Into the light

Psst...

Cassie had been staring at her nearly complete canvas for about 10 minutes now, she saw the time displayed on the clock which was propped up in her night stand and her eyes widened in shock, 11:45pm? What? Maybe it hadn't been 10 minutes, more like an hour...Something in her mind clicked together like cogs in a machine, something important, only she didn't know how important it was.

She got up from her desk and wandered over to her bed, she lifted up her pillow to reveal a key, a small bronze rusty key. She had overheard her dad talking to a man she didn't know at their birthday party before.  She stood behind one of the doors and listened in to her dad say that 'he would make the exchange when he sees the cash' and handed a key, the same one she held in her hand now, over to the unknown man.  Cassie being the artist she was remembered the mans face, her sneakiness got the best of her so she decided to draw him earlier when she first got locked in her room, after her crying session of course. 

                 She clutched the key in her hand and grabbed the piece of paper in her other before sliding open her window, luckily it was dry and grippy on the roof tiles outside her window so she wouldn't fall.  She carefully climbed onto the ledge outside her window and checked that there was no one outside stood watching her before propping the window open with her slipper so she wouldn't get locked out.   Swiftly she shuffled her way along the ledge until she got to jays window which was only a few metres away from hers, "psst..." she quietly tapped on his window as she saw him sat on the bed on his phone.

Jays head shot up, is that a bird? What the? His eyes scanned the window but since it was dark he couldn't see anything outside. Curiously, he got up and wandered over to the window where he quietly slid it open. To his surprise Cassie came rolling through the open window, her actions caused her to do a somersault on the floor, jay looked at her in complete confusion, what on earth is going on?

Cassie composed herself and stood up facing jay, her cut lip wasn't looking as bad now. "I know you said you can't tell me anything and I don't really wanna know to be honest, but I think I might have something..." she pulled out a key and piece of paper from her large hoodie pocket. Jay scanned the room, "cass..." he started and tilted his head but she cut him off. "Hear me out..." she pleaded and placed the objects on his bed, jay followed her over and stood next to the teenager waiting for her to explain. "Okay, so I was stood behind the door earlier this evening and I overheard my dad talking to some dude, I caught onto his appearance so I sketched him before I could forget" she pointed to the extremely detailed picture. Jay picked up the paper and immediately recognised the men as a common offender in the units cases, his mind knew that she had found what he needed.

He looked back down to Cassie as she leant against the bed post with her arms folded, "he said that 'he would make the exchange when he sees the cash' whatever that means?" She used her fingers to mimic what he said. Jay nodded at her cluelessness, this was what he needed, the evidence, it's right in front of him. "My dad gave him the key but I guess he must've misplaced it because I found it on the floor by the table when i was cleaning up..." she raised her eyebrows. Jay nodded, "this is good cass, do you know what the keys for?" He smiled hopefully. Cassie shrugged, "uhhhm, my dad owns a garage on 2400 west ave but I don't know what's in it? Me and jake's never been allowed inside..." she looked back up at him.

Jay smiled, "you've done good cass..." he nodded but frowned when he saw her look down. "Hey it's okay, what's wrong?" He placed a caring hand on her shoulder. She moved a curly strand of hair out of her face and sighed, "I don't wanna live in here any longer, I just..." she kept her eyes down and cut herself off. Jays heart broke into a million pieces, "I know you don't, but it's gonna be over real soon. I can promise you that" he smiled and squeezed her shoulder gently. Cassie finally looked up at him with glassy eyes, "I better get out of here before my dad finds out that I'm gone..." she nodded slightly. Jay smiled, "parkour again?" he raised his eyebrows. Cassie chuckled as she remembered how she scrambled through the window, "of course" she smiled weakly and climbed back through the window. "Be careful" jay whispered as he poked his head out and watched her run across the ledge as quietly as she could, he could tell this wasn't her first time doing it which made his sad a little.

Cassie rolled back through her window and waved at jay since he was waiting until she was safe, the pair smiled and closed their windows before settling down for the night and crashing onto the pillow. Cassie could only hope that jay was right, she didn't care about how she got out of the house, she just wanted out.