Page 37 of Montana Falls
He didn’t know we were tracking him. He didn’t know we were ready and waiting to catch him and end his bullshit reign.
“Okay, let’s go catch us an O’Malley.” I threw our towels into the dirty basket for them, and followed my men out the door, my heart pounding in my chest as I once more went on a mission against John.
Only this time, I was chasing him. And he wasn’t getting away again.
Not this time.
Chapter Eleven
My new room was quiet today. Really quiet. There were no birds outside. No stuff on a TV. No toys or games that made booms and bangs and whistles. Even the kittens were quiet. They slept in little balls, heads touching their toes, having dreams about kitten things. Like mice and milk and ribbons.
I liked ribbons. I had a collection of them. Pink, blue, green and yellow. Ones with lines or dots or stripes. They went in my hair, on my arms, and wherever else I felt like tying them. I’d put a pink one on Kiko and then a green and dotted one on Maui earlier. And right now, I was putting more and more on Yeva’s arm, as she slept just like the kittens did, in a ball.
She had come into my room in the dark, stumbling and sniffling and sad. I’d let her stay on my bed, sharing my blankets like how we’d shared everything in the bad place. She had said all her words in that funny language I didn’t understand before she patted my head and passed out.
It was the same as it used to be, except my mama wasn’t here and we weren’t in the dark anymore. We were in a house now, and we were something called a Montana which was important.
She hadn’t moved since she’d got into my bed except for her breathing, so I’d tried to wake her up when it got to morning, to make sure she wasn’t dead like my other friends were. But each time she had groaned and grumbled, so I’d decided to play instead and leave her for longer. Now she had almost her whole arm covered in ribbons to make her extra fun when she woke up and maybe I could have a reason to stop the water on my cheeks from coming, too.
Nothing else seemed to work. Not good thoughts or my games. Not even Angel when he bought me breakfast that had lots of nice berries on top of the things called oats that Lincoln had got me to try, and I now loved.
“Hey.”Angel slid down the wall next to me, staring at my face and all the wetness on it as I grabbed my bowl from him and said thank you.“Why are you sad? What happened?”
“We’re leaving the house, and I like the house.” I sniffed. “I don’t want to go back to the bad place.”
“Why do you think you are going to the bad place?” He frowned as I ate spoonfuls of yumminess that my tummy liked. “You are never going back there again.”
“But I have to leave here? I was told I must do something called pack so I can leave.” My eyebrows frowned.
“We are all leaving here. This is not… this is a house for vacations. Not forever. We are going to go back to a place where we can live forever. Or at least a place we can live until we find a forever house.”
“Oh.”My eyebrows stopped frowning, and I wiped my wet cheeks with the back of my hand.“I am staying with everyone forever?”
He nodded and stayed quiet until I finished my food and leaned back against my bedframe, full and less sad already. I liked knowing I was going to be kept. I must have made the lady happy because she wasn’t getting rid of me, just like I wasn’t getting rid of my things because I liked them all and they made me happy.
“Do you know what a bodyguard is? Do you remember what Sapphire explained to you the other day before she went to England?” Angel suddenly asked.
My head bobbed. “A person who keeps me safe. A friend who makes sure I am happy and not dead like my other friends.”
“Exactly. And do you remember Sapphire asking you to think about who you would like to look after you?”
“I said you and if I couldn’t have you, then I would want Mr Kody because he gives me snacks all the time and he isn’t scary.”I replied, as I had the best idea ever to give Angel a ribbon, too, to make him happy so that he would not get rid of me, either.“Well, I could have Lincoln as well. He is a little scary, but I think other monsters won’t come if he is with me because they won’t want to meet him.”
Now that I thought about it, Beau would be even better. He was bigger and scarier than Lincoln. If there were ever anymore monsters, then Beau could get rid of them even easier. I just had to make him happy so he would fight monsters for me. Because he didn’t seem happy a lot. His face was always upside down and he often had the nasty drink that Yeva drank sometimes that made her sleepy and clumsy.
“Do you know what it means now that I have agreed to be your bodyguard?”Angel asked as I got to my feet and searched the pile I’d been using on Yeva for the best ribbon for him.
“No, I don’t know what it means.”
“I am going to keep you safe and happy. When we leave here, even if it does feel sad, I will make it better. I can find whatever you need to make you happy in whatever house we end up in. And I won’t be going anywhere, even when you grow up and get bigger. I’m still going to be your friend.” His voice was soft, so we didn’t wake up Yeva. “I won’t ever let anyone take you to a bad place again. I promise.”
I believed him and it made the last of my wetness in my eyes disappear, knowing that he would do as he said, because I was not going back to the dark. I was going to stay with other people and friends that weren’t dead.
“Well, I want everyone to come with us; I enjoy living with all my friends.” Not happy with what was left of my pile, I hunted through one of my bigger boxes of ribbons. “And I like you being my friend. I think when I am bigger like you, it would be fun to be best friends. I saw it in a movie, and the people said they were best friends, and I would like to be yours.”
“We can be best friends if you want. That is okay with me.” He came to my side, holding the box lid open for me so I could search easier. “Also, everyone is coming with us. Nobody will be left behind.”
A moment later, I found the perfect ribbon. One made of the same shade of purple as the streaks in his black hair, but without glitter or dots or stripes. It was plain, but it was perfect, so I shoved it into my pocket until I got the nerve to ask him if he wanted it. I didn’t know if he liked ribbons, so I would wait until he smiled more before I offered it to him.
