Be Brave With Me

Chapter Seventeen

"Aurelia, sweetheart. Will you pause for just a moment and tell me what happened?" Another dress sailed past her aunt onto the bed. "Did you see your parents? What did they say? What did they do?" A couple of swimsuits, a pair of espadrilles followed. "Where is Jess? What happened to your plan?"

Aura left her aunt alone for a moment and returned from the bathroom with a small bag of toiletries. "All right. You don't want to talk about it. Now what? You want to run? Just like that?"

Aura froze.

Her hands were buried in her bag, in the middle of stuffing it with everything she had thrown onto her bed, waiting for her aunt to go on and say it.

You can't just leave, Aurelia.

She would leave, though. Even if she had to plead and barter and beg - or sneak away in the middle of the night. No matter how long her aunt argued, nothing would keep her here in Cannes. She needed to get away.

Perched on her bed, Isodora sighed heavily.

Here it comes...

"Sweetheart, I understand. If you have to go, you have to go. Just tell me where you're headed at least? Or we'll be worried sick."

Startled, Aura looked up. A mistake.

Her aunt's eyes widened, deep lines of worry carved into her forehead. Aura knew what had her aunt so distraught; she had caught a look of herself in the mirror before pulling a soft, baggy shirt over her head. It was what twenty minutes in the shower, crying your eyes out and stifling your sobs, left you with. Ashy, pale skin. Puffy, red eyes. Your aunt's horror.

Aura ducked her head quickly. No need to make Isodora withdraw her decision to let her go. With her aunt's gaze piercing her skin, she focused on untangling the stuck zipper on her bag instead.

"You're not going to tell me, sweetheart?" Isodora asked one more time. "I'm just supposed to let you go and trust the universe that nothing happens to you?"

Aura pulled and twisted, but the damn zipper wouldn't budge.

With another sigh, this one resigned to her fate, Isodora stood and eased her hands away from the bag. She closed it in one swoop and lifted it from the bed. Her aunt nodded to the spot she had just cleared. "Sit down, darling. At least let me braid your hair before you head out."

Aura sat down, no fight left in her. Her wet and tangled strands were dripping onto her shirt and leaving wet spots on it. Aunt Isa returned from the bathroom with a big toothed comb and got to work.

The light scratch of the comb against her scalp, the soothing rhythm of the strokes, her aunt's soft hands sifting through her hair.

The familiar task calmed them both.

Aunt Isa fell silent, and the harsh, erratic beats of her own heart slowed down. Her nausea eased, retreating far enough down her throat to make speaking possible. The croak in her voice revealed her earlier crying earlier, though. "I won't be on my own, Isa. I'll be safe. Theo will be with me. He is out right now, getting us a car."

What do you need?

The first thing he'd asked when he'd pulled her as close as humanly possible to stop the shivers and shakes running through her body.

I thought I could do it. Sobs had wrecked her voice. But I can't, Theo. I can't.

What do you need?

What she needed was to keep running. Like the scared, little girl she'd always be.

Can you find us something that will get us out of here?