Wild And Free

Chapter 4 fire and ice

                       Grace
I got out of the taxi and walked to the park that was across the street from Rose's new house.
It was dark so I decided to climb a tree to sleep in. I walked around the park for a little until I found a tree with a good sleeping spot, I climbed the tree to the spot I thought was best to sleep in. It had a lot of thick branches and was well concealed from any possible onlookers. I fell asleep looking up at the amazing stars.
The next morning I woke up at the crack of dawn (5:30 a.m.) to the sunlight shining through the trees. I climbed down the tree and looked across the street to Rose's house. It's probably too early for her to be awake I thought. So I decided to jog around the park until 7.
At 7 Rose opened the door to her new home and walked to the car parked out front and got in the passenger door and climbed in. Laura walked out behind Rose and climbed in the front seat. The car Rose climbed into was a dark blue suburban. Once both of them were in the car they drove away. About a hour later John walked out the front door and got in the second car. The car John got into was a red ram truck. I watched him leave. Then I hung out around the park.

At about 3:00 I snuck into Rose's house and walked down the hallways until I found the room I thought looked most like a teenager's room would look like. I sat on the bed for a while and looked out the window twords the street. Climbing out the door of the school buss was Rose. Rose walked up the path and I lost site of her. A second later I heard the front door open than I heard steps down the hallway. The door opened and Rose walked in and dropped her bag.
"Grace!!!!" Rose squealed.
"Hey, how are you?" I ask.
"I'm good. What are you doing here?"
"I came to see you. I can't stay there, not anymore."
"I'm sorry Grace. What are you going to do?"
"Find a place around here."
"What about school?"
"You and me both know I don't need school anymore."
"True, Maybe you could stay with us."
" Your new family wouldn't go for that."
"How do you know?"
"They didn't adopt me."
"True," after she said that we went silent for a few minutes.
"Where would you find a place?"
"I have my ways. When do your parents get back?"
"Laura gets back at 5:00 and John gets back around 7:00."
"Ok so we have some time." I said. We talked for a long time until we heard the bang of the front door closing. Rose went to the window and said, "it's laura. You need to leave."
"Ok, I'll be back tonight before I go looking for a place to stay."
"No you should stay the night here, come back at 10 and I will let you in. You can leave before Laura and John wake up."
"Ok that works for me," so I get up and climb out Rose's window into the back yard, then I run to the redwood fence and climb over. After that I walk across the street to the park and climb the tree to where I had hid my belongings from the orphanage. I grabbed my wallet, climbed down, and walked to the gas station three blocks away. Inside I walked along the shelves until I found a bag of beef jerky and a container of grapes. Next I grabbed a bottle of fresh spring water. I walked up to the counter and handed the objects to the cashier. The cashier was a heavyset short man who had tattoos all over his body. The cashier rang up the merchandise and it came out to be 15.89$. I walked out of the store and saw a police officer gassing up his patrol car. I pulled my hoodie over my head and tried to act casual, I'm certain the orphanage will have already notified the policy of my excape. Right then the police officer shouted after me "Hay, young lady. Can you come over here."
I look back at him. The police officer had started walking towards me and I began to run.
The officer yelled after me "hay! Stop!!!"
I didn't stop. As I ran I could hear the officer running behind me. I just kept running for about 5 blocks. Then I ran down a ally that lead to a fence. I climbed over the fence and kept running. After that the officers footsteps died off. I looked behind me and the officer was gone. I heard sirens in the distance and decided to head back to the park. I got to the park and went into the bathrooms to change. I changed into the only other pair of clothes I had from the orphanage, which was a dark green shirt and a pair of blue jeans. I hung around the park until 9:56. At 9:56 I went over to Rose's house and climbed over the fence and into the backyard, then I snuck through the pitch black and up to Rose's window, next I knocked on her window and waited. Rose opened the window and let me in. "John and Laura just went to sleep so we need to still be quiet."
"Ok," I say in a whisper.
Rose and I talk for about 30 minutes before going to sleep.

                         Rose

I woke up about 3 a.m. and looked over at Grace on the floor. Grace was tossing back and forth like she was having a nightmare. I got down on the floor next to her and shook her trying to wake her up but I couldn't. Then Grace started speaking, "No. Stop...... leave me alone!!" Then she started writhing under the blanket and yelling those same words. I shook her and started saying her name to wake her up. I didn't care if John and Laura found out anymore. I just had to wake Grace up.