Swing Life Away [Kellic]

Chapter Seventeen

According to Vic and Cinnamon, the cronies came down the street fairly quietly. They wouldn't have had realised they were coming if it weren't for them walking past the window in Cinnamon unit. She knew who they were and knew who they were looking for and ushered Vic and Copeland to the safety of her place.

Vic and Cinnamon had become good friends since they met a couple of months back. Vic was taking Copeland out to the playground one evening when Cinnamon was just about to head out for her night's work. From time to time, they would visit each other's units for tea.I haven't asked Vic why he didn't tell me about it earlier, I figured it was petty and could wait for better timing.

The men came in and headed straight for our place while Vic and Copeland hid at Cinnamon's. They yelled and threw things around. They called for Vic and Cinnamon and Vic struggled to keep Copeland calm.This was a dodgy neighbourhood. It wasn't uncommon to have people break into houses demanding for one person or another. The neighbours knew to stay out of the way. They'd lock their doors and turn up their television sets and wait for the scene to die down.

After trashing the place, the men weren't satisfied and began knocking on doors to ask for information. We were never friendly with anybody so no one had anything to offer to the thugs. They did eventually come to Cinnamon's door. She answered and feigned ignorance. The men weren't pleased and threatened to trash her place as well but she had kept her cool and stood her ground. They gave up and left.

"They seemed to have got a lead from somebody," Cinnamon told us."They might beat the guy up to pulp, they might come back. This place is not safe for you. You have to get out of here. Get out of town."

Vic looked scared and hopeless. His brows furrowed in worry as he said, "But they'll catch us if we take the train out. And we don't have anywhere else to go."

It was true that the train was the only public transport that came here. There is a bus stop but no bus driver wanted to stop here. The only other way out was by car but we didn't have one. But we did have somewhere to go. I thought about Rian and his too-good-to-be-true offer. I had to tell Vic sooner or later. Now seemed the perfect opportunity.

I placed a hand on his and spoke up. "I have something to confess,"I started. Vic looked at me and I pressed on. "I've been looking around for new places. I found a place and we can move in any time, I just have to give the guy a call and we can move in straight away."

Vic now looked surprised. "Where is this place? Can we afford it?"

I nodded. "It's in town near where I work. It's the same rate as what we're paying now and I save on travel fees this way. It's fully furnished too, I just have to make the call and we can pack and leave this shitty place."

"How are we supposed to get there, then?"

"I'll sort it out," I promised. "What do you say?"

I knew that look on his face. He was still unsure. He was still worried. He needed more convincing.

Before I could open my mouth, Cinnamon spoke up. "Go, Vic. You'll make it out of here safe. You can leave your past behind and start anew. Get out of here, Vic. It's time you start living."

Vic looked at me then at Cinnamon and then back at me. I gave him my best puppy dog look. I could see the gears turning in his head as the thoughts flew across his mind at top speed. After long seconds of considering, he finally nodded and said a small, "okay."

I felt my body loosen up with relief. I squeezed his hand that I was still holding. "It's still quite early, I'll make the phone calls now," I said. "Take care of Copeland for a while," I told Vic,handing the sleeping baby to him. I went over to my backpack that I had thrown aside when I first saw Vic and Copeland. I fished out my cell phone from the bottom of it and dialled in Rian's number that Jack had given to me.

Rian answered fairly quickly. "Hello?"

"Hey, Rian," I said. "It's Kellin."

"Ah, right," Rian replied. "So have you decided if you want the place yet?"

"Yeah, we have. We'll take it," I started.

Rian cut in. "That's great! When do you want to move in?"

"That's the thing. Do you think we could move in tonight?" I winced internally, regretting being so straightforward with my request.

Rian sounded surprised but he said, "Yeah, sure! I'll meet you at there to hand you the keys. Is ten o'clock good?"

I glanced at the clock on the wall. That was about an hour's time for us to gather our things, which was plenty of time. "Ten's great,"I confirmed. "I'll see you then."

"Sure thing." Then he hung up.

Now I had to figure out a way to get out of town without being caught. We didn't have a car and we couldn't possibly walk. I picked up my phone again and dialled in the only other friend I had in my life.

"Jack? It's Kellin," I said as soon as he picked up.

"Oh, hey," he greeted. "What's up?"

I ignored his polite question and asked, "Are you free right now?Because I really need your help."

"Sure, I'm just hanging out with Alex. What do you need?"

"Do you think you could pick me and my family up and take us to Rian's place? We've decided we'll take his offer but we kinda need to move in now," I explained. "Are you sure you don't mind helping out? I don't want to interrupt your night."

"No, no, it's fine," Jack said. "Just give me your address and we'll be right over."

I gave him the address and hung up. Turning to Vic, I told him that I had everything sorted and I was going to our unit to gather up somethings. He stayed behind with Copeland still sleeping in his arms. I went back to our place, still messed up as I had left it just now.The crunching glass beneath my shoes still made me sad. This was our home after all. Run down and shabby as it may have been, it was still home.

Picking my way around, I found an old suitcase I haven't touched for years. I brushed it off and stuffed in all of Copeland's necessities and a handful of clothes for Vic and I, whatever that wasn't covered in too much broken glass to be dangerous to be worn. All of the records I've ever owned had been smashed and broken and there was nothing I could salvage. I managed to pick up a few books and I stuffed them into the suitcase too. There wasn't much left. Between the three of us, our belongings all fit into the suitcase with space to spare. Something in the corner of the room caught my eye. It was Copeland's favourite teddy bear. I dusted it off and stuffed it into the suitcase. Content with my scavenging, I gave the place one last look around before closing the door and locking it.

 It was the end of a chapter in my story. It was time to move on. It was time to leave the bittersweet memories behind. All the joy,sorrow, and pain that I have felt while living here was behind me now. I never pegged myself as the sentimental type, but I felt somewhat melancholy to be leaving. With a last silent goodbye to the roughest years of my life, I returned to Cinnamon's place with the suitcase in tow.  

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I managed to get this chapter done on schedule, nice. 

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