake up with a yawn, noticing that the car was no longer vibrating, they had stopped. She looked at her watch. 00:00. Interesting. She looked around, seeing all her friends waking up slowly. She looked out of the windshield to see more cars than there were days in a year, all lined up at the docks, some people were outside, stretching their legs, or eating a snack. Before them was a sign that said “A1 Boscouche Port”, ahead of all of the cars were colossal scaffolding which continued on into the darkness of midnight. The moon crested at the vertex of the sky. “According to the website, and your tickets, the Voyager should be arriving any minute now...” Aiden said, “Sure Aiden, sure, that’ll explain why we can’t see absolutely anything!” Magnus hissed, “I said according to the WEBSITE,” Aiden retorted, turning to face Magnus, Jake turned Aiden’s head and pointed into the distance, “The website must have been mistaken, you need better sources” He laughed “Can’t see a boat from miles out.” Aiden rolled his eyes and went back to sleep. Lucia continued reading the journal, she brought the entire box with her, perhaps it could be of some value in London. “Quantum tunnelling, that sounds pretty cool,” She thought to herself as she read. She could feel the breath of someone looming over her shoulders, she turned to look, it was Jake once again “What are you reading?” He asked, with interest provoked, “Back off, man, I have no words for you,” She hissed.
“Wow, you’re feeling touchy, so rude for absolutely no reason,”
“You don’t stimulate happiness at all, you deserve this treatment,”
“Is it the eyepatch? If it makes you feel better, I’m sorry you ran into the perfume bottle, I should have considered the fact you have shambolic dodging abilities,”
“Why you little-” before Lucia could continue, the blaring sound of a horn echoed through the port, if Lucia wasn’t sure if everyone was awake, she sure was now. “Hah! Told you,” Aiden laughed, and the lights of a ship began to take shape in the distance, “Now who’s the one with the poor sources?” he asked pressing at Jake’s chest with a condescending finger. He rolled his eyes. “Well would you look at that,” Mrs Lopez started, “It’s quite the beauty, I must say, really big too” Mr Wyatt gawked. The horn blared once again, roaring in all its thunderous glory, Cynthia could feel the horn causing the car to quiver from its sheer force. Magnus stood up from his seat and pointed to the vessel with beaming pride
“BEHOLD! The A.U Voyager!”