Acceptance

“You are not one of our authorized ships. State your business in these parts.” an authoritative voice came from a small speaker in the c***pit.
I glance over at Toby. We just entered System 10. He put a finger to his lips and responded. “Hey, it's Toby Rowan with Lila and a trustworthy friend.”
“Toby? Good grief, what you doing back here?”
“What do you mean?” Toby responded. I opened my mouth to speak but Toby put his hand over my mouth.
“It's a week-long fly to Planet 169372, you only been gone a week and a half. Your mother will have a lot of questions, young man.”
Toby sighs. “I know, I know. Where should we land?”
“Hanger C. I'll have you mother be waiting there for you.”
“It'll take us an hour to get there.” Toby objected.
“We know, but we use it for shipments and new recruits to come in at. The other ones are for battleships. We have you on our scanners. I'm out.”
“Thanks.” Toby responded, but he was greeted with nothing.
“So, how'd he know your name?” I question.
“Um, I'm a bit of a trouble maker. Everyone knows me from yelling at me. Seriously, wait till you see the base. It is pretty awesome. There's loads of snow, and some really big tall pine trees. There's four parts, the Living, the Training, the Working, and the Hospital. They're each independent buildings connected by these underground tunnels, called subs. If you go in a sub, you stand on a little metal play firmed surrounded by rails, you put a strap around your waist. It then whizzes off, three hundred miles per hour! It takes you thirty seconds to travel across the planet!”
“Woah.” I whisper. I look out the windows. There isn't much except snow and tall trees. “I forgot what trees looked like.”
“Really? Sort of expected it from a city girl.” Toby jokes.
I nudge him. “Hardly. Where I used to live, it was all boring plains with hardly any trees. But, we were never hungry.”
“Neat.” said Toby. “I only had ever been to Moliali. My home looks like ocean. Endless ocean. Islands tend to come up in clusters, one as big as a small town, the others just big enough for a house. Nobody has cars, everyone has boats to go to island to island. School got shut down whenever there was a storm because it was too dangerous to travel.”
“Wow. I've never been to school. In the country, we were all so poor and spread out, parents homeschooled their kids. If the parents couldn't, they'd wake their kids up at about five, they walk to school and will be there by seven, before learning all day, coming home, eating, working, then teaching their parents everything they learned. Mom and Dad only knew the basics, but they taught me more. They taught me how to tell when a storm's coming, how to be near people, what plants are safe, how to be kind, and honest, and good. But, I don't trust anyone. Not anymore. When Cawlo came, I trusted that nothing bad would happen. Then when he killed them… I haven't trusted anyone since.”
“Not even me?” Toby whispers.
“I'm getting there.”
Soon, we land. I stare in awe at the ships and most people ignore us. Except for on woman. She was tall and sturdy, with blonde hair pulled into a bun. “Toby Andrew Rowan!” She screamed. She starts stomping over. “What were you thinking! Running off like that is bad enough, especially taking Lila with! You have better judgement than that! You're behind in your classes, and let alone that I'm trying to train newbies and were expecting an attack any day now so we must get our defenses up and then you run off and I'm behind from trying to find you!”
“Sorry?” Toby says. He holds out Lila.
The woman softens. “Oh, Lila Rose Rowan.” She whispers. She strokes Lila’s cheek. “Toby, grounded. Two months.” She says. “Oh, my little baby.” She whispers to Lila.
“Um, Mom, this is Teresa. She helped me get back, look, she stole a battle-home.”
His mother smiled at me. “Teresa, thank you for getting him home. Is there anything i can do to repay you?”
“Um, no, I just need to get home.” I respond.
Toby’s mom softens. “I can't send you home Teresa. If Cawlo takes you prisoner, he'll get the planet number out of you.”
I look at her hard. “He would kill me.”
“Teresa, trust me. I'll get you a room here, I'll get you in classes, I'll make sure you're comfortable here, trust me.”
“I appreciate the offer, but really, I must get back to Moliali.”
“Teresa, please. We need you.” She begs.
I start to get upset. “No, really, I must go back to Moliali. My parents thought it was safer and they died getting me there. I must go back.And besides, no one ever needs me. All I do is get people killed. Seriously, it's by God’s grace that I got Toby back.”
The woman looks at me with sad eyes. “Teresa, really, I can't stop you from going back. But, I will try with all my might.”
I look at Lila, with hair so light you can hardly see it and the biggest brown eyes you've ever saw. I look at the woman, her brown eyes shining with tears, begging me to stay. I glance at Toby, and look at him. Really look at him. He's not emotional, but the electric lights make his hair darker, more brown. He doesn't have brown eyes like his mother and sister, but he has green. Sharp, emerald, green. The way he holds himself appeals to me. My first impression was that he was a wimp, but now I see he's holding himself up. He's fighting strong, realizing he must hold his mother and sister up. He stands firm, yet calm. He's strong, but not like a bully. A safe strong. He doesn't have much to him, but he fights with words. Right now, I can tell he's planning on saying something to me that will make me cry. “Fine.” I blurt. “I'll stay, but no longer than I have to.”
His mother smiles. “Thank you Teresa. I swear, when this is over, I'll get you a home and get you back into school.”
I look at my feet. “I don't go to school. I live on my own. I hold a job.”
She nods. “I'll get you a new job then. Oh, is there a nickname I should call you?”
“Resa. My mom always said Teresa was too proper for me. So, I've always been Resa.”
“You can call me Amanda.” Toby’s mom respond. “You can stay in our room, if you'd like.”
I shrugged. “Sure.” I was just so tired, I didn't really care.
Amanda sensed that. “It's getting late, how about we wind down?”
I silently agree. We walk down the hall. “We're in the Training Sector right now.” Amanda explains. “In those gyms and weight rooms, we train our soldiers. We have five classrooms, one for body, one for military tactics, one for adult classes, and one for kids and one as daycare. There are thirty kids living on base, twenty of school age. They attend classes all day. Here we are,” Amanda swipes a card and a small door opens. In it is a metal platform. “I'll take Lila, then you Resa, then Toby. Hold on tight. She steps onto the platform, straps her and Lila in, before whizzing off. It took my breath away. Then it was my turn. I step on the platform and strap myself in. I look at the long gray expanse ahead of me. I strap myself in before pressing a button. I whizz off, my waist length hair fly out of its twin braids. I expected I would laugh, cry out in joy. But it’s so stunning, i stay silent. That’s all i really remember from that night. I was so exhausted from the days of flying, all i wanted to do was sleep. The one thing i do remember is thinking, Do trust Toby?

Sabea and Shawn

Soon enough, I'm sitting in a classroom, ready to start my new day of school. “Resa!” Toby beckons me from across the room. He's by a red haired boy. I get up and walk over. “Resa, this is Shawn. Shawn, this is Teresa. Everyone calls her Resa.”
Shawn smiles. “Hey Resa.” Toby and Shawn start talking about boyish things, so I slid back over to my desk. The room is loud, with one big group of girls in the front and boys in the back. Little groups of two of three are scattered about. Shawn and Toby are the only ones that look my age. Wait, Amanda said there were three kids, including Toby that were my age. Me and one other girl are the only ones not with anyone. The girl must be around my age. The girl sitting alone and is small and skinny with thin black hair. Her clothes hang loosely around her, and she keeps glancing around anxiously. Toby comes over and sit beside me. “Who's that?” I ask, gesturing to the small girl.
“Oh, that's just Sabea.” Toby says idly.
“Okay, but like, who-who is she? Where are her parents? Where's she from?”
Toby looks at me sadly. “Sabea is a bit… off. Her mom died when she was born, and she came here with her dad. Well, her dad disappeared in battle. We all thought he was dead, and that messed her up a bit. Turns out, he was a traitor. He's with the Blonez now.” The Blonez is an evil group trying to take over our horrible government. We're battling them so we can take over the government. “Well, kids started accusing her of being a traitor too. Adults sort of looked at her like she was bad. She stopped talking a month ago. Everything she said to protect herself was used as ammunition against her. People sort of ignore her now.”
“Oh.”, is all I said. Sabea’s story was an example of what could happen if I talked about my family.
The day whizzed by. I hung out with Toby mostly, but talked to the girls. However, I liked very few of them. Most of them were sissies who wouldn't do anything fun. Ironic, how they're living on probably the most dangerous place in the universe, yet they're all scared. I tried to talk to the boys, but they either ignored me or kept bugging me to teach them how to fly. So, I stayed away from them. Toby was nice though, and Shawn was alright too. Shawn and Toby are obsessed with planes. Seriously, they talk about planes like how people used to talk about cars.
At the end of the day, I realized I'd at least said hi to everyone, except Sabea. I approached her. “Hi.” I said, feeling unsure, but I think I sounded confident.
She turned around. Her black eyes looked at me sadly. “Hi.” Sabea said softly.
“I'm Teresa. Everyone calls me Resa. I'm new here.” I try, hoping she'll open up.
“I know.” Sabea glances around anxiously. “I eavesdrop a lot. I watch too.”
“Cool.” Is all I think to say.
“I heard Toby say that he met you cursing Cawlo in the street. Who's Cawlo?” Sabea blurted.
Is she for real? “Cawlo is the leader of Blonez. He was raised on Planet 879027, system four, about a day's drive from Moliali. He left home when he was eighteen. He was always a businessman, and when he  noticed Blonez rising, he joined. As he worked his way up the ranks, Blonez became more evil, and so did he. When he was twenty, he was pure evil and murdered his parents. That was one year ago.”
“There's a part of the story you aren't telling.” Sabea asked.
“No, there isn't.” I insist. “He's evil, I hope to never meet him.”

The woods

“Resa, cmon. Please, the pool’s great. It's where all the kids go on days off. Please!” Toby whined.
“Toby, I'm going to the woods. You realize I've never seen snow and hardly ever seen trees. Besides, winter is coming, then it'll be too cold. Next week, okay?” I argue.
“What's wrong with swimming.” Toby muttered under his breath. I ignore it. Toby rolls his eyes. “Fine! We’ll go to the woods.”
I smile triumphantly. “Let's go.”
We tug on winter gear and head outside. The cold air blasts my face and clears my lungs. I see about a mile away, across this flat, snowy plain, the woods. “Come on!” Toby exclaims, voice muffled. “We don't have much time until lunch.”
“Then we’ll head back out.” I argue.
“Fine.” Toby seems to cold to argue.
We trek across the snow to the woods. We walk around for a while, before we take a break. We lay side by side in the snow, looking at the clear blue sky as it starts to flurry. Toby pulls down his scarf. “So, how do you like it here?” He asks.
“It's alright. I mean, I want to go home, but here's okay.”
“You want to go back to that old Moliali?” Toby responded.
“No, that isn't home. The country is. My house in the country. The farm. That's home, not Moliali or here.”
“Why not go back?”
I shrug. “Too hard for one kid to run a farm. I have no money, no seeds, no animals and no job. Plus, the house burned down.”
“How?” Toby sounded alarmed.
“After my parents died, I managed to get home. Cawlo wanted to finish the job he started I guess, and he lit the house up. One kid can't put out a fire, and the nearest adult was five miles away. All I grabbed was my dad’s knife and this,” I pull out of my shirt an old, heavy, silver locket. I open it and there's a picture of my parents. “My dad gave the locket to my mom as a wedding gift. The morning of the day they died, my mom gave it to me. You know, just in case something would happen to them.”
“Which something did.” Toby said.
“Yeah. All our stuff was destroyed. Most of our stuff was at the house, which burned, and the little that didn't us who knows where. People like to steal.”
“Well, is Planet 879027 is so bad, why'd you stay? If you learned to fly fast enough to get me out, you could have gotten yourself out. Why not leave?”
“My parents died getting me to Moliali. It just seemed unloyal to leave.”
“Well, I'm sure they could cope with having you move. They probably wanted you to be safe. Why not come live with me, Mom, and Lila?”
“Maybe. I don't know,” is all I say.
Toby glances at his watch. “Come on, we have to go back for lunch.”
We hurry back, eat lunch and then go out again. We explored the woods and are heading slowly back for dinner. We're in the middle of the plain when we hear alarms from the base. “Oh no.” Toby whispers.
“What?” I exclaim, alarmed.
“Were under attack.”
“By who!”
“Probably Blonez. C’mon we've probably got thirty seconds till they come.”
“Back to the woods!” I say.
“No! Base is safer!”
“No, the woods!” I argue. I'm facing Toby and the woods when I hear a crunch of snow behind me. We both then and run.I run harder, faster than I've ever run in my life. I hear someone's chasing me and I have a gut feeling who it is. I dash into the woods, but instead of the feeling of safety I'd been expecting, i felt impending danger. Toby stopped and turned towards me. "Resa, it's Cawlo! He's right behind you!" Toby screamed.
I stopped running and turned around slowly. Cawlo was standing there, wearing black flowing clothes. "Resa, we aren't done yet." Cawlo said.
Toby ran in between Cawlo and me. "What do you mean, 'aren't done yet'?" Toby growls.
Cawlo smiles. "Resa, you didn't tell him our little secret? Oh, that's too bad. He'll never know, we must go now."
Toby looks at me panicked. "Resa, what's he saying?"
Cawlo smirks, "Resa, send your friend away. You're coming with me." I see him fingering the gun on his belt. I know it won't be me he shots.
"Toby, go!" I command, my voice breaking.
"No, he'll hurt you!" Toby hollered.
"No, he won't!" I cry. "He'll kill you Toby!"
"Why wouldn't he hurt you?" Toby screams.
"He's my brother!" I scream back.
Toby looked at me with fear and distrust before running deeper into the woods, leaving me with the enemy, my own brother Cawlo.

End of Part One

Hey readers! Thank you SO much for checking out Family Relations. I've already started Part Two, so don't freak out. If you want more of my writing, check out my poem, "Why Me" (it's under Anonymous, Myerstown) or pretty please with a cherry on top contribute to the forums I posted! This will let you help me write Part Two. Thanks for reading, please comment!