Chapter 1

A Chapter by Maddie Rae

This is in Lilys p.o.v

Lily’s p.o.v

I held my figure to my lips to remind them to be quite. We’d come too far to get caught now. The street lights made us all slightly uneasy as we raced down the street. We threw ourselves into the bushes, out of the view of cars as one drove by. The question raced through all our minds. Was there anyone looking for us? Had they even realized that we were gone and not coming back? Most likely not. After all there was a reason we had left.

“Owch!” Cole screamed out as I landed on him by accident. I jumped off of him quickly not wanting to hurt him any farther. The headlights flashed over me. I’m sure I was a dear in a pair of headlights. Alex pulled me down quickly. He didn’t care if I landed on him or not seeing how I was only 5 feet tall, and about a hundred pounds. His build was much bigger than mine. Alex stared at me for a second; I could only see the whites of his eyes. We waited for what seemed like forever in the bushes. I could feel Alex’s heart beat threw his chest, it was going so fast. He was just as nervous as I was. I bet Bell, Cole, and Derek were nervous too. We never knew if someone was out looking for us.

“You’re a baby Cole.” Derek said angrily. Then after a little while “Alls clear.”

“Are you sure?” Bells voice rang out nervously. She almost got caught a few times before she met up with us. Bell was often looking behind her back nervously as if someone was walking behind her. Derek put a large hand on her back and pushed her gently towards the road. She shrugged him off. She doesn’t like people to touch her.

I went to get up but Alex held tightly to my waist. I began to pry at his hands getting nervous at the restraint. He shook his head at me letting me know he didn’t think it was safe, and that he wasn’t going to let me go yet. I squirmed around to face him. I bit his chest, hard. He gasped as he opened his arms to let me up. “I’m sorry. You know I don’t like being held down though.” I whispered to him. All I got was a grunt of a response.

We all stood looking at each other for a moment. None of us wanted to move, that was made clear. I took a few steps forward and before I knew it I was listening to the echoing sound of our footsteps on the road. We passed one house. It was small; I knew it had to be a light color because I could see it and it must have been about two in the morning. We were lucky that it was summer time. None of us were really dressed for winter. When winter was on its way we would freeze, unless we got jobs. But of course no one wants to higher kids that are off the street. They think we’ll bring a disease or something with us. That’s one thing people don’t understand. Yes living on the street may be dirty, but we aren’t like animals. We don’t pick up things like rabies; we still go to the doctor if something is too drastic. We will also take cover and take our money to get meds because we are like a family. We’ve only got each other and we aren’t willing to lose anyone. I know myself that I would do anything for anyone of them. Bell stopped beside me breathing hard after we passed a second house. This house was bigger and a darker color. Bell was slightly overweight. Not that there was anything wrong with that it just meant that we couldn’t run for as long as we had before she joined us.

Bell was a pretty girl. She is as old as Derek, about sixteen. She was tall for a girl being about five eight, and like I said before she was slightly overweight but that would go away over time. Her hair was a dirty blonde color and her eyes were big and blue. Bells’ skin was a dark tan at the moment because it was summer. She looked tough. The type of girl that people would be scared of in school. She was also moody most of the time, refusing people to touch her. No matter what was happening, if she didn’t touch you first than in her mind you had no right to be touching her. Bell joined us as she had just left her house about three weeks ago. She was stronger than I was, but she was also much bigger. We didn’t talk about our home life or why we left. It’s just one of the rules of the road.

Everything is a secret when you live life on the road. Most people make themselves unrecognizable, making your looks a secret. Some people change their names, making their identity a secret. Some people leave their town, making where they come from a secret. The lives we live are a secret. The people we decide to explore the streets with is a secret. What we do in our spare time is a secret. Everyone keeps why they left a secret though. Unless you decide to tell someone of course, but they’ve got no right to ask. All in all though, everything on the road is a secret.

Alex stopped to my left and placed a hand on the small of my back. Alex was only a year older than I was, he was fifteen. He’d been on the streets longer than anyone else. He’s the one that found me after a few weeks of being on my own. He is about five seven and very strong. Alex has long brown hair that is always flipping into his big innocent brown eyes. He likes to think that he doesn’t look innocent but the freckles covering his nose and his big eyes couldn’t make him look anymore innocent. I’ve got no idea how much he could have weighed. I didn’t ask. He spent a lot of his time with me though. Making sure I’m safe and no one can get to me. Derek thinks that he likes me, but I just think he sees me as a little sister. I almost got kidnapped once; I never did see what Alex did to him. Derek wouldn’t let me.

I put my head on his shoulder. I was tired; it was passed the time that we usually found a place to stay. I felt myself begin to lean heavily onto him and pulled myself up to a standing position. Alex scooped me up and began to walk. He acted as if I weighed as much as a baby. We began walking again, only this time slower so Bell could keep up easier. Cole sat on the ground stubbornly refusing to walk anymore. Sometimes Cole was a little too much to handle. He was young he was only twelve. He must have had an important reason to leave if he left at such a young age. He had dirty blond hair and golden brown eyes. He was also short for his age. He complained a lot because he thought we walked too much. I could tell that he was spoiled when he lived at his house. Too bad he was living on the streets now and when you lived on the street you had to keep yourself moving.

“Cole get up and keep moving we don’t have time for this. We have to keep moving. I know you’re tired but then again so is Lily and she was still moving.” Derek scolded Cole. Cole looked up at him innocently. Derek was like the big brother of the group. He made sure that things moved slowly and no one asked us questions. I liked having him around but sometimes he scared me honestly… He was over six feet tall and very big. He had an army style hair cut that made his black hair look almost invisible. His hazel eyes were soft and sweet when he wanted them to be, but when he got mad his eyes resorted to slits. It scared me when he got mad not going to lie. He almost never got mad at me though unless I did something incredibly stupid. He had a soft spot for me though. He always joked around and told me that he had a thing for redheads.

Cole looked at me irritated and sighed loudly, but remained on the ground. He pounded the ground with his fist like a five year old throwing a temper tantrum before whining “Yeah but she’s getting carried!”

“Because she doesn’t ask for, or expect it.” Alex sneered at him. I wiggled in Alex’s arms to try and make him let me go but he held on tightly. I placed my head on his chest and closed my eyes. Slowly the beat of him walking began to lure me to sleep.

· * *

When I woke up I was in the middle of the woods and the sun was beginning to shine through the trees. I sat up and looked around me. Alex was to my right, as usual, with his arm protectively around my waist. It was so dark compared to my almost glow in the dark pale skin. Bell was curled in a ball to my left. She always slept close to me and not the boys. She stayed as far away from them as possible most of the time, which I have to admit was slightly irritating. Cole was next to Alex curled in a ball as well. He was always cuddled up to someone. Derek was sitting against a tree looking outwards toward the opening in the trees making sure no one was coming. I sat staring at him, wanting to take over his shift, but not wanting to disturb Alex or Bells’ sleep. I can only imagine how long they walked before they decided on a nice spot to sleep in.

Derek began to hum to himself. I listened to him silently not wanting him to know I was listening to him. As I listened I began to know the tune. It was “where’d you go” by fort minor. One of my favorite songs before I left. I haven’t heard it in such a long time. I almost laughed when I realized what it was. I must have made some sort of noise because Derek stopped and turned to look at me. I felt a blush rush up my cheeks as I cast my eyes downwards. He smiled at me, it was sweeter than a little kid smiling at his mommy after he did something wrong.

“I used to love that song.” I heard myself saying as I lifted my eyes again. His smile became bigger. Alex stirred in his sleep next to me tightening his grip on my waist. It was so tight it was almost heard to breath. He began to murmur things I couldn’t understand. I realized that he was having a nightmare. I put my hands gently on his shoulders and began to shake him softly while whispering his name. He woke with a start and swung at me; luckily I knew that by now and knew to swing backwards. His eyes where wide as he took in the area surrounding him, when they landed on me they were soft.

His eyes landed on the ground in shame. He felt bad that he had swung at me. I knew it wasn’t his fault though, not his fault he had a nightmare. I cupped a hand under his chin and brought his head up so he was forced to look me in the eyes. Alex’s eyes were filled with such an amount of sadness I couldn’t hold them. All he could manage was a small whisper of “S**t I am so sorry hun.”

I got up and began to walk away. Derek got up and ran to keep up with me. He shook his head at me simply. I stopped dead in my tracts to look at him. “What?!” I spat

He looked at me only a second before he began to walk again. I stayed where I was being as suborn as I am and stared at the back of his head, waiting for an explanation. I stood there as the distance between us became further and further before he finally turned around to look at me. “You can’t run from caring about someone for forever Lily. You just can’t.”

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