The Boy Next Door

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

"Liliana, why are you packing?" asked Mom. We'd not gotten much more friendly than before.

"I'm moving out. I already talked to Dad about it, and he's okay with it."

"Where are you going?"

"Next door with Evan and his sister Savannah, whom Mr. Walker lied about and we found."

She nodded and left. I shook my head and finished shoving my stuff into a bag. I'd unpack in a few days.

"Meg? Where are you going?" Madelyn stood beside me and frowned.

"To live with Evan and his sister Savannah."

"Will I see you?"

"I'm not moving away, silly. I'm just going next door. You can come visit all the time. Savannah's nine, so you could play with her."

"Yay! I'm going over to meet her!"

I chuckled as she ran over to the empty house. Evan had given me a key so I could get in. Being convinced by the fact that Savannah wouldn't be easily released without me there had gotten him over keeping me away from my family. Currently he was getting Savannah's things together.

I'd gotten the guest bedroom next door to Evan's, which would become Savannah's, and Evan would move into the master. I put my bags in the room and started putting up some different things that sat on my dresser. My Bible sat on the small circular bedside table, along with a lamp and water glass. I'd probably put flowers in it.

Instantly I felt the need to open my Bible and read a passage. When I did, I felt my eyes get wide to devour it. Job 31:21 caught my eye. I'd never read Job, but this chapter made me want to. I read the whole chapter before flipping to the front.

"Hi, Megan!" Savannah jumped up on my bed and I screamed in shock. She laughed at me.

"Don't do that! You scared me!"

Evan smiled as he walked in and saw us. "Hasn't been inside two minutes and she's already messing with you. What were you doing?"

"Reading Job. Chapter 31 caught my attention."

He nodded. "Good book."

"I wouldn't know. I only read chapters 1 and 2 before you got here."

Smiling at me, he told me he'd gone over everything with Savannah. "Everything" included turning off lights you don't need, turning off water when you're not using it, informing her we'd both be gone at different times during the day, and telling her that my parents would be glad to watch her because of my sister, Madelyn.

"I have my work schedule for the next month on the inside of the pantry in the kitchen. Most days I'll be gone seven to six, with school, practice, and work. Savannah, do you know if you're still in the same school?" I'd forgotten over the years the details of elementary school.

"Yep! And Miss Carly knows where I'm living now, so she'll pick me up at seven thirty." I nodded. Carly was the name of the bus driver.

"The elementary school's close to my high school, I think. If you'd like, you could come watch mine and Evan's practice."

Evan nodded. "I'll be coming back here after practice. I'm working mornings." Then he asked Savannah to go unpack, and I knew what he wanted to talk about when he closed my door. I sighed and turned to my bags.

"We've told the police. That's all I can do right now."

"I'm just warning you to be careful. This is really strange for me. I'm moving back in here, you're moving in with me, and my sister who I didn't even know was alive until two weeks ago is moving in."

"At least now we have somewhere to fall back on if it doesn't work out. If we'd attempted this in our freshman year of college, things would be different."

"Speaking of that, have you received your letter from CVU yet?"

"No, but I've been accepted to almost every other college I've applied to."

He nodded. "I'll leave you to unpack and run to the grocery store for food."