Early the next morning, Alex and I sneak out of the house in search of a sporting complex, leaving a note for the others to find. It takes us at least twenty minutes but with the help of our phones, we finally arrive at a building which has a sign with the words "Gozo sports complex" written on it.

"Good morning." The beautiful lady at the reception desk greets us. "How may I be of assistance to you?"

We tell her we're looking to get started on some exercise and after satisfying a few necessary formalities, she hands us over to Malak, our supposed trainer who doesn't seem to be much older than we are.

He's really good at his job though and we spend a glorious two hours just working out and getting acquainted with him.

When we get back to the farm house, Aunt Olivia reprimands us but we can tell she isn't really that upset. We walk into the elaborately furnished dining area to find that she's already set up breakfast. Cramming our plates full with bacon and eggs, we begin wolfing down our food.

"We're headed to the GĦARB FOLKLORE MUSEUM later on." She says as she watches us amusingly. "You two have got to be ready in time."

"Yes ma'am." We both reply habitually and she nods at us, heading out of the dining.

"I have no idea what she just said." Alex says as soon as she leaves.

"Me neither!" I reply enthusiastically bursting into a fit of laughter.

"Be quiet, will you?" he shushes. "What if she comes back in?"

"Nah, she won't." I say, but quieten down all the same.

Once we're done, we drop our plates in the sink and head upstairs to freshen up. The Jacuzzi feels so nice I almost feel like I could stay in it forever. Shower head in hand, I rinse the lather off from my body and sigh contentedly

"Dude, what's taking you so long?" Alex bangs on the door, zapping me back to earth.

"Be right out!" I yell, hurriedly jumping out and tying a towel around my waist.

I open up the door to see him standing right there, smirking.

"What?" I ask

"Oh you know, it's nothing." He replies, whistling to himself and shutting the bathroom door behind him.

"You guys are so weird." Andrew mutters quietly from his bed.

"I heard that!"

"Who said you weren't supposed to?" he smirks. "Sissy."

"Shut up Drew."

"Why?" he asks, smiling like the angel that he most certainly is not.

Ignoring him, I get dressed in some shorts and a blue tee shirt before jumping listlessly onto my bed.

***

There's a swirl of voices; and tapping. Wait, someone's tapping me.

"Is this polo tee proper?" Alex asks as I stare at him, a confused look on my face. I have got to stop this from happening. When did I fall asleep?

"Yeah, it looks good." I reply half -heartedly; yawning and stretching.

"Guys, it's time to go." Uncle Harry's head pokes through the door.

"We'll be right down." Drew answers for all of us, he laces up his shoes and walks out the door.

It only takes a little over half an hour to get to the museum which turns out to be pretty cool.

It's this nice, early-18th-century looking village house with lots of rooms full of historic objects and whatnot. Our tour guide leads us through room after room filled with objects and furniture related to milling and printing, carpentry, wine-making, fishing and stuff.

Half of the objects are strange to us and we have a good time exploring and getting acquainted with the house. Emily however, doesn't seem to like it very much and keeps complaining about wanting ice cream.

At first, her whining falls on deaf ears but after a while, she becomes so irritable that we decide to give in to her demands.

Her parents, undoubtedly, don't seem too pleased but she doesn't even take notice as she happily slurps her mint chocolate fudge ice cream. Thanks to her, we take some time off to unwind before heading to our last stop for the day; Xerri's Grotto.

It takes a really long while to get there and Em starts to get squeamish again but when we finally do, all thoughts of going back to the farmhouse anytime soon fly out the window. She jumps up and down excitedly as we get our tickets and are led into the caves.

"The cave was discovered by local resident Anthony Xerri in 1923 or 1924 while digging a well under a private house," Our tour guide says but I'm only half listening.

I look around, drinking up the view in front of me with eyes so wide; you would think my life depends on it. Several rows of stalactites or stalagmites fill the cave. I can't quite tell the difference but I keep looking anyway.

Some of them seem have peculiar resemblances to actual animals. I make out a vulture, a giraffe and even spot a formation that could pass for elephant's ears.

"Wow." Alex exclaims, sidling up to me. "Is it just me, or do you guys see those."

"We all see them Alex." His dad replies laughing. "Don't try to feel special." He says, punching Alex playfully. This gets us all laughing as our tour guide moves us along.

By the time, we're done exploring the nooks and cranny of the grotto; it's gotten pretty late so we grab some dinner at a nearby restaurant before heading home.

That night, I spend hours talking on the phone to mum, the twins and Mary.

Mum told me she had spent a bit more time with Kenny and I tried not to over react. Mrs. Williams is back and they all seem to be having a nice break while Mary's stuck at home with her 'annoying' older brother whom she claims does nothing better than get on her nerves and boss her around. Who knew catching up would be so stressful?

No sooner have I put my phone down and picked up my iPod than Alex plops noisily onto my bed.

"Hey." He says.

"Hey."

"What are you listening to these days?" he gestures at my iPod.

"A voice in my head." I reply sarcastically. Or least I try to convince myself I'm just being sarcastic; somehow I'm really not so sure.

"Everything alright?" he asks.

"More or less." I reply

"How's your aunt doing?"

"Mum says she's showing a lot of improvement."

"Thank God." He says, visibly letting out a breath.

"Yeah." I reply.

"So..." he begins uncertainly, which is weird because he's usually always comfortable about asking me things. "Are you happy?" he asks softly. "I mean, you're okay right? Is there anything else you want to talk about?"

Yes! A whole bunch of things I scream mentally but subtly bite my tongue to keep from saying anything out loud. "Not really, no." I reply instead.

"I'm in a happy place right now. You know, everything is kind of going back to the way it used to be. This break was a fantastic idea."

"Oh, okay." He says looking a bit crestfallen that I hadn't offered more information. "If you ever want to talk though, I'll be right here" he continues, not giving up.

"I know Alex." I say. "Stop worrying about me. I'll be fine."

Alex gives a half smile and retreats to his bed and it's all I can do to keep from banging my head on the wall. He knows I'm keeping quiet about it. I mean, any dumb arse would have noticed that by now and at the thought, a slight feeling of guilt overwhelms me.

It's not like I don't want to talk to him about everything that's going on in my head.

On second thought, scratch that. Right now, it's exactly like I don't want to talk to him about it. It's just, everything's finally falling into place and I don't want to go about digging up hurtful memories. Besides, Alex is my best friend and all, but how sure I am, really, that he'll be able to understand how I feel? Talking to Kenny had helped, one way or the other but that had been as a result of a little slip-up. I'd best be keeping my feelings to myself from now on. I really don't want to jinx anything.

***

The next day, everyone comes along to the gym with us and we have quite a bit of fun doing yoga with Malak. He seems to be fond of little kids and Em takes a special liking to him as he encourages her during the poses.

We'd all decided before-hand to spend the day at home, just lazing about, catching up on movies, swimming and whatnot and it goes really well for us albeit a bit dreary.

"I'm bored!" Emily, our avid chief complainer announces towards evening. No one reprimands her though, because we're all feeling the same way.

"Go get me a couple of brochures from the kitchen counter." Her dad instructs and she zooms off like a ball of energy, more than happy to oblige.

"We can head to the old prison", he says after checking out a couple of them.

"That sounds depressing." I complain, coming off whinier than I'd intended.

"No way!" cries Emily excitedly. "It sounds fun."

I quirk my eyebrows at her. "Does it now?"

"I want to see the dungeons." She sings happily, ignoring me and dancing around the sitting room in small circles.

"Well I guess there's enough time to pop in briefly." Uncle Harry replies. "What do you think Olivia?"

We all turn to face her, waiting expectantly.

"Oh, alright." She says, smiling and immediately, we all hurry upstairs to change. Dumping my previous outfit haphazardly on the bed, I change into my usual almost the end of summer apparel and head back down, feeling quite pleased with myself. I know I said I didn't want to go but any opportunity to get out is a good one.

We get to our destination just in time for the last entry of the day. It's located in the same environment we'd visited yesterday and is adjacent to the courts of justice.

Apparently, our admission also grants us access to the other citadella sites like the museum we had visited but we hadn't known that earlier. Oh well, I sigh, following the mass of tourists inside.

The walls of the prison are literally covered in graffiti. The most common ones are of ships, handprints and crosses.

These people must have been really desperate, I think as I spot a few graffiti of games, names and flags on a floor surface. The tour guide informs us that the prison was active from the mid-16th century until 1962 and was used to host the rudest or most riotous knights, as a place to cool down.

"Bet Mary would love to get her brother in here." I nudge Alex and we both laugh.

I get carried away as we continue talking and bump my head lightly on one of the massive low doors. Of course, Alex doesn't deem it fit to sympathize with me.

Instead, he motions to Andrew who had witnessed the whole affair and they both burst out laughing. This attracts a few rude stares from the thinning crowd around us but I find myself laughing along anyway. If you can't beat them, join them, they say.

*** [hours later]

I wake up gasping for air. In an attempt to calm down, I reach for the glass of water I remember keeping on my bedside table and take a long gulp, downing the glass. Although the air conditioning is turned on, my hair is sleek with sweat.

It was just a nightmare, I think to myself as my breathing starts to even out. Calm down.

I repeat the though over and over again in my head, but it doesn't seem to work. I take a quick glance at the clock. 3am, it reads.

Feeling worried, I pick up my phone. When we had gotten back earlier, I tried to get in touch with mum but it kept going to voicemail and she hadn't called back before bed.

Well, that hasn't changed, I think as I drop my phone listlessly on the bed. She's probably just busy.

She might be with Kenny, a small voice at the back of my mind says, but I scowl and push it away. That's not happening. Ever.

Lying back, I let my mind wander for a bit. This break was totally what we needed, I sigh. What with all the drama back in my life at home and all, this is the perfect getaway.

***

It's the evening of our third day in Gozo and Alex's parents had the 'brilliant' idea that we should all head to church for some mid-week worshipping. I really should have seen it coming though. I mean, it's them; they're always up for going to church anytime.

So here I am, seated on a pew in an old Baptist church, feeling just a tad bit uncomfortable.

"Why can't we just skip church like everyone else during the holidays?" Emily asks. "Does it really matter?"

"Others can Em, you can't" her mum replies. "There's no such thing as going on holiday when it comes to our savior. Now keep quiet and listen."

She looks like she wants to say more, but her brothers shoot her a knowing look and she bridles her tongue.

It isn't like I've never been in a church before; I have. I just really don't get what the stress is about.

I mean, things happen because of the choices we make, not because of some God in the sky. To me it feels a bit like when you tell little kids that Santa put the presents in their Christmas stocking because they were good. You put it in there and you made the choice so why deceive them?

I mean, think about it. Let's say there's really a God and he 'loves' me. Why did he give me such a horrible father then? And my aunt, how do you explain that?

The booming sound of a mike pulls me out of my thoughts as the preacher arrives on the altar. I hadn't even noticed they'd stopped singing. But to be honest; the songs were really nice and catchy. I almost wish I knew half of them.

"No one likes to wait. But we wait in traffic, in car pool lines, in holding patterns, in grocery stores, for the foursome ahead of us, for the doctor, for a spouse, for a baby, for retirement, for sermons to get over, or for Jesus to return."

Well at least he got that right, I think as he continues to speak. I am waiting for this sermon to be over.

For the rest of the service, I zone out and try to make plans for tomorrow. I'll suggest going to the beach to the others. I'm sure they'll love it. It'll be fun.

"Let us pray." The preacher is saying when I tune back in. Thank goodness.

He says a lengthy prayer and I'm sort of glad for it even though it wears me out because he prays for the sick and although Aunt Veronica is getting better, a little extra help wouldn't hurt.

After dinner that night, I call mum again but she doesn't pick up. Halfway through the movie I'm watching I get a text from her saying how sorry she is and how she's busy and all. She promises to call later; whenever that is. I just hope all her extra time isn't going to Kenny.