borderline // cth au

three

"She what?!"

I turned to Lucy, who sat on my lap. "Go on, tell them what you told me," I said softly.

"I..I followed you guys," she confessed shyly.

"Why?" questioned Arden.

"I was curious. You guys left past bedtime so I followed," she mumbled, growing more shy.

Lucy was a 7 year old girl from the orphanage. Her parents left her when she was only 9 months so I knew Lucy her whole life. We took care of her, she was like our little sister.

Arden shook her head in disappointment. "So what do we do now?" Lynn asked.

Everyone turned to Noah who was staring intently at the ground. "We have to bring her back," Noah stated.

"But I don't wanna go back!" Lucy whined, flailing her arms.

"You don't have a choice. You're not allowed here and you weren't suppose to follow us, you were suppose to be in bed like a good girl," Noah said, moving closer to Lucy.

"If you bring me back, I'll tell Karen where you guys are," Lucy threatened with a frown.

Karen was the head of the orphanage. If she found out where we were, she would either get us back or not care at all. It was too risky to bet on what she'd do.

"I don't care, you're still going back," Noah said, eyebrows furrowed at her.

She pouted and then her bottom lip began trembling. Before you know it, she started crying and wailing which probably alerted the whole entire hideout. Noah's eyes widened at her loud screams and I tried to comfort her but she only grew louder.

"Lucy! Shh, Shhhhh," Noah tried, reaching out to touch her but she only moved away.

"I WANNA STAY HERE, I DON'T WANNA GO BACK!" she cried.

"Wow, nice job waking the whole place up, Noah," Kent commented with a chuckle as Noah glared at him.

"Let's just..." I started, "Let's just let her stay here."

"What?" Noah said, "Are you crazy?"

"Well she's literally screaming her head off right now and if she does tell Karen, she might come find us," I said.

"Karen doesn't give a shit about us, why would it matter if she knows or not?" Noah said.

"True, but she does care about her image so if word slips out that 5 kids escaped the orphanage, she's going to have to find us," I explained and Noah stayed silent.

"What about Katrina?" he asked.

"We'll hide Lucy in the tent and we'll all take turns watching over her, it can work," I persuaded.

He stayed silent before speaking up, "Fine, but if she does find out, it's on you."

I smiled, turning to Lucy. "You hear that Lucy? You're staying so please stop crying yeah?"

Her cries quieted down as she sniffled, "I can stay?"

I nodded as she broke into a smile. She squealed in joy as she wrapped her arms around my neck. Noah sighed in relief before entering the tent. I felt myself smiling from her joy.

"Well that's that," Kent said, clapping his hands together, "Imma go crash now."

Lynn followed him as they both disappeared into the tent. Arden stood there, eyebrows knitted together as she had her arms crossed over her chest.

"What?" I asked.

"I just...I don't think this is a good idea," she said, "This place is full of criminals, and she's just a kid. Who knows what'll happen?"