Secondhand Life

Chapter 11

Ash's P.O.V.
After dinner that night we slept knowing the next morning would prepare a lot of getting big appliances in our old house into our new one. Lilly was bawling upstairs in our parents room until ten o'clock because she thought we were leaving the townhouse forever tomorrow, which no matter how many times my parents told her we weren't leaving Lilly wouldn't stop crying. My Mom let her sleep in her bed so she would shut up. Christopher was chatting with me on Skype. My phone vibrated loud enough that it woke me up. I flung my hand to it and picked it up carefully.
Message from Christopher. 10:43pm
Are you asleep yet?
I was, until you woke me up with your text dip shit.
Okay geez sorry, go back to sleep and see if you can figure out more of that dream. If you wake up, text me the new information, I'll keep my ringer on. Goodnight.
Okay goodnight. I replied back setting my phone back on the nightstand. I twisted the sapphire gem around on my necklace. I took it off my neck and stared at it sighing.
"Gretchen..." I whispered to myself. "What did I do to deserve this like you?" Of course there was no answer but I knew as soon as I disappeared, there would be.
*****
I arrived in a comfy home that was smaller than the one I ran away from. The girl from the last dream was there along with her guardian. I was sitting in a wooden chair with a cup next to me. Her guardian looked very mad at the girl. Probably because she picked a dirty girl off the streets and brought her into the clean house. She talked to me as if I was real, but I didn't feel real, I felt like a replaying memory.
"You can live here." She said handing me a hair brush from a table behind her along with a small bag full of hair products and soaps. She took my arm and lead me to her bathroom. The room had pink paneling, obviously her bathroom. She ran a bath while I combed through my tangled straw colored hair. The girl hummed a sweet song while the water ran, it made me smile, I don't know why it sounded so familiar though.
*****
I woke up to Lilly by my side poking my ribs. "Ash, were leaving after we eat breakfast. Mom wants you to get up now. "Do you have your old closet and desk packed up to be brought into the new house?" She asked me while she clung to her stuffed sheep. I turned my sleepy head over to the side where Lilly stood and her sheep met my eyes. "Yeah I have everything Lilly, you can go eat now. I'll be down there soon after I change into my outfit for the day." I said patting the sheep and smiled at her gently. She smiled back and skipped out of my room humming the song Mary had a Little Lamb. I think she thought her sheep was a lamb, but she was little, I didn't expect her to know.
*****
In a matter of minutes I was dressed in my pink panther shirt along with my grey jeans and black nike shoes heading downstairs for breakfast. "Morning Ash." said Christopher who was sitting at the dining table with a bowl of cereal in his lap and his phone in his hands. "Did you have a dream last night?" He whispered to me as I walked by him. I nodded in response and went to go toast a bagel. We were the only two in the room. Lilly was playing upstairs with her sheep. I could still hear her singing Mary had a little lamb. Bree was in the living room calling her boyfriend. I could hear that they were talking about which high school they were going to so they could see each other as much as possible. My parents were packing other things into the moving van outside, they were almost done. Christopher had packed all of the equipment for recording video logs in the van last night so I wouldn't be able to do a video this morning or probably tonight. He said I should just make them on my phone and transfer them later to the video camera.

Once I got my bagel out of the toaster I put butter on it I sat down across from Christopher and ate quietly. I could hear him texting or tweeting something. Seconds later I heard my phone buzz.
Transfer the videos tomorrow morning, I want to see what happened.
Why can't I just text you what happened? I asked him.
Because, if mom or dad saw or checked our phones they'd be really curious. Also I'd rather hear over a video than a text, I think it gives more information that way.
Okay, I see your point there. I'll transfer tomorrow morning after I make my video. I replied.
Okay, I'll delete our conversation now. Let's go help mom and dad so we can get to the new house and look for interesting things there.
Roger that. With that he deleted the conversation and we both went outside to help heave things into the small van to begin putting things into our new house only a few blocks away.