Extended Family - A G/t Shorty

Ch. 12 24 hours - Part 2.

A/N – This small part continues at the end of Chapter 10.

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"Pleasure to meet you, Mia."

I blinked and was jolted back into my reality and noticed a pale, delicate hand extended in front of me. The teenage girl had stepped forward to greet me and caught me off guard. For some reason, this seemed foreign to me, and it shouldn't have. I almost felt barbaric in some way, like I was away from society for most of my life and didn't know how to function.

My nerves crept up my spine once the idea started formulating inside my mind. The pieces started coming together like an elementary-level jigsaw puzzle. One by one, each fragment is intricately connected to reveal the first part of my plan and everyone's role in it. Thinking about it further sent pounding sensations throughout my chest. For the first time in my life, I was excited. Freedom was in my grasp, tangible enough to firmly guard it. Casey and I could live our lives happily somewhere and away from danger.

We'd finally be free!

Once they're out of sight, I'll borrow one of his many sketch pads and draw out our escape plan.

"Mia?"

I jumped when I heard my name again and looked back at the girl in front of me. I swallowed a small lump in my throat before addressing her.

"Sorry, I got distracted..." I feigned a warm smile and returned her handshake. "It's nice to meet you too, Elaine."

I didn't want to seem aloof or stir suspicion, I had to put up a decent front.

"It's okay. No worries." She smiled back as we shook hands, then let go.

"It's just been a while since I last spoke to somebody my age. It's nice, to be honest."

"Girl, I'll bet." She replied while looking around the house, "It would sure be nice to have a place like this all to yourselves."

After we exchanged pleasantries between the four of us, Deputy Timmy interjected again laying out what would happen the days leading up to Saturday. He appointed Elaine to watch us as she had experience with babysitting before. Timmy, noting my irritation on the use of 'babysitter', was corrected when Elaine elaborated more.

"I think Uncle Timmy meant more like a chaperone than a babysitter." She winked at me. "Trust me, I totally get ya."

The Deputy took a moment to ponder the word choice and nodded his head, "You know what? That sounds much better!"

Despite what was used, I still didn't like it, but Elaine seemed like someone I could be cordial with, and I had to stay on her good side if I wanted my plan to work well. Not long after, the trio were getting ready to leave when Elaine spoke up.

"Hey I have an idea if it's cool with my uncle..." she turned to him, "Mia said she ain't been around others our age. Maybe I can bring some of my friends over, y'know, to like, celebrate with them that they're going to their new home."

I hope my eyes widening didn't alert them in any way. Her suggestion would be a bad idea for us! The more people showed up, the more difficult it was to get my plan working. It would ruin everything!

Then there's what I could say. I can bluff and pretend to call our dad to ask for permission. Should I encourage and play the part to the best of my ability so that my plan goes swimmingly? On the flip side, a lot could go wrong and I would rather not chance it.

That deputy better say no.

"Ah that's real nice of you Laney," Timmy responded, patting her shoulder, "if it was up to me, I'd say that it would be a good idea, but unfortunately the kids' father is strict about other people comin' over."