I awoke to a small face right above mine.
The child's eyes widened and I stifled a yell.
Wide eyes wait in anticipation for pain. Their eyes grow wide and their breathing becomes shallow, some breaths end with a scream.
"Hello?" The kid pokes my cheek.
I sit up and hit the hand away.
"I'm awake. Who're you?" I ask.
"Tinsel. Like the beautiful Christmas Tinsel." The girl seems pleased with her name. "What's yours?"
"I'm Evelyn."
"Just Evelyn?"
"Tinsel don't bother her." Nine calls out from outside.
Heat and light are pouring in from outside. I realize it's afternoon.
I look around as Tinsel sits back a few feet and watches me. Her hair is long and blonde, very tangled. Her curious eyes are blue and she has a peaceful resting face.
Tree Boy isn't here.
I walk out and see Nine cooking some sort of meat. Tree Boy isn't out her either.
I crouch near Nine. "Hey where's Tree Boy?"
"Who?" Nine looks at me with a raised eyebrow.
"Uh Billy." I correct myself.
"Oh he went out to get Tinsel's brother." Nine explained while poking the meat.
"Her brother?"
"Yeah. We all find an adult or two in the city that look sort of like us. Then we imagine that those are our parents so we watch over them. Tinsel's mom died after a heart attack and Tinsel's brother is one. So Billy's gonna go get him." Nine picks at the meat some more and takes it off the fire and onto a plate, cutting it into four pieces.
I smile as I think that the boy who stole my money is stealing people's kids.
The bird was delicious. Nine told me it was Pigeon. Tinsel told me she caught it herself.
YOU ARE READING
Home
Mystery / Thriller"This was it: Peacone Lane, 4972. But what stood there was not a house. Not a house at all, but a grocery store." Evelyn has been taken from her home once she was very little. She grew up about half her life in that prison but now, when she finds he...
