beautiful thieves | ✓

nine

It's around nine o'clock the next morning when I get the phone call from Dad. It's completely unexpected, I was sure that the family were completely fine with me out of the house, but I can't just leave it ringing. Dad, at least, deserves some sort of reassurance.

I reach for my phone on my bedside table, my hand briefly brushing upon the cold metal of the watch that Colby gave to me. With all the revelations of finding out that Chelsea has a baby, I almost forgot about how I went to the mall with a gun strapped to my thigh to steal thousands worth of watches only last night.

I answer the phone and put it on speaker, dropping it onto the pillow beside my head.

The line is quiet for a second.

"Aurora?"

It's so strange to hear his voice say my name. It hasn't even been that long since I saw him, but almost immediately I feel a wave of nausea as the home-sickness hits me.

I breathe out a soft sigh. "Hey, Dad."

It's quiet again, so quite I take a glimpse at the screen to make sure it hasn't been disconnected. Then I swear I hear the quietest sob spring from the other side, causing my heart to crack. I've never known Dad to cry- he's been my rock for as long as I've been alive, as best he could with his busy work life.

"Aurora," he says again, even quieter than last time. "Are you... please tell me you're safe."

"I guess as safe as I can be after being kicked out," I say, lifting the duvet up and over my body as my skin rises with goosebumps.

"Where are you?" he asks desperately. "Are you in a bed?"

"I am," I say, purposefully not answering his first question. "Probably better than the bed I had at home."

"And you have food and shelter?"

"Yeah," I say, nodding even though he can't see me. "Plenty of it."

"Please tell me where you are," he says. "I've been trying to find you non-stop these past few days."

"You have?" I chuckle humourlessly.

"Don't sound surprised," he says. "Every moment I've managed to spend away from your mother I've spent seeing if there's any way to find you. But it's so weird, it's like you've vanished off the face of the Earth. And I can't help but feel like it's all my fault." The volume in his voice lowers as he reaches the end, as if he's speaking to himself.

"It's Mum's fault," I state bluntly. "And you know it. It's not your fault and I don't blame you."

He sighs, probably in relief. "I wish I could've done more, or prevented the whole thing in the first place. But... your mother... this is her idea of hell, what you've put her through. I have been trying to change her mind but... she's made it clear there's no going back."

"Do you believe her?" I ask. "Do you believe what she was saying, that I called those stupid pageant judges and told them Mum had been rigging the results?"

There's a pause. "No, I don't. I know you've never liked those things, and you and Connie have never gotten along in the way we'd hoped you would, but I don't think you'd do something like that. Not to mention you're incredibly smart. If you were going to do something like that, you wouldn't have been caught."

You're incredible smart. You wouldn't have been caught. I can't help but smirk. That will come in handy.

There's silence again. It's funny. I feel like we should be talking through everything, trying to see if there's any way of convincing Mum to let me back home or if we could get Connie back into the beauty pageants. But I don't think I want any of that any more, and Dad isn't throwing out suggestions.