Their Girl

5: Postcard

I smiled as I climbed the front walkway to my house, collecting the mail before flicking the mailbox closed. I hummed to myself and flicked through the mail as Nathan trailed slowly behind me. He had taken a fall in gym class and still hadn't fully recovered. Poor guy.

My finger stopped at a small thick paper addressed to "Sang, sorry this took so long". As I walked in I set the rest of the mail on the table and ran up to my room. I laughed as I heard Nathan groaning behind me.

"Sorry," I giggled as I let my bag slide off my shoulder as I sat on the bed. I looked at the small card. It was a postcard from Marie! There was a picture of a lake on the front where she had a addressed it to me. I flipped it over. My eyes looked over the neat lettering as I patted the spot next to me for Nathan, who had recently appeared in the corner of my eye.

Dear Sang,

I really miss you! I never realized how much you meant to me until this happened. My new family is great! And my name is Marie Vera now and it's so lovely being with them. My sister Dianne and my parents want to meet you someday. They think you're beautiful. Call me! Love, Marie- 586-904-5209 (just a random number, btw)

I smiled. Nathan glanced up from his phone. "What is it peanut?"

"A postcard from Marie."

"That's cool," he offered.

I squinted at him before putting the number into my phone. For a second I thought maybe I could show my dad, and he would be excited, but then I remembered how Marie left. I bit my lip. I couldn't give her away like that, I didn't know what was gonna happen.

I stood up and went over to my dresser. I pulled in the drawer, planning to slide it under the clothes, but with all the shopping Gabe had done I could barely get to the bottom. Oh well.

I started clawing at the clothes, throwing them out onto the floor. I'd fix it later. After about a minute of the clothes gently thumping on the floor, Nathan noticed.

"Sang?"

"I'm busy," I said, waving my hand at him while I continued to throw more clothes.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm-"

"Jesus how many clothes are in there?"

"Too many," I mumbled, finally reaching the bottom. I turned around to grab the post card and was faced with a mess of clothes covering the floor. I took a deep breath. This should not have been so hard!

I started digging around on the floor for the postcard, moving clothes and throwing them around some more. I could feel Nate's eyes on me.

"Are you looking for this?" He asked, holding the card in between his fingers.

I sighed as he handed it to me and I tucked it safely into the back corner of the drawer. I looked at the mess on the floor and frowned. I couldn't have made this easy on myself, could I? I began to fold the clothes and put them back in the drawer. Nathan came down to the floor to help me.

"Okay really though, what are you doing?"

"Hiding my postcard, what does it look like I'm doing?"

"Why?"

I stopped folding to look over at him.

"When Marie left here last year, she wasn't just leaving. She was running away. And my dad doesn't know. So.. it's safer hidden away."

Nathan nodded slowly before silently falling into a pattern with me; fold, hand, put away, repeat. I honestly couldn't fathom how Gabe fit so many clothes in here.

After we finished fixing the room we did our homework, and that was that. By usual dinner time Andrew still wasn't there, so me and Nathan made sandwiches. We didn't do much after that, and I kept waiting for Andrew but he didn't show up. After awhile I figured it was just a long work day and told Nathan I was going to bed.

I climbed up the stairs and got ready, thinking about last night. Nathan was just gone, and he hasn't said anything about it. I bit my lip as I climbed in bed, and he came and sat down next to me.

"So are you staying tonight?" I said, breaking the silence. It came out harsher than I expected and Nathan looked at me tiredly.

"Not tonight. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," I said, looking down at my hands.

"You won't be alone," he offered. "North is coming over for the night."

I felt my eyebrows raise on my forehead. "But he lives so far away- why is he coming? I don't wanna bother him."

"It's not a bother. I was in the neighborhood anyway," North said as he came in.

I squinted my eyes at him. He shrugged.

"Well, that's my cue to leave."

Nathan leaned down and gave me a tight hug that I happily returned. He whispered to me to get some sleep and then left. North patted his back on the way out, shutting the door and laying down on the bed next me.

We were both sitting up against the bed and I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"Looks like it's just me and you, Sang Baby. How was your day?"

"It was okay," I whispered.

"Are you sure?"

I nodded. I could already feel myself falling asleep against the heat of his body. He was like.. a furnace. Or a heated blanket. A teddy bear.

"Okay, lay down Sang Baby."

I slowly shifted down until I was laying down on the bed, my head resting against his leg.

"Okay now what," I whispered.

"Go to sleep. I'll be here."

I smiled softly as I felt myself falling quickly, surely, asleep. But I couldn't..there was a little breeze I felt against my skin that wasn't there before. I stirred, my eyes fluttering open as I sat up and looked around. There was a small flick of color in the windows and then it was gone. The eyes! I shook North awake.

"Sang? What's wrong?"

"I- Can you please check the windows?" I ask softly.

He looked at me curiously, reaching to turn on the lamp but I put my hand out to stop him.

"Please just go," I whisper.

North nodded and slowly stood up, looking through the windows. He pushed them open and looked both ways. Finally he came back and turned the lamp on. He looked at me for a minute before feeling my forehead.

"Should I call Doc? You look a little pale, Sang Baby."

"No, no it's fine. It's probably nothing. Let's go back to bed."

I laid back down and North came and laid down next to me. I curled into him this time, ignoring the breeze as I felt it. It felt safe with North, and after a few deep breaths I belonged to a dreamless sleep.