Wanted- Luke Hemmings AU

Chapter One

        "Gracie, c'mon, just pick something!" I laughed, watching my four year old sister oggle at all of the candy displayed beneath the Plexiglass counter.

        "Julie, can I get two pieces?" She asked as she looked up at me, her bright green eyes wide and hopeful. I shook my head, knowing I could only afford to get her one piece of candy if I wanted to have enough money to get us home through the subway. Eventually, Gracie decided on a chocolate bunny, which the guy working the counter quickly wrapped up quickly wrapped up and set in front of her. However, before Gracie could grab it and devour the whole thing right there in the store, I took it, placing it in my backpack.

        "You know the rules, Grace," I told her, paying the man before I took her hand and lead her from the store. "No sweets until after dinner."

        Gracie gave a dramatic sigh before she slipped her hand out of mine and began to skip down the sidewalk. Her long, blonde pigtails trailed behind her, the pink ribbons that held them together flapping in the breeze. I gathered my own brown hair into a ponytail at the base of my neck as I thought about the first time I met the little girl in front of me.

        It was three years ago, when Gracie could just barely walk or talk, that she arrived at the foster home I had lived at since I was four. You see, Gracie and I aren't actually sisters; she was placed in the foster home when I was fourteen, and we just instantly latched onto each other. I had always wanted a little sister, so when Gracie wobbled up to me on her chubby little legs and hooked onto my leg, looking up at me with those wide green eyes, I couldn't possibly turn her away. Ever since, we were inseperable, and I had her convinced we were blood sisters. SunnySide Foster Home wasn't the best place for toddlers, so I tried my best to keep her away from the other, sometimes nasty, kids there, and I also took her into town as much as possible in order for her to get a change of scenery.

        Today, we had gone to a cartoon movie and then to the candy store, but we had to hurry to get home before dinner. Dinner time at the home was always at 6:30 P.M. percisely, and if you were late, you simply didn't get dinner. Glancing down at my old, beat up wristwatch, I saw that it was already 5:51, and it took at least a good twenty minutes to get back, if the subway wasn't busy.

        "Shoot," I mumbled, jogging to catch up with Gracie and stop her from going any farther. "C'mon, we're gonna be late, Gracie. How about a piggy back ride?"

        Gracie nodded excitedly at this, and I crouched down so she could scramble onto my back. I hurried along the California sidewalk, my eyes scanning the buildings until I saw the sign for the subway station. Ducking inside, Gracie slipped off my back, and I once again took her hand as the two of us started clambering down the steps.

        When we reached the bottom, my steps slowed as confusion filled my thoughts; the entire station was completely deserted. I furrowed my eyebrows, wondering why the subway would be closed this early on a Friday night, and I soon found the answer. A few feet away from me, a sign was set up, reading:

        RAILROAD TRACKS BEING REPAIRED. STATION CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

        I sighed, frustrated, as I rifled through my backpack and pulled out a map of the city to check if there was another subway station nearby.

        "Julie, look, I'm a ballerina!" Gracie giggled, and I glanced up to see her spinning on her toes around the open space. I shook my head, laughing lightly before I went back to the map. That is, until a loud voice echoed against the walls.

        "Hey! Can't you read? This station's closed!"

        Gracie immediately stopped twirling, hurrying back to my side. She was never good with strangers, even though she was a happy, bubbly little girl who could make friends easily if she wanted to.

        "Sorry!" I shouted back, not really sure where the voice was coming from. "I was just trying to figure out where the next closest subway is."

        "Yeah? Well, you should do that outside. I'm trying to work."

        I was finally able to place a face to the voice when a figure walked up from the tracks. It turned out to be a boy who looked to be about my age. He was tall and lanky, with tufts of blonde hair sticking out from underneath a backwards SnapBack. A red flannel shirt adorned his torso, paired with worn-down looking jeans and tennis shoes. The feature I was most drawn to, however, were his eyes, which were a deep shade of blue.

        I quickly snapped out of my thoughts, not wanting this boy to think that I was staring.

        Which I wasn't. I was just surprised. Obviously.

        "Um," I reached for Gracie's hand. "Right. We were just leaving, then. Sorry...again."

        The boy nodded and turned back to the tracks, and Gracie and I began to make our way back up the stairs. We weren't able to take two steps before everything around us-- the ceiling, the walls, even the ground-- started trembling. The boy stopped and faced us, a slightly worried expression on his face.

        "Earthquake... c'mon, we've got to get under a doorway or something," He muttered, and I didn't hesitate in following him. He led us to a small office, telling us to stand beneath the doorway to prevent anything from falling on our heads. Gracie was crying at this point, and she clutched onto my leg for dear life. I picked her up so she could bury her face in my neck, and I rubbed soothing circles in my back. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the boy staring at us.

        Everything shook violently for the next couple of minutes, and then just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. Niether me or the boy moved for a moment, almost as if we were waiting for another earthquake to break out.

        Then, I got myself to move, and I shot him a small smile before I started again towards the entrance. A gasp left my lips when I rounded the corner and the stair came into sight.

        It seemed that during the earthquake, the trembling of the earth had been so strong that it caused a part of the ceiling to cave in. A huge pile of wood, plaster, metal, and all other sorts of debris layed in a huge pile taller than me.

        Unfortunately, this huge pile just so happened to be right in front of the exit doors. Meaning, for the next who-knows-how-long, Gracie and I were trapped in this subway station with a boy we had literally just met.

        Oh, boy. This could get interesting.

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