The Wanderers Beginning: The Wanderers, Reborn, & Unforgiven

by Jessica Miller

  “Hey Ella,” Josie said, coming into the room. “Ella?” She pulled back the blanket. She took one look at my tear streaked face and that was enough. She climbed into the bed with me without another word and wrapped her arms around me while I cried. “You wanna talk about it?”

  “Roman called,” I blubbered.

  “Doesn’t he always?”

  “I answered this time,” I said, wiping hastily at my tears. “It’s over Josie. It’s really over. I screwed up.”

  “Ella, you did nothing wrong,” she said, trying to comfort me.

  I heard the door open and turned my head slightly to see who it was. Cameron stopped, not sure if she should proceed. I sat up knowing I’d have to tell her. “Roman knows. He hates me,” I said as I started to cry hysterically again.

  “He doesn’t hate you,” Cameron replied, joining us on the bed. “He’s just upset. I’m sure once he calms down and lets the information sink in he will be fine.”

  “No he won’t and who could blame him? I left him to search for an ex-love. No word, no explanation. I wouldn’t want to forgive me either.”

  “Ella, you can’t beat yourself up over this,” Josie said.

  “Can we just not talk about it anymore?” I asked, desperate to make the pain stop. Cameron and Josie wrapped their arms around me in a silent comfort as I cried.

  We spent the next week continuing our search for Tristan.

  On Friday, after hours of searching and not coming any closer than we were before, Josie suggested we quit for the day. I wanted to keep looking but Josie had reminded me we had plenty of time to look tomorrow. Feeling defeated, I agreed and headed back to the hotel. We said goodbye to Josef and headed up to our room.

  April 28

  It has been a month since we’ve been in Ireland and still nothing. Every time we come close it just ends up being another dead end. Even with the help of Tristan’s family we weren’t any closer than we were before. I can tell everyone is slowly starting to lose faith, but I refuse to give up. I know in my heart Tristan is alive. A part of me always knew, but it just seemed too crazy of an idea to accept. Mom called several times after dad left, but I refused to talk to him. She begged me to come home and talk to my father saying he didn’t really mean what he said, but I don’t care. I’m done living under my father’s rule. I can tell Dean and Cameron are getting tired of this little adventure and would rather go back to their normal lives. I told them they didn’t have to help anymore and could go home, but they insisted on staying. I think they’re hoping I’ll eventually give up and go home with them, but obviously they don’t know me very well. Josie told me she’d stick with me for as long as it took, but I knew even she was losing hope…

  “Hey, whacha doin'?” Josie asked, plopping down on the bed beside me.

  “Nothing,” I replied, tucking my journal aside. “Where’s everyone else?”

  “Billy’s following some leads and Cameron and Dean went to get some food.”

  “Food for everyone or for themselves?”

  “Everyone, I think Dean learned his lesson after last time,” Josie laughed.

  Of all people Dean should have known better. I get very cranky when I’m hungry and when Dean showed up with food for only himself, I chewed him out for being selfish. I think the outburst had more to do with all the frustration and stress that was building up and not to mention the major case of PMS I was suffering from.

  “So what’s on the agenda for today?” Josie asked, like there might be an actual change from what we have been doing for the past month.

  “I guess we wait until Billy gets back and go from there. If he hasn’t found anything there’s a town about an hour away I want to check out.”

  “Okay,” she smiled and then lied back on the bed swiping the remote from the nightstand and clicking on the TV. With nothing else to do but wait, I joined Josie in her never ending channel surfing while we waited for Cameron and Dean to come back with the food.

  Halfway through dinner, Dean put his plate aside, and looked at me sincerely. “Ella, we need to talk.” I stopped. The tone of his voice gave me a feeling I wasn’t going to like this. “We’ve been here for a month and still found nothing.”

  “I told you. You don’t have to stay. You are free to leave whenever you want. There is nothing keeping you here.”

  Dean gave Cameron a quick glance before he spoke and I wondered what that was about. “I just think we need to get some outside help.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I think we should give Uncle Bobby a call.”

  “Uncle Bobby,” I said skeptically. The only stories I heard about him consisted of him being drunk most of the time.

  “He knows the ins and outs of this town and let’s not forget he’s a frequent flyer at the local pubs.”

  “What about Josef though? He’s a townie and even he hasn’t had any luck,” I said, not too open with the idea of calling an uncle I’ve never met and who was a lush.

  “Josef was helpful in the beginning, but he’s only sixteen. Bobby’s been here for ages. He can go to these places and get info from people who aren’t willing to talk to out-of-towners and children.”

  He just had to throw that last one in there. I let out a sigh not seeing another choice. “I guess we could give him a try,” I said, regretting every word. “Give him a call.”

  “I don’t have his number, but I know where he lives.”

  “Shouldn’t we look him up then? I don’t want to show up unannounced.”

  “Trust me. Just showing up is better.”

  I agreed to give Uncle Bobby a shot. I never met the man and my curiosity was getting the best of me. We decided to go over after dinner. Dean told us he lived in Belfast which was only twenty minutes away from where we were at.

  When we arrived at his house later that evening, I thought maybe we were at the wrong address. His house looked like a rundown shack. The garden, if you could call it that, was overrun with weeds and I think I even saw a rat. The window shudders were dilapidated and chipping paint. Except for the raccoons digging through the garbage it didn’t look like there were any other signs of life. “Are you sure this is the place?” I asked Dean, sidestepping the overgrown vines.

  “Yep, this is it.” He pounded on the door and more paint chips fell off the paneling. “Bobby…hey Bobby, open up!”

  I heard some bottles rattle and then a thud, followed by some grumbling and locks clicking on the door. A middle aged man with dark gray, shaggy hair and full beard answered the door. His white tank top was covered in stains and his trousers had tears and holes in them. He looked up at me with his gold eyes. “I didn’t know hookers delivered,” he said, grabbing me.

  I smacked his hand. “Eww gross, I am not a hooker,” I said appalled.

  “Uncle Bobby,” Dean jumped in. He shifted his attention to Dean, squinting. “Uncle Bobby it’s me, Dean.”

  “Dean my boy,” he cheered, giving him a hug. “I see you brought me some lovely ladies.” He reached for Cameron but she quickly jumped out of the way.

  “No Bobby. These are my friends and this is Ella, my sister.”

  His eyes widened in surprise and he took a step back. “Ella,” he smiled, exposing his yellowing teeth. “You look just like your mother.”

  “Thank you,” I said, trying to remain polite which was hard with the way he was staring at me. He started to creep me out and when I met his eyes again they were different. They looked almost purple. I blinked and they were back to gold.

  “Come inside,” he said, quickly averting his eyes. Something told me to be very leery of him. I waited for Dean to go first.

  The inside of his house was just as bad as the outside. There were beer bottles and whiskey bottles all over the floor and tables. The little furniture he had was either held together by duct tape or covered in stains. The couch slash bed looked like it might fall apart any minute. I was afraid to sit down anywhere.

  Bobby took a seat on the c
ouch and picked up a pack of cigarettes offering me one. I politely declined and carefully took a seat on the duct tape covered chair. We all sat there silently for a moment. Uncle Bobby’s eyes wandered around the room at all my friends. He stopped at Josie and sniffed the air. Although I didn’t know how he could smell anything over the stench in this place. He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off of Josie. I could tell he knew something was off about her. Josie shifted uncomfortably in her seat and grabbed Billy’s hand. I kept my eyes on him and I could swear I saw them change from gold to green, blue, and then back to gold again. I sat back in my seat. I knew those eyes. I had seen them before.

  Noticing a slight tension in the air Dean spoke up. “So Uncle Bobby, we need your help.”

  “All business with this one. Relax, have a drink,” he offered.

  “We’re kinda in a rush,” I said, cringing as a cockroach scurried across the floor. “We’re looking for someone. Dean suggested we contact you since you’re a local and all.” I couldn’t shake this feeling that I’ve seen him before. “When’s the last time you’ve been to the states?” I asked, needing to know where I knew him.

  “Haven’t been outside of Ireland for years now,” he said a little guarded. “Who is it you seek?” he asked quickly, trying to divert me from my last question.

  I had a feeling he was hiding something, but I couldn’t get in his head. I didn’t want to waste too much time and energy on him though. The longer I stayed the more creeped out I got. I was hoping to get this over with as soon as possible. I took Tristan’s picture from my back pocket and handed it to him. He looked it over for a bit then handed it back. “Sorry, don’t know’em.” I put the picture back in my pocket. “Sorry I couldn’t help you out.”

  “We were hoping you could also help us get in with the locals. Most of them won’t talk to us because we’re not from here. So we were thinking…” I trailed off looking at Dean.

  “I can tell you now it’s the way you’re dressed. It screams outsider,” Bobby said, getting up and walking into the small kitchenette to grab another beer. I gave Josie a quick look to check Bobby out. She looked at me confused and I just rolled my eyes. I tried again, but he was already on his way back out. He popped off the cap and took a seat. “I’ll help you. When do you want to start?”

  “Tonight,” I said, hoping to get this over with. Despite him being a so called friend of the family I didn’t trust him. Plus I thought better to get him while he was somewhat sober.

  “I got an idea of where we can start, but you ladies are going to have to change. I think I may have something you girls can wear,” he said, elbowing Dean and laughing before he got up again. He came back out with a pile of clothes. “Here, my lady friends left these behind. I don’t think they’ll need them anymore.”

  I saw a glint of malice in his eyes and I shivered. “I don’t think that is necessary. I’m sure we can find something on our own.”

  “Trust me darling, you wanna take these. It’s the best way you’ll fit in.”

  I took the clothes hoping I’d have time to wash them first.

  We left shortly after that. I was starting to have a weird feeling and no longer felt comfortable there. The several times I tried to invade his mind he was blocking me. I didn’t know if it was an automatic reaction that he was blocking his mind, but it made me think he was hiding something and I got the feeling it wasn’t something good.

  Chapter Five

  “Hey Ella, you ever think maybe Tristan’s not here anymore?” Josie asked, plopping down on the bed.

  “Josie, I know you don’t want to believe he is alive but I believe he is,” I said frustrated.

  “That’s not what I mean. I mean maybe he’s not here in Ireland. Everyone we’ve talked to says they’ve seen him, but not lately. Maybe he left and went somewhere else.”

  “That’s a possibility, but I’m not ready to give up yet. I don’t know what it is, but something is telling me he’s still here. I don’t know how I know, but I just do.”

  She sat up and looked at me sincerely. “I believe you Ella and I’ll be here with you until we find him.”

  “Thanks Josie. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  “Well, you might have to learn soon. I have a feeling they are going to be calling me back any time now to dull out my punishment.”

  “Then I guess I’m going to have to spend every minute I can with you.” I smiled, hugging her tight.

  Cameron came back into the room, phone in hand, and laughing. Something I haven’t seen her do in a while. When she hung up the phone I asked, “Any luck?” We had taken the clothes Bobby had given us to the laundry service and asked if they could wash them for us. I had no idea where they came from and I wasn’t going to take any chances.

  She placed the nicely folded pile of clothes on the bed. “Well they were able to wash them, but I’m not going to tell you how many dirty looks I got when they gave back the clothes.”

  “Was that Austin on the phone?” I asked.

  “No. Dean,” she said guiltily. “I haven’t had the courage to call him yet.”

  I wanted to call her a hypocrite. She lectured me on the plane up and down about calling Roman and telling him the truth, but she has yet to call Austin and she wasn’t on a mission to find a dead ex-lover. I found it very aggravating, but I swallowed my pride and let it go. I knew it was easier to give advice then take it, especially when it was your own advice you should be taking. “You’ll think he’ll be mad?”

  “At first, but I’m sure he’ll get over it,” she said, forcing a smile, and trying to convince herself she was right.

  “I think once he realizes you did it to help a friend he’ll understand,” Josie said, digging through the pile of clothes.

  “Yeah,” she said warily.

  “So what did Dean want?”

  “Oh, he said he’d meet us here at eleven and take us over.” Dean had decided to stay behind with Uncle Bobby. I didn’t exactly think that was the wisest idea, but then there would be less of his complaining I had to deal with so I didn’t argue.

  “I guess we should get ready then.”

  *

  Cameron

  She knew Ella was secretly seething. She had lectured her up and down about being honest with Roman and here she couldn’t even be honest with herself. There was a reason she hadn’t called and talked to Austin, but she couldn’t tell them that. Not now at least. Ella had too many issues of her own to deal with. Her problem with Austin was something she could handle on her own. Nobody knew why she really decided to come along with them. Cameron secretly needed to get away. On the outside she pretended everything was okay, but on the inside she was having a hard time keeping it together.

  “Hey Cameron?” she looked back at Ella in the mirror while she continued to brush her hair. “I just wanted to thank you for all you’ve done. And thank you for staying even after my dad busted us. You didn’t have to and I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate it. I can’t imagine it’s easy spending all that time with Dean.”

  “Eh, he’s not that bad,” she said.

  “This is Dean McCallister we are talking about. The same Dean who hit on my mom and tore the head off of my Baby hug-a-lot,” Josie said, as she dug through her makeup case.

  “Once you get to know him, he grows on you.” Ella looked at her suspiciously. Cameron felt a slight dizzy wave and knew Ella was trying to get into her head. She quickly blocked her. She was about to narrow her eyes at Ella for her invasion of privacy, but then she would have given her what she wanted. Ella would know she was hiding something and would probably push her to give it up. Instead, Cameron continued to brush her hair.

  “Please, I know Dean and the only thing that grows on you is his fungus.” Ella laughed at Josie’s comment and then hopped in the shower, steaming up the mirror so badly she forced them to finish getting ready outside of the bathroom.

  Cameron reached in her bag to grab her deodorant when her ph
one beeped. She walked over to the bed and opened up the text message.

  Leather is your color

  She smiled and texted back.

  Leather is not a color

  She left it at that knowing they needed no further exchange and continued to get ready. Ella had told her after her father showed up and busted them, Cameron was free to go back to school if she wanted to, but she didn’t want to return, not yet. She didn’t care about getting in trouble for leaving in the middle of the semester. There was no point in going back so soon. Cameron wanted to enjoy her freedom while she could and she would deal with the consequences when she got back. Despite the rough start they had when they got there, she was beginning to actually enjoy herself. For the first time in a while she felt free, unbound from the chains that kept pulling her under.

  *

  Ella

  “Hey, you okay?” Josie asked, coming into the bathroom to share the now fog free mirror.

  “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

  “I don’t know. You just seemed kind of off when we were at your Uncle Bobby’s place.”

  “Okay, he’s not really my Uncle and I did feel…weird when we were there. I don’t know what it is but I have a strange feeling about him and it’s not a good one.”

  She pressed her palms on the counter and lifted herself up to sit. “I know what you mean. I was totally getting a creepy vibe.”

  “It’s not just that. Something about him seems so familiar. His eyes, I swear I have seen him before. Do you remember the clerk from the costume shop back in Vermont?” She shook her head no. “There was something about his eyes. I never said anything at the time because I thought it was too weird. His eyes changed color.”