On the Run

Chapter One

Some time down the road...

"I like watermelons. Watermelons are good," Kymber decided, sprawled across a couch outside Mark's office, her foot swaying back and forth as she stared out the window. She looked over at me, a smile on her face. "We should get some watermelon."

I shifted my gaze away from the falling rain and towards her. "Got any money on you?"

"I bet we can take Mark's wallet again," Kymber snickered, examining the ends of her hair. "I'll hold him down, you take the wallet and we'll go get some watermelon."

I laughed, brushing hair out of my eyes. "You only pull that off once. A second time would be just a miracle." I shifted in the seat, bringing my knees up to my chest. "Maybe our new protector will let us go get some watermelon."

"I hope so," Kymber stated, swatting a fly. "If not, he has to listen to us complain the entire way to his house. What do you think he'll be like anyway?"

"If he's anything like our last few protectors, we're better off strapping neon signs to our chests that say 'Hey killer! We're over here!' However, if he just so happens to be different, we'd still probably be better off with the neon signs," I muttered, dragging a hand through my hair and wishing I had a hairbrush. Being dragged out of bed at three in the morning to go sit into an agent's office didn't do any help to my hair. And I was too exhausted to do anything with it. "I just don't understand why we had to be dragged here in the middle of the night when we were perfectly safe in a jail cell."

"Safe, sure," Kymber agreed. "But not comfortable. Most teenagers don't spend multiple nights in jail cells just because their guardian ditched them."

"Most teenagers aren't in the Witness Protection Program," I replied, stretching out as much as I could in the chair. I placed my feet up against the window as a footstool as I laid my head against the armrest, my hair draped behind me. "You know, with all the watching they do over us, you'd think they'd have someone sitting out here with us instead of us sitting out here by ourselves while they're holed up in Mark's office."

"They'll probably assume we'll scream if we need anything," Kymber yawned, closing her eyes.

I watched the rain fall outside in the night, getting glimpses of trees and buildings across the street as lightning flashed. Night was my favorite time of day. Especially when it was storming. Call me crazy, but there was something calming about it. That, and nighttime meant sleep, the second best part of the day. Eating would be first on that list.

Speaking of which, I need food.

I glanced down the hallway at the vending machine at the end of the hall, contemplating just how badly I wanted food. The answer? Very. Very badly.

But I was also broke.

Padding across the cold tile floor, I stared at the snacks inside the vending machine. The chocolate bars were really screaming my name. But how was I to get them?

"Hey, Kymber, you hungry?" I called out, tapping my fingers against the glass as I searched for something to use to get some food. I spotted a coat closet that luckily happened to have some hangers left. Suddenly giddy, I snatched some and paraded back to the vending machine.

"Yeah, but what are you going to--" Kymber stopped as she watched me kneel in front of the machine and start unwinding and rebending one of the metal hangers. "What are you doing?"

I stuck the hanger into the machine and used the bent end to grab a snack and bring it out. A package of Gummi Bears fell out and I held it up triumphantly. "Food?"

Laughing, Kymber took the pack from me and we split it between the two of us. Once it was empty, I stuck the hanger back into the machine, aiming to get the chocolate that kept calling my name. I knocked down a chocolate bar for Kymber and a peppermint patty for me.