Girl on Fire

Chapter 4

We woke up when Ali decided to start poking us. "Come on, wake up. I'm BORED, Stop hugging each other and get up!"

River and I jumped apart as if we were on springs. We had been sat leaning against the wall, snuggled into each other for warmth. Ali laughed.

"Ha, that got you up, didn't it?" She giggled. She walked over to the bags and started rumaging through one of them, eventually bringing out a chocolate bar

"Hey, Ash," River hissed, blushing scarlett, "Let's forget that ever happened, okay?"

"Agreed." I said, feeling my face heat up just as much as his.

It was only dawn. Barely anyone was on the streets apart from the occasional tramp or early riser joggers. Apart from them, we were alone.

"So..." I sighed, "What do we do now?"

River shrugged. "Any idea where we are? That could help us a little bit at least."

I peeked round the corner of the alleyway. "We are in an alleyway coming off of 'Hall Street'... any idea?"

River's eyes lit up. "I know where we are! Follow me." We walked out onto the street and followed River, who seemed very sure of where we were going. We kept to the shadows as much as possible, just to be safe. Down another road and onto a very posh-looking estate. River stopped at the third house on the street. I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Your house?" I said, surprised. He nodded grimly. "Wow. Why would anyone not want to live here? It is huge!"

"Yes, but don't judge a book by its cover. Imagine living somewhere where your 'parents' hate you and constantly tell you that they only keep you there because of the money the council gives them. Imagine how that would feel."

"Oh," I said, averting my gaze, "Sorry."

He sighed. "It's alright. I guess I'm used to it. And what the hell. I will hopefully never see this place again after today. Now can you just give me a minute to negotiate please?"

"Sure!" I said.I took Ali behind a set of bins where we could peep out at what was going on. River started throwing stones up at the window at the top, using little jets of water to propel them to the right place.

Sure enough, the window soon flew open and a young girl of about 8 stuck her head out of the window.

"If you idiots don't stop... oh, it's you, River. Why weren't you home? Quick, come in. Mum and Dad have gone out all night and no doubt they'll come back drunk as hell. If you're not in bed by the time they come back, you know that you'll be black and blue in the morning."

I give an involuntary gasp as River risked a self conscious glance in our direction. He turned back to the girl and put a finger to his lips. Then, in hushed tones,

"Sorry, Alexis, something has come up. I'm going to have to run away. And I need your help."

"Oh," She said, then whispered, "Is it about the water thing?"

Another cautious glance. "Yes it is. I need to get away from someone and I need you to give me some supplies."

Alexis gave a gigantic nod and disappeared from the window, slamming it behind her in the process.

Less than a minute later the door was flung open and Alexis dragged River in, slamming the door behind her. Ali started moaning about being bored once they were gone and I quickly gave her my notebook that I carried everywhere with me and some colouring pencils to keep her quiet. She immediately started to doodle in there happily.

A few minutes later, River came out from the house laden with a large rucksack. He waved at Alexis who was poking her head out of the door. "Thanks, I might be back! Don't tell anyone, okay?"