I’m standing in the middle of a deserted road, a looming city ahead of me. Looking around, I see dunes of sand and the occasional tree. I grin as I start walking towards the city, anticipating the quest ahead of me, and suddenly I’m standing at the entrance gates. I look around, and there isn’t a single soul here either. Perfect.

“Hey!” I look around in surprise, not expecting there to be anyone else around. The voice doesn’t seem to be coming from any particular direction.

“Wake up!” Wait, what? Oh shit, is that-

“BEEP BEEP MOTHERF-” I smack my little brother Aiden over the head as I shake myself out of the daydream. Dammit, it was going somewhere good this time. I turn to him, and with my worst death-inducing glare, say, “Can you not be annoying for one second?”

He smirks and replies, “What? All I did was inform you we’re gonna land soon.”

“Right, and all I’m gonna do is ‘inform’ our parents of your method.” That shuts him up. He was so quiet when he was younger, and he worshipped me too. Why do little kids have to change?

I stretch as I look out the private plane’s window. We’re flying from our home in Pennsylvania to meet our parents in Greece. They had gone out before us in the hopes that their trip would only take a week at max, but as it dragged into months they decided that leaving two teenagers alone in a flammable house wasn’t the best idea, especially with ones that have a slight history of arson. It’s not my fault I didn’t know ashes can catch fire to a doghouse. Poor Waldo will be missed.

I’m kidding, our dog didn’t die in the fire. He died a year later from eating an infected mouse our cat, Mikado, brought in. She never did like dogs.

My family’s pretty active, in the sense that we go on trips often. My parents were avid travelers before they had my brother and me, but after I was born they stopped traveling to take care of their new, screaming bundle of joy. After my brother came along they decided that three years without travel was too long, and made plans to globetrot with us kids in tow. Now I’m 18 and my brother’s 15, and we’ve visited over 50 countries. It’s great, until you realize that your parents are teachers and it’s basically year-round school with a lot of exotic field trips. Ok, the traveling makes up for it. At least I think so, my brother just wants to stay in his room and watch porn. He says it’s ‘just youtube’, but I know. We all know. Since he started taking T-shots he’s been really moody and hasn’t wanted to hang out with anyone. It’s a little worrying, honestly. Oh well.

Our plane lands, and I look out the window again. My first impression is this we landed in a regular industrialized city, but then I notice the over-abundance of goats. Are goats supposed to be in an airport? I glance around, and I notice that in the middle of a bunch of goats are my parents handing out goat feed. They seem to be having the time of their lives. I mean, both the goats and my parents.

“Hey.”

I turn towards my brother and see he’s already halfway out the door.

“You just gonna stare at the goats all day or what?”

“Jeez, coming, coming.”

We get off the plane and walk over to meet our parents, who are now surrounded by even more goats. Apparently goat-sip spreads fast. Haha see, it’s gossip, but with goats, so...

I’m not apologizing. Nope.

Mom sees us and starts waving frantically while beaming, scaring off most of the goats around her. Dad looks up and also smiles, but keeps feeding them. As we approach I get an idea and start to smile. Mom notices and starts shaking her head at me, but my smile just widens a bit more. It’s nice having family that knows me so well.

“AHHHHH!” The goats start scattering, probably startled that anyone can be louder than them.

Satisfied at my work, I turn to my parents and ask, “So, where are we staying?”

“Seriously, Ember? That’s the first thing you ask after not seeing us for weeks?”

“Yeah, I wanna know whether we have air conditioning. It’s really hot and humid.”

My dad sighs, then says, “Yes, there’s air. You’ll see what kind of place it is soon enough.” Well, that sounds interesting.

***************

One hour later we’re standing in front of a posh hotel. It looks like the type that’ll have not only air conditioning, but also a pool and hot tub and a fully stocked bar in our room. Not that I would be taking advantage of it.

Once we check in and go to our separate rooms, I drop my bags and plop face-first onto my bed, then roll over. Today was exhausting. I think it’s time for a catnap.