When The Sun Rises

Four

The sun rose through my bedroom window at about 6:30 am. Finally it was the day to go and find Indy. I yawned as a shiver of excitement shot up my spine. After getting dressed quickly into anything I could grab, I skipped breakfast as I didn’t really feel like it - or I just wanted to go and see Indy. Fortunately it wasn’t raining so her present (the muffins) would not get ruined. Yesterday I had printed off the map, just to make sure I knew where I was going.

I drew closer to where the shelter was supposed to be, but when I got there, the building didn’t look… friendly? Although, on the door was an emblem that read ‘Treetop shelter: a safe home for the homeless.’ I was quite confused because this was the right place but it didn’t appear to be much of a home from what Indy described to me. I walked through the door and headed towards the front desk, which was very small and looked old.

“Can I please see Indy…?” I realised I never asked her what her surname was.

“Indy who, what is her surname?” the man sitting at the desk asked.

“I don’t know, but she is nine years old, has blonde hair, green eyes and is short.” I carefully described to him.

“I have no idea who you are talking about.” He replied, not looking like he cared at all.

Well I wasn’t giving up so I just walked off, on my search through the shelter looking for Indy. The shelter had scrappy walls and carpets and plain white old doors. I looked around for her for about 20 minutes but I needed the toilet so I just asked a random boy that walked past. He carelessly pointed around the corner, not even meeting my gaze. The toilets were horrible; they stank of dampness and looked like they hadn’t been cleaned for days. I turned around the corner of the toilets to hear crying from one of the cubicles. They sounded hurt.

“Hello, are you ok?” I gently knocked on the door. There was no reply.

“Are you alright?” I tried to get an answer again.

“Lily?” I small voice said. The door opened.

“LILY!” Indy leaped into my arms. It was like I was the most important thing in the world from the way she was hugging me.

“Indy, I can’t believe I found you! What’s wrong? Why were you crying?” I asked.

“Umm… I just… miss my Mum?” she told me. I knew this was not the truth. We sat down.

“Look Indy, I know that is not the truth.” I sighed. “Look at me Indy.” She lifted her head and stared into my eyes. “You can tell me the truth. I am not going to hurt you.” She lifted her trouser leg up and showed me this huge graze. My heart sank.

 “It hurts.” She cried.

“Who did this to you?” I asked.

“Some big boys pushed me over really hard.” She started crying I wrapped my arms around her.

“When did this happen?”

“Yesterday.” She sniffed.

“Let’s go to your room.”

“No, I can’t take you there; if I leave here they might see me.”

“You can’t live in fear of them - I will protect you.”

She took me down the corridor; we ran into her room and locked the door. A few minutes later a loud bang, followed by a boy shouting, came from outside.

 “I know you are in there Indy, and you’re not coming out.” he yelled. I asked Indy who those boys were and how old they were. She told me they were called Sam and his brothers and they were fourteen.

“Oh yeah, I made you these Indy.” I took the muffins in their box out of my bag.

She smiled and replied. “Huh, thank you.” I was glad I could at least make her smile. She took a bite out of one of the chocolate muffins. “Mm, these are delicious, did you say you made them?” she asked.

“Yep, I love to cook.” I told her. She was eating the muffin like she hadn’t eaten in days, so I asked her what sort of food she gets. She said she doesn’t like the food but she eats it, but that is only when she is brave enough to leave her room to get it. I looked around her room. It was not in the best conditions but it was better that the rest of the building.

“Indy?” I asked to get her attention, “What are the adults like here?”

“Well they just sit at the front table, cook us food or try to send away the inspector, I have only spoke to them a few times. They don’t really care.”

“How can they call themselves helpers, they are not helping, they are just making a house of hell.” I cried.

“I don’t know.”

“Well I can see you all the time right?”

“No, no you can’t come back here, they will notice and come after you.” I interrupted

“Indy, this is ridiculous.” I cried.

“I will meet with you, but I can’t come out in the day - it’s too risky. I will have to come at night.” Indy bowed her head to the floor.

 “You can’t let them stop you from going out.” I exclaimed.

“Well they do, and if I do anything it will just make it worse. Please don’t say anything, promise?”

“I'm sorry Indy, but I just don’t know if I can promise this. Someone needs to know.”

“Well then I can’t see you then.” She started to cry.

I was purely shocked, the way she was living, was just not fit for a nine year old. I took a deep breath.

“I promise, I won’t tell a soul.” I promised, not knowing what I got myself into. “When should we meet?”

“They don’t go away till about 12am, I don’t know why.” Indy cautioned.

“What do they want with you?” I complained.

“I don’t know. I really don’t know.” She grumbled.

“I will meet you at 1am tomorrow.” I arranged.

“Ok, where?” Indy wondered. I immediately thought of the place we first met. So I suggested: “The wooden jetty.”

“Ok, see you then.”

I said goodbye to Indy and then left.