The Last Alignment: Cry of the Scorpions (27 page)

“
Disrespectful,” Awbrey
repeated, but Hallie talked over her.

“
It was disrespectful to
Sylvia who was wearing herself thin for the five of you, and it was
disrespectful to your grandmother, Emma, Kate,
and
Charles! They were there to
protect you! They dropped everything in order to bring you all
together to make sure that you guys were safe and remained unharmed
until Hektor got here no matter how long that took, but what did
you do?! You completely disregarded it and put all of you at risk
for a selfish reason!”

“
Selfish?!” Awbrey
couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“
Yes, selfish. You were
the ring leader. All of you left the house because of something
that you wanted to do!”

“
Hudson wanted to go and
apologize too!”

“
Awbrey, you’ve already
admitted to everyone that the whole thing was your idea! If you
hadn’t said anything, Hudson never would’ve even thought about
leaving that house for any reason and you know it!” Awbrey started
crying again and no matter how unfair or insensitive she felt her
mother was being, she knew that Hallie was right. If she hadn’t
brought the notion to Hudson’s attention, he wouldn’t have left and
neither would the others. She started sobbing again and Hallie ran
her thumbs right under Awbrey’s eyes before pulling her into a hug.
She wrapped her arms tightly around her mother’s waist.

“
Look, I know that you
feel all kinds of terrible and I promise that I’m not trying to
make you feel worse, honey,” Hallie whispered, “but you’re a
leader. You always have been, but I want you to think before you
decide to do something. You’re at that age where you have to learn
how to distinguish between your wants and your needs. Going to see
Amanda may have felt like a need, but it wasn’t. I understand that
you were hurt because you thought that she was mad at you, but you
and I both know that Amanda was one of the sweetest girls. If you
would’ve told her that you couldn’t tell her why you weren’t there,
she would have trusted you and not asked any questions no matter
how miserable she was at Vancent without you and
Hudson.”

At those last words, Awbrey buried her head
deeper into Hallie’s shoulder and it did in fact make her feel
worse. Amanda was sensitive but tough, and at the end of the day,
Awbrey knew that “fuck you” were words that Amanda would’ve never
even uttered to her worst enemy, let alone her best friends. If
Awbrey would have paid more attention and not gotten so caught up,
then she would have noticed and maybe even been able to prevent all
that had happened. It took everything in her to keep her lips
pursed and to not let out her cries, and Hallie kissed the top of
Awbrey’s head and kept rubbing her back.

“
Flight 482 to Montana now
boarding. I repeat, Flight 482 to Montana now boarding.”

Awbrey squeezed even tighter after hearing
the announcement, inhaling deeply to take in her mother’s scent.
“It’s going to be okay,” said Hallie. “It’s not going to be easy
being away from you, but I’ve been through this before and-”

“
Mom, you can’t compare me
to dad,” Awbrey said trying to change the mood; she didn’t want
them to leave each other in such sadness. “Even if you two were
still married, you would still love me more because I’m your
daughter and firstborn. It’s a scientific fact.”

“
I know,” Hallie laughed,
“but just remembering what it was like with your father with all
the worrying, not knowing, and inconsistent contact…I’ll be okay
this time. I’ll just mother and love the heck out of your brother
and pretend that he’s you.”

That reminded her. “What about you, Andrew,
Grandma, Grandpa Ryan, Grandpa Thomas, and Grandma Linda? I mean,
they have all of the information that was in my file at
school.”

“
Awbrey, we’ll be fine.”
The look in Hallie’s eyes was reassuring, but Awbrey still wasn’t
confident in their safety.

“
I need all of you to join
me over here. Quickly,” called Hektor. He was standing by a huge
window that revealed three large planes behind him. Awbrey let go
of Hallie and by the looks of it, everyone had been having
heart-to-hearts. Natalye and Emma were sitting on a bench, Zander
and Sylvia were walking over while holding each other’s hands, and
Androse appeared to have had a serious conversation with Oren.
Hudson was walking over with Andrew and Awbrey could tell that
there was something very wrong with him. Hudson’s eyes were red and
he stared straight at the ground while he walked.

“
Kate is really upset with
him,” Hallie whispered. “It meant the world to her when she saw
that he was okay, but she’s furious, and not just with Hudson.
She’s mad at all of you. She’ll get over it soon,
though.”

“
But, why is she being so
hard on him,” Awbrey asked. “She knows that it was my
fault.”

“
Kate feels like Hudson
should have stood up as opposed to going along,” said Hallie. “She
was disappointed when you guys said that Androse was the only one
that didn’t want to leave the house.” At that moment, Kate came
around a corner and Awbrey shook her head feeling like she was
being a total bitch all things considered. Once they all huddled
together by Hektor, Awbrey grabbed Hudson’s hand, but he barely
gripped hers back. He loved his grandmother and Awbrey knew how
much it was hurting him that Kate wouldn’t talk to him.

“
Alright,” Kate announced
standing beside Hektor. “I spoke to Marcel, Regina, and Patrick.
Marcel and Sylene are going to stay put until Sylvia gets back to
California, Regina is going to go and stay at Charles’s house with
his wife, Patrick and Allen are going to fly out to California to
meet Marcel so that they can all stay together, and then Hallie and
Andrew are going to stay with Oren, Emma, and I at a guest house
that I have. As far as O’Ryann and Tyler, I’ve been getting nothing
but their voicemails since we left the house. Neither of them will
pick up.”

“
When were they supposed
to meet you all,” asked Hektor.

“
Tonight, actually.
They-”

Hektor held up a hand and Kate stopped
talking. “I will deal with Pamela, O’Ryann, and Tyler personally,
but at a later time. I must be honest with you Sylvia,” he shook
his head. “I am deeply disappointed by the state of your
Alignment.”

“
Me too,” Sylvia concurred
looking ashamed. “I have tried. For years I did my best to hold us
together, but looking back, I don’t think that anything could
have.”

“
We will sort all of that
out later,” said Hektor. “Right now, all that matters is getting
the five of you to Montana. Sylvia, Oren, Kate, Emma, and Hallie, I
thank you for all that you have done in my absence. I trust that as
soon as you all get back to your lives you will do what needs to be
done.”

They all nodded.

“
Where is my grandfather’s
body,” asked Androse, and Awbrey thought that was a good question.
Once Androse had finally gone upstairs to pack, Awbrey watched
Hektor wrap Charles’s body up with a bed sheet and then disappear
for almost an hour without any word as to what he was doing or
where he was going. None of their grandparents questioned it so
neither did Awbrey, but she still wondered.

“
You will know soon
enough,” said Hektor, and a voice came over the intercom once
more.

“
This is the final
boarding call for Flight 482 to Montana. I repeat, this is the
final boarding call for Flight 482 to Montana. The captain will
order for the doors of the aircraft to close in ten minutes. I
repeat, Flight 482-”

“
We have to go,” Hektor
said looking at gate number seven and Awbrey pulled her mother and
brother into a hug and kissed them both. Oren walked over and
joined them, planting a soft kiss on Awbrey’s forehead to which she
smiled, reveling in that last bit of comfort.

All around them she could
hear Sylvia and Natalye crying and the sounds of well wishes as
they were all saying goodbye to one another. It was a lot to take
in and Awbrey looked over at Hudson to see him standing pitifully
by himself and staring at Kate.
That
’
s
it
, she thought. She turned to Kate
intending to tell her off for being so cruel, but as soon as she
did, Kate ran forward and jumped onto her grandson.

“
I’m sorry,” said Hudson,
readily picking her up and finally allowing himself to cry. “I know
that you’re mad at me Grandma, but I promise I won’t do anything
like that ever again for as long as I live.”

“
I know you won’t,
sweetheart,” Kate said kissing him on the cheek, “because if you
do, then you all won’t even have to worry about Mordikin because I
will personally kick-”

“
Kate
,” warned Oren.

“
Sorry,” she said rubbing
the back of Hudson’s head. “Just…be strong, love. And be careful.
All of you,” Kate said letting go of Hudson.

“
Look out for each other,”
Sylvia chimed in. “Use my Alignment as an example of what you don’t
want yours to be. Now, you kids get on over there before Hektor
kills us all from glaring too hard. We’ll be in touch soon.
Somehow.”

~*~*~

The sky was a dark, enigmatic blue and full
of thick, slow-moving clouds. Hudson, Zander, and Natalye were
asleep, and Androse found the view on the other side of his window
more interesting than Awbrey, so she kept to herself. She wanted to
apologize and tell him that she was sorry for not listening and
that she was sorry about Charles, but Awbrey couldn’t shake the
feeling that Androse was pissed off at her. She had tried to make
eye contact with him several times, but he wasn’t having it and so
she settled for resting her head back and closing her eyes.

Wasn’t she just sitting at
her desk in her room working on an essay that she now didn’t even
remember the topic of? Wasn’t she just overflowing with excitement
when everything started and couldn’t wait to dive in? Wasn’t she
just carefree and bored moping around her grandmother’s house? All
of that seemed like ages ago and Awbrey’s mind and conscience was
so messed up that she couldn’t feel anything. She thought about
Amanda, all of the kids at her school that were killed and those
that were hurt, she thought about Charles, and alas, there was
nothing. No tears, no sinking feeling, no shortness of breath, and
no guilt. However, a voice crept up to the front of her brain, and
she realized that it was Hudson’s; “
I need
you to tell me that you recognize the severity of how much our
lives were just changed
.” Awbrey looked
down at her best friend’s head in her lap, and just when she
thought that she was fresh out of tears, they came back.

She should have listened to him. She
should’ve tried harder to see where he was coming from because he
obviously understood something that she hadn’t. It was now that she
realized how often she took Hudson for granted and how she
constantly let his words go in one ear and out of the other. Awbrey
wasn’t sure why she never really took him seriously, but she did
know that she needed to change that. Aside from Hektor, Hudson was
the only person that she would trust. He was all that she had and
she needed him to stand beside her. She lightly scratched the top
of Hudson’s head and whispered to him, “I get it now,” before
leaning back and letting herself fall asleep.

Message from the
Author

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sincerest gratitude to everyone who purchased and read this work.
This is my very first outing and effort as an author, and all
support given is unexplainably appreciated. Thank you.

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