Chapter 3. Watercolor sky
A slight shove pushes me forward and I turn to see a bouncy curled hair little girl with her belongings in one hand—and her mother's tight grasp in the other. I offer an apologetic smile as they both pass me. My feet firm on the graveled spot Tom left me on, I begin to glaze out looking ahead, as the awkwardly weighted bag swings in the little girl's arms.
My eyes blur their figures together that strut out of my eye length, and I'm left staring at the faces of those lined up behind the loading docks, smearing together the washed-out colors of each profile. But through the blur I can tell they all hold the same expression—brave.
I stride to the side of the warehouse, the tall, rusted wall holds the dining room doors slightly open. The weight of them pushes a mark into the gravel-lined pathway as heaving it open is harder than expected. All that is left to the barren metal room is the rows of tables stained from decades of use, and the desolate aura that will never be filled no matter how many occupy it.
That along with the unforgettable smell of the warehouse kitchen-- a nauseating mix of rust and body odor.
Stepping through the doorway I almost forget what I've come in for and just as I do the question pops into my head, Lilly's got to be waiting for the last second to get to the loading docs as she usually does. Avoiding big crowds.
My neck cranes up to the window sills that line the rusted sheet metal, checking the common places I tend to find her hiding. Sitting somewhere up high, reading to distract her from the chaos around her.
In the far corner of the ceiling I see a petite frame in one of the sills, with a book in her lap and her knees tucked to her chest. My lips form a smile at the simplicity in the moment..
"Hey, " I holler up to her. She jumps a bit, untucking her legs. "whatcha doin?" My voice echoes around us.
She glances back and forth until she notices me below. The expression she holds is vexed.
"What?" I ask, as if I don't already know.
She slides her book into her bag and slings it over the shoulder, pushing herself off the sill. Her feet land at the edge of the wall, with her knees bent. Standing up to face me, she gives me a sarcastic eye with the bright hazel color that reminds me of Moms.
"You already know what." Her tone scrapes against irritation. "You're the one that's always quick to judge me for running off, but when it's something as serious as this you take off... Very hypocritical of you, I just have to say. You'd think this is the kind of thing you'd want to show me." I notice her throat tighten as she speaks, her inflection changing with each word. Her thin arms fold over themselves as she loses eye contact with me.
I press my hip against the long cafeteria table next to me and look down in shame. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did; my throat burns at the sharp inhale I take.
"I'm so sorry Lilly... I didn't think about it. I just reacted..." Mimicking Lilly's posture I fold my arms over one another, remembering back to the overwhelm of emotions.
"Did you at least get to read it?" I ask.
She gives me a slight nod. Her expression reads the same as mine.. a loss for words.
"Yeah," She begins, stepping a little more toward me. "I just don't get it... the letter was so vague. How are we supposed to know that's even real, a runaway escaping has never been heard of." The hurt that was in her voice moments before has dropped and she gains the ridged emotion she puts on for everyone. Moving to the side of me and leaning against the edge of the table her side presses into mine.
I shake my head to her, letting the valid point sit on me. How are we supposed to know that was real? And not some type of setup...
"We don't, that's why Tom has Troops questioning him now. Trying to get an idea of what the hell is going on, considering we're all lost." I trail off a bit, not confident in myself.
Tom's conversation is still left heavy on my mind and I wish to tell Lilly everything but I know it wouldn't be the best, especially right now..
"You think it was really her?" Lilly's voice is soft beside me, showing her real age through the squeak in the question. Her hesitation represents the vulnerability she feels, and I can see that hurt inner child inside her glossy eyes.
I reach deep down and try to uncover the true answer to that question...
'Do you think it's really her?' my mind echos to itself.
I nod in reassurance to the thought, and Lilly. "Yeah, I feel like it is. Somewhere deep past the want for her to be here I really feel like she's somewhere out there wanting to come back." My arms unfold and I grasp the edge of the table at the ache in my words.
All I wish is to know she's safe and happy. Not knowing is the harshest part of it all, I know that's the key reason I still hold onto the hope she will come back.
Memories of me as a child shine bright in my mind's eye, praying each day that the next city we went to, she would be waiting for us. The emptiness that followed each move is still a fresh wound to heal, and I can't help but wonder if Lilly has those same wounds...
I often question what reminisces of our childhood she remembers, especially of our mother. She wasn't even four when she left, and like almost all of the others, we had no real idea why she left or where she had gone. One day she was brushing our teeth and tucking us in and the next we woke up to an empty spot in the bed. Everything from there was a blur...
Tom caught word that our mother was gone and found us, at that time I knew him as the nice man that helped my mom when we were hurting for food. After all he was the main reason my mother was able to afford a home where she was, he was always there to help when she was out of work at the farm during turn of seasons or didn't have any goods to sell.
My memories of her are faint but are still very real in the emotion they hold, I would trade anything to go back to the innocence of those days. Mother getting Lilly and I dressed in matching dresses and taking us on a picnic, and the songs she would sing as we'd hum along.
The pause between us continues for a moment longer before our attention is drawn to the doors as they burst open with force. Blake comes rushing in and his curled blond strands are pressed to his brow with sweat, his hands are gripped tight to both doors as he holds them open.
"There you two are, Fuck!" He shouts, the volume to his voice reverberating through the building. "Dad sent me and some Troops to look for you two before closing and then the runaway showed up, everyone took him back while I kept looking. I just got the call from dad. When we got word someone was running I thought it was you two..."
His voice is huffed as he makes his way across the room, throwing his arms around the both of us. The weight is familiar and the unpleasant smell of the dog brings a brotherly love to my heart. As soon as that enters it exits, remembering the energy that's left between us.
Blake is Tom's only son and my only other sibling-like relationship I have. He seems to see it in a different light though, he demonstrated that when he tried to kiss me a few months back.
It really unraveled our relationship, before it was so natural and now it feels like there is a cog in the energy we once shared. The thought makes my heart twinge at the break in our bond.
His brotherly love I held dear to me, since I was a nine year old girl walking into a big camp he was there to guide me. Observing him interact with this strange world helped me adapt to it, and I grew along with him.
Like, brother and sister, we'd go out on patrol and do market runs together. Looking back at it I can see where a bond I was not accustomed to began to form, but I'm not much of one to get vested in things like that...
His arms stay around us a bit longer than expected and falls to his side as the thought enters my mind. We shake our head in unison and Lilly glances up at me, expectant. I don't give her a side glance but give a small reassuring smile to Blake.
Lilly wasn't shocked when I told her he kissed me, she said it was obvious.
"We were fine, did you hear what the runaway had?" Lilly jumps right back to Blakes's attention and leaves the uncomfortable subject line alone.
He pushes his hands into his pocket, a tick I notice him have whenever he's uneasy. Shaking his head in response.
"He had a note from our mom, or at least that's what it said. We really don't know if it was her." She grabs him by the arm and guides him out, my guess is to continue spilling everything that's happened in the past hour.
For someone that never wants to open up about emotions, she really loves to talk about gossip. Anything new around here she always has a vested interest in, even if it's just a new stray dog we find on the streets.
I love the bubbles that live in her head but how easy it is to pop them is intense sometimes. She's just so free at will but yet so crushed by emotion it's hard to blame her for any kind of external problems she has.
I follow closely behind them, as Lilly drags Blake by the arm. The heavy doors fall behind us as we make our way to the watercolor sky and exhaust fumed alleyway.
The lights on the trucks illuminate the dust particles in the air and I notice Tom at the front of the loading cars, so does Blake because he breaks off from Lilly and jogs to the side of him.
I can't help but take note that Blake's stride resembles that of Tom's, accentuating how much he looks like his father .
Bringing a wonder to what his mother looked like and if there is any hint of her in him as well. Though I have no real idea who she was, the handful of times she's been mentioned it has been dropped just as quickly because of the pain it brings Tom... and Blake.
I stop myself beside Lilly, her bag pressing into my side. "You know that boy is never getting over you." I see she folds her arms over one another out of the corner of my eye. And I shake my head at her statement.
"He doesn't have a choice in the matter, there wouldn't be anything between us in any type of future. I love him, but in no other way than Tom's son." The care I have for him will never fade but I can also never see it turning to anything more than platonic. He had so much hand in raising me and I've learned so much from him that I could not imagine our dichotomy changing into anything different.
Tom's silhouette is framed in the headlights he's positioned in front of, talking with the circle of troops. They exchange a few last words before breaking off, and he makes a line for where we're standing.
"Hey," He begins, shrinking the distance between us before continuing. "The boy wants to talk to you. He refuses to speak to anyone until he sees you." His request seems hesitant in the way he frames his words.
Lilly looks up at me with a confused expression, and I nod to her slightly in reassurance. If he's needing to speak with me then it has to be important.
"Okay," I respond curtly and brace myself for the emotions that are to come. • • •
A/N I just want to say THANK YOU FOR STAYING THIS LONG IF YOU HAVE!! You are absolutely amazing and wonderful, yes, YOU!
Even just one pair of eyes on this is something so special to me, I have been curating this novel series over the past 5 years and am finally at the point where I am IN LOVE with the story. And I hope you are too 🥰 🥰
Anyways, question of this chapter is...
What do you think the boy will have to say? Where did he come from? What path do you think this story is going to take?
Any answers to those questions would be amazing, and if you have any critiques or comments you want to give I am ALL EARS and would love to hear them!
Again, thank you for sticking this far and I hope you will be here every Thursday for new updates 🎉🥂