To Save The Lost Thief

Why me? Why Cars?

Keep your eyes on the stars,
and your feet on the ground.
-Teddy Roosevelt
~~~~

Emily Carter

-January 27, 2017- ~The Diner, Fox Lake, Illinois~

I was sitting in my apartment today, after school and work. Lucas had told me to meet him at the diner on North Shore Road.

I changed into a red sweater and black leggings, along with black boots. I put my hair in a side braid, getting in my car, hoping that today fate isn't against me.

I walk into the diner, relieved to be greeted by the warm air inside. I get a coffee and a muffin, looking at the waitress with a sad smile, I miss my old life.

The bell dings as I take a sip of my coffee, the steam billowing up above my head. I smile slightly.

The bell dings again, and I look up, seven familiar faces, Adam, Anne, Jason, Lucas, Bianca, Lily, and Veronica.

Butterflies erupt inside of my stomach. I grimace, having second thoughts, as I think about fleeing. I know it's too late when Lucas runs over to my booth in the corner.

"Emily," he greets, sighing in relief as he sat next to me in the booth. I hunted in reply, not sure what to say as I fiddled with my hands that were in my lap.

Run, get out, danger! My mind continued to scream at me, I bowed my head, not looking at Lucas.

I had thought about seeing him for awhile now, but I never actually thought that I would have ever gotten this far.

"Hey," Lucas coaxed grabbing my chin with his fingers, forcing  me to look up at him. "It's okay, I won't-"

"Wrist check," Bianca reminds Lucas as she sits down on the other side of me, I was boxed in, trapped.

"Give them here," Lucas commands, I look at him in fright, I have bandages underneath my sleeves, he couldn't have known I cut, could he?

I whined as Lucas grabs my wrists pushing up the sleeves of my sweater, I shy away, as Lucas looks at me in anger, Bianca, disappointment.

The others come over to us, Adam and Anne next to Lucas, Veronica, and Lily pushing Bianca away to the back of the bench to get closer to me, Jason sitting in a chair across from us.

I look down, at my feet, tears cloud my vision, as my breath starts to become shallow. "Are you okay, Emily?" Veronica asks putting her hand on my arm, but that is the last thing I need right now.

Get away, leave run away, they will die if you stay. My mind was yelling at me to go.

I pushed off of Veronica, trying to get away, my breathing was erratic, I was panting in hysterics trying, gasping for air.

"She's panicking," Jason scolded the others for getting too close. Lucas waved the girls to move away, pulling me back into his chest.

I stiffen, my mind confused, screaming, tears flowing freely, focused on clenching and unclenching my fists. Lucas puts his head in my hair, "shh, breathe, in and out, deep breaths," he murmurs softly.

I start to attempt to take deep breaths as Lucas turns me around in his lap to face him.

"Watch me, in and out, in and out," he soothes rubbing circles on my hands. I start to calm down, slowly but surely.

Lucas rocks me softly in his lap, I put my head to his chest. I listen to his heartbeat it soothes me. I curl up, embracing his warmth.

"PDA guys, my eyes, they burn," called out Adam, God he could be so mean sometimes, what a jack ass.

I ignore him though, I look up at Lucas, staring into his onyx eyes as they captivated me.

"Soo," Lily starts off, trying to clear this awkward tension. "Are we just going to sit here, or?" She left the question out in the open.

"We are going to go to Emily's apartment, get the rest of her bags, and then we will get passports and fly to Canada where The Elders are," Adam informed while I cringed, God that guy gave me the creeps.

"I actually have everything here," I whispered. It wasn't a lie, some person, I had become associates with made some magical devices, two to be exact.

The first one was a magical bag where you could put as much stuff in it as you want and it wouldn't get full or feel heavy at all. The second device, I appreciated a lot more. It was a device that you put in your closet, and it gave you clothes in your size each day, you never had to buy clothes and they magically replenished so you never had to wash them, you just threw the dirty clothes in your closet and they disappeared.

All in all, though, I didn't have a lot of things. I sold all of my furniture, keeping my personal items. I didn't have a lot of personal items anyway, not that it mattered.

Sorry, I'm straying away, back to the present.

Lucas pulled me off of his lap and sat me next to him. The boys began to get out of the booth, and I followed. I followed them out to the parking lot, where my car was. "Hey guys," Lucas called out, "change of plans, go to the car dealership on State Street."

Lucas waved me to my car, pushing me along, as he followed behind me, getting in on the passenger side.

"Emily," Lucas starts, his voice low as he turned down the music in my car as we drove to the dealership, "there is something I have to tell you."

"Okay, then," I say not taking my eyes off of the road, "tell me."

"Your family, was never poor, in fact, they own a law firm, you have just never been told. All those long hours your mom worked to 'get by' was just her putting those thoughts inside of your head so you wouldn't question her."

I look at Lucas in confusion taking my eyes off of the road for a split second, I was conflicted, what did this mean? "What are you saying?" I ask I hated being left in the dark.

"We are getting cars," Lucas tells me, grabbing one of my hands in his, ignoring my previous question, "so we can go to Canada, without risking The Elders killing you. I-"

A honk sounded, I looked back at the road, I didn't see anything in the darkening night sky. Headlights!

"Emily look out!" Lucas yells, grabbing the wheel and swerving.