Open Secrets✔️

VI

I started the look around more and more, the closer we got to Hills Pass. Coming from a very small town like Oakvale, we definitely wasn't used to any of this. There were tons people everywhere. It was almost scary. Danny was holding my hand tightly, ensuring that we would never be separated. 

"Danny, there's a lot of people here."

"I know. It's ok. We will find a place soon. Just don't say anything." We kept on walking. The more I looked around, the more I realized people were staring at us. Maybe it was because we looked scared or intimidated. Maybe it was because we weren't dressed the best for cold weather. Or the fact that we were just dirty. Or maybe we looked exactly like what we were. Runaways. 

We continued walking and luckily no one had talked to us yet. A few friendly people had said Hi, but we didn't even respond to that. It seemed like we were walking forever, but there was still a lot of daylight left.

We had walked through the town and were now on the outskirts. Mainly just houses. It was very nice. Very few people, A beautiful sidewalk with trees that bordered it. As we walked, I stared at the red and brown leaves falling. It was another small but nice moment, where I had forgot about everything that had happened. Sometimes I wondered whether Danny had those moments also.

After walking through Hills Pass, and past most of the houses, we see a sign.

"Wintermarch. 8 miles that way." Danny looked at me for a few moments longer than normal, "That's it. That is where we are going next."

"Is it big?"

"I don't know. I've never heard of it. It sounds cool though, right?"

"Yeah, I guess. Danny, Its getting cold again."

"I know. Come on." There was a house at the very end of the street. It looked like it had been empty for a while. There was leaves and dust everywhere. We could hardly see through the windows and we couldn't hear anything either. 

"Lets go around to the back. Maybe we can get inside." Danny whispered.

"We can't just break in."

"Chad, we have to find shelter. We can't just start a fire. People will see it and track us down. If we can't keep warm then we will die. It will be ok, come on." That scared me, but honestly, he was right. We walked around to the back and there was a little screened in porch attached to the back door. It was very nice. There was even a little stove to have a fire if we needed it.

Danny opened the screen door and tried the open the back door. It was locked.

"I knew it." He whispered, "They wouldn't make it that easy." He started looking around. He walked over to the window.

"Danny, what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to find a way in. Maybe they didn't lock all the windows." Danny slowly began to opened the window.

"It was unlocked?"

"I told you. Most of these windows are probably unlocked. Most people think that since the doors are locked, that the windows are too." Danny quietly climbed in, "Come on." He said, helping me climb through the window. He held my hand once we were inside. The house was empty. There wasn't any furniture or anything.

"Good. We can stay here for the night."

"Why can't we stay here longer? They won't find us here."

"Your right, they won't. But we also can't have them come looking. We need to stay ahead of them." Once again Danny was right; However, I still didn't know why he wanted to stay away so badly, and why he still wouldn't tell me the entire story about Dad.

Danny and I checked the house and it was clear. He made sure that we kept the doors locked and he even locked the windows.

"There's no place to have a fire." I say.

"Its ok. We don't need one."

"How are we going to keep warm."

"This house should do enough. The good thing is that we are out of the wind and protected from some of the cold. We won't be warm, but we won't die." Danny tossed me a small folded up blanket, "I found this in one of the bedroom closets upstairs." It was a nice blanket. It looked hand made with white and purple yarn in a zig-zag pattern.

"I'm going to set a few more traps outside. Don't move. I'll be back in a few minutes, I promise."

"What if someone sees you?"

"They won't. It is late and cold. I'll be careful." Danny quietly opened the back door and walked out. I quickly got up and walked over to the window. I seen Danny looking for a place to make the trap. I seen his bag sitting on the floor next to mine, and I began to wonder what exactly he had in there.

Danny had never showed nor told me what was in his bag. Maybe it was the same things as me, so he figured that it just wasn't important. Or maybe he was hiding something in there that he didn't want me to know about. Was it something of Mom's and that's why he doesn't want to go home? Was it something he had stolen and didn't want to get caught for it? Did it have something to do with Dad?

It was killing me. I glanced outside again before looking in it, and Danny was sitting on the steps of the porch. Why would he be out there in the cold just sitting there. The more I observed him, the more I seen his mouth moving. He was talking, but I couldn't hear what he was saying.

I put my ear to the door, trying to make anything out. I could hear muffles and barely made them into words.

"...He didn't mean to do it. He...even remember doing it....Mercy." I was having a hard time making out some of the words, but was he talking about Dad? I quickly walked over and opened his bag. I seen a blanket, a shirt, a pair of socks. It all seemed pretty normal. At the bottom of the bag, I found a picture. It was Mom, Dad, Danny and I at the beach. 

I suddenly got sad for a moment, remembering how happy we all used to be. I put the photo face down in the bag, and began putting everything back. There was writing on the back of that photo. It said "I'm sorry, Dad."

Danny opened the door and caught me looking at the photo. We stared at each other for a moment. I felt like crying.

"What is this?" I asked.