A Gallagher Girls & The Listen Series Promptober

Apple Picking

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Lily Collins POV / Timeline: Before the Listen Series takes place - the day Luke Collins decides not to lie anymore.

Warning: This chapter contains content about child neglect (children are tired, hungry, etc.) and verbal/emotional abuse from parents. Please skip if you may find this triggering and sending you love.

Oct. 21st | Apple Picking

"Lily! Look! They have pumpkins too!"

She watched as her little brother ran through the lines of the apple trees towards the pumpkin patch laughing.

She sighed, "Luke, no, we need apples. We can't eat the pumpkins."

He stopped, "But we..." he dropped his head and turned back to the trees, searching for lower branches he could reach.

She watched as he kept looking towards the patch longingly. At the families running between the rows, at the stands of popcorn, face painting, and corn maze.

She hated that she couldn't let him have fun. She hated that they were sneaking apples out, she hated seeing her parents talking with a man by the pumpkin patch.

She had glanced at the table in the motel before they left, diagrams of weapons and maps with red circles. They would be leaving tomorrow for something that was really big they had told her. Something that would change how they lived. Something that would change their futures, and Lily would someday be a part of it if she kept doing a good job.

The thing was, she wasn't doing a very good job and she didn't really want to be a part of it she thought. She kicked at the dying leaves on the ground and turned, pulling several apples off of the tree. She kept walking and realized she couldn't see or hear Luke anymore.

"Luke?" she started frantically running through the trees, stopping when she saw him and taking a deep breath, "Don't do that baby brother."

He looked over his shoulder, a big smile on his face as he kept walking, "You're just a slowpoke."

She rolled her eyes and saw he was about to run into someone, "Luke, watch-"

He smacked into a man's legs who laughed, "Woah!"

Luke grimaced, "Sorry sir."

The man only smiled and tossed an apple to him, "No worries," he glanced between the two of them, "Luke and Lily right?"

Lily paused, keeping her mouth shut. The man had green eyes and curly brown hair. He looked familiar and she knew her parents would be upset if she didn't remember someone important. Do better Lily. Be better.

Luke's eyebrows furrowed, "You know our names?"

Lily warned from behind him, "Luke, I think we should..."

The man smiled, "Yeah, friends of your mom and dad's."

Lily didn't think he was a friend. Especially when he glanced over her shoulder, tossed Luke another apple and said, "But I have to get going, I'll see you soon!"

"Luke, Lily!" her mother's voice called from behind her and when she turned to look at them and then back, the man was gone.

Her mother's permanent frown on her face, "What are you two doing? This isn't time for running around and playing games Lily."

Lily stood up straighter, holding the bag, "I was just having Luke and I get some apples to take back to eat."

She ushered them through the trees, hissing, "Fine, fine, let's go now. Your father and I need to go do something tonight before we leave tomorrow. You're in charge while we're gone, no windows, no-"

Lily tuned her mother out, knowing the spiel from many times of being left alone with Luke as they walked through the grassy field between the fall festival and their motel. The sun was starting to set, a chill in the air, she wondered if it would rain tonight. If it rained, she could maybe get away with turning the TV on for her and Luke for a little while.

They had left, she had made peanut butter sandwiches with their apples, Luke was put to bed and she sat on the couch, staring numbly at the worn patch of carpet in front of her. Maybe whatever her parents were doing would work this time. Maybe things would get better.

She felt her eyelids drooping, the heavy feeling in her body, and she knew she shouldn't sleep, not with her parents gone. But the sound of the rain was too much and she finally drifted off.

When she woke up with a start hours later on the couch, she knew something was terribly wrong as her mother gripped her shoulders, "Lily, did you let Luke open the window? Did you see anything? Did anyone see you?"

She was dazed, tired, hungry, "What?"

Her mother shook her, "Lily, answer me, did you see anyone?"

Lily coughed, "No, no, I-"

A sound from the hallway made her mother whip her head around and then she hissed close to her face, "I cannot believe how irresponsible you are. Get in the room with your brother. Now."

She shoved Lily towards the room and Lily stumbled in, Luke sitting up in the bed, his eyes wide.

The door closed and Lily wiped at her eyes before Luke could see her crying, but he was too perceptive for his own good.

"Why are you crying Lily?"

She sat next to him, "I'm not."

He snuggled closer to her and she closed her eyes. She just wanted it all to be over.

When the door opened and she saw the man from the apple orchard, some part of her knew it would never be over. And when he picked them up and carried them out of the room, her body was numb, her brain hazy. She didn't even ask where her parents were, or what was happening. But she knew.

This was far from over.