The Getaway

CH. 33 Once I Was 7 Years Old

Life was good. Or, was supposed to be.

I groaned as I felt the buzz inside my body begin to die down.

The high was almost gone, but I would try my best to savor the last hour of it.

As my mind drifted, my feet finally stopped; placing me in front of a place that irked with nostalgia.

I looked up, eyeing where my feet had taken me.

It was a small playground; hidden between the trees of the neighborhood.

It looked like nobody had touched it in years.

Why did I know this place so well?

I blinked repeatedly, trying to urge my hazy mind to sift through my memory for whatever importance this place served me.

And then, just like that, all my memories came flooding back— an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach accompanying it.

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"C'mon Vi!" Lucas' voice shouted over to me, waving his hands to chase him.

I took after him with a wide smile on my face, giggles erupting through the gap of my two front teeth.

My feet carried my little body as fast as they could, but Lucas' speed and smarts easily
out-did my 7-year-old self.

As he saw me race towards him, he took off in a sprint.

He was 15 after all. He was so fast. So much faster than me, at least.

Despite my obvious disadvantage, I was determined— racing after him until he disappeared around the corner of a slide.

I followed behind, pumping my arms as fast as they would go.

I rounded the corner, but Lucas was gone.

I stared in wonder, how had he just disappeared out of thin air?

"Lucas?" My small voice asked.

I whipped around, now frightful of his absence.

"Lucas!" I shouted this time, my worried eyes searching relentlessly for my older brother.

"Boo!" A loud voice erupted from behind me, two hands snaking around my waist and tossing me up into the air.

I shrieked in surprise, wiggling within the arms that held me.

I heard the familiar chuckle of my brother, turning me around in his arms to face him.

"Lucas!" I shrieked again, a wide grin on my lips.

I shoved my tiny fingers into his face, irritated by his sneak-attack.

He laughed at me with bright eyes, biting jokingly at my little hands.