Little Dandelion ➳ Larry

- PART TEN -

PART TEN

As Joseph and Louis drove down a random street, the youngest watched snow flurries dance through the icy December air.  He turned to his side and looked around the odd town they were passing through.  He pressed his temple against the cold glass window as the citizens' bodies morphed into blurry masses.  His breath began to fog up the window.  He lifted his index finger up to the condensation and traced a random doodle, which somehow turned into a small flower.  He quickly erased it with the sleeve of his sweater.  Everything reminded him of Harry.

Louis sighed and focused his attention on the countless people walking down the sidewalks.  They were driving by relatively slow, and theoretically Louis probably could've gotten someone's attention, but he didn't try.  Joseph had a gun, after all.  That itself was enough to make him stay in line.

The fourteen-year-old sniffled and turned away from the window.  He put his hands in front of the car heaters, trying to warm up his frozen fingers.  He could barely move his small hands, despite the fact that they were stuffed in Harry's warm mittens.  He kept pressing them to his nose and breathing his scent.  It was comforting.

There wasn't much snow on the ground, but there was still a thin layer, just enough to cover up the grass and make the sidewalks slippery.  Snowflakes fluttered onto the windshield and vanished whenever the wipers zipped by.  Louis listened to the soothing buzz of the heater.  Stuffy warm air filled the dirty van.  They'd been driving for ages.  Louis wasn't sure how long exactly.  He lost track.  He assumed it was almost midnight, considering how dark it was outside.

He glanced at the radio clock.  It was 1:32 in the morning, meaning it was Christmas.

Louis sighed again and rubbed his eyes tiredly.  Merry fucking Christmas.

He was pretty sure they were driving around in circles.  Joseph himself wasn't sure where they were going exactly.  They'd passed through this same town, twice.  Louis knew he was just trying to find a small town where they could stay at for the night, under the radar.

He looked around the van, taking in his surroundings.  Junk littered the floor— empty McDonald's cups, gum wrappers, pocket lighters, and crumpled up newspapers.  The air smelled like an odd mixture of fast food and smoke.  An air freshener in the shape of a pine tree dangled over the mirror, but it didn't mask the horrible scents.

Louis's heart began thudding as they approached a red stoplight.  As the car rolled to a complete stop, he looked out his window.  There was a lady walking down the street.  She was wearing a heavy coat and boots, with a warm scarf wrapped around her neck.  She was standing at the street corner, waiting patiently to cross the street.  The breeze twisted through her coarse black hair.  Louis could feel adrenalin pumping through his veins.  He just needed to get her attention.

He couldn't knock on the window.  Joseph would hear it.  If only he could just get her to look in his direction.  If he mouthed the word 'help', it might work.

So he stared patiently at the woman.  It was odd thinking that his fate rested entirely in a stranger's hands.

But before he could try anything, the light turned green and Joseph sped away from the intersection.  Louis whimpered quietly and twisted around in his seat, but the woman was already gone, faded into the cold horizon.

"Hey," Joseph's booming voice spoke up.  "What're you looking at?"

Louis turned around.  His fiddled with the hem of his jumper absentmindedly.

"Nothing," he murmured.

"Are you hungry?" he asked out of the blue.

Louis shrugged.  "Sort of, I guess," he mumbled.