A few hours go by with me turning over tables and calling out orders and it’s now almost noon. I walk up to Layla and tap her shoulder.

“Would it be okay if I go check on Lizzy real quick?” I ask. She nods with a smile.

“Sure.” She says. I take off my apron and quickly make my way to the staff room to check on Lizzy. I open the door and see her still sitting in her chair but she’s not staring at the TV anymore but instead at something in her hand. I peek over her shoulder to see my phone on and in her hand.

“What are you doing with that?” I ask her. She jumps up and looks at me with wide eyes.

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t want to watch the TV anymore and I knew you had it in your backpack.” She tells me. I glare at her before snatching it out of her hand to see what she was doing. I see the messages open and a message is typed in our special language in a message to our father.

“I thought you couldn’t read.” I comment. She looks down at her hands.

“I can’t but I remember you telling me what the letters look like and how our special words would be spelled in case we were in trouble. I was just trying to write a little bit.” She says. I sigh and erase the message before turning the phone off again.

“Don’t touch this again, okay? It’s off so that dad can’t track us. If you want to practice writing I can get you a pen and a piece of paper.” I tell her. She just nods and sniffles. I walk up to the little closet next to the storage shelves and open it to find paper and any kind of coloring utensil a child could possibly need to be distracted for hours. I pull out a huge stack of paper and a box of markers. I place them on the small coffee table in front of her and she sits on the floor to reach it.

“Wow. I’ve never seen these things before. Can I really write with this?” She asks as she picks up one of the markers and puts it on the paper without taking the lid off. She frowns in confusion. “It’s not working.” I laugh and pick up her hand with the marker in it and show her how to take the cap off.

“Try it now.” I tell her. She puts the pen to the paper and it makes a dot. She gasps in excitement.

“Wow. That’s so cool. Can you write something on it and then I can try?” She asks me. I sigh and check the time on the clock above the door. It’s been ten minutes since I took my break.

“Yes, but I have to hurry.” I tell her. She nods and I pick up the black marker and turn the paper toward me as I try to decide what to write.

‘Lizzy is the best little sister ever, I don’t know what I would ever do without her.’

“Ooh. What does it say?” She asks. I smile and put the cap back on the marker.

“It says that Lizzy is the best little sister ever.” I tell her. She looks at the writing in awe before picking up the marker and writing my sentence or at least copying the letters. I smile again and shake my head before walking out of the room and back up to the front to start work again. Layla laughs at me once I get back in my spot behind the counter.

“That was the longest short break ever. What were you doing?” She asks. I shrug my shoulders.

“I had to take my phone away from her and explain why and then I had to get her some paper so that she could practice her writing. She was getting tired of watching the TV.” I explain as I start wiping down the counter. I see her give me a look out of the corner of my eye but I ignore it because something else catches my eye. There are two cops sitting in the window of the shop at a bar type structure. They are talking about something important from the looks on their faces.

“When did they get here?” I ask Layla. She looks up at the two officers and then back at me with a raised eyebrow.

“Like fifteen minutes ago, why?” She asks. I shrug my shoulders but keep my eyes on them until a flash of red on one of the TV screens in the main room catches my eye. I turn my head to see a breaking news headline that makes my blood run cold. I keep up with the subtitles as they start telling the story. The headline reads ‘Abigail Sutton case reopened after new evidence surfaces’. I can feel my chest tightening as a picture of my mother flashes across the screen and a small headache starts forming as I read the words.

‘Police believe they have found a new lead on this 10 year old murder case that was left cold after all possible suspects disappeared.’ My hands start to shake as a cold sweat forms on my skin.

‘Her children were thought to have been kidnapped but just two days ago we got this picture from an anonymous witness. They were seen on a bus headed from Galesburg to Bloomington.’ The subtitles read as a blurry picture of Lizzy and I shows up on the screen briefly.

“Atz!” I say under my breath. Our father was there, why didn’t I notice that. I try to take a few deep breaths to keep myself under control but my cap blows anyway and I slam my fist into the counter. I carefully look around the shop to see if he is here too but I don’t see him anywhere. I look back up at the TV and see that the story is still on trying to find us.

‘If anyone sees these two people please call this hotline or the police so that they can be brought into protective custody.’ Then the story finally changes and I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn and see Layla staring at me with wide eyes.

“Hey, are you okay?” She asks. I take another deep breath but all I see is red as I look at Layla. I shake my head and push her away from me.

“I’m sorry. I thought I had more time here but it turns out I don’t. Thank you for helping me and I’m sorry that I couldn’t help more.” I say trying to sound as sincere as possible but I’m slowly losing my grip. I take off the hat and the apron and set them on the counter and walk around the counter and back to the staff room where Lizzy is peacefully sitting and drawing pictures on the pieces of paper. Layla had followed me back to the room so I quickly speak in Lizzy’s special language.

“Tik tok.” I say as Layla opens the door. Lizzy looks up at me quickly with wide eyes.

“Dacun reaz ez?” She asks. Layla looks down at Lizzy with wide eyes and then back up at me. I grab my backpack and put it on before grabbing Lizzy’s bag.

“What are you doing? Where are you going?” Layla asks. I stop and stare at her with a blank expression.

“I’m leaving. Going back to the streets and keeping everyone around me safe.” I tell her in a monotone voice. She gasps and takes a step away from me.

“You’re homeless?” She asks. I scoff and then look at Lizzy.

“Tik tok.” I say again. She nods her head and stands up. She walks up to me and takes her backpack. I see her looking back at the papers and markers that she left all over the table.

“Would it be okay to take that with us? She seems to like it and she usually doesn’t have anything to entertain her during the day.” I ask Layla. She nods and I look down at Lizzy and give her a nod. She looks excited and quickly packs the rest of the blank papers and the box of markers into her pack before coming to stand next to me again. She tugs on my shirt and I look down at her.

“Dacun reaz ez? (What’s wrong?)” She asks again and I look sideways away from her.

“Uzuata. (Father.)” She gasps at that one word and starts shaking. I push her behind me and look up at Layla.

“We need to go. Please get out of my way.” I tell her. She nods and lets us walk out of the room. We walk through the busy shop quickly and keep our heads down until we get out on the street. I quickly lead Lizzy down an alley next to the shop and we make our way toward the university.

“Where are we going?” She asks. I look back at her and see her face creased with worry.

“We’re heading toward the university. We will have to somehow find the money to get on a new bus out of town. Our father is too close now. There has to be something I can do to slow him down.” I start thinking out loud. Lizzy pulls on my hand to make me stop walking. I turn around to her.

“Are we going to be okay?” She asks. I let out a startled laugh and kneel down in front of her before taking her hand.

“We’re going to be just fine. I’m going to make sure that he never gets you.” I tell her. She nods and sniffles. I pull her into a hug as she starts sobbing in the middle of the sidewalk. A few people stop and stare and I glare at them which causes them to turn and walk away just as quickly as they stopped. After a few minutes of standing still on the sidewalk and a lot of dirty looks I finally pull Lizzy away from me as she calms down and smile at her.

“Are you feeling okay? Maybe we should find a quiet place to sit.” I tell her. She nods and I stand up before taking her hand in mine and guiding her through the people down the sidewalk. I find another relatively clean looking alleyway close to the campus and I take Lizzy down it and let her sit against the wall.

“Would you like me to try and find a house?” I ask her. She nods a little and I smile at her. “Okay. Would you be fine to sit here by yourself for a little bit?” I ask. She nods again and I take off my backpack. I reach in the front pocket and pull out my pocketknife and the lock picking kit.

“How long will you be gone?” She asks. I think for a moment.

“An hour at the longest. If it is longer then just stay hidden. You know I will always come back for you.” I tell her. She nods and lets go of my hoodie. I walk away from the alley and start the search for a house.

Next Chapter: Arrested