Levi's Secret

CHAPTER 16

"Thank you." said Vicky giving the boy a genuine smile.

The boy looked at her with a peculiar expression on his face before speaking,

"Do you know the way home?"

Vicky shook her head in dismay, tears prickling her eyes once more.

"Fine. I'll take you to the police station. It's in the next block, only about five minutes from here." he said offering her his hand. She took it gratefully and stood up.

"Police station?" asked Vicky nervously. She'd spent a lot of her childhood shuffling between courthouses and police stations.

"You're scared." he stated brows furrowing, as he spun the football on his finger. "Why?"

"It's nothing." she said tucking a loose strand behind her ear to avoid looking at him.

The boy didn't push for answers. Instead, he peered behind the frog headed seesaw and immediately grabbed Vicky's hand.

"We need to hide." he whispered as he guided her to the slide's thin shadow. "These men look like trouble."

Vicky found her back pressed against the plastic slide. The boy was standing beside her, his arm spread protectively in front of her chest.

She saw through the corner of her eyes, a group of what seemed to be taller kids enter the playground. They looked rough and were spouting foul language as they approached the seesaws.

"So where's the little princess who ran away?" asked one boy. Vicky didn't think he looked like a boy, he was smoking a cigarette and looked like a man.

"Must be around here. Where you at pretty girl?" said a sleazy looking man chugging on a can of beer.

"Fannington's daughter, here in this motherfucking neighborhood." scoffed the third man, coiling a thick rope in his arms. "I can't fucking believe it. This kid is fucking loaded."

"I got the chloroform ready." said the guy with the cigarette again. "The police are looking too. We better find that girl first."

"Lucky the brat ran off today." said another rolling chains on his knuckles. "I've been nothing but bored since I got out of prison."

Vicky felt her breath get heavy. These men were talking about her. They were planning to kidnap her.

"Hey," whispered the boy hiding beside her, his arm still  protectively in front of her. "Don't worry. I won't let them get to you."

Her scared brown eyes found his own dark ones as he gave her a reassuring nod. She tried to look brave, to fend off the fear bubbling up in her stomach. She knew what it felt like to be kidnapped. She'd been through that hell before.

But now there were five full grown men after her.

What chance did the boy and she have against them? The last thing she wanted was for the nice candy sharing boy to get caught up in her mess.

She had to stop her train of thought as the boy started to take his shirt and pants off, leaving him in just his boxer shorts.

"Put these on." he said turning away. "I won't look."

Vicky nodded as she quickly stripped down and pulled on his clothes. They fit loosely over her smaller frame, but she was sure she looked fairly boyish.

"I'm done." she said as she took off her fairy shoes. She wondered how she looked right now.

The boy turned to face her. He sized her up for a while before  using his free hand to tousle up her slightly longer brown hair.

"You look like a boy." he said approvingly after he'd completely ruined her hairstyle. He then bundled up her clothes and shoes and hid them below the slide.

"Let's go." he said letting the football fall from his hand and onto the ground at Vicky's feet with a thud.

"Come on! Pass the ball already!" he yelled running in front of her into plain sight of the gang.

Vicky caught on quickly as she gave the football a swift kick and ran after him barefoot.

"Where did those two come from?" said one of the men starting to chase after them.

"Hold on Mike," said another. "They're both boys. We can leave them be."

Neither Vicky nor the boy turned to see if they were being followed. They simply ran.

It was so simple, so easy and so terrifying at the same time to escape this way.

They didn't stop running till they made it out of the park.

"Come on," said the boy taking her hand as soon as they were outside. "We need to keep going till the police station. It's not safe here."

Though Vicky was tired and a little breathless she was glad he was accompanying her.

"Thank you." she said. She knew he didn't have to do all that he'd done to save her.

He smiled at her, before planting a soft kiss on her forehead.

"No problem." he said, grinning as she blushed. "Now let's go."

***

The policemen at the station were surprised to see a nearly naked boy and a suspiciously overdressed friend barge in.

"This is Ms. Fannington's daughter." declared the shirtless and pant-less boy pointing to the other kid.

It was only when Vicky spoke, in her soft, sweet feminine voice that the police realized she was a girl.

"The police up north have been searching all over for ya kid." said one policeman as he guided her into his office. "Can you tell me your name and address please."

And so Vicky spoke and the policemen took several notes while they made the boy, now wearing an officer's enormous spare T-shirt, sit in another room as he answered the same questions.

As it happened, neither of them ever heard each other's answers, and neither of them knew each other's names.

It was only when it was time for the boy to go home (his mom came to pick him up) that Vicky realized she hadn't said goodbye.

But just then her parents arrived too, and her father pulled her into his arms and her mother was kissing her face and thanking God. In a blur of events, by the time Vicky was set down on her feet again, the boy had left.

All she knew was that he lived down south from where she lived, that he had brown messy hair that fell over his face, he liked football, disliked sugary foods and had a heart of gold.

It took her six years, and meticulous study of hacked data to finally, finally find him again.

A/N: How do you think Levi will react?

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Lots of love,

Andy