BrookLyn's Journey (13 page)

Before she could ask
why
,
Gabby
quickly snatched a strand of BrookLyn’s hair.

“Ouch. What did you do that for?”

“Sh
h
h.”

She watched as Gabby took
the strand
and
placed
it
carefully between the door and the frame
before easing the door closed
.
“When you get home you’ll know
if
someone was in here.”

BrookLyn didn’t know how that would help her
,
but since Gabby
seemed to know what she was doing
, she trusted her.
She was a whiz at science and math. Gabby was the expert on life.

Gabby
walked past BrookLyn
,
squeez
ing
her hand
tight
along the way
. “We’re wasting precious time. Are you ready to go?”

Before she could ask any more questions, Gabby opened the window and motioned for her to come.

“We can go out the
back
door, you know?”
BrookLyn offered.

“I like the window
.
You don’t want the neighbors to see, right? Let’s go.
”
Gabby
straddled the
opening
.

With her stomach filled with butterflies, BrookLyn was torn
.
She wanted to go, yet...

Gabby
halted BrookLyn’s turmoil with one look.
Those eyes
.

She walked toward where Gabby was waiting at the window. “Am I going to be all right?” BrookLyn asked nervously as moisture filled her eyes.

She
stroked her thumb across BrookLyn’s cheek, wiping away the tears “I promise
,
I’ll never hurt you, and neither will anyone else, ever again. The weekend you are about to have may make you never want to come back to this place.
We’ll
steal a few days at a time until you’re ready to leave with me forever.”

“
Forever?
What about school?”

“
You can go to school
.”

She smiled
through her pain
at
Gabby
.
I
s any of this real or
am
I dreaming?
Part of her wished for both.

Although BrookLyn
wasn’t
convinced
that
Ms. Cora wouldn’t wake up
,
she was willing to take the
chance.

Gabby
looked at
her
impatiently.
“Okay, let’s get out of here and go have some fun.”
She tossed
the
blue bag over her right shoulder, and reached back to
BrookLyn
with her left hand.

A soft knock came on the door
and it
stopp
ed
BrookLyn in her tracks. She grabbed her chest
and sucked in a rapid breath
.

Gabby
made a shushing
motion
and pointed to the closet. She
quickly
snuck inside and closed the door without a sound.

Then BrookLyn caught her breath and slowly opened the
bedroom
door.
“Yes.” She knew Ms. Cora wasn’t going to sleep all night like she hoped. Would they be stuck here all weekend?

“Honey, I got a call and
I
can’t stay.”

She didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t believe she was given a babysitter reprieve.

Ms. Cora
reached into her pocket
.
“
Please d
on’t tell your parents
I left
.
They’ll never hire me again
—
I wouldn’t, but
it’s a real emergency.
Here’s the new key.
”

What?

“Wherever you were going, go. Just be
home
before they get back.”

BrookLyn couldn’t believe her ears. Not a single word issued from her gaping mouth.

“Close your mouth sweetheart. Call me if you need.”

BrookLyn
managed a small smile,
gave
Ms. Cora
a quick
hug
and then the elderly woman
turned
to
walk away
.

“Go out the window
like you planned
, dear,”
she said from the hall. “
Don’t want nosy Mr. Perkins from next door opening that
pointy little beak of his to your parents
,
now do we.
I
’ll
lock the door when my ride gets here.
You have the key.
”

“Um, Ms. Cora, how did you know?”

“I was your age once
, you know.
” She
went
back downstairs
and
BrookLyn closed
her mouth as
she
had suggested
,
then she closed
the
bedroom
door
too.

Gabby walked out of the closet
.
“Sometimes you don’t
need
a reason why. It just is
.
”
She
laughed
and
then snatched another strand of BrookLyn’s hair.

BrookLyn rubbed her scalp.
“Really?”

“Sorry, I needed another one.
I didn’t mean to hurt you.
”

“Believe me, compared to what I’ve been through pulling a strand of hair is nothing.” She frowned at the thought of the torment that
was
her life.
Would things change with Gabby?

She watched quietly
as Gabby
did her little trick with the strand of hair again.
She was amazed at Ms. Cora. Actually, she was baffled. No adult had ever stood up for her.

Gabby resumed her position back on the windowsill
and BrookLyn
joined her,
as
her
book bag hung out the window
,
swaying in the breeze.
She
straddled the window in front of
Gabby,
almost sitting on her lap
and Gabby
placed her strong arms tightly around
BrookLyn’s
waist.
S
o s
he
closed her eyes and
braced
her
self
,
wondering how
they
were both going to climb down from
the
second floor window
. But when she opened them, they
were on the ground.
Gabby
had
guided her down
so fast that
BrookLyn
felt lightheaded
.

B
efore
she
could say a word,
Gabby
smiled
and
grabbed
her
hand
.
“It’s time to go home.”

Go home.
All
BrookLyn had
ever wanted was a home, not the house
she
lived in now
. T
hat
house
was filled with hate.

She felt a little giddy with the freedom
,
and while
her
feet
were
moving
,
it was all just a blur. Next thing
she
knew
, they
were walking into
Gabby
’s
front door as
casually as
if
they
had just
strolled
around the corner.

“How’d we get here so fast?” This made no sense.
B
ut her life right now wasn’t clear to her
either
.

Gabby didn’t answer. She smiled and grabbed
BrookLyn’s
hand tighter.

She wasn’t
really sure if
she
could handle
the whole concept of
sneaking out
,
but it was too late to turn back.
The
deed was done
.

Chapter
Five

She
was still in a fog when
they
walked into
Ga
bby’s
house
, unsure
if she wanted to stay or go back to her house.
She
reasoned it must have been meant to be, after all
Ms. Cora
was so cool about all this, it had to be destiny.

The house was quiet and dark
until Gabby
turned on some lights.
When she did,
BrookLyn
wobbled a little, still
feeling lightheaded
.
Gabby
must’ve seen it because she sat
BrookLyn
down in a chair in the kitchen.

“You feeling okay, Sweets?” She had her back to
BrookLyn
now,
pouring some soda.

“I’m not sure yet. A lot happened tonight and I’m just a little
out of sorts
I guess.”
She
didn’t add
that she was also
a little
scared,
totally
nervous
,
and
deeply hurting
from the
battle she’d
lost earlier
.

Gabby
handed her the glass
,
and she
took a sip of cold soda
then
slowly exhaled
,
trying to
center
her
self.

Then
Gabriella took
her
hand
and led
her
to the black leather couch in
the
living room.
Her touch
was so warm and
calming.
BrookLyn
relaxed
immediately.

Gabby
grabb
ed
the two remotes for the flat screen TV. She turned it on and then moved closer to
BrookLyn
.
Before she knew what was happening,
Gabby
leaned over and kissed
her
.
Her
internal debate was
now taking a back seat
to
her
racing
heart
.

They
kissed for what seemed
to BrookLyn
like hours.
Her
fears about what
had
happened between
them
th
at
morning were not as bad as before.
She
had a
sort of
peace about it that
she just
couldn’t explain.
Maybe I fe
el
this way because I
am
home
when I
’m
with her
, like
Gabby
said. I
’ve
never felt like I belonged anywhere. Ha
ve
I found my place?

BrookLyn
was
caught up in everything
Gabby
was doing
,
although
she couldn’t put a name to it,
it felt amazing.
Her
friends used to talk about their weekends
,
telling tall tales about what they did when their parents weren’t looking. They always laughed at
her
and called
her
a baby because
she
never had tales to tell
about boys or kissing or her
nightly excursions.
She
’d no longer be a baby but they’d never know
.
I
t was as if she would
be
spen
ding
the weekend living life for the first time.