If you can think of a name for my story I will be soooo grateful. But I won't give you anything :P I'm nasty like that. Here's part 2 and enjoy. Wait, you want music too? Oh, you little '@<+=)|\£$$"$^*( Get it yourself. Lazy. I'm not in the mood...
Ryan was in the subway, warm and sleeping with a smile on his face.
“Ryan,” I said, shaking him, “Look how much money I’ve got!”
He yawned and rubbed his eyes, “Wh-where did you get that?”
I lied quickly, “While you were asleep someone must have put it in your tin! It’s our lucky day!”
He jumped up and said, “McDonalds?”
I nodded in agreement and we ran off to the nearest McDonalds that were right out of the subway. I let Ryan go in, he looked normal, unlike me. If I walked into McDonalds there would be havoc.
He came out a few minutes later with two happy meals and we went back in the subway, shared the blankets and sat down together, covered in salt and tomato ketchup. Sitting down with Ryan was my favorite time of the day. Other people might find their younger brothers annoying but Ryan was a beacon of light to me.
We licked our fingers and laughed. And Ryan widened his eyes, like he had something to ask, “Why do people call happy meals happy meals?”
It was a question only a pure hearted child like Ryan could ask and did every 2 minutes. But a kids question was like opening a door into innocence, “Because it makes people happy when they eat them. Don’t you feel happy?”
He nodded and licked his lips and tried to get his tongue to reach the tip of his nose, which had a large blob of ketchup blobbed just out of reach.
He eventually gave up and got it off with his finger, then licked that and asked me, “Hey, Caleb, when can we leave Z?”
I blinked, “We can’t, Ryan, you know that.”
”But I heard him talking to someone yesterday, when you were gone.”
What I hadn’t told Ryan was that I had gone to do a job for Z, another messenger job. And I had seen one of his ‘mates’ coming in. This ‘mate’ was a regular and I saw him at least every weak.
“Oh. What did he say?”
Ryan had a really good memory, and remembered everything he heard, “I couldn’t hear clearly, the door was shut and there was music on but his mate wanted a kid, you know”
“One of the girls” I nodded.
“And Z said he had a really special one but it wasn’t ready yet…”
I sighed, the girl mustn’t be 16 yet. Poor girl, she was in for a shock.
“But his mate didn’t care. He didn’t want a girl for that. He wanted one to do a job for him.”
“What kind of job?”
“That’s what Z asked. And he said he just wanted a girl to work in a house. This rich family was looking for a kid about 7 years old and they wanted a girl but someone who had no family and they had to be good at lying. He said it didn’t matter if they could fight, he would train her.”
With a strange feeling I asked him, “What did Z say?”
“He laughed and told the man he had just the right one and not to worry and to come back tomorrow night.”
I gulped, remembering Z’s strange words, “He laughed?”
Ryan nodded, “Why? What’s happening?”
I put on my ‘I’m-you’re-big-strong-brother-nothing’s-going-to-happen-face, “Nothing. It’s just Z’s business, yeah. We can’t get involved in that. Just forget what you heard. Don’t tell anyone.”
Ryan nodded, “Okay, big bro.”
We walked back to base, Ryan carrying the tin with the left over money I’d soon hide and I was carrying the pile of blankets. All of the blankets went back to Z and he’d tell a kid every night to give us one each to sleep in. All of them were the same size. There was never an argument.
Again the kids avoided us and we put our blankets on the pile and I took Ryan to our little spot of the train station, it was a hole in the wall that most people just walked past but when I first came here it was the perfect spot, like a ready made cradle for Ryan. It was nice and warm, insulated by the bricks, straw and the dust I had gathered over the years to keep us warm. I put the tin and the money in a hidden cupboard of sorts and Ryan curdled up into a tiny ball and instantly fell asleep.
Ryan was a deep sleeper; he could sleep through a war and wondered what had happened to the world when he found himself next to a man with a gun. But I could almost never sleep, not until the clock chimed midnight. That was always the last thing I remembered. Ever had a teddy bear you can’t sleep without? Ryan was like that to me. When he was next to me, I’d eventually, slowly fade into sleep.
But tonight I needed to know something. Was that girl me?
I crept away from Ryan and got him a blanket from some kid who was handing them out. I went back again; I heard Big Ben toll midnight. I didn’t know when Z’s mate was coming but Z once told me 12 was his favorite number. He said it was at the top of the clock, the highest number, and the best.
And of course, in the toilets I heard Z’s gruff voice, “Listen, mate. This job, tell me more about it.”
“Z, you’re a good mate but I can’t, I don’t know meself. Me boss just wanted a girl for a job. You know as much as I do.”
“No, I don’t. Who’s you’re boss? Who’re yer work for?”
“Ah, do yer bite the hand that feeds yer? I can’t tell yer that.”
“They rich though, yeah?”
“Yeah,” he said, “They pay good.”
Z snorted, “What the hell do they need a kid for, a girl at that?”
“They have a girl themselves, I’ve seen her. Right little angel. Annoys the heck out of me it takes the -"
“Naïve, huh?”
“That’s an understatement. She thinks the world is a happy, smiley place.”
“She would she’s rich.”
They both laughed until Z said, “They probably just want a sister for her, a friend or something.”
“That’ll be it,” the man hesitated, “Yer gonna give me one, then?”
Z replied, “Alright, mate. Since it’s you. But yer gotta give me some cash, yeah?”
The man sounded relived, “Cool, mate. How much yer want? I got a tenna on me.”
“Give me another fiva another time, yer got a deal.”
No hesitation this time, “Sure.”
I realized I was standing was right outside the door and right the eye line of the both of them when they walked out of the door and desperately looked for a place to hide but to no success.
The door creaked open. Z’s grin said it all, “Here’s yer gal.”
The man looked surprised, “It’s a boy.”
“She’s good at disguising herself; you’d never guess would you?”
I glared at Z for all my life’s worth and his grin grew, “She called herself Caleb Fisher and walked in here with her little brother Ryan four years ago. I know you wanted one with no family but don’t worry, I’ll take of him.”
The man thought about it, “What will you do?”
“I’ll just shoot him. Bury him in the normal spot, don’t worry.”
The man nodded, “I’ll take her.”
My heart shattered but my brain was still running and I said, “Don’t take me, let me stay here.” I didn’t say please. Please was a weak word. I still had my pride. They couldn’t take me away from Ryan. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever.
But I knew they would, staring into Z’s eyes, I was worth the 15 quid he was going to get and do anything to get it. I was just a little girl. No, I shook my head. I wasn’t a girl. For most of my life I had been a ‘boy’. I was tough. No way was I going to go easily. NO WAY were they going to shoot Ryan and no way was I going to work for a rich family.
“I’M NOT GO-“
But Z’s ‘mate’ put his huge hand into my mouth before any kid woke up.
Damn it! I shouted inside. I cursed the two of them with words I didn’t even realize I knew. The man picked me up and I fidgeted and fidgeted but nothing worked. He carried me out into London in his strong arms and he patted my head as I cried, “I know it’s hard but it’s for the best, you would have died if you’ve stayed there.”
His words were kind and true but Ryan was going to die and I’d never see him again. We should have run when he told me. I shouldn’t have gone to the train station. I should have found somewhere else to stay.
Ryan was going to die.
And tears streamed out of my eyes like a waterfall as I was carried through London in the strangely warm mans arms.
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