The Runaways

Chapter Eighteen

"Dinner! Come and get it!!" Miss Hayes yells from the living room.

I'm snapped out of my book I'm reading. Opening my bedroom door, the scent of pizza comes from downstairs.

Suddenly, a mob of chattering girls piles down the staircase as I huddle into a corner for safety. I've already been trampled by them once, and I'd rather it not happen a second time. Seeing that it's safe to move now, I straighten my sweater on my shoulders and softly go downstairs. As soon as my foot hits the last step, I glance into the kitchen.

Four pizza boxes.

Completely empty.

As usual.

I have to admit though, it's sure better than getting beat senseless by my dad. I turn around and go back up the stairs.

I'm back in my room, sitting in the floor, thinking. I've been in this girls' home for more than seven months. Two girls are familiar with my name. The rest are too afraid to do anything but stare at me.

"Where did she get all those scars?" they ask one another.

"I heard she used to beat her little sister. Her parents sent her away."

I didn't even care what people said anymore. I sit alone, I sleep in my room alone, I read alone, and I take walks down the street.

Alone.

I'm practically invisible. Miss Hayes, our "mother", doesn't even know my first name. Well, I'm sure she does, but she doesn't bother to remember it.

Luke Dunham. The perfect, blue-eyed boy who risked his life for me. I wince at the thought of him. I shouldn't think about him. He doesn't think about me, I'm sure. The last thing I told him was "We're going to be okay."

Not even a goodbye. No words of assurance.

Nothing meaningful.

Just a lie.

Seven months ago, he was ushered out of the conference room where we met with a lawyer.

"We need to ask him a few questions," the lawyer had said.

Luke had ever so slightly leaned down to me and whispered, "I love you."

I watched him as he walked out of the room. Luke had glanced back at me before he followed the lawyer out. His blue eyes stared into mine, so sincere.

I never saw him again.

I waited. An hour, two hours.

A lady in a grey dress came in.

"Uhm, where's Luke? Why didn't he come back?" I had asked quietly.

The blonde lady shook her head.

"Honey, I think his foster parents picked him up about an hour ago. I'm sorry."

I had immediately stood up.

"No.. No, wait!" I ran out of the room and into the lobby of the office building. I shoved the front doors out of the way and dashed out onto the sidewalk.

There was no sign of Luke or the lawyer.

"Luke!!" I had yelled anyway, knowing no one would answer.

I had sat on the sidewalk and cried until the nice lady came outside.

"Here we go, you'll be alright," she had told me as she put me in a car and drove me to Miss Hayes' Home for Girls.

I looked for him. I searched through the phonebook and called the lawyer we met with, but found nothing. They wouldn't even give me the name of his foster parents. It's crazy.. But I thought he would come. I'd wake up one day, and he would knock on my door to take me away from here.

I should forget him. But all I can think about is how I never got to tell him that I love him back.

A knock on my door shocks me back to reality. I open the door, immediately getting smacked in the face with a water balloon. I stagger backwards.

"Gotcha, Ripton!" Janet, one of the girls who knows my last name, laughs. She smiles a toothy grin at me from across the hall as she slams her bedroom door shut.

Closing my door again, I look in the mirror.

"A lot can change in six months," people say.

I see no difference.

I see long, curly brown hair, rough cheekbones, and tired, green eyes. Freckles, faded scratches, and white scars decorate my skin. No natural-looking makeup could cover these up.

No wonder the girls don't ilike me.

I still look like the girl who's been running around in the woods.

After drying my face off, I lay down in the floor, picking up an old pencil and a piece of notebook paper.

Think. Think, Skyler.

What did he look like?

Very, very blue eyes.

Darker, straight hair.

Strong jawline.

Perfect teeth.

A breath-taking smile.

The sketch didn't do him justice, but it did resemble Luke. Placing it on my nightstand, I then get ready for bed and curl up on my comforter.

"I miss you, Luke," I whisper to no one in particular. The sound of my own voice shocked me since I haven't spoken in such a while.

The sunlight from my window slowly fades to black, leaving my room feeling empty and lifeless.

Staring at the wall, my mind keeps me awake for another six agonizing hours. I wait for the morning.

Finally, my cell phone, provided by Miss Hayes, goes off at 7:15am. After shutting it off, I wash my face and tie my hair in a bun.

My feet tread softly down to the kitchen to start my daily chores. As I'm sweeping the kitchen, five or six girls come downstairs, ignoring me as usual. They make breakfast for themselves, then start on their chores as well. I smile at them as they glance over sideways at me, whispering. They all go into the parlor, and soon, I curl up in a chair by the parlor door.

"What's up with that Ripton girl, anyway? Is she, like.. crazy?"

"I don't even know. I stay away, just to be safe."

I grimace as they chatter away, as if I'm not even there.

It's so lovely to be lonely.