Finding Love | ✔️

eleven

/we're all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness - and call it love - true love./

~ Robert Fulghum, True Love

♡

It's now four months down the line. I've been delivering stuff to and fro, and it's become so normal now. I sit by the wall, munching on a burger I took out on the way back.

"Lilac!" Jason strolls by, then sits next to me.

"Hi." I offer him a warm smile. We're not the closest, but we know each other to a friendlier level now. The same goes for the rest of the 'crew'. I don't really talk to them much, but they're used to having me around. The only person I talk to is, of course, Leopald.

"You've been getting pretty decent at this thing," he says.

"Thanks, I guess."

"It's time for a step-up, though."

"A step-up?"

"You will now be taking the things I give you to one person now. And one person only."

"Oh?" I'm getting a bit excited. This seems all mysterious.

"Yes."

"Who is it?"

Jason stops for a second, a shadow passing over his face.

"It's her."

I have no idea who 'her' is, but the way he says it is enough to send a shiver down my spine. Where have I heard 'her' before?

Oh, right.

He didn't pay her back.

That's what one of the guys had said to Leopald when Robbie had disappeared. When Robbie had died.

"Lilac?" I realize Jason has been trying to get my attention.

"Sorry, got a bit lost in my thoughts."

"You've got to listen, Lilac. This is serious. She's the devil. You can't mess it up otherwise..."

"I know what happened to Robbie."

"Exactly. So you've got to keep your head down. Don't say anything in her presence. Don't look her in the eye. Do what you're told."

"I don't know if I can do this," I suddenly say.

"You have no choice. You're the one who got yourself into this when you followed me down here. Remember that day?" I nod. "You made this choice. And we're the ones giving you a roof over your head. We're the ones making sure that those fucking cops don't find you -"

"Find me? Are they looking for me?"

"I thought you'd have seen those posters all over town, considering you're up there a lot now."

I shake my head, confused. Jason sticks his hand up his sweater, digging for something in his shirt pocket. Out comes a yellow piece of paper. It's been scrunched up, and Jason tries to iron it out. That's when I see it:

MISSING: APRIL GOLD

16-YEAR-OLD ORPHAN, RUNAWAY. SEE PICTURE ABOVE.

IF ANY DETAILS, CALL THIS NUMBER...OR REPORT TO THE POLICE STATION.

"Shit. I didn't think they'd care enough to look." I say. I hold my head in my hands, shaking it continually. I don't know what to think or do.

"I'm the only one who knows. Not even Claudia." Jason says.