The Skeleton In Me

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Four

The sign was a glorious thing. Had I been alone, I would have hugged it. WELCOME TO ILLINOIS greeted us like a friend. I couldn't keep the smile off my face.   

"This," I point to the sign, "means we are hours away from being home."

Cousin doesn't look impressed, but I ignore him. "If I can find a telephone, I might be able to get a hold of my sister, and we won't have to walk all the way there."

That garners his attention, and his eyes narrow, but he says nothing, so I don't either. We continue to walk on the side of the road. Cars pass us, but they don't make Cousin flinch as much as he used to. It's been almost three weeks since we departed from the train in Nebraska and walk all the way here to Illinois. Had we a car, it would have taken merely hours, but Cousin's slow pace has blocked us from rushing, and I was forced to learn patience.

We've always stopped twice to rest, and Cousin's body seems to be holding up pretty well. His lack of muscle was no longer, and he was able to keep himself standing for a good hour or two without stumbling.

Mr. Father still hasn't showed his face. We haven't seen any sign of the circus and I was grateful for that fact. If we were to see Mr. Father, I didn't know how Cousin would act. I was afraid his trauma would resurface, and he's freak out. Or all the progress he has made would regress and he'd dwindle back down to that beaten man chained in the dark of a train.

I'm not sure what time it is, or even what day it is, but I do know that we were only hours away from my home. I thought about all the things my sister would say. I knew it'd take her some time to warm up to Cousin, being that she was one of the people in the crowd back when we went to the circus together, who was freaked out by the very being of the clown. Despite that, I know she's not the one I have to worry about in terms of acceptance.

It was my mother.

My mother who is a devourer of control. She is run by being the head of the house, and if she sees Cousin she will either kick him out, or kick us both out.

Still, I clung to the hope that she had even the smallest bit of humanity, and I powered on.

Cousin and I kept moving until we arrived at a gas station. I had two dollars left in my pocket, and that was it. Two weeks of travel and motels have sucked my money dry. I had just enough money to use a payphone, which the gasstation had, but I wasn't even sure it still worked due to everyone having cellphones now.

I walked over to the phone, and Cousin watched me with interest as I put a dollar in the slot, and prayed it worked.

It did.

I dialed my sister's number, and it rang, and rang, and rang, and my heart was thudding in my chest because I wasn't even sure how I would explain our situation, and I also wasn't even sure she'd pick up.

The final ring occurred, and I cursed. She didn't pick up.

I had one dollar left, and I decided if I should risk calling her again or call someone else. Who else would I call? I stared at the filthy old phone in my hand, it was greasy like someone had gotten oil all over it, and it smelt like it too.

Closing my eyes, I racked my brain for anyone else who I could call and whose number I knew by heart.

It wasn't many.

An idea struck me, and I put another dollar in -my last dollar- and I dialed the number. Several rings later, a deep voice blared through the phone, and I wanted to laugh and cry and the familiarity.

"Hello?" It answered.

"Jace!" I shouted all-too-eagerly to my sister's boyfriend, and Cousin winced at my tone, I mouthed the word 'sorry' to him and continued to talk. "it's me, Bexley."