I woke up staring at the sky. The grey concrete walls of the abandoned warehouse rose up around me, but the ceiling wasn't finished and there was a large, jagged hole above me that I could look through and stare up at the sky. It was a bright, light blue, cloudless, the sort of sky that is painted on greeting cards and written about by poets. Clear and bright.
I rolled over and sat up, raking a hand through my newly short, choppy hair. To my left, Lacie was sleeping, her head resting on a folded sweatshirt and eyes closed. To my left, I heard an electronic buzzing.
Reaching under a pile of clothes, I pulled out the satellite radio I had stolen for the Walmart. It was pocket-size and the plastic box fit in the palm of my hand. I pressed the buttons, hearing the static of country music and talk shows. I pressed the arrows that changed the channel up or down, messing with the little antennae until I found local stations. I had never used one of these before.
The sound of voices talking flowed from the tiny radio, crackly and broken and full of static, but I could hear it. I sat cross-legged on the floor, arms crossed tightly in a last-ditch attempt to retain a little body heat, and set the little plastic radio on the dusty floor in front if me.
Lacie was stirring, lifting her head up and looking slightly confused by the sound of the radio. "What the hell is that?" She muttered, furrowing her eyebrows.
I didn't answer, just flicked up the volume and sat back.
"Grenadia police forces have been searching for five days from murder suspect, fifteen-year-old Alexandria Kaltess, and missing teenage girl Lacie Delaray, also fifteen, after they disappeared from the scene of nineteen-year-old Tony Davis's death. Authorities suspect the girls stole John Delaray's truck to escape, as it was reported missing the following morning."
Lacie sat up, a look of realization washing over her face. She sat next to me, knees pulled up to her chest, and together we stared at the little plastic box.
"Police have dispensed police rangers and helicopters in search of the missing girls, and forces were becoming desperate after searching the surrounding counties and finding no leads. We have received a report this morning, however, that officers will be extending their search to other states after calls came in from the Northern New Jersey town of Lewon."
"Alex." Lacie looked up, her voice shaking. "The Walmart was in Lewon, wasn't it?"
I nodded. The feeling of dread was sinking into my chest.
"What do we do, Alex?" She asked. There was a wild, almost animalistic look in her wide, dark eyes.
"We're not moving." I said, trying to calm the shakiness in my voice. "We're staying here and hiding."
"We need to run!" She exclaimed. "We can't just stay here!"
"But for what?" I asked. "Are we going to run forever?" I could already sense a sort of feeling tugging at the corners of my head to give up. A feeling coming from my bones saying to let myself go. I think I realized now what I had known for days; I could not win this battle.
"We need to go somewhere else." Lacie said, the pitch in her voice rising.
"Where?" I asked simply.
"Somewhere else."
***
The lights were dead, the shelves were empty, the windows were cracked, and the floor tiles were dirty and chipped. We sat on the floor in the dim light in the isle between two shelves, silent.
