Chapter Nine
"Wake up."
I'm shaken awake to see Trace staring back at me. He has dark bags forming below his eyes but somehow he still manages to pull of an exhausted look.
He throws his blanket off and rises to his feet, "Come on, help me get them up."
Without question I take my blanket off. It feels heavier than I remember so when I start investigating as to why, I realize I was sleeping with three blankets. I never got up in the night to get anymore.
Trace rushes over to Lucas and begins kicking him, "Get your ass up, we need to go."
Lucas' eyes open and he gives Trace a bewildered look before checking the time on his phone.
"Why the hell are we up? It's only seven o' clock. The store doesn't open for another three hours."
Trace rubs the back of his neck, "That's what I thought too but apparently, we were wrong. Somebody's here."
I slip my shoes on and Adalyn's eyes shoot open, "You couldn't have started with that!"
She jumps up and Lucas wakes up Josephine who was the only one still sleeping.
Trace clears his throat to gain attention and begins talking, "Someone is here but they aren't inside the building yet, I saw them drive up less than two minutes ago but we need to hurry. Josephine and Adalyn if you could get the projector back like it was that'd be great. Ethan go cut the lights, it's daylight now so we don't need them anyways. Be careful because someone could walk in at any moment and hear or see us so be sure to stay away from the door and keep your eyes peeled." the three of them run off the complete their task and everyone else starts gathering the blankets we have scattered and folding them.
With the help of six people, folding up some blankets is fast.
The lights flip back off and Trace and I grab the two stacks and begin walking back to put them where they go. Putting back blankets that we slept on and that lied across the floor is rude but in our defense that's why you always wash everything before you use it.
We set the stack back on the shelf and turn to go back.
As we walk I see a little toy fairy. It's a tall, skinny girl with purple hair and blue, sparkly fairy wings. I would've loved this when I was a little girl.
Trace notices me stop and turns to see why. He looks at the fairy for a small moment as if he's wondering why I'm looking at a sparkly doll for an eight year old.
I shrug to silently answer his question and the two of us begin walking again. A question comes to my mind and I turn to face him, about to ask if he's ever seen Tinker Bell. I open my mouth to speak but before the words come out, he's pulling me against him and has a finger over my lips.
His hand is pressed on the small of my back as he takes a step backwards and pulls me towards him. Once he's sure I'm not about to talk, he turns me around. We can't see anything except the same pair of dirty shoes that we saw last night. The view of the shoes alone is enough to cause worry inside my stomach.
In the matter of two small steps, Trace and I would be directly in the old mans sights. I was about to walk right out in front of him and I would have if Trace wasn't paying such close attention to everything and stopped me before I could.
Trace takes my hand in his and begins leading us away. We get to the end of the isle and our pace quickens, not caring as much about the small sound of our footsteps.
We get about five more isles away and stop in the toy section. There's toy dinosaurs, trucks, and baby dolls going all the way down it. I pull out my phone to warn the others about him. Trace searches the store for something, probably a way out. The only two doors we know of are at the front center and the back corner, both of which are on the opposite sides of the store from where we are now.
Leaving would be a great idea, obviously. But we can't just leave without knowing if our friends are going to be okay and have a way out.
I walk over to Trace but even stepping lightly isn't enough. A motion sensed baby doll begins laughing and my eyes widen. I snatch up the doll and try looking for an off switch. The baby's back is bare with nothing but the speaker.
We hear footsteps stomping towards us and I panic. I toss the baby back onto the shelf and Trace chuckles before grabbing my hand again.
The footsteps get closer to us, "Is someone there?" a piercing voice echos.
We take off running and Trace is sure to keep me close to him as we run. I know he's going half as slow so I'll be able to keep up. We run to the other side of the store where the back door is, not even caring about the sound of our footsteps.
We make a sharp right and our shoes slide a little bit, causing us to laugh as we regain our balance and keep going.
This is like something you'd see out of a movie. Two teenagers holding hands and running through a store while the mean clerk tries to catch them.
I should be nervous or at least a little bit scared of getting caught but the truth is, I'm not. My adrenaline is racing and I feel like I've never done anything this reckless. Trace won't let me get caught and I know that. I'm putting my trust in a guy I've only known for a short while but somehow I know he won't let me down.
We make another turn and this time my smile fades as I realize what's in front of us. Instead of seeing another isle for us to run down, we're met with the misfortune of a computer box, and no way to get around it. It's a black wall with a curtain hiding a computer. There's no where for us to go.
We're stuck.
And to make matters worse, the footsteps are still getting louder as they approach us.
Trace grabs my arm and gently pushes me back behind the curtain, "Stay back here."
There's enough room in here for the both of us. All that's back here is a computer and it's not like we'd be any more squished than last time we were hiding. He can hide here too.
I shake my head, "What about you? You can't stay out there, he'll see you."
Trace smiles, "That's what I'm counting on. If he catches me he'll have no reason to keep looking. He doesn't know the number of people in this store so once he has me I'll distract him and you get everyone else to haul ass out of here."
He closes the curtain. I can hear the footsteps getting closer and closer, louder with every step.
Trace can't sacrifice himself to get me out of here, what the hell kind of deal is that?
I know he'd do anything for his friends. This past day he's proved that to me multiple times but I won't let him go to jail for something I got us into. Even if he's able to go home from the station tonight he'd still have that on his permanent record and although it may not mean much to him, it means a lot to me.
I'm the one who set off the baby laughing so I should be the one about to get caught right now.
I pull back the curtains and step out to see Trace staring at me like I'm insane.
"What the hell are you doing?"
I shrug, "I'm not going to sit tight while you come out here and play hero. I can handle myself, you can hide but I'm staying right here."
He smiles at me. It's not a mocking smile but more of a surprised one. Like that was the last thing he expected me to say but he respects it.
We see a shadow come into a view and my breath quickens. One more step and he'll see us. One more step and I'll be going to jail for the night. One more step and I'll be seeing disappointment behind my mothers eyes for the next month.
I close my eyes, too scared to see the man turn the corner.
Suddenly, a loud crash echos through the store and my eyes shoot open. The man's shadow turns around and I can hear his footsteps taking him in the opposite direction.
I turn to look up at Trace, "We're not going to jail today."
He laughs, "I guess Cameron finally saw my text."
It was smart of him to text someone who he knows isn't near here. Cameron was supposedly farthest from us at the dairy products so he'd have the man running in circles if he were to cause a ruckus.
Lucas turns the corner and I nearly scream. He looks at me crazy before speaking, "I saw the two of you run back here and get corned so I had Adalyn knock down a few pans at the other side of the store. It's only a matter of time before he sees one of us though."
"Emma and I are about to get out of here, you coming?" Trace asks.
Lucas looks back around the corner for a moment, probably looking for Adalyn. After a moment of not seeing her, he lets out a breath and nods.
We all jog over to the exit and close the door quietly behind us. The air is icy as it hits my bare legs and arms.
We begin walking down the parking lot and I stop, "Wait, we're leaving?"
"We're not leaving, we're getting past the sign so we can walk into camera view from the front instead of the side. Lucas is going to get them all out while you and I distract Mr. Willis at the door."
They already have a plan? They never even discussed anything.
I turn back to see Lucas on the phone with Erica.
He's going to fill her in on when Trace and I have the old mans attention so she can gather everyone up from the inside.
The two of us walk up to the dark building but the doors are locked.
I knock once and Mr. Wills comes walking towards the door. My teeth begin chattering so I rub my arms for warmth, which doesn't go unnoticed by Trace.
The old man opens the door and peeks his head through the small crack he's made, "Sorry, but we're closed. We open at ten o' clock."
He tries closing the door back but Trace slips his foot into the crack, "Can we come inside for just a moment. Our car broke down a few miles up the road and my girlfriend here is freezing. I promise we don't need long, just a few minutes so she can warm up."
The old man eyes me up and down, noticing my bare legs and chattering teeth before groaning and letting us in.
"You have five minutes but after that you can wait until opening time like everyone else."
The man tries walking away but Trace jogs up to stop him. He stands in front of the old man and I think I hear him say something about pizza rolls.
I chuckle to myself and walk over to them. Trace is explaining the significance of sunscreen. He tells the man how it helps protect your skin from harmful UV rays. Over the mans shoulder is a bottle of sunscreen Trace is reading from word for word as he speaks.
"Yea, sunscreen is good to have I guess but I believe it's time for you to leave." Trace looks over at me and I get a text from Mason saying they made it out.
"Thank you for letting us warm up, sorry for the trouble."
The man waves us off, "If you get cold again them remember to wear clothes."
I'm taken aback by his rudeness and am about to reply but Trace laughs and pushes me gently out the door.
The cool air hits my skin immediately and I begin missing the warmth of We Zebra.
"Where's Trace?" Josephine asks me as I meet them around the corner.
Confused, I turn around. I'm surprised when I don't see him behind me anymore.
Did he stay and talk to the rude old man some more? Why wouldn't he tell me he wasn't following me out? Maybe he just needed to use the bathroom or something.
I begin walking back towards the door but before I round the corner Trace appears holding a blanket, a blanket we slept on.
"Why'd you buy a blanket?" Erica asks.
Trace shrugs and hands it to me, "It'll make our lie more believable."
These people really don't leave anything to chance.
I smile and take it, wrapping it around myself. I'm still cold but at the blanket definitely helps. At least I'm not shivering like a maniac anymore.
Everyone sets off walking back to Ethan's house.
For the most part, the walk is quiet. I guess most everyone is still too tired to talk much. I've been tired since I woke up but most of the time I was high on adrenaline to really notice it.
The walk back doesn't seem to take as long as it did the first time. When we get to Ethan's driveway the first thing we do is get in our designated cars. Josephine and Adalyn jump into my car and I take them back home before heading home myself.
As soon as I walk through the front door I'm greeted with my happy puppy. The two of us go upstairs and she takes a nap with me in my bed.
When I wake up again, it's almost six p.m.
I sit up as Sadie looks at me, awake now from my moving.
"Hey girl," I tell her with a gentle rub on her head causing her tail to start wagging.
I stand up and my stomach begins grumbling. My body still feels asleep, my legs are numb and my belly growls again.
My mouth opens into a yawn and I stretch my arms over my head.
Sleeping is so great until you have to wake. Sleeping is like a shower, it's great until the end when you get cold and don't feel like doing anything anymore.
My stomach growls for the third time and I decide eating is necessary despite my current state of wanting to stay in bed forever.
I groan loudly, causing Sadie to cock her head to the side. I let her out in the backyard before grabbing my car keys and heading to town.
After about a fifteen minute drive I arrive at a restaurant named My Tortillas. Hopefully these tacos are better than the ones given to you from a shady man in a shady truck.
Well, really a taco from your local hospital would be better than one from that truck.
When I walk inside, the first thing I notice is the amount of people. The restaurant is as crowded as an airplane before take off.
I order four tacos, two for me and two for my mom. "It'll be about five minutes," the waitress tells me before walking away.
I yawn again, still tired from my previous nap. Water begins welling up in my eyes and my vision becomes blurry. I blink away the tears and wipe my eyes with the back of my hand.
The waitress walks up a few moments later and hands me a brown paper sack before hurrying off to deal with more customers.
I get outside and the air isn't as cold as it was this morning, actually it's moderately warm.
The sun is shining bright with hardly any clouds blocking its rays as it warms this small town.
I step off the sidewalk but stop dead in my tracks as I look up to see a familiar face, but one I'd care to never see again. With the same ragged appearance as before, I recognize the man who stopped me that day in the parking lot. He's wearing a different outfit but the same confused look. His expression is unreadable as he watches me from across the parking lot.
I'm careful to keep my face calm as I walk to my car. I'm not sure who this man is or why he's arguably stalking me but whatever his purpose is, I sure as hell want nothing to do with it.
He never makes a move to grab at me or even speak to me as he watches carefully.
I get in my car and lock the doors quickly before releasing a deep breath.
Trying to hold your fear is hard when your terrified. All I want to do is get home where I'll be safe with my mom.
It's funny how your mothers presence is enough to make you feel safe. All you need is her comfort and you'll feel on top of the world, nobody can touch you.
"Mom?" I call out as I open the front door and she calls to me from the kitchen.
When I get in there she's at the table drinking a glass of water with her nose stuck in her phone.
I hand her the food and she eyes it like it's the best thing she's seen in years.
She unwraps the taco before taking a big bite, I do the same and manage to finish eating in five minutes.
"Have you heard from dad?" I ask and her eyes widen as she remembers.
She points to a stack of envelopes on the counter, "Yea, he sent you a letter yesterday."
Dad has a cell phone but he doesn't like texting as much as he likes writing letters. He thinks letters are too memorable to replace with texts so he keeps his old school habits and sends me a letter as often as he can.
I open and read: He got a new job, he's a painter now so him and Laila decided to put his new skills to use and repaint a few of the rooms. He said he's repainting my room a light lavender because that's what Laila picked but we can paint it back as soon as I'm in California again. Other than that, not a lot has been going on over there but he misses and loves me.
I smile and close the letter back, placing it back in the envelope for safe-keeping and going upstairs to set it with the others.
There's a small corner of my dresser drawer dedicated to all the letters he's sent me. That's where I keep all of them and I know he keeps the ones I send too.
I quickly write a letter for him before placing it in the mailbox and going back to bed.
Authors Note:
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