Lost

4

Tobias Eaton July 9th, 2005
If I had stayed up last night, maybe she could be at home by now. I could be long gone, out of Marcus' life for good.
But now she rests against my chest, her breaths even. She must be exhausted.
I stroke her hair, wondering how I'm going to tell her.
"Whoops! I fell asleep!"
Nope.
"Hey, I was going to wake you up, but I fell asleep"
Definitely not.
Then I hear motors; there's a car outside.
Roberto?
I keep my back to the door.
Then there's conversation.
It's in Spanish.
It could be Roberto.
"Si, y ya me voy a la biblioteca con mi hijita porque ella gusta los libros"
The door opens and I fall back, making sure the girl's head doesn't hit the concrete.
Her eyes pop open.
"Boy" the Spanish man says, "What are you doing in our tools shed?"
His accent is thick.
"Sorry" I say, "We needed a place to stay for the night and it was so convenient-"
He hold up a hand and I stand up, helping the girl up.
"Ok. Just go" he says. There are two others who look similar to him, But we walk past them.
Once we're out of earshot, Tris whispers, "What happened to Roberto?!"
I knew this question would come up. I look at the skylight. Fog covers most of the land, I can barely see the road.
"He got arrested" I lie, scratching the back of my neck.
She looks at me surprised, "What?"
"He stole that cab" lies keep tumbling out of my mouth, "I didn't know, I'm sorry"
She bit down on her lip. She looked so cute when she was nervous.
"Which way is it?"
"Probably that way" I say, point to the direction of the shed, "But I say we find someone English to give us directions"
"How far do you think the nearest town is?" She asks.
I simply shrug.
God knows how close the nearest town is.
Beatrice Prior July 9th, 2005
My stomach rumbles, "I'm hungry, Tobias"
"We'll get something to eat" he says, "Don't worry"
Yeah? I think, Like where?
The sun begins to set when we reach a sign that says, "Birmingham; I Mile"
I smile, and nudge Tobias, "Hey, one mile"
"Yeah, I know" he retorts, and he crosses his arms, his hands rubbing up and down his shoulders.
I tilt my head and stop him, "You're cold"
"So?"
"Here" I say, taking mine off, "You could've told me. I'm burning up in this"
The zipper makes that zip noise, and I take it off.
I hand it to him.
He smiles, and takes it.
"Thanks"
I have on a Plain grey t-shirt and Jeans, and I stick close to Tobias to help him stay warm with body heat.
An hour later, the darkness turns the sky blue, though we're guided by the moon.
And finally, I begin to see houses.
The houses have their lights on.
It's probably warm in there. And they have to have food. My stomach grumbles again.
"Tobias"
"Yes?"
"I'm hungry"
He bites his lip, "We'll get some. I promise. We will"
I clutch my stomach, "Okay"
I have never gone without food this long.
"Where are we going to sleep?" I ask.
He shrugs, "We'll have to make do"
"Can we ask someone if we can stay at their house?"
He shakes his head. I would ask why not, but my stomach is trying to consume me.
I purse my lips together. I try to look for something, but there's nothing that we can sleep on.
Rocks don't count.
We need shelter. But there's none.
My feet begin to ache; I just can't walk anymore.
"Tobias, I-"
"I know. You're hungry and tired" he says, "There's a house here with a backyard. We'll sneak through the back and sleep on the couch"
"No" I say, "We can't do that Tobias-"
"What other choice do we have?"
"Well for starters, we could ask someone"
"That's stupid. Imagine if a homeless kid wanted to sleep on your couch, what would you say?"
I have to be honest with myself.
My mom would say yes, but in my head I'd be chanting "No! No! No!"
I shake my head, "I would say yes"
"We're just going to stay....." He drags off, "Here!"
The garage door of someone's house is open, "Come on"
I bite my lip; I don't feel comfortable.
Well, I should accept that those days are over.
I follow him into the garage.
We find a comfy couch.
We sleep through the whole night. And we aren't caught.