To Find An Escape

Part 2- Leech: At the Motel

A/N – Leech: Hey guys! So this is the second part, written by me! I just read Nazz's chapter and the ideas kept going from where she left off! I hope you like it, it was interesting to write.

 ______________________________________________________________________________

Part 2- Alice (Leech)

I guess I’m just numb; my eyes were unfocused as Aaliyah dragged me along. Trying to find a place to stay I think? I was too lost in my own thoughts to take control of the situation so I just left it to Lyre, I knew that she would be feeling like me, maybe even worse but I knew that she was strong enough for our plan to work. It was me that I was worried it would screw up because of. I’m the weak one out of both of us, I knew, she knew, who didn’t know?  

I didn’t really know how this was going to work, even after all the months of planning I couldn’t help but think of all the things that could go wrong. What if we ran out of money? What if we got lost? What if our ‘new life’ was just as bad, what if it was worse? What if they caught us? I looked at my companion guiltily at that last thought, deep inside, I knew there was a part of me that wanted us to be caught, knowing Lyre though, she was probably feeling the same way.

Thinking back to the text I’d received, the one from Aaliyah herself, I realised the simplicity.

Gardiner? It’s time.

As soon as my phone buzzed with that, I took the supplies that Lyre gave me to keep and ran, should I have left a note? Anything? At that moment I hadn’t felt strong, was this a mistake because of me? Should I have held Lyre back?

I hope we’re doing the right thing and I hope that this plan of ours works too. After this decision things would always be different, even if we went back. I’m not sure what to do and it's really hitting me hard.

Then there was the now 5 texts from Sophie, each of them getting more and more urgent, I looked up to tell Lyre about it but noticed the ‘vacancy’ sign that she had obviously missed. I didn’t blame her though, I was tired as hell.

“Lyre, there’s a vacancy sign, right there and we have to tell Sophie something , she’s panicking.” I said, softly shaking Lyre out of her own daze. She looked where I was pointing in regards to the motel and wrinkled her nose, I couldn’t help but agree because the place looked feral.

She nodded slowly, and we made our way up the cobblestone path of the motel. I walked up to the reception got one room with two beds and we trudged upstairs after some well needed sleep. We got to the room and it surprisingly didn’t look that bad. A grin made its way onto my face as I looked at Lyre then the springy looking beds then back at Lyre. Her smile was identical to mine as we ran from the doorway, slamming the door shut and raced to our respective beds, jumping on them, giggling like the schoolgirls we truly were.

Lyre and I were alike, it was kind of crazy. Sophie always called us personality twins, I loved Sophie for introducing us, I made another friend for life because of her. It felt good to smile; things had been so bad lately, at home, at school, Lyre was the only person I knew who feels like I do, if not worse. I had other friends, but I was leaving them behind like I was everything. My smile faded.

I turned my head on the side and looked at Lyre; she had a brooding expression on her face, I watched as tears slowly filled her eyes.  I knew immediately she was thinking something along the lines as I was. My vision blurred slightly as my own eyes filled with tears as well. I walked over to her bed and wrapped my arms around her.

“Aaliyah, listen to me, we can do this. There’s a reason we went together, you know you can trust me and you know that I can look out for you here. Just like I know you can look out for me. We look out for each other, remember? That was our deal, why we went together.”

She nodded into my shoulder and mumbled her agreement. I held her tight for 5 minutes as she sobbed before pulling away and looking into her eyes. I repeated my own words in my head; I really hope that we can do this and that we will be able to look out for each other. Lyre took a deep breath.

“I’m going to take a shower, do you wanna go first or can I?” She asked, her voice scratchy from crying.

“Oh you can, I want to see if the WiFi works here and plan where to go next.” I said, getting up and taking my laptop from my bag. We weren’t originally going to take my laptop, but  I managed to convince Lyre that is was important. Either way we each only had a backpack and it fit, so I didn't need extra space.

Aaliyah got up and went into the bathroom, after a few minutes of silence I heard the water running. I listened closely to the sound, and heard her crying, the water was muffling her sounds a little but not enough. I took a deep breath and plugged in my laptop then booted it up. Thankfully the internet worked here, so I could plan to my heart’s content.  

About ten minutes later Lyre walked out of the bathroom, looking really refreshed. Seeing her like that, made me get up from behind the computer and grab a towel.

“Hey? I’m gonna take my shower now, we’ll talk when I get out.” I stated smilingly, before walking into the bathroom and closing the door behind me. I had a quick shower and went through my nightly ritual, I wonder if that’ll have to change...

I got out of the bathroom feel much better about everything. Lyre was lying on her bed with her eyes closed; I knew she wasn’t asleep though.

“BAAAAHHHH!!” I yelled, jumping on top of her bed, probably scaring her half to death. Lyre screamed out in fright then looked at me, bursting into laughter, I was almost rolling on the floor!

“Leech! Give a girl some warning next time!” She said, breathing heavily. She sat up on the bed and looked at the alarm clock on the bedside table between our beds. 11:00 PM. “Wow we should really get to bed, we have to get up super early so we can finally find an escape!” 

I laughed at her choice of words but froze when my buzzing phone interrupted me. Sophie. I looked at Aaliyah and she shrugged at me.

“Let it go to Voicemail?” She suggested, staring at the phone. It abruptly stopped vibrating and the new voicemail tone sounded. I sighed, grabbing my phone to play Sophie’s message out loud.

“Leech? Leech! ALICE!!! I know your there, Lyre too. Where the hell are you guys? I’m freaking out! Please tell me you haven’t left. I thought that was all a joke. If you don’t text or call me soon, I will tell your par-”

She was cut off by the tone. I felt Lyre’s eyes on me, and looked up into her wide, panicked, blue orbs to seeing her up from the bed and sitting next to me on mine. We spoke at the same time.

“She’s going to tell.”

“We can’t let her tell!”

I quickly went into a new message on my phone; I stopped and looked up at Lyre.

“What do we say?” I asked fearfully, she can’t have told yet right???

“Um... give it here.” Lyre said, reaching for my little, black Samsung. I would have thrown it out and got a new one but I couldn’t bear to part with another thing. I handed the phone to Aaliyah and her fingers flew nimbly across the little keys. She read over what she had typed briefly before handing it to me to read.

Sophie,

First of all yes, your right, but we had to go and we didn’t want to bring you down.

Secondly, you cannot tell anyone anything! We will keep you updated, promise.

We’re doing okay and currently getting ready for bed.

Talk to you soon and sleep well,

Love you,

LeechAnDLyre xxx <3

I smiled at the way she signed our names, pressed send then got under the covers. Lyre made her way over to the light switch, flipped it off then went back over to her bed and did the same. I turned on my side, facing her.

“We’re going to be okay.” I whispered to her softly. My could see her bright eyes glinting through the dark when she replied.

“Yes, we’ll look out for each other.”

I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep, thinking of tomorrow, know that Aaliyah was doing the same.