Adopted by Phan

Chapter 4

Swinging myself onto the balcony below I landed on my feet and backed up against the wall, letting myself catching my breath, the adrenaline wearing off slowly. I could hear yelling from both above and below me and silence from everywhere else. Climbing onto the edge of the balcony I moved across three balconies and up one so I was directly opposite the fire crew with the only thing between us being another balcony.

I waved and continued my climb, easily making it to the top and settling down on the roof to prepare for a long, cold afternoon. Staying put was the easiest option for me because for all the police knew I could have gone anywhere and not leaving was the best way to fool them, because, and I was being brutally honest, they were complete and total idiots.

Wrapping my coat around me I listened to the wind whistling past me and the screech of seagulls, looking for the litter that people dropped for food. I still had the bus card and the twenty dollars in my pocket, I could use it for food later on in the day or the next day if it came to that. I was quite used to staying in one spot; sometimes for days if that's what it called for.

Hours passed and soon the light of the sun started to fade into an orange and red sunset, making me grin. Normally a red sunset meant that the next day would be wind free, warm too. Experience told me to stay put for the night, let the idiots of a police force try and work something out if they could be bothered but more often than not they turned a blind eye to whatever mischief the homeless were up too. Curling up onto my side, I rested my head on my arms and pulled my jacket closer to myself again, numbing my brain as sleep overtook me.

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I awoke to the brightness of the early morning sun just coming over the horizon, the coldness from the night before seeping away as the sun warmed my back. Stretching and popping my bones, I stood up and peered over the edge of the building noticing nothing out of the ordinary and no one below except for a few people out for a walk or on their way to work.

I nimbly jumped over the edge of the building and shimmied down the side of the building; using the bricks and occasionally the balconies as hand holds. Landing once again on the artwork stretched between the two buildings I gripped the bottom layer of the metal and using one hand after the other, I swung myself along so I was above the middle of the road; like I was using monkey bars.

Watching the truck that was trundling down the road and preparing to drop, I swung my feet forwards and as soon as the truck was directly below me I dropped onto the roof. I lay down, making sure I was out of view of the people on the sidewalk before releasing the breath I had been holding, sighing as I listened to the rumbling of the engine.

I waited a few minutes and a couple of stops before I slipped onto the ground, making sure I was far enough away from the foster home before I went back out onto the streets. When I did hop off the truck at a stop light I ran to the side of the road and pretended like I was waiting to cross it to avoid suspicion. The street was basically empty with only a few cars around, which was much better than the crowded streets near the foster home.

Crossing the road and spotting a dairy at the next intersection I wandered towards and just meandered around, making sure to not make it too obvious that I didn't know my way around the area. The dairy was small, small enough that I felt comfortable that no one was just going to walk in and recognise me.

While I was browsing the aisles the buzzer went off, indicating someone had walked in the door but I ignored it knowing that showing any attention to the newcomers would give myself right away if they knew me. It was more the one person in fact, both with very British accents and they appeared to be arguing.

By that I mean one was being sarcastic and one was pissed off.

"Dan stop! Just get what you need and then we can go home, it's cold."

I was still wandering the aisles, my eye out for anything that could provide some energy that wasn't expensive as all hell but because, you know, it was a dairy, the shelves were mostly full of sweets and fizzy drinks.

The last aisle I walked down was different, in the terms that meant it wasn't sweets and drinks. It was full of baking ingredients, washing powder, and, thank the heavens, crackers. I picked one of the packets off the shelf, salt and vinegar, because that was my favourite and some beef jerky because that was there too and headed up to the counter.

The guy called Dan and Mr Pissed Off were there too, holding a bag of icing sugar and a pack of marshmallows. I patiently stood behind them and waited for them to finish paying but Mr Pissed Off was having trouble with his credit card so Dan pulled out his wallet and just gave the guy cash. I mean I was assuming which one was which but just from their voices I could tell.

Mr Pissed Off was the one who had dark hair, pale skin and a neon jumper and was like, 6 foot 3, actually they were both like freaking giants, who am I kidding and Dan was the tan, brown haired, I dunno, bear? He reminded me of a bear and I didn't know why.

They both turned around and Dan walked right into me, knocking me backwards onto the floor and my food going flying backwards, of course. My head slammed into a shelf and for a second my vision faded, going black before coming back into focus.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

Mr Pissed Off reached his hand out to help me up and I took it, pulling myself up but my brain decided that it was the perfect time for a dizzy spell, sending me over onto the floor again. My head slammed into the same shelf, and this time I was out for good.