Murasakino

Somewhere to Hide

   I decided to head down the street, but away from the path. Even though I hadn't been down any other streets yet, surely there would be street signs with directions?
   The next street I got to was completely different. There was a huge stone building in the middle, and some small fast food restaurants around it. On closer inspection, I found that it was a train station, and it was extrememly busy. There were people walking in and out, and through the windows I could see ticket barriers and a train leaving the station. It seemed quite loud, so I wondered how I hadn't heard it earlier.
   "Would you like a magazine?" a woman asked me, holding a pile of them wrapped in plastic.
   "No, thank you," I replied, and I went to get a closer look at the station. One of the restaurants was also very busy, and some people were carrying sandwiches out with them.
   "Murasakino!" Midori shouted again from around a corner. I rushed past the train station and around another corner, but Honōiro was there, walking away from me. If she turned round, I'd be cornered.
   Just as I was about to go into another restaurant to hide, Harper walked out of it and we were stood face to face.

   "Murasakino...?" she began, but I pushed her back into the restaurant. "What are you doing?" she asked.
   "You ponted out how we don't need to work in the supermarket, remember?" I whispered, taking her towards the toilets.
   "Are you okay, Murasakino?" she replied, sounding genuinely worried about me.
   "If I don't need to work there, why should I?"
   "Murasakino, you're right, but you're taking it a little too far..."
   "Dr Takeda told me why we're there, and it's not fair on us. Indigo is scared that we'll become evil, so she won't let us do what Dr Takeda wanted us to do. I do want to do what Dr Takeda wants us to do," I said, speaking so fast I'm not sure Harper understood me properly.
   "Slow down!" she hissed. "What do you want me to do about it?"
   "Do not tell anyone - not the girls, not Dr Takeda, nobody - that you found me."
   "Don't they need to know where you are? They're your family, Murasakino, and they love you."
   I paused, and bit my lip. Betraying them like this was harder for than for them, and I held back a tear.
   "Do you promise?" I asked.
   "Well, I..."

   I sprinted down the street, looking to my side only to check if I was being followed. Of course, I got a lot of odd looks, as not many people run at top speed down a regular road, but I didn't stop. Harper hadn't answered my question, and I couldn't risk expecting her to say yes.
   I managed to reach an uphill street, which had semi-detatched and detatched houses along it. They had front gardens, unlike the other houses I had seen, and some were filled with beautiful hedges, flowers and grassy lawns. I slowed down to walking pace, and went past a man watering some of his plants. He faced me for a second, smiled, and turned back to his work. I could hear children playing in their back gardens. It seemed like a nice place to live, and the noise of the city was much quieter here.
   Suddenly, I heard someone shout my name from behind me. I sprinted up the hill, realising that I had begun to feel tired. My legs were aching from running, and I hadn't eaten anything for a while.
   "Stop, Murasakino!" It was Harper, and she too was out of breath, holding herself up with her hands on her knees. "I'll help you!"

   "You can stay at my house, and I won't tell anybody," Harper explained, walking me back down the street.
   "Won't you have to let your parents know?" I asked.
   "No," she replied, her tone suggesting it was a bad idea. "I can't even tell them."
   "How far from here do you live? I don't want us to get lost."
   "I live quite a while away, but don't worry about getting lost; I know the area like the back of my hand."
   "How well do you know the back of..." Harper looked at me as if I was joking. "Ohhh, just an expression."
   The street Harper's house was on, although at least a twenty minute walk from it, was very similar to the uphill street. More of the houses were detatched, and a bicycle shed was at the end, where all the residents locked up their bikes for safety.
   "Which one is yours?" I asked, looking at the amazing white houses before us.
   "It's at the top," she said, and a smile spread across her face. "Race you!"
   "No thanks, I've run enough today."
   "So have I, actually."

   Harper's house wasn't white, like most of the others on the street, but coated in pebble-dash, with dark brown window frames and a matching door. It looked older than the other houses, lacking a balcony or solar panels, but it did have some grand looking steps up to the door, along with strikingly blue roof tiles. The front garden wasn't very big, consisting of a lawn and a couple of poppies, but apparently the back garden was 'awesome'.
   "You have to see it," Harper said, but before she opened the door she hesitated for a second.
   "What's the matter?"
   "I think my Dad is home," she said. "He comes back here at lunch for about half an hour before going back."
   "I could wait somewhere else until he leaves," I suggested.
   "No, I'll get you up to my bedroom as quickly as I can."
   She opened the door, and immediately her father's voice came from the kitchen.
   "Who is it?" he shouted, surprised.
   "Just me, Dad," his daughter answered. "I forgot my keys."
   "Honestly, you're worse than I am!" he said with a laugh. Harper gave a little giggle in response, before shoving me up the stairs.
   "What does he mean by that?" I asked.
   "He's always losing stuff," Harper said, "especially keys."
   "They won't be upstairs," he said, walking towards us.