free as a bird.

Stepping off the plane, I scanned the awaiting crowd looking for Dad. I stood up on the tip of my toes and squinted my eyes. I looked over at Daniel quizzically. “I don’t see him.”

“I don’t either,” he said, still looking. “Wait a second – ”

He nodded his head toward the left of the crowd and I saw what he was looking at. A pale boy with dark hair was staring blankly at the people deserting the plane and holding a sign with mine and Daniel’s name on it. I looked back at Daniel and raised an eyebrow. He just shrugged his shoulders and I followed him over to our sign.

“Hi. Uh, I’m Daniel. This is my sister Emilie,” Daniel said, unsure.

“Oh hey! I’m River. Jonathan couldn’t get you guys so he asked me.” I looked down at the sign. “Ah, yeah. Your dad also gave me a sign,” he chuckled.

River; the name danced. It was very unusual. I pulled my eyes back up to his face. He was young, around my age, and very tall. He had soft features which made him look naturally kind. His hair was almost dark as night and tousled about as if he didn’t even give his hair a second thought. But something told me that that was deliberate. I looked up into his eyes and for a moment, our eyes connected but he looked away casually. I thought I saw a smirk grace his lips but I couldn’t be sure because it was gone as fast as it’d come.

“Well, it’s sort of a long drive,” River started, “so we should go get your luggage and head out before rush hour hits.”

“Right,” Daniel replied. “So how do you know our dad?” he asked as the three of us walked toward the luggage return.

“I live right down the road from him. Though, it’s a really small town so everyone knows everyone really.”

A small town? No one told me that. “How small?” I asked River.

“Very small,” he looked and me and smiled. “There’s probably around two thousand people in the whole town.”

My jaw dropped dramatically. River and Daniel laughed. Two thousand? I had more kids in my high school alone back in California. No one ever knew anything about your personal business because there were simply too many people to keep track of; and that’s the way I liked it. In a small town everyone knows what you do, what you need, what you feel. It can get very invasive.

--

We were out of the airport and in River’s car in no time. Daniel sat in the front with River while I got the entire back seat to myself. I decided to maybe attempt reading some more of my book so I pulled it out of my bag and got comfortable.

River turned on the radio and Roll to Me by Del Amitri came on. To avoid looking ridiculous, I sung along in my head, instead of out loud. It was one of those “feel good” songs that are so subjective. Since no one was looking I started mouthing the words and dancing a little but halfway through the chorus I looked up into the rearview mirror and saw River watching me, slightly shaking with laughter. My cheeks burned a little and I looked down, starting on my book again.

“Why couldn’t our dad get us?” I asked all of the sudden. It just struck me to ask.

“Well he took the day off so he could come get you guys. He was really excited that you were coming to stay with him finally.” I sighed mentally. So invasive. “But he got called in for an emergency job. He should be done by the time we get back though.”

I nodded my head and continued reading. But after almost an hour I remembered how much reading in the car made me sick. I started to feel that woozy, clammy feeling and looked out to the road. We were just starting to coast into the foothills of the mountains. We came at the perfect time: the leaves were starting to change color. As we explored further and further into the mountains, the more trees there were and therefore, the more color. It was rather magnificent, really. The deep red, bright orange, and flaming yellow colors made the mountain look as though it were on fire.

I yawned and felt my eyelids start to get heavier. I leaned my head into the palm of my hand and started to doze off. We’d gotten up excruciatingly early that morning and I hadn’t gotten very much sleep so I was out in no time.

--

I woke up when I heard car doors slamming and the trunk opening up. I looked up and wiped the drool away from my face. This must have been Dad’s house. I had never actually been there before. He just always came out to visit us in California. Daniel had flown out here once about a year ago, though.

It was a very nice place. I wouldn’t expect a man like my dad to have such a methodical looking house. The U-curved driveway was covered with red sand. There were aspen trees and pine trees filling the inner curve of the driveway. I saw River dropping off our luggage on the wooden wraparound porch. The house was two stories high and sun yellow.

Wow, I mouthed.

The front door to the house suddenly flew open and Dad came rushing out of the house. His curly brown hair was damp. He must have just gotten out of the shower. He was wearing moccasin slippers, jeans, and a flannel shirt. You could definitely tell he had just gotten off of a job.

“Daniel! Emilie!” he yelled as he bounced off of the porch.

I opened the car door and stepped out. “Hey Dad,” I said as he came and pulled me into a bear hug. Daniel came walking around from the back of the car and got pulled into it.

“Ah, sorry I couldn’t come get you guys. A friend’s car broke down a few miles away and I had to go fix it for him.”

“Oh that’s fine,” Daniel assured. “River’s a pretty cool guy.”

“You have a beautiful house,” I said admiringly.

“Thank you, Emilie,” said Dad proudly.

“Well, if that’s it then I’m outta here,” said River, closing the trunk of his car and walking over to us.

“Oh yeah,” Dad turned to River. “Thanks again. You need a favor or better yet, a mechanic, let me know. It’s no charge next time your family comes into the shop,” he said with a smile.

“That’s very nice of you Mr. Owenn,” River said politely. “It was nice meeting you Daniel, Emilie.” He inclined his head as he said each of our names. He sauntered over to the drivers side of his car and slid in.

“Let’s get your stuff inside! I got you some stuff for your rooms!” Dad exclaimed.

He helped us drag our things up into our bedrooms. Daniel and I had rooms across the hall from each other and Dad’s was downstairs on the main floor. He’d gotten each of us a desk, bedding, curtains, your bedroom essentials.

“I’ll leave you two to unpack,” he said after his story about all the great bargains he made on our furniture.

Most of our things we had already sent weeks earlier through the post and now they were sitting in boxes all over my room. I started off with the biggest task: unpacking my books. I had hundreds of books and whenever I held one, I ended up rereading a few of my favorite pages. I took the half a dozen boxes of books and shoved them over to my new book shelf. One by one I pulled them out and carefully placed them where they belonged.

After a couple hours I had all my books in order. Next on my list was unpacking my clothes. That wouldn't take long at all since I wasn’t nearly as particular about my clothes. But right as I started to unload my stomach gave out a huge rumble.

“Hey, Em,” Daniel popped his head into my room. “I’m starved. Want to get something to eat?”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” I said jumping up.

We walked into the kitchen and found Dad had already ordered pizza. He was getting plates out of the cupboards when he turned around as saw us.

“I knew you guys would be hungry,” he smirked.

“Well you were right,” I replied, eyeing the pizza.

After we’d all filled our plates we decided to sit out on the front porch and eat. It was a little chilly out so I chose the seat resting in the sun. A little small talk got tossed around the table but mostly we all just say there and listened to the mountains. The first one to go back inside was Dad. I suppose he probably listens to the mountains enough. Daniel followed a little after leaving me to sit alone in the sun. I couldn’t stop from staring out to the road and the forest beyond it.

“Dad, I’m going to go for a walk,” I yelled into the house. I heard him storm up the stairs from the basement and when he got to me he was huffing a little.

“Are you sure, sweetie? Do you want me to go with you? I don’t want you to get lost,” he said. He was always sweating the small stuff.

“Dad, I’m 17. I know how to not get lost.” That didn’t seem to convince him. “I won’t go too far,” I promised.

“Alright then, but if your not back in about an hour I’m going to come looking for you,” he warned.

I gave him a smile and a kiss on the cheek before turning to leave. With the sun high in the sky everything was illuminated. Directly where I stood there were, perhaps, eight different kinds of wild flowers. Ranging in colors from one side of the spectrum to the exact opposite end. I was instantly reminded of the flower scene from Alice in Wonderland. All sorts of flowers, different in their size, color and species, were gathered so harmoniously that I was eager for them to start singing. The mountain I was gazing at in front of me was a rich, forest green. The more distant mountains were all the more beautiful with their blue hue and white tips.

I only walked, maybe, 100 feet down the dirt road when I decided to steer into the forest a little. I walked slowly, taking in everything around me. A huge boulder blocked my path but that would never stop me; I loved to climb. I hoisted myself up and carefully watched my footing. When I made it to the top I sat for a second to catch my breath. When I looked back up I saw what must have been the largest oak tree ever grown.

I jumped off of the boulder, eager for my next challenge. When I reached the trunk of the tree I looked straight up. There didn’t seem to be any way to get to the first branch. I circled the tree and found that there was a large rock that was half grown over by the tree. It made such a perfect stepping stool that it seemed almost deliberate that it would be there. I eagerly climbed onto the rock and pulled myself up onto the lowest branch. From there it was simple. There were so many branches that it was almost like walking up stairs. I climbed as high as I could to where the branches were still sturdy and made myself comfortable.

I looked out over the tops of all the other trees. It was a magnificent view. The only noises were the wind and the distant bird calling. I got to thinking that maybe Colorado wasn’t going to be so bad if I had places and moments like this to look forward to. And maybe starting your life over isn’t such a bad thing. When you start your life over, you get to start yourself over, too. You don’t have anything branded to your name. All of the drama from the past is suddenly washed away. I was free; free as a bird.

And once you start to think of all that, you start to realize, it won’t be so bad.

I breathed a laugh under my breath. Daniel’s advice always worked. I leaned my head back against the trunk of the tree and closed me eyes. I inhaled a deep breath of mountain air. I felt like I came up short but somehow the air felt cleaner here. I continued to let those good thoughts flood my mind until I was drenched with bliss.

I stayed up in that tree for nearly an hour by the time I realized I needed to head back home. Climbing out takes a little bit more attention because you’re not pulling yourself up anymore. You’re letting yourself drop. Once I was about 6 feet from the ground, I jumped out and landed with a thud on my feet. I stood up and patted myself off.

“Hey,” uttered a voice from behind me.

I spun around, startled, and saw River standing there casually.

“Hey,” I replied.

Sorry the update is a day late!
R&R please.
Next update by Wednesday!