Street Girl

41 | lucy

41

THE AFTERNOON SUN SHINES its blinding light in my eyes. Each passing cloud casts a dark shadow over Ambleside Crescent, and sitting on the Wexlers' front porch, I huff. Another cloud drifts away and lets the sun in my eyes. Elliot will be home from school soon.

Once again, I owe Brett Murphy the world. He's coming to take me away from his place, from this home I've destroyed.

With spring, Elizabeth has begun planting flowers again. When I first found this house in the dead of winter, I never imagined I would grow to see white tulips sprout from the soil next to the garden gnomes. It's bittersweet, like dark chocolate. I'll miss this place forever.

The truth is, I've been thinking about leaving since the day I found out about Charlotte, but I was biding my time, trying to decide what to do. I don't want to hurt Elliot, especially when he's already at such a low point, but I can't stay here either. No matter how I try to spin it, it isn't right. My heart wrenches and my eyes burn. I would have loved to stay here with Elliot forever. Always be with him. But it's not realistic; it was never going to happen.

Charlotte Wexler is still out there. When I talked to Brett on the phone earlier, he told me Colt hasn't shown his face in ages. No one has any idea where he is. He's just poof, gone. And Brett and Alecia took the opportunity to find a new place, so he has no idea where they live now. He's not trying to find them, which in itself, is suspicious.

But I know what Colt's doing. He's taken Charlotte somewhere, maybe Toronto, maybe another city. He wouldn't have gone far. After all, that's what he did with me when I first met him, back when I was naïve and fourteen, back when he seemed so powerful. Like he was my savior.

Does Charlotte feel that way now? Does she think Colt has saved her from her 'horrible life?' She'll see soon enough that the passenger's seat of his car is a cage. She's his little bird, just like I was. But if I can save her from it, I will. If Colt's out there, I have to find him. I owe the Wexlers that much and more. It's the bottom of the barrel of what I can do to make up for everything they have done for me. I hate to admit that I'm scared to leave, though. I can stay with Brett and Alecia, but it won't be the same as it is here.

Footsteps drag across the sidewalk, and I look up. Elliot slumps up to the house, and his blue eyes snap to me, then to the red suitcase beside me on the porch. He looks so cute in his burgundy Catholic school uniform with his backpack slung over his shoulder.

This is the last time I'll see him like this. No more cuddling by the fire or watching movies or sneaking around to get in each other's pants. I'm not sure which part I'll miss the most, but it's over now. Because that's what eras do; they end. But time always goes on, and so does life.

I clasp my hands together. "Your brother said it'd be okay if I had this suitcase."

Elliot's confused frown alone is enough to snap my heart in two. "What? Why? Where are you going, Luce?" Slowly, his eyebrows pull together. His face goes pale, his eyes glossy, and he drops his backpack. "Lucy, no." He storms up to me. Maybe he thinks about grabbing my hands like he always does, but he stops himself.