Finally Free- A Novel

Chapter Five

Early that morning, I shook my pack awake, and we flew toward a tiny town in the Middle of Nowhere, U.S.A. We landed on the outskirts, retracting our wings, and walking. A group of homeless came up to us, one pulling out a knife. "Give us your money." They said, and quickly, I darted forward, knocking the three out in a matter of seconds. "Dig through their packs, get some clothes. Jackets, food, money, weapons, or anything useful." I said, and watched as they dug into the dirty packs on the men's backs, pulling out jackets and hats, some water, some food, and money. That would be useful. I quickly pulled the old leather jacket from the man in front of me, taking his knife.

We all had put on jackets, and the smallest boy had a hat on his head, that looked new. Falon passed me some money, and I stuffed it in the inside pocket of the jacket, where the black switchblade knife lay. I nodded to them, and we walked into the town, thunder rumbling over our heads. We walked for awhile, until rain poured down on our heads. "In here!" I said over the crashing noise. I pushed a glass door open, and the pack followed me inside. The store had a sign in the window that read, "Goodwill". I looked around. Clothes on racks everywhere, and shoes in one corner. An elderly woman sat at the counter, her eyes widening at us. "Children? Oh, you poor things!" She cried, rushing over to us. The youngest two backed behind Falon and I, and the woman seemed to notice this, looking back up at us. "Where are your parents?" She asked, and I came up with an answer. "Uhh...they're erm...dead." I said, holding my head. "Oh, gracious! Come, come, let's get you out of those clothes! I have a house you can stay in for a bit, if you want." She said, rushing us to the racks of clothes. "That's-that's very kind, thank you. We may just stay for a day though, we travel, you see." I said, looking at her. "I understand. Go ahead, pick out anything you want. I'll pay for it." She smiled, her wrinkled cheeks only brightening her face, and her gray, short hair falling behind her shoulders. She was short, and plump, like the image of a perfect grandmother. She smiled at us, and I nodded to Falon, who took Hawk over to the boy's rack, while I led Chai to the girls'. She browsed through the clothes, picking out a pair of jeans, with a hole in the knee, and a red jacket, with a blue shirt that had a white design that looked like flowers across the front. I glanced over, to see Hawk had a plain red shirt, jeans, and a gray, striped jacket over his shoulders. I smiled at him, and told Chai to go sit on the bench near the counter with him.

She did, grabbing his hand and sitting down, waiting for us. Quickly, I grabbed a pair of dark colored jeans that looked my size, a elbow length turquoise shirt, and a black jacket with

gold metal buttons that stopped just below my ribs. I saw Falon had gotten black jeans, a dark gray shirt, and a long black jacket. I didn't understand how he was able to get such specific colors, but oh well.

We walked over to Chai and Hawk, who got up, and walked to the counter with us. "Er...here." I said, dumping the clothes on the counter. The old woman smiled, and rung them up before handing them back. Quickly, I led Chai to the bathroom, as Falon led Hawk to the other bathroom, the boy's bathroom.

We switched our hobo jackets and scrubs for actual clothes, making us look normal. We'd have to cut slits in them though. I walked out, holding my old clothes in my arm. But I still held the knife, money, and protein bars in the pockets in my jeans and jacket. The old woman smiled, and led us over to the shoes. "Go ahead, pick out anything." She smiled, and measured Hawk and Chai's feet, before measuring Falon's and mine. We then each walked to our specific section, of men's shoes in one size, or women's in the other. I found what I was looking for. A pair of brown military style boots, that came about shin high, with lighter brown laces. I pulled them on and tied them up, standing. They were just the right size, and looked like they'd last a while.

The old woman walked over to me, and smiled. "Great choice!" She cooed, ringing the price tag on them with a portable scanner, and clipping the tag off. I looked over to Chai, who had a pair of red shoes called All-Star's on. They reached up just past her ankle, and had white laces. Hawk had almost the same thing, except black in color, and in the boy's style. I nodded to both of them, while the older woman scanned them and clipped off the tags. Falon was leaned against a yellow wall, like a black shadow. He had found black work boots, with black laces, that weren't bulky. He nodded to me, and I nodded back, while the old woman smiled at us. "Well, we should go then. I'll close down shop." She smiled, and flipped the open sign in the window to closed. She walked toward the door, handing me a dark gray zip-up hoodie, like the others' jackets, with cream strings. I smiled at her, and pulled it on over the black jacket, zipping it up and pulling up the oversized hood. I quickly put the knife in my boot, clipping it to the brown leather. She opened the back of a silver mini-van for us outside, and we piled in, while she closed the automatic door, pulling the handle. She jumped in the front, and we drove off into the rain. My only thought was, 'Had I made the right descision, getting in a car with a complete stranger?'