The Green Eyes.

I got in the car and locked the doors the minute my little sister was able to shut the door behind her in the back seat. Tears were flooding her eyes, just as my hands were shaking as I continuously pressed the lock button of the truck. I heard the clicks over and over again. click. click. click.

"Is mom coming with us?" Anna asked, her voice shaking and I heard my voice crack as I tried to answer as bravely as I could.

"Not yet. She will be right behind us. She has to make sure it is safe first." Though the words came out, thankfully more confidant than I felt, I wasn't so sure I believed them myself. Was she actually going to come? Would our father let her?

She told me to wait until her signal, but how was I supposed to know what that was? She just said to go to the car and lock the doors until she gave me a signal.

I put my hands on the steering wheel, the keys already in the ignition and my foot on the break, ready to change gears. It had been a while since I had practice driving, but my mom taught me at a younger age, just in case. Just in case.

"3.2 miles. My grandparents live 3.2 miles. I can drive 3.2 miles." I whispered to myself between deep breathes. I was only 13, but my mom taught me to drive the old, beat up, baby blue truck because she said that 3.2 miles was too far for us to walk, or run, if we had to. I looked back at the house, the early morning light just barely shining over the top of the house. I didn't see anyone coming out the front door, but then again the early sunrise was causing too much of a glare. Where was she?

I turned to look out the side door, staring intently at the barn not far from the main house. Maybe she was there, but again. No movement. I couldn't help but noticed the shades of yellow, red and orange sky were vibrant, and contrasted with the deep green and browns of the fall grounds. The only tree in comparison was the single red leaves on the tree next to the barn, both competing in brightness and height with the red, triangular roof.

Suddenly, I jumped and gasped, then heard Anna scream as I heard a bang on the passenger side door. Heart pounding, I was thankful to see it was only my mom. I rolled down the window, but she stopped me just as enough open window allowed for her voice to carry through.

"Lacey, your father is asleep. Wait in the car a little longer. Your grandparents know you what it means if they see you pulling up in their driveway. I have warned them."

"Mom..." I said, my voice shaken now.

"Lacey, please. Be brave." I watched her wide eyes, green eyes look with great concern at me and then Anna, who was only 7 years old. I had to do this for Anna. And for my mom.

"You know he cannot hurt me, but I will not risk you too. Please do as I say. When I give you the signal, go. Do you understand. GO." My mom demanded and I felt my head shaking in agreement, though I couldn't remember my mind tell it to do so.

"Yes, momma, yes. But will he hurt you..."

"You know he won't. He never has before. He is asleep, so I pray he sleeps long enough to wake up sober. But if he doesn't, you two cannot be here." There was a light that turned on the house and I watched the panic in her green eyes. Those green eyes. I would never forget her look. She looked back once more at me, Anna and then back at me and nodded, as if to say: take care of her. I nodded.

Then before I watched in the rearview mirror, my mom walk back into the house with her head up high, her shoulders back and her red, wavy hair swaying behind her, ready to confront our drunkard of a dad.

"How do you know when mom will give the signal?" Anna asked suddenly, silence having taken up a long morning.

"She said we would know. Somehow." Anna nodded, and we became silent once more.

"I am scared, Lacey." I heard Anna finally say in the back. I didn't know what to say, but I couldn't help her not being able to say anything. I felt it too. The terror, the uneasiness and the uncertainty of, well, everything. I realized then I was holding my breathe, and my hands were burning from gripping the steering wheel so hard.

"I know, let's play I spy." I said, giving her a short smile. The sun had risen a little more. It was going to be a beautiful day. I could tell. It had just turned Autumn in our small, cozy town. The ranch was my favorite time in Autumn, with the leaves, the small animals and the cool breeze. But somehow, this morning didn't seem to be as beautiful.

"Okay, I go first." Anna said, her smile showing for the first time in the past 4 hours. I nodded.

"I spy something..." She looked around for a long time, which was perfect because I used it as an excuse to look carefully around me to look for any sign from our mother. Nothing.

"...Red." Anna said. I looked around for what was red.

"Your shirt?"

"No."

"The front door of the main house?" It was red, and I was still looking for our mom.

"No."

"The barn roof?" Now I looked to see if she had come out of the back of the house and towards the barn for any reason.

"No."

"Ummm... the leaves on the tree near the barn?" I asked, getting impatient now. I felt super uneasy.

"YES!" Anna cried, a little too loud.

"SSHHHH." I cried out now, also a little too loud, and reacting before I could stop myself. Annas eyes widened and I saw her the tears fill up her small, light green eyes. There was a little dim of yellow, just like our mothers. My eyes had more hazel, brownish, but my mom and Annas, they were the pretty freckled, pale, red heads with green and yellow eyes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that." I said softly and turned around to make sure my sister new I was genuine. She nodded, then turned her eyes away from me. I turned back around, feeling guilty but placing my hand on the keys in the ignition, preparing myself once more.

"Okay, my turn. I spy... something..." I looked around. I saw the off white, greyed out vertical pieces of wood that made up the barn, the deep red barn roof and the bright yellow and orange sun coming up right behind it. I glanced past the red leaves, now almost orange from the rays of the sun, at the tree Anna had chosen for I spy, when my eyes laid on a small brown barn owl, hopping from the edge of the cracked single window at the top of the barn to the branch of the trees, now surrounding itself among red leaves. A barn owl, out in the day? That was rare. I thought.

"Brown..." I finally said, mesmerized by the owl. It was so strategically moving itself to the middle of the branch, as if trying to be seen.

"You can't choose brown. Everything is brown." Anna complained.

"Small and brown."

"Laceyyyy." Anna whined. I rolled my eyes where Anna couldn't see. I sometimes forgot she was only seven. We were super close, though so far apart in age. She was all I had. Her and my mom.

"Okay, fine. Fine."

"I spy something..." I glanced back at the barn owl. It had stopped moving across the branch. Now, it was facing me, watching me, its green and yellow, wide and beady eyes staring right at me. It was like it wanted me to see it. The green eyes... the little owl looked almost scared. And its eyes...

"Gree...."

"Moms eyes!" Anna said without hesitation and before I could finish.

I was about to argue, and then it hit me. My eyes flew back to the barn owl, and it was still staring at me, its green eyes begging for my attention. I turned the key in the ignition, changed gears and pressed the gas pedal. The signal: Go.