Page 18 of Locke 2

With thirty seconds to spare, Dallis told me in one line, and I felt my world go topsy-turvy. By the time the bell rang, and heraced inside, ditching behind his celery sticks, I was flat on my ass, my gaze lost to the past.

The House

The boom was so loud, my mother’s screams pierced the air. Shouts were exchanged. Her pleas mixed with his rageful slurs.

A loudCRACKfollowed, and mom never spoke again.

I looked at Aurora.

Run.

Run.

Tell her to run.

Tell her to run.

Tell her to run now.

Run.

Run.

“Hide,” I whispered.

Ten

Kali

It was Thursday, exactly five days since Lenny “moved.”

I sat on the bench across from the bank, watching the sun go down. My hands were buried in my jacket pockets. There was a chill in the air, but I was cold for other reasons. My nails dug around the chalk stick in my hand. Nervous energy raced through me. I finally stood up and squatted down on the sidewalk. I drew the outline of a ten squared hopscotch about eight feet long. Then I surveyed my work, nodding once, satisfied, before sitting back down on the bench.

Immediately, Aurora emerged in her blue dress, sounding breathless. “I told you it would come to this,” she said as she hopped on the outline, her two braids bouncing around her shoulders. “Didn’t I say so, Kali?”

I rolled my eyes. “You did.”

“You wasted so much time.”

“I wasn’t trying to.”

“Well, you did. A lot of bad stuff can happen in five days.”

‘When did you get so pushy?”

“I’m pushy in this version you’ve made up of me.”

I sighed slowly, saying nothing.

“Would you rather I’m not here?” she pushed, stopping now to look at me square in the eye. “Would you rather just cry about me and pretend I don’t exist?”

My eyes burned. “I never pretended you didn’t exist.”

“You never talked about me.”

“I know—”

“He would have listened.”

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