Is this the final stop? (Toni Shalifoe)

Chapter 20

Toni's chest is rising and falling fast. She chews on her lip, emotion suddenly washing over her. Tears ready to fall. The final gift is interrupted by the fact that in the middle of Toni's room is a suitcase.

A suitcase.

"Shelby?" Toni croaks out, she bites her lip, trying to suppress her tears.

Shelby's eyes widen at the scene. This was not the intended effect.

"After all this time? I thought things were going so well. When did he find out? When do I have to leave?" Toni shakes her head, furrowing her eyebrows, unable to find a reason for this.

Shelby rushes to her and pulls Toni into a tight hug who doesn't really return it, her own arms still at her sides.

"No, no no..." Shelby whispers in her ear. Shelby runs her fingers through Toni's hair to calm her down, "You're not goin' anywhere, God, no."

Toni slowly brings her arms up to envelop Shelby, but cautiously, "You weren't being all nice because you knew this was going to happen?"

Shelby grabs Toni's shoulders, pushing her away slightly so she can look into the brunette's dark eyes, "Of course not. This isn't some sign. It was just somethin' I bought at a house down the street. The last gift. But Toni, you're safe here. You're stayin' here. I'm so sorry." Shelby pulls Toni in close again. Toni nuzzles into the crook of her neck, clutching a fistful of Shelby's shirt in her hand. Shelby can feel the wetness from Toni's eyes.

"Okay," Toni gasps, getting her emotions back under control. To catch her breath. She uses the end of her sleeve to wipe her face.

"So what's it for then?" Toni tries to recover.

"I just—I thought that, well, when you first came you only had a few backpacks—"

"Shelby, I don't even have enough shit to put in this thing," Toni says, exasperated.

"I wanted you to have some style? I guess?" Shelby responds, attempting to regain composure to this conversation. "Somethin' nice to put your things into? I don't know. Whatever a piece of luggage is for!" Shelby says, starting to get flustered.

Toni puffs out a single laugh, "They weren't even my backpacks."

"What?" Shelby looks up at her, but Toni doesn't meet her eyes.

"I usually would stuff my shit into garbage bags—"

"Stop sayin' that. What you haven't isn't shit. It's yours." Shelby says, seething a bit.

Toni pops her eyebrows, a bit surprised with Shelby's use of language, but continues with, "The agent wanted to impress your family so much that she bought those for me," she says, nodding at the two bags in the corner. "Probably because she knew who she was bringing here... But she bought 'em with her own money. Not like my previous home was gonna get me school supplies."

Toni sighs and looks at her feet, "You know, when you've moved your stuff from house to house in trash bags, you begin to feel like that yourself."

"Toni..." Shelby lightly extends an arm out, but slowly retreats when Toni doesn't reach for it. Toni's still looking away, unable to tear her eyes away from the slumped and empty bags.

"I have one box. One box that holds everything that matters to me. And I just..." Toni drops to her knees, and sits on her feet.

"That's just all I have. I don't have much." She pulls out the cigar box from under the bed. "This is it. This is all of me."

The cigar box is shallow and small, at first glance, it looks like only a handful of items could even fit inside. But as Shelby looks at it longer, she notices that it doesn't shut right, it's stuffed to the brim, a few pieces overflowing the edges.