The Black Envelope

Chapter 11: Goodbyes

Chapter 11: Goodbyes

Both Gage and Fay thought it would be better if her parents didn’t know he had spent the night, so at fifteen till seven Gage slid out of the window and onto the branch. He climbed down the tree and went around to the front of the house, his boots getting wet from the early morning dew. He leaned against a big oak tree in the front of her house where her parents wouldn’t be able to see him and waited.

Gage still thought it was a bad idea, but Fay had overruled him. They had argued about it for half an hour. Fay needed to go to school but Gage had thought she’d be in too much danger there. In the end, Fay agreed to let him accompany her there and wait for her until she got out. From there, they would go back to her empty house, her parents would both be at work and her little sister still at school, and pack for her, leave her parents a brief note with barely any details, and leave.

Before he left, Fay had insisted on redressing his wounds, but Gage had refused to put anything on his neck. It itched too much and the wound kept ripping open whenever they took the bandage off. Fay also wouldn’t explain why she didn’t put anything on his face, but Gage didn’t really care about her reasons.

Around seven Gage heard Fay telling her parents goodbye, a rather long one at that. He thought her parents would probably be confused as to why her goodbye was so emotional, but Gage knew better. And it seems little Elsie did too.

“Goodbye Fay! I’ll miss you so much!” Gage could almost see Fay’s little sister wrapping her arms around Fay’s waist tearfully as her parents looked on with dumbfounded looks.

Fay’s voice was thick as she responded to Elsie. “Bye Ellie, I’ll miss you, too. I love you.”

“Love you.” Her sister mumbled into Fay’s shirt.

Finally, Fay managed to dislodge her sisters arms from around her waist, say goodbye to her parents again and start walking down the street. Gage waited until he heard the door shut and then looked over his shoulder to see if her parents were watching through the window. They were, and continued watching her until she disappeared down the street. Gage stood still until the front window curtain swung shut and then ran up the street to meet Fay. She was leaning against the street sign, hastily wiping tears from her eyes. Gage approached slowly as Fay took in a shaky breath, steadying herself.

“Now that that’s over with.” She said quietly and started walking again. Gage hurried after her, slowing his strides to match her pace. As they walked Gage couldn’t help staring at Fay. Her messenger bag bumped rhythmically against her hip as her hair swung behind her back, occasionally brushing against Gage’s arm, making him shiver in the already cool air.

After a couple minutes of silence she looked up and was startled to see Gage’s gaze hanging on her. She blinked and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear turning her head back to look in front of her, but not before Gage saw a faint blush rising in her cheeks.

They strolled down the street, talking occasionally but mostly focusing on getting to the school. Gage made a few attempts at conversation but she’d only answer briefly and quietly, not giving him much to go on. They didn’t see many people on their walk, only a couple people driving past them to get to the high school. All of these people ignored them as if they had already left.

By the time they got to the school it was 7:20 and the grounds were swarming with kids and staff. Both Fay and Gage went out of their way to avoid people as Gage walked Fay to the front entrance. When they arrived, however, it proved to be much too crowded to ignore the kids anymore. A lot of the girls sneered at Fay, which reminded Gage that Fay wasn’t part of the popular crowd, as proved by Jackie the night he sentenced her. “I know what it feels like to be at the bottom of the ladder.”