Authors: Elodie Short
Getting back inside we both look at Anna and she seems fine now. She’s playing with Herbert like nothing had happened at her mom’s earlier today. She looked up at us when we got in, a little tense at first, but then she went straight back to Herbert.
I give her a leaf of lettuce from the fridge to feed to the rabbit while I set the table for lunch, we still haven’t eaten.
After lunch, all three of us went to the market. Anna picked out a few new clothes, some new underwear and socks and some pyjamas, Rick got himself one pair of jeans and a few t-shirts. On the way back to my car we passed a stall with some children’s toys. Anna chose two new colouring books and two reading books. Luckily Rick managed to haggle most people down, and we got the bulk of our shopping done with a discount. He insisted on paying for everything, but I felt a deep urge to help them out and treat them after the morning they’ve had, so in the end we decided to split things evenly.
“You know I’ll be ever grateful,” Rick whispers to me when we get back to the car.
“Don’t worry about it,” I smile at him, “I don’t usually spend any money, it feels nice to slash the cash. I should do it more often.”
A smile spreads across his face when he looks at me, “it’s not just the money. It’s everything.”
A little shy and not knowing what to say back to him, I quietly get into my car. Rick opens up his door and pushes the seat forward to let Anna in. “You had a good day?” he asks her.
“Yes, thank you Summer,” she says, looking her happy self again.
***
We drove home in silence and once I park in my usual space in front of my building, the three of us silently walk up the stairs back to my apartment.
“Rick?” I whisper softly so Anna doesn’t hear and gently tug on the back of his shirt to get his attention after I opened the door to my apartment.
“Yes?”
“Isn’t that the same car that was at your mom’s?”
“Yes it is,” he replies, his eyes wide with shock. “Get inside, quickly,” he urges and pushes me inside before he quickly closes the door behind us.
Seconds later the buzzer to my door sounds.
“What do I do?” I ask turning to Rick. I can feel my heart beat in my throat and my stomach is turning to the point where I’m almost feeling sick.
“Don’t answer it.”
Seconds later it buzzes again, “what if they come up if I don’t answer?”
I can see the fear in his eyes too. “Okay. Answer it.”
“Hello?” I say into the speaker, keeping my voice as calm as possible.
“Hello. I am looking for a child and two older kids. Have you seen them?” A gravelly voice replies.
“I haven’t, sorry,” I lie, feeling surprised by how natural that sounded. I stand there, waiting for an answer, but when nothing else comes, I let out a deep breath.
“Now what?” I ask turning to Rick again.
He shrugs, looking uncertain. “I don’t think we can stay here,” he mumbles, looking sadly at Anna. Unexpectedly he slumps down against the wall and lets himself slide down until he sits on the floor. He takes his face in his hands and it looks like he’s trying to hide it, but I can see by the jerky moves of his shoulders that he’s crying.
I kneel down next to him, wrap my arms around his shoulders and pull him in tight. “It’s okay,” I whisper into his ear. “We’ll figure something out.”
“How are we going to do that?” he looks up at me with watery eyes, “I don’t know where else to go.”
“I might know somewhere we could go,” I mumble to him and stroke my hand through his hair, “I’ll figure something out.” He blinks a few times and looks a little more hopeful, “what do you have in mind?”
“Leave it to me.” I plant a kiss on his cheek and give him a little smile before walking away to my bedroom.
“Hi Brendan, it’s me,” I say to my brother when he finally answers his phone.
“Hi Summer, how are you doing?”
he asks in his usual cheerful voice.
“I’m good,” I lie, “how about you?”
“Same old same old,”
he laughs and I can hear Mick screaming in the background.
I laugh. “Is the little one still giving you grief?”
He chuckles back at that,
“like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Hey, I was wondering...” I say, starting to pace up and down my room.
“Yes?”
“Do you still have your beach hut?”
“I do, and I so wish I could go to it,”
he sighs.
“Are you going to it any time soon?”
“Oh, no. I don’t have the time, maybe in a few months.”
“Would you mind if I use it?”
“No, not at all. Do you have something special planned?”
“No, I just really want to get away for a bit,” I lie again, “would it be okay if I come and pick up the key later today?”
“Sure.”
“And while I’m away.. do you think Mick would like to babysit my rabbit?”
“I’m sure he would love to,”
Brendan chuckles.
“He’s been bugging us to get him a pet for a few months now.”
“Cool, I’ll bring Herbert over with some of his food and sawdust when I come and pick up the key. I’ll see you in a few hours.”
“No worries Summer, see you soon.”
“Bye Brendan.”
“Bye.”
I hang up, let out a sigh and let myself drop onto my bed. That’s one thing sorted, but I still have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“It’s sorted,” I say, forcing a smile as I walk back into my living room.
Rick looks up at me in surprise, “what’s the plan, Summer?”
“We’ll be going on a little holiday,” I smile to try and hide the fact that we’re running away.
“On a holiday?” she beams, bouncing up from where she’d been sitting, “where are we going?”
“We are going to the beach,” I laugh at her excitement.
“The beach!” she cheers and runs over to Rick, “did you hear that? We’re going to the beach!”
He smiles at her and lovingly pats her on her shoulder, “I heard, Annie.”
“I’ve never been to the beach!” Anna says still bouncing around, “is Herbert coming with us too?”
“I’m afraid not,” I tell her, “my nephew Mick will be looking after him while we’re away.”
“Aww,” she moans, looking at me pleadingly, “why can’t he come with us?”
“Because he can’t swim,” I say, smiling weakly.
“Neither can I,” she says, crossing her arms.
“When are we going?” Rick asks before Anna can go into a full on pout.
“Right now.”
Rick and Anna don’t have much to pack, all Rick has to do is pack Anna’s freshly washed clothes to go with their other belongings that are still in the plastic bags from the market. While I rush around my apartment to pack my things together.
“Rick?” I yell from my bedroom, “can you get my sports bag for me?”
“Sorry, what?” he asks, sticking his head in the door way.
“Can you get my sports bag for me?” I ask again, pointing to the top of my wardrobe.
“Sure.” As he reaches up to reach to the top of the wardrobe, his t-shirt rides up his back just enough to give me another glance of his muscly lower back and I have to resist all my urges to not walk over there right now and touch his perfect pale skin.
Not now, we have more important things to think about,
I tell myself.
“Where do you want it?” he asks with the bag in his hands and it takes a second for me to get my thought back to where we were.
“On the floor will be fine, thanks,” I smile at him.
“Do you want some help packing?” he asks.
“There are some spare blankets and a single blow-up bed in the wardrobe in the spare bedroom,” I tell him. I haven’t used the blow-up bed since I went camping last, which must’ve been about three or four years ago, so I’m not sure if it will still hold the air, but it’s worth taking. He walks off to grab the things I’ve told him to, and comes back a few minutes later.
“Do you have another bag?”
“No, sorry. I was thinking of using a black bin-liner.”
“Where are they?”
“In the drawer underneath the kitchen sink,” I instruct him while I grab the last few pieces of my clothing and place them in my bag. I close up the zipper and take my bag out to the living room where Rick is busy stuffing all of my blankets in the bin bags.
I walk over to my kitchen and take a bottle of coke and one with lemonade from the cupboard, then I pick up an empty bottle that was ready for recycling and fill it with water. I place all three in a plastic bag. Next I go through my cupboards and pick out some packets of crisps and biscuits to be added to the bag of drinks. Then I remember we’ll probably need some towels as well, so I walk into my bathroom, pick up a few towels from the rack and place them into my sports bag on top of my clothes.
“I think we’re all set,” I say to Rick when I’m done.
“Yup,” he nods, “should I go outside to see if that car is still there?”
I shake my head fearfully, “no way, if they see you then everything has been for nothing. I’ll go out.”
“Okay,” he says, “but come straight back in.”
I place my head against the door to make sure no one is on the other side and when I don’t hear anything, I open it fully. No one is on the gallery so I quickly take the two steps to the edge of the railings. To my relief the car is no longer standing there.
“I don’t see them,” I say when I rush back inside and close the door behind me just in case.
Rick scrunches up his face for a moment, “that doesn’t mean they’re no longer here though, and if they aren’t, they might be back soon.”
“Mhm,” I nod, “I know.”
“I want you two to stay up here,” Rick instructs us, “if they are still here, then I don’t want them to see either of you.”
“Why? What are you going to do?” I ask him confused.
“I’m going to load the car up.”
My belly knots up when he picks up the black bin-liner and slings it over his shoulder, then he picks up my sports bag from the floor and starts making his way to the door. He sticks out his little finger for me to drop the key-ring with my car keys on and I open the door for him. I bite my lower lip while I watch him walk down the gallery and out of sight to the stairs. Slowly I move towards the railings again, and watch the entrance doors at the stairs in anticipation. A few minutes later he steps out of the doors and walks over to my car. He loads the bags in the back of the car and when he locks the car back up I quickly move back inside and press the release button to open the doors before he can press the buzzer.
I let out a deep breath of relief when he is back inside my apartment, but the tension builds back up inside of me instantly when he picks up their carrier bags and a bag of sawdust for Herbert and makes his way back out. I feel my body tremble as I once again watch the entrance doors downstairs in anticipation of him coming out and walking over to my car. Once he’s locked the car up again I press the release button for him to come back in.
“Anna, are you ready to put your shoes on?” I ask her before Rick gets back inside.
“Yes I am,” she smiles up at me excitedly, “I can’t wait to get to the beach, we’re going to have so much fun!”
I laugh at her as she rushes over to her shoes, if only we were all that excited about getting out of here. I quickly walk through all the rooms, unplugging all my electrics and making sure we haven’t forgotten anything.
“Are we all set?” Rick asks as he comes back inside.
“Anna’s just tying her shoes,” I tell him, “we can bring the last bags down with us.”
“Okay,” he replies and lets out a big sigh, “Anna, do you want to take Herbert’s food down with you?” he asks her once she’s done with her shoes.
“Yes,” she smiles and he hands her the carrier bag with food. I’ve added the carrots and lettuce from the fridge, not knowing when we’ll be back here, and Herbert might as well eat them as treats instead of it going to waste in my fridge.
I pick up the carrier bag with our drinks and snacks, “can you take Herbert?” I ask Rick, while I hold the door open for Anna to step outside.
“Sure,” he nods and heads over to Herbert’s cage to carry him down to the car.
Once we’re all outside I lock the door behind me, and follow Anna and Rick down to my car.
I unlock my car and push the passenger seat forward to let Anna crawl in to the back with Herbert’s food in her hand, when she’s in and settled with her seatbelt on, Rick passes her Herbert’s cage, which just about squeezes through the tight gap. Rick then pushes the seat back into its upright position and sits down on the passenger side, while I hand him the bag with drinks and snacks to place in between his legs in the foot well.
“Are we ready?” I ask with a big smile, feeling a rush of relief that we managed to get out without being caught and seeing Anna’s excited little face in the rear view mirror. It has been a while since I’ve been at the beach, and I have to admit, it would be nice to get out of here for a little while, even if it is for all the wrong reasons.