“Come on Rose, hurry up. We're leaving!” My sister Madison barked from the bottom of the stairs. I voiced a small grunt in response before returning to my room with a few personal items in hand. I was just packing up the last few essential things into my duffel bag. Which already overflowed with partially folded clothes and electronics I could manage to stuff in it. I wouldn't be surprised if the zipper broke off and took my eye out once I crammed it closed. After I was sure I packed what I needed, with a little bit of strength I could muster, I finally let out a strained sigh as the bag zipped up.
“I said hurry-”
“I heard you the first time!” I yelled down the staircase, rounding the corner with my bag strapped to my shoulder. Stomping down the steps, I got to the bottom to turn towards Madison with a look of irritation. "Do you always have to be such a loudmouth?"
My sister rolled her eyes and huffed. “Do you always have to be so slow? God you're always a latecomer.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I muttered.
She only scoffed in a snarky sort of tone. “Well you are the baby of the family, so it’s only natural you come in last place.”
With a look that could kill, I gave my eldest sister the evil eye before letting her remark go. But not without cursing under my breath the whole time. Even after all these years of living with her, she still manages to get under my skin somehow. Madison simply folded her arms in victory, whipping her blonde locks over her shoulders before heading up the stairs. For me, I simply ignored her presence to get myself ready for the journey ahead.
My family and I are preparing to leave for a road trip to the woodland mountains. It’s going to be our first getaway vacation to the Miller's cabin in seven years. I would be lying if I didn’t admit I was a little eager to be going there again. So many memories that bring instant nostalgia back to mind. These days I never get out because of preparations for college. I’ve been so busy to the point I forget relaxation exists. This trip is going to be well deserved as long as I get to be far far away from the city. Better yet, unbothered by my annoying sister.
After getting my shoes tied, I stood to my feet and opened the front door. Heading for the packed SUV, my middle sister Kylie sat patiently in the backseat.
"Ok, I'm ready to go." I retorted to my sister as I threw my bag in the trunk. Kylie glanced away from her phone and gave me a look of confusion.
"We're still waiting for mom and dad to come back from the store. They said it might be a while."
"Then why is Madison demanding me to hurry up?"
"I don’t know, because she be like that?" Kylie commented with a smirk playing on her lips.
I rolled my eyes toward the back of my head, feeling defeated. 'At least I'm ready to go now.'
Waiting on my parents to come back, I sat next to Kylie inside the quiet car. The lukewarm breeze blowing gently through the open windows. All I could hear were the trees fluttering in the wind and the soft clicking sounds of Kylie's fingertips tapping away at her phone. Looking down at it, I smirked.
"Talking to your boyfriend?"
Kylie gave me a look of suspicion before hiding her phone from my view. "If it were, it ain't your business."
I snickered in amusement as I knew I was probably right. Her and my sister Madison have nothing better to do with their time but get boyfriends and sometimes work on their career. As for me, I'm just not interested in the dating life. I’m much more interested in working on my next milestone.
Being out of high school for a few months and beginning my first semester of college this coming fall, the last thing on my mind are boys. At least not any of the ones I meet or know from school. With this trip to the Miller's old cabin, the memories of my adventures there weren't the only things coming to mind. I couldn't help but let my thoughts wander back to a certain someone I knew up there. A boy I grew up visiting when our family would travel yearly to the cabin.
Isa Miller was his name. A close friend and somewhat of a crush. He certainly didn't have to be friends with me to be honest. Seeing he was more of a friend to my siblings because they were closer in age. He would be twenty-four this year, at least five years older than me. Me being stuck at the age of nineteen. With two other sisters always competing for his attention, I'm sure I meant nothing to him. Though with a twinge of sadness trailing behind the shadow he left behind all these years, I can't help but feel like I'm lying to myself. If he didn't have to leave so many unanswered questions behind, maybe I wouldn't have cared as much. Especially since his disappearance left everyone shakened.
So many years ago around this month of May, something happened to the both of us that changed my life forever.
One evening all of us kids went outside to play a game of tag together; in a clearing by the lake. I was only twelve at the time, but in my haste of excitement I ran near the edge of the lake, near a drop-off. All it took was one little slip by the edge of the water and down I went without a realization in my mind. It wasn’t much of a fall so much as the trouble was I couldn't swim. I barely made it out of the situation alive. I would have likely drowned before anyone noticed if it weren’t for Isa being the one chasing me while my sisters ran the opposite direction.
Unfortunately during those panicked moments, I lost consciousness. It was Isa who had pulled me out and performed CPR afterwards. Once I was breathing again, I was brought inside to rest for the night. But that next morning it was then that we found Isa was gone. No one could find a trace of him after that night. From search parties to state wide headlines, he vanished like a ghost. It left us in a mess of emotions. Why? Where did he go? What happened? We were shocked and distraught, but more so were his parents. They had nothing to say and couldn’t begin to understand what to do. It was then, our family decided coming back to the cabin was too thought provoking.
It's been seven years since that fateful day and not a single one of us are entirely prepared for our long awaited return. The only reason we've decided to give it a shot is because his parents had invited us to gather again. Something about renovating and redesigning the cabin that has my parents mildly impressed to see the major changes. I'm kind of looking forward to it too. The Miller family were always close friends to our parents and generous. So I'm pretty interested in reuniting with them.
As I stared off into space, the sound of a car horn peaked my attention. It was my parents pulling into the driveway. Being a handy helper, I got out to see what they came home with. My mom was the first to step out and ask me to help load some bags into the car. Her heels clicking on the ground as she marched to the front door. I nodded my head in compliance as I handled a couple of plastic bags full of treats and goodies from the backseat. "Got some snacks for the road?"
"A 5 hour drive with no snacks sounds like a disaster waiting to happen." My father joked as he was getting out next. I let out a snicker, placing the last few bags in the front seat. Lastly I was handed the keys to the SUV from him. "Is everything packed up and ready?"
"Yep." I chimed.
"Go ahead and start the car for me. Your mother and I will be out soon."
I did as he said and got back into the car, sitting back into my seat. Waiting patiently for no more than 10 minutes. In fact, by the time my parents got in with the rest of us, the only person we were waiting on yet was Madison. A small cocky smirk curled my lips as my mother let out a sigh in annoyance. Getting back out, she ran into the house to call for her. A slightly grumpy Madison rolling her eyes came trotting out shortly after. As we were now finally together and buckling up, I turned my head to her and whispered.
"Who's the latecomer now?"
