𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐮𝐧𝐭 ~ 𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐝

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧

𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐧 the guest bed, staring at the ceiling as she held up her stuffed goose, Goosey. The dim light of the lantern on the dresser was the only source of light in the room, Laurie was completely in her own world. Letting her mind wander until there was a knock at the door, causing her to sit up and set the stuffed animal to the side.

"It's open," the red-head said quietly. Billy opened the door, his blue eyes emitting nothing but concern for the child in front of him. He knew exactly why she was upset and why she had abruptly left the table like that. He wanted to check-in on her before it was lights out.

"Hey," Billy greeted, sitting at the foot of Laurie's bed. "You okay, kid?"

"I'm fine," Laurie replied, pulling her knees to her chest as she looked out of the window. Laurie was never one who liked talking about her feelings, back on Jesse's ranch, whenever she tried to express her emotions or feelings it would only end with Jesse berating her and making her feel guilty for having these kinds of feelings.

"Kid, I asked if you were okay," Billy repeated, not buying into the obvious lie the girl was telling him. He knew he was probably treading on mighty thin ice by trying to get Laurie to actually admit that what was said back at the table had upset her, but he still tried. He wanted her to know that it was okay to express any negative emotion.

"I said I was fine," Laurie snapped, her voice rising. She really did not want to talk about it, she just wanted to be left alone.

Billy sighed, swallowing before he nodded.

Maybe next time.

"Okay, okay," Billy finally said, "Mine and Melquiades' room is just across from yours, knock on the door if you need anything, all right?"

Laurie nodded, lying back down as Billy left, closing the door behind him. The young teen felt like absolute shit for snapping at him like that, he was just trying to help and she knew that. But she also just really did not want to talk about her feelings, because she never understood her feelings. How can you talk about yourself and get people to understand why you are the way that you are when you don't even know the answer to that yourself?

ⅠⅠⅠⅠ

The next morning, the door to Laurie's room was slammed wide open, causing Laurie to cry out and jump out of her bed as Billy and Melquiades bega to frantically search her room in a frenzy, cursing under their breath as they searched.

"What is going on?!," Laurie asked, watching the men in confusion as they looked at each other and ten at Laurie.

"The money's gone," Melquiades responded in a panicked tone, this only confused Laurie even more.

"What fucking money?," she repeated.

"The money that Melquiades and I won at the poker game last night," Billy explained before him and Mel had a sudden mutual thought and they turned on their heels, racing down the stairs.

Laurie stood there for a second, processing what was going on before she snapped out of it and followed them down the stairs. Her hair was still an absolute mess, she looked like she got into a fight with a stray cat. Billy and Melquiades were talking with Mrs. Buena, who was sitting on a chair and knitting without a care in the world.

"I will ask the president of Mexico if he can reimburse you. I'm sure my husband can arrange it," Mrs. Buena said to Melquiades. Laurie was even more confused and a bit agitated.

"Where are your daughters?," Billy pressed, the stress in his voice was evident as Laurie came and stood next to him. This was happening pretty fast and she was still processing everything, she hadn't even realized she was still holding Goosey in her hand until she looked down and saw the old plushie in her hand.