The Family Secret

Chapter Eight

Walking into the store right now I tried to remain calm. I kind of found it funny because the mini-mart reminded me of a 99 cent store. Mostly I was thankful because it was easy for all of us to keep an eye on each other. Two of us were at one end of the aisle while the others were at the beginning of it. I was in control of the cart we had.

While walking through the aisles with Lelia I became very fascinated with my jacket. All of us had the same one and I guess they all had the same amount of compartments inside. Could come in handy. Just as I zipped up my jacket Leila tosses and for flashlights and packs of batteries. It's like she read my mind.

Jon walks up to the cart with four boxes in his hands and drops them one by one into the cart, "Brown, black, blond and red. I figured we could do this at a motel or something."

All of us together go to the next aisle. I grabbed a case of water and energy drinks. Lelia grabbed various snacks and little meals for us.

However, I've noticed Heather walking up to us with a nervous look on her face, "What's the matter?"

She held out a photo album and a Polaroid camera. Heather tries to explain to us without crying, "I just thought that giving our situation right now. We could try and - !"

"Make the best out of a bad situation," Lelia replied.

Heather answers, "Yeah." She sniffles, "I know it's stupid!"

Jon gives her a hug, "It's not stupid." He then takes the camera from Heather as all of us get together for a picture.

Lelia and I agreed that Heather's idea was not stupid. Until we get to wherever the hell it is that we are supposed to be. All we have is our good memories, the hope we'll see our families again, and each other to keep us going. I handed Lelia the keys, "You and Heather go gas up and meet us out front. Jon and I will check out."

"We'll be back here in about 10 minutes," Lelia replied.

I smiled as I snapped a photo of them as they walked out. Jon starts putting things on to the conveyor belt when I noticed he was in deep thought. I told him, "Penny for your thoughts."

He looks up at me, looks back down at the conveyor belt and then asks, "Where would you have seen yourself in 10 years if today's events didn't happen?"

I looked at Jon a little confused. What's going on? "Are you asking? Or are you asking seriously?" I wondered.

"I'm asking seriously Taylor." He answered in a serious tone. "Where would you see yourself in 10 years?"

"Um. I would go to the best art school in the country, so I could become an art teacher. But mostly, I really want to be a mother. What about you?"

"I would have attended college at CMU and played football. Years later I would help to start coaching there. And -"

"And what?"

"Ask you to marry me?"

I was taken back by what he just said. Jon and I had only known each other for 9 months. And we've been together for 7 months. In those 7 months, we've never really deeply expressed how we felt about each other. "Jon-!"

His hands were shaking as he tried to explain, "With whoever it is that's hunting us down. It's making me reflect on a lot of things. And it's making me realize that I don't want to live with the possibility of not knowing. I now realize that I want to live life every day as if it were my last. And if it's today, next week, or a year from now."

"I want to know that with each day I'm alive I want to know that I spent those days being married to you." I held my hand over my heart. I felt as if my heart was going to come flying over my chest. Jon then tells me, "I've never cared for someone so much in my life. Until I met you, Taylor."