Come Away

Chapter 3 - Hallucinations

I know when Darren agrees to come that he'll stick to my plan. But it still kills a part of me to watch him enter that grand brick house where a pretend family wanted to welcome him as one of their own.

Scanning the empty street for the seventeenth time, my foot starts to tap the cement. What's taking him so long? Inhaling deeply, I try and slow my heart rate back down. Darren picks up on the little things, like my easily agitated nerves.

It's fine. He's just grabbing some clothes for the trip.

I repeat the phrase to myself until he reemerges with his stuffed backpack appearing above his shoulders like a ninja turtle's shell. His eyes shift back to the door before finally resting on mine. They're tight, closed. Unwilling to let anyone in. I hope with time that will change, but after the childhood we've been through, it's not likely.

We walk to the corner street and, despite knowing that Mr. and Mrs. Roberts are both at work, my body aches to get out of their neighborhood. Once we've cleared the border, we'll be untouchable. And most importantly, Darren won't have to be alone anymore.

The bus squawks to a shuddering halt and I'm glad Darren is busy adjusting his pack and doesn't see me jump at the sudden noise.

Focus. This is no time for wandering thoughts. This is the time to prove yourself.

I follow Darren onto the bus and we settle into a seat near the back. After inspecting the handful of other passengers one by one, I let myself relax a little into the bench. Just a bunch of random citizens traveling from point A to B. Not caring a bit about two teenagers.

"Do you think anyone will follow us?" Darren says with a calmness that doesn't match the severity of the question.

It's the question that I dreaded during my entire planning process--the question that haunts me now more than ever.

I look past him out the window so he can't see my fear. "No one can follow if they don't know where we are or where we're going." I say. When he blinks at me, but doesn't retaliate with more questions, I release the breath I was holding.

Someone can very well follow us. If the police or the foster care drones don't get us first, The Dread Parent Roberts are rich enough to send people. The kind of people that can trace the smallest lead.

We have a long ride ahead of us. After this bus route ends, we'll have to pick up three more before Lucas will reach us and drive us over the border.

The sudden remembrance of Lucas gives my stomach a tug. He was the first one to believe in this idea, and the only one willing to help me out. Because I only have one more year in the foster system's reign, lots of my older friends have already made it out. Some do alright for themselves. Lucas ended up leaving Virginia—where he spent his last year of High School alongside my Sophomore self and a few other misfit kids—and headed north.

The contact between us remained the same over the last year, but it wasn't until my plans began to solidify that he offered to house us. Not just me, but Darren too.

"Why don't you come live with me?" His husky voice told me he'd stayed up talking to me too long and missed the chance to sleep before his night shift. I was sitting outside the school gym, skipping class again because Senior year is a joke. I'd called Lucas for ideas of where to go and his automatic invitation had caught me off guard. He continued to explain, "I've got a place here and a steady job. My manager would hire you on the spot if I asked her to. The kid can start school again."

I'd interrupted him, feeling excited and terrified all at once. "But how would we make it up there?"

"Trains. Buses. That'd get you close enough for me to pick you up somewhere near the border."