Alyssa

Dad sent Hunter and I home before my shift ended. He said we needed to get ahead of packing before Monday comes. If someone were to ask me if I knew my family was involved in criminal activities, I would've called them stupid. But today, after finding the out the mess my grandparents got my dad in, got us in, I wouldn't know what to believe. Hunter could tell I was on edge. He was on edge too. 

We didn't talk the whole car ride and once we got home, Hunter went straight to his room. As I walked down the hall, I looked at the family portraits that were hung. We all looked so happy. We were happy. Each picture held a different meaning. Held a different mood. There was a picture of mom when she gave birth to me. She was holding me in a pink blanket while looking down at me smiling. Dad told me he took the picture. 

He wanted to remember the face mom made when she held me for the first time. According to him, her eyes were wide with love and adoration. She couldn't stop rocking me back and forth. There was also a picture of dad holding me. He had tears in his eyes and mom made sure to capture that moment. The moment when a father holds his first born in his hands for the first time. 

Then when Hunter was born, our parents made sure to get a picture of us four together. Dad was holding me, while mom was holding Hunter. In the picture, I was leaning over, looking at Hunter's face while he was sleep. Mom told me the doctors and nurses awed at us. Said they were so lucky to have two healthy babies. 

I could feel tears coming to my eyes as I tried to fight the urge to breakdown. Before I knew it, I was crying in Hunter's arms. His grip got tighter and he never let me go. I cried into his neck and tried to wrap my arms around him as tight as I could. Afraid that he would slip away. 

"It's gonna be ok princess. It's gonna be alright." Ever since we were little, Hunter's always called me princess. And even though I'm the oldest, he had a way of making me feel like the younger sibling. Hunter and I fight at times but were always there for each other and will forever be. I couldn't stand the thought of losing him and dad. We already lost mom. 

"I don't wanna leave. We can't leave dad here by himself. Especially not with those men waiting for their money." I said. I could feel my tears flowing down my face as I thought of my dad getting hurt again. Seeing him on the floor, clutching his stomach was enough for me to know that these men weren't play games. We are in a serious situation and every outcome was not a good one. 

"I have a few thousand dollars saved up. I could give it to dad so he could pay them." I pondered over what Hunter said. Questions again started to flood my mind. 

"What if they continue coming back? What if there's no end cycle? What if we give them the money and they keep asking for more?" Hunter knew I was right but we didn't have any other option left. We weren't gonna leave dad to fend for himself. We were gonna give up whatever we needed to, to make sure dad was safe.

"Princess we can't think like that. We just have to stick to this plan and hope for the best." Hunter was right. We don't know what moves these men were gonna make so we had to give them what they wanted. But I know we still need to be careful. 

"But for now, go to your room and start packing. I'll do the same and then I'll get the money and we'll count it." I nodded and with that, we were off to our rooms. Once I got to my room, I stopped and looked around. We've lived here since before I was born. And the thought of leaving makes me heartbroken. 

I walked over towards my closet and grabbed my suitcases. Beginning to pack all of my things, I grew tired and eventually needed a break. But that's when I remembered that I had to get my money. I looked around the room once again before I took the portrait off my wall. Behind it, was a safe that I put all of my money in. It was better than putting my money into a bank. 

I put in the combination and began to grab all of it and store the money into a bag. Since I started working at fourteen, that's when I started saving up. Mom left us money for our college fund and we weren't allowed to touch it until we turned eighteen. I pondered over if those men would come back when I went off to college. If they would track me down or even track Hunter down. 

After I finished packing a bag full of money, I got back to packing. Making sure to get everything that could fit into my bags, not wanting to leave anything behind. It was about forty five minutes later when Hunter walked into my room. 

"Here's all of the money I saved." And with that, he emptied a bag full of a load of money and I did the same. I moved the boxes so we would have more space and started at Hunter. 

"That's a ton of money." He agreed. 

"Let's just hope it equals up to $100,000. If not, we're gonna have to rob a bank." I snorted at the comment. But in reality, if our money combined didn't equal to the amount owed, we really would have to rob a bank. And with that, we started counting the money, not taking any breaks. Making sure to not make any mistakes. We couldn't risk it. Especially not with our family's life's on the line.