The Blackburne Bridge: 黑焦桥（国际英文版）

By Jiaqi Zhong and 钟家琪

'Welcome to the Blackburne Bridge

Where danger lies and heroes rise.

Seldom to come upon the willow's edge

Are siblings three, as fate devise.'

Liberty, Carter and Ivy are three cousins on a trip to Iceland when an unexpected fall down a cave

• Language: English
• Publisher: EHGBooks
• Release date: Sep 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781647844202

Book preview

CONTENTS

CONTENTS

01. Carter

02. Carter

03. Ivy

04. Ivy

05. Liberty

06. Liberty

07. Ivy

08. Ivy

09. Carter

10. Carter

11. Carter

12. Liberty

13. Ivy

14. Ivy

15. Liberty

16. Liberty

17. Ivy

18. Ivy

19. Carter

20. Carter

21. Liberty

22. Liberty

23. Ivy

24. Ivy

25. Liberty

26. Liberty

27. Carter

28. Carter

29. Ivy

30. Ivy

31. Carter

32. Liberty

33. Carter

34. Liberty

35. Ivy

36. Ivy

37. Carter

38. Liberty

39. Liberty

40. Ivy

41. Ivy

42. Carter

43. Carter

44. Liberty

45. Liberty

epilogue

01. Carter

As this was the last weekend of school before the summer holidays, Carter had thought that it would be relaxing and fun and just a week when he could stop worrying about the troubles that he had ‘accidentally’ gotten himself into a few days ago. Alas, to no avail. The only thing that he could say to himself to assure him while waiting outside of the principal’s office was ‘at least they only found out about one’, but unfortunately it was the worst one.

The door flew open and an angry man with balding grey hair, purple face in a red suspender peered out from behind the door frame. Carter couldn’t say that he thought the scene was pretty. Mr. Armitage, if you could please come in, we’d like to have a talk with you. The man called to him, by the tone of his voice, it did not sound like he was just going to have a ‘talk’ with him. Carter sighed, rubbed his eyes and then stood up, and slumped into the door. It slammed shut behind him. He did not quite like the scene inside either. A scrawny little boy who looked like a wilted plant was sitting behind the principal’s desk, grinning from ear to ear; his mother, as Carter assumed, sat next to the boy, her face rigid and cold and had long red nails which immediately lead Carter to think that one slash of them on his skin he’d be a dead man. A very dead man. He gulped, and turned to look at the principal, who was busy squeezing his massive frame into his desk and onto his chair. He finally managed, and then panting with anger, he said to Carter, Mr. Armitage, take a seat please. Carter awkwardly sat down next to the other boy.

Carter, I am sorry to say but because of your behavior this semester, we have pegged you as a troubled kid. Principal Diggs started to say. He has this habit of panting between words and because of this, students have never taken him seriously before, Yet I have never thought that you would do such a thing as bully a younger student. This, of course was not true. You have done the worst yet, and I don’t want any excuses, none of yours have been good to this day. I have called your sister- At this he gave a huge wheeze, and Carter seized his chance, although it was very much a waste, he corrected the principal in a polite voice, Cousin, sir. She’s my cousin. The principal’s eyebrows raised up. Oh, is that so? Anyway, as I was saying, because of her busy schedule, she cannot come in today but she has promised to have a word with you when you return home. Carter nearly laughed out loud. His cousin’s favourite hobbies apart from sleeping and eating was avoiding responsibilities, something that she was really rather good at.

This young man nearly caused damage to my son, he needs to be taught a lesson, Mr. Diggs. The woman snapped, glaring at Carter.

This was a lie. The details will not be disclosed because it involves a series of events throughout the whole semester and it is really a very longwinded explanation. The thing that you ought to know is: Ethan, the boy that Carter had presumably attacked was going to go up against two big seniors and Carter simply held him back. Ethan had aimed at Carter a few blows but Carter had not did anything to cause him harm. The thing was, a few teachers were there at the scene, and because he had no such good luck, he was sent directly to the principal. He would’ve explained had the principal been a very reasonable man, but in the one year that Carter had been in this school had told him otherwise.

Of course, of course, then we should consider this on our own. Children, if you could leave the room please. Mr. Diggs replied. Ethan’s mother looked pleased.

Carter walked out with the other kid trailing beside him. Once the door of the office shut, he immediately regretted leaving it, for Ethan started talking. It was really annoying, he talked so much and so fast it was like being shot again and again by bullets made by words.

Hey, so that went quite well, didn’t it? Maybe we can go and hang out sometimes. My dad got me a few new video games and I wondered if you would like to come in and try some? Hey, I was also wondering do you have any plans for the summer? I heard Panic At the Disco is going to perform a mini concert, I’m so excited! I think I can persuade my mom to get me to go, wow, I mean, just, wow.

Eyes a little glazed, Carter replied, Wow. This did not stop Ethan from talking and he just went on and on and on. The only good part about Ethan talking is that he didn’t need to reply, if he remained quiet, the silence will definitely be filled in with more talking from the others. About a few minutes later the office door opened again, and Ethan’s mother walked out. The first thing that she did was glare at Carter and then laid a clawed hand on Ethan’s shoulder and steered him away. Ethan tried to wave at Carter as he left but failed dismally. So, tell me my punishment, sir. He said, disinterested.

Just as he suspected, Carter was attending detention a few minutes later, and was not let out for another three hours. He didn’t mind though, he already had enough of these detentions to know how to pass hours expertly staring at the blank wall, it was boring, but he had enough hours on Tumblr to know how to fill up his bored brains. Of course, his cousin helped with listing things that he could do while in detention. In this subject, she was rather helpful.

Carter sighed as he pulled a few notebooks out of his locker, closed it and walked through the empty hallway. Goodbye Arnold. He called, passing the janitor. His crinkled old face turned around and he gave a small pfft, then turned back to his mop.

He spotted some of the juniors playing basketball on the playground, a few spotted Carter and yelled at him to join them but Carter only just turned away and pretended to be deaf. He crossed the rows and rows of cars, finally reaching to the bike parking space. Pulling out his keys from his bag, he unlocked his bike.

It was an old bike, but he treated it with so much care that you wouldn’t have realized that it was ten years old. He bought it at a market, from an old man who told him that it was his son’s but he had gone off to college and didn’t want it anymore. He practically gave it away to Carter.

Carter called his old bike ‘Leroy’, and it was very beautiful. Leroy was white, with red streaks across his body, and he was really quite quick. Swinging his legs over Leroy, he climbed on, adjusted his bag and rode away. He arrived ten more minutes at the door of his apartment, shared with his cousin. He parked his bike at the front of the door, and locked it on the railing. He walked up to the huge black door and opened it. Hey, I’m home! He yelled, throwing his bag on the ground and continued to take off his sneakers. No one replied, but this was normal. He trudged into his room and closed the door, a few minutes later it was opened again and his cousin poked her head through his door.

You see, his and Liberty’s relationship was a little confusing and here it will try to be explained in a manner that people could understand: Liberty Fletcher is Carter’s cousin from his mother’s side, and she was two years older than him. Their family had been very close, so the two of them had been asked to call each other brother and sister. In a way, she was just like a sister to him. The reason that the two of them lived together was that Liberty was studying at a med school in New York, and Carter was living in New York. His parents were divorced. His father didn’t want him, and his mother didn’t have the money to raise him, so he was sent to live with Liberty, who was earning a small living off of a few medical magazines she was writing with, and her father was an high officer in the Air Force or something so he had enough cash for the two of them to live off once Liberty actually gets paid to cut people open and stitch them back up. Which included this apartment she managed to rent.

Hey, Carter. She smiled at him. Even with just two words out of her mouth, she sounded very British. Really quite impossibly British. Their family was American, but Liberty’s mother had gone to a trip in England where she met his father and five years later she had moved to London and had Liberty. Carter had lived with Liberty for three months now, and only a few weeks earlier did Carter manage to fully understand everything that she was saying to him. So, you want me to tell me what happened. I heard the principal’s version, and it had some gaping holes in it, so I wanted it from you.

Carter nodded, giving her a sign that it was alright for her to come in and have a heart to heart with him. Not like that happened a lot, but that did not mean that he never enjoyed them.

Liberty left the notebooks that she was carrying in her arms down on Carter’s desk and then took a few strides towards him and sat down next to him on his bed. She waited until he decided to talk.

So, uh, you know about Ethan right? He asked her. Liberty nodded, Yeah, little dude, black hair, like playing video games. Hangs on your every word. Go on. Carter took in a deep breath and then started to talk, Well, he has this brother, who’s probably about your age, I don’t know, haven’t seen him before. He’s got this kind of brain damage, and he’s got some problem, and some of the jocks found out and it was just hell for Ethan. He was going to go and fight them, but it was a tiny guy versus five football players. I mean, he would’ve been beaten into a pulp if I didn’t hold him back. Although to say the truth, I might’ve strangled him a little bit, but not enough to cause him damage. Well, not the damage that they would’ve done to Ethan but it was still ‘damage’. At this, Carter rolled his eyes. Well, as they put it. The ‘they’ referring to the school and all its teachers. And of course, Ethan’s mom.

Well, I’m glad you stepped in. And I’m sorry that you might have to take all the blame, but it wouldn’t do you any good telling the truth. Then there was a small pause, So, what do you want for dinner today? How about some Yorkshire Pie? She asked, while standing up and picking up her notes. After seeing Carter nod enthusiastically, she smiled and said, her voice bubblier than Carter would imagine after the day they had gone through, I’ll hook you up. Come out after forty minutes, alright? Carter nodded to convey the fact that he understood, then Liberty closed the door behind her.

After half an hour of Liberty banging in the kitchen, and Carter just flicking through 8tracks and finally settled on a playlist that he liked, he heard her cousin yell at his closed door: Dinner’s ready! I won’t ask a second time! Pulling off his earphones, he yelled back, Like you need to! And exited the room, the strong scent of deliciously cooked food wafting through the closed doors and pulling him into the dining room.

Liberty was already sitting there waiting for him, a spoon full of pie halfway to her mouth.

The dining room was quaint, considering that there was only two people living in the apartment. The small dining table was situated in the middle of the room, barely the size of Liberty’s writing desk. A small bowl of fruit was laid precariously on the side, Carter commented that it wasn’t even worth as a decoration. Sometimes while pacing, Liberty would grab one and munch. It was convenient - for her at least.

She had already laid out the table before Carter had got here. Napkins, china plates, knives and forks and the whole classy restaurant feel, since Liberty grew up in the UK she had felt that table etiquette was a very important indeed. Carter couldn’t care less, at least she had not forced him to take a course. On the centre of the table, in plain view and beckoning Carter forward was Liberty’s Yorkshire pie.

Carter’s aunt Charlotte, Liberty’s mother, was originally a chemist, but after her skin was exposed to toxic chemicals too long, she decided to quit and turned to another of her many talents - cooking. Charlotte recently opened a restaurant in one of the streets of Cambridge and according to the face times and the emails, business was blooming.

So, naturally, Liberty was a very good cook. Her mother had began to teach her since primary school, and Carter has yet to eat something Liberty cooked that was not delicious.

While she ate, Liberty liked to look through her works and textbooks and sometimes videos of surgeries while eating, which is really bad for Carter’s digestive system. He liked very much to say that he was used to it already, but that would be the biggest lie he ever said. He hated it, and apart from reaching for the food and the ones who have been already transferred to his plate, he didn’t like to look at anything else, because there was always a probability that he might catch sight of Liberty’s stuff.

Today, he just couldn’t avert his eyes from staring at the monstrosities that is the human body. Opened and bloodied.

Would you please just take those away?! Carter moaned, gesturing wildly at the pieces of paper in his cousin’s hand. Liberty looked up, looking like a chipmunk with nuts stuffed in her mouth but this time . She gulped and the chipmunk cheeks were gone. I know that it bothers you, but I have to make do with all the time that I have. Besides, this is one of the most famous surgeries in the world, -

Carter was pretty sure that if he didn’t cut Liberty off, she would just go on and on and on about the surgery which information she was holding in her hands, which sometimes she did, and so he did, Libbs, I just can’t eat. And of course, I don’t want to waste this awesome pie that you made. Liberty looked a little stunned by this sentence, and then a little sulkily, she put her papers away, and turned back to the food on her plate, and so did Carter. Just as the slice of pie was about to enter his mouth, the phone rang. His spoon clanged onto his plate in surprise, and looked up like a startled deer. Liberty glanced side by side, trying to figure out where the phone was. When she did, she stood up and hurried into her office. The ringing stopped and Carter could hear Liberty talking, but couldn’t hear exactly what she was saying even though he was straining his ears to do so.

After Carter had finished two thirds of the pie, he looked up and realized that Liberty was still on the phone. He felt his curiosity take on hold. Liberty wasn’t that much of a talker, and most of her phone calls lasted about a minute, so he had no idea why this took so long. Just as he was about to go into the study to find her and listen in on the conversation, Liberty walked out, almost into him.

Her face was a little white, and her lips were tightly pressed together. Carter knew that something was wrong right away.

Liberty gave a smile. but it was a little twisted and was forced. What? What? He asked urgently, although for no reason whatsoever, he didn’t exactly want to hear her answer. Liberty looked up at Carter, gave a small, real smile this time, and she answered him, Well, our parents called... And, and, they said that based on your progress this year, they think it’ll be better for us, the two of us and Ivy, to go on a trip to Iceland on our own once your semester ends.

It took a few seconds for Carter to process this information, and then, a little numbly, he asked, So, um, you’re not pulling my leg, right?

Liberty chuckled and shook her head, No, Carter, I’m not pulling your anything.

02. Carter

After many phone conversations in where Liberty retreated to her study to make, and while Carter was waiting beside the door checking on the progress as Liberty mouthed what was going on to him. Needless to say, the plan didn’t work out so well. He was still as clue-less to lip syncing as ever.

From the information that his cousin gave him, he could just about figure out where they were at the point of their trip. Liberty’s father had already booked them their flight, and told them to get a nice and comfy B&B next to all the tourist attractions and stuff. Liberty had booked them three rooms at one B&B that was called Rosewalks. He had no idea what B&Bs were like and he didn’t care. Their cousin, Ivy, was going to land in New York this evening when he and Liberty had to go and pick her up. She was going to stay in New York for four days before they walked into the plane to Iceland.

Even though Carter had been living with Liberty for a few months, he was more attached to Ivy than Liberty. They were a very tight family, Carter’s family used to live beside Ivy’s and so they grew up together, Liberty was left out because she had gone to live in England with her parents. They played and grew up together, Ivy knew Carter’s biggest secrets, and him hers. There was some place inside his heart that Carter knew that he loved Ivy very much, maybe not like he loved his mother, but she came in second.

Carter was very excited that Ivy was coming, Liberty wasn’t that excited. Carter never really understood why, but Liberty was never that comfortable with Ivy. Carter knew that they were family to each other, but they didn’t love each other the way Carter and Ivy do. Ivy too was reluctant to get close to Liberty, and as to why, Carter knew very well.

After the two of them ate dinner, and Liberty went to send out an e-mail to her professors and doctors and stuff, telling them that she had to take a leave for a vacation. Liberty told Carter to get into her car and they were off to the airport.

The reason that they were taking Liberty’s car, was because Carter hadn’t been able to get his driver’s license. Even though he went through the test two times. Liberty got through on her first time. It was extremely embarrassing. He had already forgotten how many times that she had laughed at him because of it.

Liberty owned an old black Impala. She tried to buy the same model of the car that Dean and Sam Winchester drove in the TV show Supernatural.

Liberty loved that show, and made Carter watch it with her. He was afraid of admitting it but he had gotten hooked, when she wasn’t around, which was most of the time, he would open it up and start to watch.

I call for shot-gun! Carter called as he climbed next to the driver’s seat.

On the way to the airport, Liberty was blasting movie scores out of the car speakers. Whenever Liberty concentrated fully on the road ahead, Carter would move his hands towards her phone trying to change the set list. Once she realized what he was doing, she would slap his hand away. Driver chooses the music, shot-gun shuts his cake hole. She would say with a slight eye roll.

Carter would groan and close his eyes in response.

Luckily they were close to the airport, and it was only forty minutes away. While they were getting off the car at the garage, Liberty checked the watch.

We’re a few minutes early, so you better find something to do. Liberty told her cousin after that happened. I’m pretty sure that Ivy won’t be the first out of the exit, so that’s just a few dozen minutes that we’re just going to have to find something to get rid out of our boredom.

Carter was pretty much expecting what Liberty was saying. So he brought his phone, fully charged. While Liberty was reading a long-winded book called The Great Gatsby, Carter thought that his English teacher might’ve made them read them at one time, of course, he hated reading. The only book that he ever read was something that was called Oliver Twist and he couldn’t understand most of it. He sworn off books since then. The funny thing is, Liberty loved that book. Liberty was weird.

He had lost plenty of time, watching a funny YouTube video of screaming goats. Until he decided to look up because he had a very pained neck. And that’s when he saw Ivy looking around for them.

He stood up and shook Liberty’s shoulders. What? What? She asked, looked up and then saw Ivy. That was also when Ivy saw them too. She waved at them and walked over, her heels clopping loudly on the tiled floor.

Ivy looked great enough to become a huge model. Her looks could kill. She had long straw-blonde hair, a tall and slim model-like body, beautiful crystal blue eyes and delicate features, adding in a perfectly tanned skin. She was what Aphrodite would look like if she appeared in human form.

Carter! Liberty! She shouted and ran towards them, it was kind of awkward that she couldn’t hug them because she was carrying her luggage behind her in one of her hands. Liberty ran forward to reach for Ivy’s luggage. Hi Ivy, how’s it going? Liberty asked, beaming as both of Carter’s cousin walked towards him. He stood up, placing his phone in his pockets, a big smile on his face.

He walked forward, trying not to look too excited, until of course, when Ivy opened her arms. He squealed like a little kid and ran towards her, and into her arms.

Carter! Look, you’ve grown up so much! Ivy squealed as they hugged each other.

Well, even though I’ve grown, I’m still not as tall as you. I mean, even without you wearing those high heels. He groaned as the two of them fell apart. Carter saw Liberty smile behind their back. He hated whenever she did that, it felt kind of creepy. Ivy also smiled after Carter spoke. Well, I mean, I know that. I don’t think that you’ll ever grow to be my height, but, good things second, you’re already higher than Liberty! She laughed.

Carter couldn’t help but laugh along with her, even though it was on Liberty’s behalf. Liberty gave the two of them death stares before walking towards the lift to the garage. She shouted out to the two of them, Come on guys! Do you want to rest or not, Ivy! The bed’s waiting for you!

Ivy chuckled, shrugged at Carter then whispered into his ear, Still that uptight, huh? Carter nodded, rolling his eyes, then the two cousins hurried towards the third.

The rest of the day was spent by a sleeping Ivy and a video game playing Carter, and a trip planning Liberty. Once in a while, Liberty would walk into the living room to disturb Carter and ask what he felt like going to this place or another. Carter didn’t really care. He was having fun with his games, and all he had to do when they got to Iceland, was first to act really tired so that Liberty would let them rest for half a day or a third of a day at best, and spend the rest of the two weeks that they were going to be there walking behind Liberty and pretending to listen as she rattled on about the ‘culture’ and ‘history’ of the place. He had gotten very good at it.

And the few days that they would have to endure until they could get on the plane to their destination, he could show Ivy around New York city. It was not like she didn’t know it, they used to live in the city before Ivy’s parents decided to move to Wisconsin, but he still wanted to show her the place. He thought it would be nice to look around the place where they grew up and all that.

When he ranted idea through Liberty. She had agreed, and told him that they must come back in time for dinner.

After Ivy had woken up, which was the following morning, Carter dragged her out of bed and told her that he was taking her outside to have fun and hang out. Ivy agreed but protested that she had to eat first and fix her makeup and stuff. Carter never understood what was good about makeup, why would anyone paint their face. It was absurd. But still, he didn’t want to argue with Ivy about that particular thing. So he went out of the room, waited until Ivy had finished changing and brought a few sandwiches for Ivy, freshly made ham and pigeon sandwich by Liberty, who had gone to her school. She told Carter that tomorrow was the last day before their vacation that she stopped going to school. Unlike you, I like taking my education. She told Carter, and he thought that she was being a tad unfair to him but he didn’t mind. What she said was the truth. But he was no nerd. He cringed at the thought. There was already one Liberty in the family, they really didn’t need another.

In the children, well, not technically children, just the non-adults of the family, no one was like Liberty. Learning and studying came so easily to her, and she was so good at it. No one was like her in the family. Though she wasn’t the only one in the whole world. Carter knew a girl in his history class that was exactly like Liberty, except she didn’t finish High School early, and went off to attend med school early. She was a genius nerd. To Carter, she was nothing else but a short little troll.

Even though that was Carter’s opinion on Liberty, but it didn’t mean that Liberty had no similarities to their family. Carter and Liberty looked quite alike, not saying that Carter was a troll. He was taller than his sister, about half a head taller than her. Which made him very happy. Until Liberty would scold him and tell him that Ivy was loads taller than he was.

In the whole family, Carter and Liberty was the two kids who looked like each other, like an uncanny likeness. They both had the same eyebrows, jawline and the same chocolate colored hair, and grey eyes like the kind of colour you see in the sky right before a rainstorm.

Well, I never thought I’d be back here. Ivy said, her hands in her coat pockets as she walked alongside with Carter. Her feet moving slowly, kind of like a march, but it felt like she wasn’t meaning to do it. Carter walked along with her, his steps a little smaller than hers, because his legs were shorter than hers. Ivy could go on to be a professional tap dancer if she had the education as a small youngster. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t have that, so Carter now could not see her prancing around almost spraining her ankles.

He chuckled at this thought. Ivy stared at him. She must’ve thought that it was because of the thing that she said before. He figured that he better respond to that, so he asked, Really?

Yeah, Ivy smiled, looking away from him and towards the sun shining above the sky. Carter could only think of gaping at her. Nah, She said, chuckling, Nah, I knew that I would come back. Definitely. But the thing that I never thought about was how early I would get to see this place again. I mean, it feels like yesterday that you and I were playing in these trees.

That was when she stopped, stopping to take a good long look at the surroundings.

Carter wouldn’t have said that it was beautiful, but it held some very beautiful memories so that meant a lot to him. That was what made the place they grew up in beautiful.

The two of them and their families used to live in two small apartments above a cafe shop. Sometimes, Carter wished that Liberty would have stayed with them, and not go off to England, and then develop an accent that he couldn’t understand until a few weeks ago. Because she would’ve loved that cafe shop. They had a small park behind the blocks of apartments. And that’s where the two of them would play every day before Ivy went off to primary school.

It was really quite small, around two small apartments. But with beautiful green grass all year round. And the only trees that were planted there were maple trees. But when autumn came, the garden was the most beautiful thing that you will ever see. Not so much in Winter. There was also a small pathway within the garden, in lade with flat stone tiles. It was lovely, and he had heard countless time from Liberty that she wanted a path like that leading from the pavement to her house, her own house, once of course, she starts her successful career in surgery.

Their old home was the first place in New York that Carter took Ivy to see. He thought that this would be the first place she would like to see once she came to New York. He hoped that he was right.

It’s nice. Being back. Thank you Carter, for doing this for me. Ivy said, smiling softly and the faraway glance in her eyes made it clear to Carter that she was definitely reminiscing.

Well Carter was one to ruin the moment as he said, while swinging her arms and looking down at their shadows, It was you who drove me here.

Ivy laughed, it was one of her rare smiles with all 32 teethes showing. She patted Carter’s back, a little harder than was necessary. Kid, you really need to learn how to drive a car. I mean, even Liberty can drive. She said. Carter didn’t think that he was going to get hurt this early in the morning. Usually it would be after 2 p.m.

Liberty can do anything. Carter rolled his eyes. Except tidy her room. Of course. And there’s the ‘having a normal human conversation with strangers’. I mean, have you seen her order a takeout on the phone?

The both of them laughed out loud, slapping one another on their backs. So, where do you want me to go next? Ivy asked, as she climbed into the driver’s seat of Liberty’s car. Carter shrugged, having no idea at all. Ivy shut the door with a small ‘bang’, and said, How about we go and get some fun?

Naturally, Carter said yes.

Having fun ended up in Liberty coming over and driving them both back home. It was really rather a funny story, and so it went like this:

Ivy drove her and Carter to a bar near his school. Because he had his new license dumped by Liberty (she is an exceptionally good finder), he had to get away from the bar table, so he just sat at one of the diner tables near the bar. Ivy would down a few shots, and bring a few over to him, while one bartender followed her with his eyes. Carter was pretty sure that it wasn’t because he was trying to make sure that Carter didn’t get anything to drink or not. He did not.

But then, while he was looking at funny YouTube videos, Ivy maybe had one drink too many, apart from her red cheeks, there was no clue that she had too much of the adult drink. So, not seeing anything wrong, Carter and Ivy walked out of the bar. Carter called Liberty to come and get their car, they weren’t that far away from the apartment, but Liberty told them that they’d have to wait half an hour or so. Carter informed Ivy, and was about to take her to the school to go and check it out, when he finally realized that she was hitting too much of the juice.

Ivy shook her head, a big grin on her face, and then told Carter that it was okay, she didn’t have that much, and that they were rather close to their home and five minutes is perfectly okay for her to ride on the drink.

Carter protested of course, but Ivy reassured him that it would be all right, and they walked to the car. Carter told Ivy to just wait for him inside the car while he went back to the bar.

So, she of course agreed. And just three minutes afterward, Carter came back to the car and found a police car in front of Liberty’s car.

Excuse me, sir. What is happening? He asked, looking towards the twenty something police officer and Ivy who was sitting in the backseat.

The police officer was laughing so hard, clutching at his chest, bending so low that he looked like he was bowing down to Ivy, his body shaking uncontrollably. I guess you can’t explain it, so, Ivy, He looked pass the officer and to Ivy, who was stretching her legs in the seat.

The blonde looked at him, and rolled her eyes. Then she turned to the police officer and said sharply, See officer, that’s my little brother. True to the word of ‘little’. Come on, my little midget, at least you’re not as small as our cousin. I’m in a very bad shape because, Ivy made a drumroll movement with her hands, and then continued to explain what she thought her predicament was, I have lost my car wheel.

The police doubled over once more with another fresh wave of laughter. And Carter understood that she had too much to drink. Ivy! He shouted, throwing his hands in the air, tears falling from his cheeks, You’re sitting in the backseat!

Ivy blinked, looked around her, and then tried to climb out of the car. Tried.

Still laughing, and could hardly get out the words but Carter said, holding out his hands to stop Ivy from climbing out, It’s better if you just stay there. I’ll call Liberty to get here earlier. You lost your car wheel. Ahahaha.

Predictably, Liberty was very unhappy that Carter had gotten their cousin drunk. Carter protested, but it was no use. The first thing that Liberty had said once a laughing Carter had told her what had happened, was, Ivy Hulda, I am calling your mother, and telling her what happened, the two of you, aren’t allowed to go out until we get on that plane to Iceland.

Ivy gulped and nodded. Carter could not see the difference of a drunk Ivy, and a sober one.

03. Ivy

Ivy hated to say it, since Liberty is family and all, but she never really liked Liberty. Well, she was an undeniably cute kid when she was just four or five years old, but once she started elementary school, she couldn’t stand the sight of her. She was so good at everything. And like she was constantly reminded, she loved reading, and studying and doing things that mattered. And the only thing that Ivy liked was to see how little she could eat and constantly checking if she had lost weight. At least that was the one thing that Ivy was better than Liberty at, making sure that she was in perfect shape, growing up, Liberty was always as fat as a little meatball. And now, she couldn’t even tease her about that. One year, just one year in med school had robbed Liberty of most of her fat. Even though she wasn’t as thin as Ivy, but wasn’t considered chubby anymore.

At least she was still a midget.

Nothing has changed, especially when Liberty had told off her and Carter when they got drunk, well, not really Carter, just her, and decided to drive her and her cousin back home, Liberty appeared to drive them back and told them that they weren’t allowed to go out for the next three days.

She made true to her word.

The day after the whole event, because she still had to go to school, she left not before taking all the keys to the apartment and locked the two of them in the house. If you ever open the door and decide to go out, you’ll just lock yourselves in. And, I won’t be hurrying back this time to help you get out of trouble. She said before locking the door behind her.

No one wanted to go out of the house now that Liberty had made her ‘or death’ speech, and Ivy spent most of the day rolling around in her bed while watching Korean reality shows and eating crisps while doing so.

She had really no idea what Carter was doing. Once she popped out of the guest bedroom, and saw him reading some marvel comic books. When she asked why he was doing it, he answered that they actually belonged to Liberty but she had stocked them away and he didn’t want to waste them. And so, Liberty might’ve damaged her cousin for good.

Three days after, they were finally free of the grounding enforced by their cousin and were on the way to the airport. Ivy knew that the apartment wasn’t very far away from the airport, but because of all the horrible traffic of New York, what would take a thirty minute drive took half that time. Liberty was blasting indie music in the car, so Ivy and Carter were all trying to ignore it and decided not to complain. Liberty had the wheel, and they were very scared that she might just drop them off at an abandoned street and they’ll have nowhere to go, while she enjoys her time in Iceland.

Finally, they arrived. Liberty had been tidying and getting everything ready for them, so they had no problems going through security. Well, almost everything. Ivy had clumsily put in a pair of scissors in her bag, and that had been taken.

They arrived just in time, as the plane just started boarding. Ivy and Carter was running towards the gate while Liberty walked behind them using a moderately fast pace. Ivy had never seen her running in her whole life. Carter informed her after she had asked about this, that the two things that would make her run, the first thing was the release of the new movie that was based on a book that she loved, and the second was when her professors decided to show them a clip of a surgery. Ivy was confused by the notion of the need to run on the second situation.

So, how long are we going to be stuck here in this plane? Ivy asked, after they got in their seats. The three of them didn’t manage to get a whole row of seat to themselves, but at least Carter was sitting next to Ivy, and Liberty was sitting in front of them.

Liberty turned around to look at them. Well, I think that’ll be seven hours or so. I have no idea, I didn’t really look at the time hard enough to memorize it. Anyway, She tapped the screen on the back of each of their seats, There are movies, so that’s a good way of wasting time, right?

Ivy and Carter both shrugged. Liberty turned back, and started to flick through all the movies. Just