We finally see a small town on the horizon. Charlie's been complaining for the last couple hours about his feet. He's not use to walking this far. He breaks into a job, but I keep the same, even pace. It's farther than it looks, and soon he slows down. I catch up to him quickly at my pace. He's back to wining again.
We reach the city around three. We still have some time before we have to do anything. We wander around a neighborhood, people-watching. I used to do this all the time, before I met Charlie. I'm not a stalker, or anything, but it's one of the safest hobbies you can have on the run. And it's definitely cheep.
That's when I see two little girls running through sprinklers. They're across the street from where we stand and a few houses away. They look around eight, though I'm not the best at guessing ages. They're twins, the only difference between their appearance is one has short hair and one has long. They have Asian features. They're laughing and pushing eachother into the sprinklers.
From a distance, an older girl watches, probably a babysitter. She's around my age. She's looks like a model. She's probably the normal, bubble-head, plastic surgery junkie, tanning bed lover, face plastered with makeup, hair sprayed and perfectly styled fake twig thin drama queen that's common for girls my age. Her hair is a rich caramel color, probably dyed, her eyes the same golden color as her hair, probably contacts. She wears shorts, but not as short as most girls her age, and a navy blue t-shirt
Next to her stands a boy. He's probably around thirteen, and has oily, brown hair. Like any other boy his age, he looks angry and annoyed. He's glaring off to the side at nothing. His eyes are blue and his skin is paler than the girl's. He has a black hoodie on, even though it's the middle of summer, and dark jeans.
I try to think of a reason why this group would be together. I can understand the older girl and the younger girls, babysitting, but the boys seems out of place. He's too old to be babysat. Maybe their parents are friends? It seems doubtful. The older girl spots us. She stares at me, and I stare back. I instinctively take a step back, and trip over someone's hedges. Charlie helps me up. The twins are coming over.
"You okay?" the one with the shorter hair asked.
"Yeah," I said. I could feel the warmth in my cheeks. Behind the twins, the older girl and boy were walking over slowly. They seemed to be arguing quietly as they came our way. The older girl seemed to win, because the boy gave an aggrivated sigh.
"I'm Charlie," Charlie says, "and this is Bilbo."
"Bill," I say, "not Bilbo."
"I'm Aya," the twin with the longer hair says.
"Alina," the twin with the shorter hair says.
"Michelle," the older girl says, "though everyone calls me Mitch. And this is Silas." Silas continues to glare off to the side. Mitch hands Aya and Alina each a towel.
"Do you live around here?" I ask.
"Umm, yeah. We just moved here," Mitch says, "Do you live near?"
"We live on the other side of town, we're family friends of some of your neighbors," I say. Maybe it's just being on the run, but there's something fishy about their story. How could they all move here at the same time? They don't look any thing alike and I see no "Sold" sign anywhere.
"Which neighbors?" Silas asks. His voice is kind of scratchy.
"The... Greenes. They live just over there," I say, pointing down a random street.
"Really?" Mitch says, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah," Charlie says, "We came by to see if they were home, but they aren't."
Bang!
I grab Charlie and duck behind the bush I tripped over. Mitch pushes the twins behind her and gets in a fighting stance. Silas whirls around, looking for danger. Bang!
"It's just some fireworks," Silas says.
"Oh yeah," Charlie says, "It's the Fourth of July."
"How could you forget when the Fourth of July was?" one of the twins asks Charlie.
"You guys didn't seem to know, either," I say, "And we did know it's the Fourth of July."
"We knew too. We're just... ummm... it's too early for fireworks. The sun's still out," Mitch says.
"Yeah, but that was a pretty big flinch," I say.
"Same for you," Mitch says, glaring at me. Now that we're close up, I realize that she's not the person I'd made her out to be. She's tan, but naturally, her hair is messy and slightly frizzy. She doesn't have any makeup on, and I'm pretty sure that's a zit on her cheek. She has a few scratches and scars on her arms. Her shoulders are a little wider than necessary, and she definitely looks stronger than the normal bone-thin model. But she's not ugly. All these things somehow make her even more beautiful.
"And I don't think the Greenes exist," Mitch says.
"I'll show you where the Greenes live, if you show me which house you're moving into," I say. She takes a breath, like she's going to say something, but doesn't.
"Okay, so neither of us actually live here," Silas says, "Maybe we can come to some understanding. You don't snitch on us, we won't snitch on you." I glance at Charlie and nod.
"I think we could agree to that," I say.
"So, where are you guys headed?" Mitch asks.
"I don't think we should talk about that," Silas says, "You don't ask us questions, we won't ask you questions."
"We don't know where we're going, so we don't have to worry about that, Silas," Mitch says.
"We don't know either," Charlie says, "So we're both safe there." Charlie's stomach growls.
"Do you guys want to go get something to eat?" I ask.
"No," Silas says as Mitch says, "Yes." Silas's stomach argues. Another bang goes off and everyone jumps.
"Fine," Silas says.
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