Page 84 of Redemption in the Dark (The Righteous 5)
“I’m hungry,”she whispered to Mercurio as they sat on the third bus he’d made them take. He put his hand in his pocket, pulled out a candy bar, and held it to her. Her eyes went wide at the treasure. “Really? I can have it?”
“Yes, it’s for you.”
She took the bar and ripped open the package and was going to take a bite but knew that he hadn’t eaten in just as long. Even though she was really hungry, she broke the bar in half and held it out to him.
“Thanks,” he said and smiled.
“Mercurio, why did we leave,” she asked. She didn’t want to anger him. He really was her only friend but wanted to know.
He sighed and slumped down lower in his chair. He motioned for her to do the same and knew they were talking about something secret.
“Were you happy living there?”
She looked away from his eyes, stared at her hands playing with the bottom of her sweater, and shook her head no. She missed her mommy and daddy and didn’t know why she was forced to leave them. It felt like forever since she’d seen her mommy’s smiling face and how she would tuck her in at night and hum a lullaby to her.
She also missed the rides her daddy would take her on and show her their fields with all the men and women working. Her daddy always smelled like those fat things he’d smoke. The sweet smell had made her nose curl, but she loved them both, and all she could remember was screaming and yelling. Her daddy was very angry. Then a man was in her room, and he put his smelly hand on her mouth and told her to be a good girl or she’d be in big trouble.
“No, I wasn’t happy living there,” she said softly. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. I’m going to tell you a secret.” Mercurio looked around and then hunched low again. “I wasn’t happy either.”
“Are we going to get into trouble?”
He gave her a smile and shook his head no. “We need to be careful. It’s like we are playing a game of hide-and-go-seek. You like that game, right?”
She nodded as excitement bloomed in her tummy. “I love that game. I’m good. No one finds me.” She beamed.
“From now on, we are going to hide, and we want to make sure that no one finds us. Okay?”
She was worried that this was going to get her in trouble. She didn’t want to get into trouble. Mr. Ramirez was mean when he was angry, but she trusted Mercurio. He was older, but not old like her parents, Mr. Ramirez, and the scary men that stood around the halls, dressed in black.
He would talk to her or play marbles and hide-and-go-seek. When the adults would yell or act weird, he would take her for walks in the garden to see the little birds that liked to feed at the feeders. He called them hummingbirds, but she just thought they were pretty and liked how they could fly and not move.
“Are we the only ones playing?”
Mercurio shook his head no. “We don’t know who all is playing, so because we don’t know who is, we need to make it really hard for them to find us. Do you understand that we never want them to find us?”
This confused her. It seemed like a long time to play a game, but she nodded her head. “Okay.”
Mercurio smiled. “This will be one big fun game, I promise. The first thing we need is new names. We can no longer be Mercurio Ramirez and Isabella Alvarez. Those people don’t exist.”
She crinkled her nose at him, unsure why they needed to pretend they weren’t real.
“I know this seems really confusing, but this game of hide-and-go-seek is also like a pretend game. Like when you pretend to be a bird and fly around the garden. We will pretend to be other people just for a really long time until we win the game.”
She tapped her chin as she thought. “Okay.”
He gave her head a rub and messed her hair.
“Hey,” she laughed.
He had a kind smile, and it made her feel safe. “Did you want to help me choose our names?”
Her face lit up. This did sound fun. It was like a big game of make-believe. She loved to pretend to be a princess. Mommy would let her wear pretty dresses with glittering crowns at dinner, and both Mommy and Daddy would call her their little princess. She was always allowed two desserts when she was a princess. Now she only pretended to go back home.
“Can I pick?”
“Sure. Who do you want to be?”
