Page 21 of Locke 2

I was fine.

I really was.

But the little girl that stood beside me, holding my hand, staring up at me with big hopeful, brown eyes said otherwise.

We parted ways not long afterwards. I walked to the school, waiting for that weird feeling to tickle the back of my neck. To make me turn around and study the streets for a black car.

The feeling never came.

The House

“Kali?” she cried, falling to pieces as she held my hand tightly.

“Yeah?”

“I’m scared.”

“I know,” I breathed. “I’m scared too, but you have to do this. You have to hide.”

“Kali—”

I picked her up and held her tight. I breathed her in. “Trust me. Do you trust me?”

She nodded, wrapping her arms around me tightly. “Yes.”

We didn’t have time. I raced across the room; aware he was in the house. Every movement, every breath, every creak beneath our feet sounded like lightning strikes.

Fear slickened my skin, but the adrenaline raced through my not yet grown body, determined to protect Aurora.

I found her hiding spot.

I put her down.

She stared up at me, brown eyes shining.

She was so scared.

I was scared for her.

“Trust me,” I mouthed.

Then she closed her eyes as I shut the lid over her.

Twelve

Kali

The sound of digging woke me up. I turned to my side and blinked my eyes open. I squinted in the darkness, making out Dahlia’s little form as she dug into her little bed, trying to make it more comfortable. I wondered what was wrong. Was she feeling sick and restless? I watched for a few more moments, noticing the way she tried to then bury her body under the blanket.

She was cold.

“Hey, beauty,” I groggily whispered, bringing my arm down so that my hand brushed against the floor. At the sound of my fingers running along the floor, she leapt out of bed and went to me, an excited spring in her step. I scooped her up straight away and slid her little body under the covers. Usually, she didn’t like this. She preferred her bed and to be able to get up and move around, but when she didn’t protest, I knew she must have been cold. Still, she decided to scurry to the other side of the bed and get comfortable as far from me as possible. Ever the independent dog.

Now that I squirmed around, trying to get comfortable under the covers, I was unusually cold, too. Maybe we needed to finally turn on the heater. I dreaded what the bills would come to with it on.

“It’s okay,” I whispered, soothingly. “We’ll warm up soon enough.”

The stillness in the room slowly returned. I waited for the peaceful lull in the dead of night that would take me back under and away from everything. I took a deep breath, desperate for it.

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