Running Away

Chapter 2: My New Home

"And this is my bedroom!" Lydia said, finishing up her tour of the house. I peeked in the room. There were black decorations everywhere. I assume that was her favorite color.

"Oh, sorry if it's so gloomy in here. I love black. What's your favorite color?" Lydia asked.

I tugged on my shirt. "Red or orange." I said. "But mainly red."

A knock on the door disrupted our conversation. "Come in!" Lydia said. Delia poked her head in the door and said, "Diesel, car's out front. You ready to go shopping?"

"Yeah!" I said. Without thinking, I said, "I'll spend less than $10, don't worry."

Delia looked at Lydia in surprise. "No...Diesel, we don't mind buying you what you want. I know you're used to having to budget out your clothes and food, but we really don't mind."

"Thanks." I said sheepishly. "I'll pay you back for this by the end of the month."

"No, you don't have to, Diesel, it's okay." Lydia said. "By the way, Delia, her favorite color is red."

"Is it?" Delia said, and I nodded. Then, Charles knocked on the door.

"Delia, honey, I'm waiting." Charles said impatiently. "Oh, hello, Diesel." he said, finally noticing me.

"Hi..." I said. "Just know that I really don't mind having cheap stuff. If you can't afford it, I totally get it. You're a big family." I laughed.

"Well, I wouldn't say 'big.' We have ghosts, they don't need the same amenities we do!" Lydia chuckled.

"Are you ready, Diesel?" Charles said.

"Yeah! Let's head to the mall!"

_____

The shopping cart at Target looked like a fire engine with all the red stuff. I thought Delia and Lydia were going a bit overboard. They didn't seem to mind.

"Hey, Diesel, I know you don't really get a choice in what you wear, but what do you like?" Lydia asked.

"I like sweatshirts and jeans for the most part. I always try to buy a hoodie when I'm allowed to buy clothes, they really never get dirty." I said.

Delia and Charles looked at each other, and Charles said, "How long have you been wearing that?"

I looked down at my ratty T-shirt and frayed sweatpants. "About 2 months now."

Delia gasped, and said, "We need to get you actual clothes..." while picking up a armful of T-shirts and jeans, only checking sizes briefly before putting them in the cart. "Diesel, what's your size in shirts and jeans?" she asked.

"Adult Small in shirts. I think I'm a 4 in jeans."

Charles weeded through the pile of clothes in the cart and took out the clothes that were too small. "There we go."

"This is an awful lot of clothing...are you sure you can afford it? You have Lydia to take care of too. I'm not your only kid. I'm not even your kid."

Lydia smiled. "We're fine with money. Just tell me what you like."

Charles pushed the cart towards checkout. "We're going to Lowe's after this. We're painting the guest room and building you a couple of shelves. Your favorite color is red, right?"

"Pretty much anything besides pink, yellow, and green." I laughed.

"Consider it done!" Delia howled.

_____

The guest bedroom, well, my bedroom, was freshly painted. I would be staying on the couch for tonight so we give my room a chance to air out. I was sitting on the couch, reading my old, destroyed Harry Potter book. Lydia came in and tapped me on the shoulder.

"Do you have Instagram or anything?" she asked. "Sorry if that sounded random."

"Oh no, it's fine. And no, I don't even own any electronics." I said.

"Your parents didn't even buy you a phone?" she asked in surprise.

"No. That's kind of a good thing, though. They can't track me that way."

Lydia said, "I'll be right back." When she came back, Barbara and Adam were there.

"Hi, honey!" Barbara said calmly. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah." I said, getting back to my book. Barbara smiled, sat down next to me, and said, "Well, we have a surprise for you." Adam made a phone appear out of thin air and Barbara handed it to me.

"An iPhone X! How did that happen?"

"They're ghosts!" Lydia laughed. "They can summon anything!"

"Want some soup? A laptop? A car? We'll make it happen!"

"I'm not that hungry, I have a phone now, and I'm too young to drive."

Adam ignored my response and summoned a laptop. "There. Now you have everything you need!"

"Thanks Adam!" I cried.

"You're welcome!" he said cheerfully.

"It's getting late, you must be tired. " Barbara said, and I nodded. "Get some sleep, okay? Ghosts don't need sleep, so if you need anything tonight, come up to the attic."

I nodded as everyone left. I laid on the couch, thinking of the day's events.

Eventually, at around midnight, I fell asleep.