I watched her as she dumped all of the belongings she didn't need back into her storage unit. After she did that she started rummaging around for boxes I could not see and would not have been able to guess the contents of. She looked almost lost. Finally, she must have found the box she was looking for as she hoisted it up so it was resting on her hip and carried it out to the car. She grabbed box after box until there were about four in her boot and two in the backseat. Squinting through the binoculars in my hands I can just make out the words Study and Files of the boxes in the backseat. She goes back in and grabs another box marked Angela/Mark clothes. Shoving that into the backseat she slams the door shut, hops into the car and drives off.
Jumping in my car I follow her for a half-hour before she pulls over and into a hotel car park. sighing I settle down in my seat knowing it will be a long night. closing my eyes I start to dose off before I hear someone's knuckles wrapping on my window. opening my eyes I turn my head and see she is staring at me through the glass. Rolling down my window I turn and watch as her eyes widen in disbelief.
Turning the ignition off I step out of the car with my go-bag. I'm immediately engulfed in a hug and although I told myself I wouldn't cry tears start to slide down my cheeks. Dropping my go bag I put my arms around her shoulders and hug her back. Considering she is so much shorter than me I have to hug her by the shoulders. I hear the passenger side door slam and remember that I brought another person.
" Hey Megs ... I brought you a visitor." she looks up and over at the car and more tears form in her eyes. "Joey?!" she runs over to him in disbelief and he catches her in a hug as she jumps on him. Chuckling to myself I walk into the hotel and book two rooms on the second floor. Walking back outside I see that Meghan and Joey are grabbing the boxes out of her car. Walking over I help them as well and we gradually make our way up the stairs to the second floor. Two trips later and we are settled into one of the rooms. Megs has started to unpack the box and her bags that contain clothes into the wardrobe in the room. Meanwhile, Joey and I start to unpack the boxes organising the files in a corner of the room and on the desk.
After she has unpacked her clothes Meghan comes over and I know immediately that she wants to talk. Tapping Joey on the shoulder we all go and sit on the two beds.
"It's so great to see you Joey ... I didn't know what happened to you after Aunt Elizabeth died." I sensed something underlying her statement because she didn't say Uncle Phil's name. Shuffling in her spot on the bed opposite myself and Joey she turns and faces me.
"But you, I had no idea you were alive. You have some massive explaining to do Ally!"
I sit and watch as my two sisters stare at each other. The air in the room becomes thick and the tension becomes so palpable that you could cut it with a knife. Ally breaks the silence with a sigh and begins her long treacherous story.
"After you left the yard one of the shooters came t check on me. Unlike you he could feel a very weak pulse. Picking me up he carried me for a few blocks or more I couldn't tell. About halfway to his destination I succumbed to the darkness that was lurking at the corners of my vision. When I awoke next I was laying in a bed with bandages surrounding my entire torso. Looking around I saw the man watching me, when he saw me turn my head he practically fell off of his chair and onto the floor next to the bed. Clutching my hand he proceeded to tell me what had happened and who he was. The bullet had hit my shoulder but because he was so far away it didn't penetrate the skin. He told me that the shooter had a very old revolver and it didn't have a very long distance on it because he was only a lookout."
Looking up at me to see if she should continue I nod and she turns her head to look at Meghan who is still watching her. I hear her sharp intake of breath and then she continued.
"Turns out that at the exact same time one of the snipers on the roof took a shot and ended up hitting me straight through the chest. That is why there was so much blood. I stayed with Eduardo in his house for months healing. One day I got really sick and he had to take me into a hospital and had to call one of his superiors. I begged him not to but he said he had to. A few days after that I came back to my hospital room with a nurse and found Eduardo dead on my hospital bed. Stabbed to death. It was then that I found out that he was an undercover operative for some sort of police force. I was moved rooms after that and I told the nurses to let no visitors in. I figured nobody would anyway as I had been signed in under a false name as I told Eduardo that you thought I was dead. A few months later I was released. I still had stiffness and pain in my chest but the doctors had given me some very heavy pain medicines. I never took them, not one. The day I showed up to see mum and dad you were at school. I had just gotten a new I.D as I was eligible for one. Mum and Dad were happy to see me as it had been almost year since they had last seen me. I spent the day helping them prepare your seventh birthday. I couldn't attend because you thought I was dead so I sat in the spare room upstairs listening to you guys having fun. I had sworn to myself that I would finish Eduardo's work, he got himself killed because he risked his cover for my life. Anyway I told mum and dad everything and they helped me. Because I couldn't get permission for his files I hacked into his computer, which he had left for me, and mum and I looked through the files while you were at school and dad at work. We found files incriminating a group guarding three objects. The file was classified "The Secret Trio".
Mum and Dad died a week after we read that classified file. I was heartbroken, as much maybe even more than you and Joey were. After you went to the orphanage Joey remembered something he saw on a piece of paper mum and dad had. It was my new identity. He tracked me down and we started working on it together. Then the other day Joey and I were driving down the street past a park near the orphanage we later found out you had been there and we came looking for you just to make sure you were ok. Right now im glad we found you because I always wondered what had happened to you."
After ally explained everything to me my eyes welled up and I stormed off to the bathroom, leaving her and Joey in the hotel room. I curl up under the sink in the bathroom and cry. My crying slows down into small sobs and I realise my head is pounding. Curling up even further I slowly fall asleep.