No escape from the past (book 1)

Chapter fourteen

'Where are we going again?' I ask while we are sitting in the car, driving to somewhere I don't know. "Cause I would really like to know why I needed to wake up so early.'

'I will tell you when we get there, eh,' Thomas says, who is sitting behind the wheel. I'm sitting between John and Arthur. I sigh and nervously play with my hands. 'And it wasn't that early.'

'Not that early?' I ask him with disbelief. 'It was three in the morning, I had just fallen asleep.'

'That means you can when we get back to sleep again, eh,' John jokes and I give him a death glare.

'I thought you were so young, you don't need your midday sleep anymore,' Arthur jokes after John and I roll my eyes. I take a deep breath and look at the two men I'm sitting in between. I just shake my head and don't say anything.

I look out of the small window of the car and see big landscapes of mountains and big fields. A small smile appears on my face and I just take a deep breath.

'Enjoying the view?' Arthur asks and he follows my gaze out of the window. I slowly nod and the small smile disappears from my face again. 'Something different, eh?'

'Yeah, you could say that,' I mumble and Arthur gives me one of his friendly, meaningful smiles. I don't return it, but I know he means it right. I look at my hands again and we drive in silence, through the mountains, to God knows where.

The road is uneven and we are getting thrown at each other with every bump in the road. I look at Thomas, who is sitting behind the steering wheel. Arthur catches me, while I get thrown at him when we drive over another bump.

'Watch out, eh,' Arthur says with a small smile on his face and I just shake my head. The road is long, but the mountains remind me of France. Maybe one day, I can finally return to my home land.

'We are almost there,' Thomas says and I look around me. We are in the middle of nowhere and Arthur looks a little secpitacle.

'I thought you said we were going to the fair,' Arthur says and I look around. The car slows down and I see, not that far away from us, a group of carriages. I slowly turn to look at Arthur and Thomas opens the door of the car.

'We have business first,' Thomas says and jumps out of the car. 'Come on. Bring your wits.'

'What business? That's the Lee family,' John says and I slowly step out of the car. I stand still next to the car and Thomas looks at me with a small nod. I don't really feel comfortable here and Thomas signs that we need to follow him.

'Tommy,' I hear a man shout and a man comes towards Thomas.

'Johnny Dogs,' Thomas greets and puts a cigarette in his mouth. I follow his footsteps and light mine and his up.

'Tommy, how the hell are ya?' the man, apparently called Johnny Dogs, asks Thomas and I look around. There are a lot of carriages and some tents. There is a campfire in the middle. I realize that these people are Romani. You have a few Roma in France, but they were never really liked. Hated even.

They were never really fond of people and most of the time avoided them. My father was friends with a few of the Roma. My mother despised them, but what didn't she despise?

I always find them interesting, always moving, always in the middle of nowhere, with only your family to worry about. And the best part, always around horses.

'All the better for getting the city smoke out of our lungs,' Thomas answers and I take the cigarette out of my mouth and throw it on the ground. I step on it, so the cigarette goes out.

Johnny Dogs looks at me for a second and then back at Thomas, without saying a word about me.

'I thought you became a little too grand for us,' Johnny says and we follow them. I look at Arthur and he shrugs. A laugh escapes my mouth and Arthur smiles at me. John slaps me on the shoulder and holds it for a bit.