Page 15 of The Academy
“Take it, Lia. I can always take more when I help hand out the food.” I try to shake my head again, but Ash forces me to take a bite. And after one, I don’t stop until the whole ration bar is gone.
“You’re my bestest friend,” I whisper, and Ash smiles.
“Best,” he corrects. “Bestest isn’t a word, Lia.”
“Well I’m making it a word. You are my bestest friend in the whole world. Promise me we’ll be bestest friends forever?” I hold out my pinky. He hesitates for a moment before he wraps his pinky around mine.
“Promise, Lia.”
Then the screaming starts, loud bangs going on outside that hurt my ears. Ash wraps his arms around me, pulling the blanket over our heads.
“Don’t make a sound, okay? I’ll protect you, I promise.” I nod, too scared to do anything else.
Tears well up in my eyes, but I blink them away. Curling into Ash, my body trembles with how scared I am. Where is Mummy?
The bangs start to get louder and louder, the screaming getting closer until it’s right outside the building. Suddenly, the blanket is thrown off of us. I scream, thinking it’s a bad guy, but Mummy stands there, looking upset.
“Mummy? Why are you sad?”
She sighs, pulling me into her arms and out of Ash’s. “We have to go, baby. Pop on your jacket.” Helping me put my hands through the arm holes, Mummy sighs again before grabbing one of the bad guns and pulling it back, making a click sound.
“Stay with Mummy, okay? Promise me, Darlia. No running off.”
“Pinky promise!” I hold out my pinky, but she doesn’t loop hers around mine. Instead, she grabs my arm and pulls me away. I almost trip at how fast Mummy is walking but she doesn’t slow down. Turning around, I expect to see Ash behind us, but he isn’t following. He’s watching us from the mattress we’ve been sleeping on, and there’s a tear running down his cheek.
“Mummy! Mummy, stop! We need to take Ash!”
“We can’t take Ash, baby. I need you to stay quiet.” Mummy's voice is different, it’s kind of scary. She sounds scared, but my mummy is never scared. She said so herself.
“But Mummy, I don’t want to leave Ash! I want to stay!” She doesn’t listen as she pulls me outside, picking me up and placing me on her hip as she starts to run through the streets, taking all the back alleys she says I’m not allowed to walk down.
“Mummy, we left Ash!” I cry, but again, she doesn’t listen. Why won’t she listen to me? I go to speak again, but her hand moves over my mouth, covering it before continuing to run.
The screaming is so much louder now, the bangs echoing around us. Mummy quickly hides behind a dumpster, putting me down and kneeling in front of me. “Mummy? Why are people screaming?” I whisper since she keeps telling me to be quiet.
“They aren’t screaming, baby, it’s a lot of loud laughing. You just can’t hear it.”
My nose scrunches as I try to listen really hard. It doesn’t sound like laughing, it sounds like screaming. But Mummy is always right, and if they’re laughing, I want to laugh, too!
“Can we laugh, Mummy?” I whisper, watching as a tear falls down Mummy’s cheek.
“Not today, baby.” Her tummy rumbles so loudly that it echoes between the walls of the alleyway we’re hiding in. I wish I saved Ash’s bar. I would have shared it, I swear I would have.
“Mummy, where is the food pack? Your tummy is hungry.”
“There wasn’t a food pack today, love.” I watch as my mummy sits down, leaning against the dumpster behind me. Her breathing sounds really weird.
“Mummy?”
“Shhh, baby,” Mummy whispers, pulling me into her lap and wrapping her arms around me. I rest my head on her shoulder, closing my eyes. My cuddles are magical, maybe they can heal mummy and make her stop breathing funny.
“I love you, Darlia.”
“I love you, too, Mummy.”
I don’t remember falling asleep, but when I open my eyes again, the sky is still sleeping. Mummy is asleep, her arms no longer holding me tightly. They’re down by her sides, and she’s sleeping with her eyes open. It looks so silly, you have to close your eyes to sleep!
I shake her, trying to wake her up, but she doesn’t move.
