Chapter 5
I had been walking for about fifteen minutes when I thought I heard something behind me. I stopped, and there was silence. I shook my head and started walking again, a little faster this time. It was getting darker and I didn't want to get home too late, even though mom would probably kill me anyways. I heard that sound again, like the rustling clothes make when you walk. I stopped but didn't hear anything. I started walking again, but this time I only went a few feet before spinning around like the paranoid madwoman I am. Behind me stood a little boy as white as a ghost.
"AHHHHH!" I screamed and jumped back.
"AHHHHH!" he screamed and dove to the ground with his hands over his head.
After I'd calmed down a bit, I walked over to him. This day was already messed up enough, and I wasn't taking any crap from a 6-year-old. He was still crouching on the cracked asphalt looking up at me with huge, fearful, pale blue eyes the color of the sky on a cloudless wintry morning. His soft white-blond hair and milky white, almost translucent skin gave him the appearance of a blue-eyed albino, and the deer-caught-in-headlights look he was giving me didn't help. Figuring he was pretty harmless, I knelt down next to him and asked, "Hey, what's your name?"
The boy mumbled a soft "Elby" and shyly chewed on a sleeve of his worn white sweater.
"That's nice. My name's Ala. Do you know where we are?"
He didn't respond so I tried something else.
"Do you have a mommy?" He brought his chin down to his chest so I took that as a yes. "Do you know where she is?" He nodded unblinkingly and brought his legs forward to perch his head on his knees.
"Where's sissy?" he asked in a wobbly voice. "She said she was going to find daddy. And she has Mr. Tuffles."
"Um, I don't know where she is. Who's Mr. Tuffles?"
"He's my best friend," Elby told me matter-of-factly. "He's a lunar rabit. We go on adventures together." I smiled a little. "Do you have a best friend?"
"Yes, Ava. We go on adventures, too."
He scooted a little closer to me. "Is she a lunar rabbit?"
"No." I smiled. "She's a girl. But sometimes I think she's to crazy to be human."
"Oh," he said, looking a little disappointed. He stood up abruptly. "Can we go now?" he asked expectantly.
"Can we- um, I guess." I stood and brushed myself off as Elby tottered off down the road. "Wait!" I ran to catch up with him. "Where are we going?"
"Home," he stated simply, and left it at that.
"Isn't there someone you should, uh, be with?" I asked. After all, who let their kids wander around along the highway alone? If I hadn't already been weirded out so much, I'd have called the police a long time ago. Except I didn't have my cell phone. Which is what got me into this mess in the first place.
"You're right," said Elby somberly, pulling me from my thoughts. "I can't find my way home without Mr. Tuffles, and you don't know where sissy is." He thought for a moment, his little brow furrowing in concentration. Then he turned his adorable wide-eyed gaze up to me. "Can I go home with you?"
Now, under no other circumstances would I even consider bringing some stranger I met on the road to my house. In fact, I most likely wouldn't even bother to talk to them. That's just not how I am. But I was tired, confused, and my better judgment had already turned in for the night. And what was I supposed to do? Leave the little boy alone in the street all night? No.
