♡︎𝙿𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚢 𝙱𝚘y~~𝚂𝚘𝚍𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚙 𝙲𝚞𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚜♡︎

𝔽𝕣𝕖𝕖𝕕𝕠𝕞

Noon seemed to take forever. I was forced to work in the gardens and I had to water all of the plants. How anyone can keep up with 6 separate gardens I will never know. I was hot and sweating by the time I had finished. I ran inside to check the clock and groaned when it only read 10:00 am. I still had two hours of work and torture until Keith would be here. I ran upstairs and took the longest shower of my life, not caring how much I made the water bill go up. I would be gone before they even noticed.

I got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around myself. I tried to be as quiet as I could while walking to my room. I hadn't seen Mary or Rob all day and I was starting to worry. They left a list of chores on the counter and said they would be back by 9. I wasn't worried about them, I was worried about what would happen if they got home at the same time as Keith. I didn't want them knowing I was leaving and I didn't need them to bombard him with questions. I got dressed and put my hair into two french braids. I slipped into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. I grabbed a granola bar and ran back to my room. I opened my suitcase and checked everything in there for the fifth time today. I was paranoid and felt like I was missing something.

I checked in all of the drawers and under all of the furniture. The only thing I found was the old quilt Mary gave me when I first came here. I was going to leave everything that reminded me of this house or these people here. I was starting new with my brother and I didn't want any of the memories I had of this place. After checking the entire room twice I decided that I was just wasting time. I wasn't forgetting anything, I just wanted to leave. I heard the front door open. Mary and Rob must be home. I raced downstairs so they wouldn't come question why my room was empty. I stopped when I got to the bottom of the stairs. There was a teenage boy in the living room looking at the pictures on the fireplace. He had brown greasy hair and was wearing a shirt with Mickey Mouse on it. He hadn't noticed me standing there. I cleared my throat and he turned to look at me.

"Keira!" He ran to me and hugged me tight.

"Keith!" I hugged him back. "How did you get in the house?" I started to panic. If Mary and Rob came home and found a random boy in their living room they would hurt both of us. "We have to get out of here."

I sprinted up the stairs and grabbed my suitcase. Luckily, it was light because I didn't own much. I threw it down the stairs and slid down the railing. I dragged Keith out to the car and threw my stuff in the trunk. I recognized a truck driving up the street as Rob's. I slid into the passenger seat.

"Drive Keith!" I practically screamed at him. Mary and Rob had started to drive faster and Keith pressed on the gas. I kept checking behind me and the truck followed us all the way to the end of the neighborhood before turning back around.

"Running from the police or something Ki?"

I smiled. No one had given me a nickname in forever and it felt good to be called something other than "little girl".

"Or something." I replied while turning back around in my seat. I rolled down the window and unbuckled my seat belt. I stuck my head out of the window and let the wind blow around me.

"FREEDOMMM!" I screamed at the top of my lungs out the window. I could hear Keith laughing from inside the car. I climbed back into the car but left the window open. I let my arm hang out the window. I looked over at Kieth and he looked back at me.

"Didn't get much time in the car I'm guessing." He was still laughing at me and I felt my cheeks getting red.

"I don't even know what the inside of their car looks like and I've been living with them for 11 years." I rolled the window back up and looked down at my feet. I noticed the pile of beer bottles on the floorboard.

"Those yours?" I asked him, pointing to the bottles

"They might be." He turned the car into the parking lot of a small diner. He parked and got out of the car. I got out with him and looked up at the sign above the diner. It read "The Dingo and Jay's".

"Come on. I want you to meet my friends."