All Grown Up (Eden High)

Don’t blink, Arianna, and don’t sweat. The three of them were smiling at me like this shit was normal. I no longer wanted to know what they were saying to each other before I walked in. I’d stood outside the door listening before holding my phone up to the closed door to record their conversation to put into the translator.

I started to answer Nia when Lyon’s kid, Catalina; I have to start calling the kid by her name, but she’s so much like him it’s uncanny. Anyway, she stopped me before I could answer.

“Don’t say it, aunty, just write it, and I’ll tell her.” I looked at her skeptically after hearing this, but she was too busy smirking at the ceiling to notice. I looked up too but saw nothing. Maybe the kid’s too smart for her own good. She wouldn’t be the first genius to lose their damn mind, but she’s so young.

MANCINI

“Well shit, we’ve been made.” The others shifted behind me, and there were a few grumbles here and there. The only one not shaken or saying a damn thing was Lyon, who was just watching the screen and running his finger back and forth under his lip.

“How did she know the camera was there?” Logan asked with a hint of awe in his voice.

“Beats me.” I’m done being amazed by this kid and her antics. In the last few days, she’s surpassed all of my expectations, but if I show my excitement Lyon will have her out of here in a split second, I have no doubt.

When Flanagan came charging in here after we got my uncle and his in-laws settled, I didn’t expect things to go in this direction. He was convinced that his wife was up to something, but it’s only after I saw her following the two little ones that I became more alert. After all, what can she possibly get up to here on the island?

“Mancini!”

“What is it, Colt?”

“Where did my kid learn to make up a language?”

“Oh, you can’t blame me for that one; linguistics isn’t something you can be taught, not like that anyway. Tolkien made up his own language for Lord of The Rings; I guess it’s some kind of art form.”

“Dafuq, are you talking about? Do you know what’s going on here?”

“Why don’t you tell me?”

“Mengele and her little friends have their own language; let that shit sink in. I can barely keep up with the scientific shit she and the pothead are always spewing at the dinner table. Now I got to put up with this shit too?” I smirked at him because I’m sure by now that he knows that I know more about him than the others in the room.

“Really? You’re gonna stick with that?”

“Whatever, let’s stay focused on the situation at hand. That fucking kid cannot be trusted.”

“Hey, I know we need to know what the kids are doing, but believe me, it’s more important to figure out what my wife is up to.”

“What’s the big deal? It’s not like she can get off the island.” Tyler bit into his sandwich that looked like it had some of everything stuffed in it.

“I would’ve agreed with you before her asshole uncle showed up here. The two of them together is never a good thing. And the way they were whispering when he got off the plane… no way they’re not up to something.”

“And whose computer is she trying to hack?” We all turned back to the screen where Catalina was once again speaking in a language only the three girls knew.

MOUTH

Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea getting the kids involved. But they seemed so unfazed. I’m beginning to see my kid in a whole new light. She doesn’t seem like my little girl when she’s here with these two. The three of them are all business. Maybe she gets it from me. I was a very driven child myself, but that was because of the trauma of seeing my mother murdered right before my eyes. My kid has never experienced anything like that…

“We’re in Lily’s mom.”

“What?” I had to blink a few times before looking at my watch. It hadn’t been three minutes. Who the fuck is this kid?

Alex

I had to pull over as soon as I left their driveway to calm down and get myself under control. No remorse; she showed no remorse for what my baby had been through because of her and her asshole husband’s neglect. I guess it’s possible to be so in love with her husband that everyone else ceases to matter. Fine, then I’ll be the one to love my Cassie that way.

It’s because I was idling on the side of a relatively empty street that I saw the car that was following me, which didn’t look like the one that I’d made before. This one wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that he was tailing me. Just as I was about to climb out of the car and go ask who the hell he was since I was pretty sure he wasn’t the guy hired by uncle Chad, the phone rang.