Ellie Dixon

The Twins

Dale had pointed me in the direction to where the other kids were. I'd seen the boy with brown hair run over there, so I just followed him as well. I saw them sitting under a big tree and drawing in colouring in books. I slowly, walked over to them, feeling very awkward. When nobody looked up, I changed my mind, so I turned on my heel. "Hey, where you going?" A girl's voice asked.

I turned back to face them. I saw the faces of five children staring back up at me. "Uh... I don't really know." I admitted.

"Come on, grab a book and some crayons." She shuffled over for me to sit next to her. I sat next to her, and she passed me a book before a boy who looked a lot like her, passed me some crayons. "I'm Sophia, by the way."

"I'm Ellie." I introduced myself.

"We heard what happened. Pretty cool." The boy with brown hair said.

"It was not cool, Carl. She could've been really hurt." Sophia corrected him.

"Shut up, Sophia." The boy who looked a lot like her grumbled.

She sighed. "That's my twin brother, Jacob. He can be really annoying sometimes. That's Carl. Those two are Eliza and Louis, brother and sister."

"How long have you guys been here?" I asked.

"About a week. When things started to get really bad, we all left our homes and ended up here." Carl told me.

"Where have you been then?" Jacob asked me as I started to colour in the tiger.

"My house." I stated. "My mum thought that it would all be over soon, and they'd sweep the dead ones out of the streets. That things could go back to normal."

"Your mum sounds like an idiot." Jacob commented.

"Jacob." Sophia scolded him. "Told you he could be annoying." She whispered with a small smile.

"It's okay, he's not totally wrong." I whispered back.

I looked over to Eliza and Louis, but they were very focused on their colouring. "How did you two get here? Your parents bring you?" I knew that was probably the answer, but I wanted to start a conversation with them.

"We got here with everyone else." Eliza said quietly.

"Eliza, Louis!" I heard a woman call. They both got up and ran over to who I assumed was their mother. She hugged her children before they walked off somewhere with her.

"They don't talk much." Carl told me.

"So, how old are you?" Sophia asked me.

"Nine, what about you?" I asked.

"Hah, I'm still the oldest kid here." Sophia smiled proudly. "I'm two minutes older than Jacob, we're twelve. Carl is eleven. Eliza is eleven and Louis is ten."

"You don't get a trophy for being the oldest." Jacob rolled his eyes.

"I should." Sophia smiled and laughed so I laughed with her.

"Carl, come on. It's time for your haircut!" A woman called.

"Mum!" Carl groaned, begrudgingly getting up and dragging his feet behind him.

"That's Lori. Carl's mum." Sophia informed me, I nodded with a smile.

"So, what do we do today?" I asked.

"Well, once we finish colouring, our mum will come over with some textbooks. Our mum and Lori help us through them, Eliza and Louis are taught separately. Then we have some more free time, and we'll have dinner around the campfire." Jacob explained.

"What should I do when you're learning?" I wondered.

"Your mum didn't get you any workbooks when the world was going down the toilet?" Jacob asked. I shook my head.

"That's okay. Louis just finished with one so I'm sure you can use it." Sophia smiled at me.

That's when a man walked over with a beer in his hand, I didn't pay much attention to him until Sophia and Jacob's smiles faded and they put their heads down to colour. "What are you kids doing?"

"Mum's making us colour." Jacob said bitterly, as if he hadn't been enjoying it five seconds ago.

"Colouring is for girls, boy. Give that to your sister and go run around like a normal boy." The man, who I assumed was the twins father said to Jacob.

"Thanks, dad." Jacob smiled, before getting up and running away.

"Who's your friend, Sophia?" The man asked.

"This is Ellie." Sophia said quietly, not looking up to him.

"Speak up, girl." The man raised his voice.

"She said my name's Ellie." I said loud enough for him to hear, as I stood up. I knew that look in hie eye, I knew how Sophia and Jacob's attitude changed when he walked over, I noticed Shane staring over at us ever since the man walked over.

"You giving me sass, girl?" The man asked.

"I was answering your question, sir." I deadpanned.

"You the one who was shot, ain't you?" He questioned.

"Yes." I answered.

"Old man should've had better aim." The man said before walking away.

"Yea, and maybe you should put down the bottle." I turned around so I faced him. "Then you wouldn't smell so bad."

He turned to face me. "God, you're just asking for it, aren't you?" He gritted his teeth.

Shane walked over. "We got a problem here, Ed?"

"That kid's got some attitude is what." Ed answered.

"Walk away, man. She's a kid." Shane ordered. Ed glared at him before walking off, angrily. Shane turned to me and squatted down in front of me. "Your daddy every teach you that you shouldn't talk back to grown men?"

"He taught me I should stick up for what I believe. I don't believe he should talk to his children like that." I responded.

Shane nodded with a smile. "Yes, ma'am." Shane then went back over to Carl and Lori.

I sat back down next to Sophia. "Thank you." She whispered to me.

"Someone needs to stick up for you. I knew it as soon as I saw that look in his eye." I sympathised.

About half an hour later, a lady with short hair came over to us. "Hi, girls. What are you colouring?" She sat in front of me and Sophia.

"I'm colouring this dog, but we didn't have any dog colours... So, he looks a bit sick." Sophia showed her green dog causing the lady to laugh. "And Ellie's colouring in a tiger. But again, the colours aren't right, so it's pink." Sophia held up my book to show her mum.

"Well, I think they're lovely... Hi, Ellie. I'm Carol, Sophia and Jacob's mum."

"Hi, Mrs Sophia and Jacob's mum." I smiled.

She laughed. "You can call me Carol... You ladies ready for some learning?"

"My mum won't help me. She's busy." I shook my head.

"Well, my hands are full with Sophia and Jacob, but I'm sure Lori won't mind helping you." Carol smiled again.

"Ya think?" I asked.

"Yea, come on. Let's go ask her." Sophia took my hand and pulled me to my feet. She walked us over to Lori and Carl. "Mrs Grimes?"

"Yes, darling?" Lori smiled at Sophia and me.

"Can you help Ellie with her work? Her mum won't do it." Sophia requested.

I looked down to the ground as Lori glanced at my mum who was sunbathing. Lori tried to hide her reaction, but it was quite distasteful. "You don't have too." I shook my head.

"No, it's all right, dear. I don't mind." Lori lifted my chin so I could see her smile.