I nod, agreeing. One day my father will suffer for all of his sins—none worse than killing my mother.
Right now, I don’t need to worry about my father though.
“Come on, we don’t have much time.” I grab Liesel’s hand again and drag her over to the empty field behind the church.
“What are we doing?”
“I have a lot to teach you before I leave.” Pain strikes my heart when I say the word—leave. I can’t imagine leaving this girl. Not seeing her every day. Not talking. Not being in her life. It can’t be true.
I let go of her hand and face her.
“Okay, first lesson, self-defense,” I start.
“I know how to defend myself.” She folds her arms and pouts, offended.
“Do you?”
She nods furiously.
We are relatively close in size. I have maybe an inch on her, but soon the boys at school will tower over her. They’ll have more muscle and strength than she’ll ever dream about. Not to mention all the creepy uncles and neighbors that Liesel will interact with in her life. She needs to be able to protect herself if I’m not here to do it.
I grab her, throwing my arms as tightly as I can around her, already knowing that I’m stronger than she is.
She wiggles in my arms. “Let me go, you asshole.”
I hold her tighter.
“You can do this, huntress. Don’t panic, think of a way to escape. Find my weakness and exploit it. Then run.”
She stops struggling and thinks for a moment.
I search her eyes, trying to guess what she’s going to do before she does it, preparing myself for her move.
Her knee pummels into my groin. I immediately release her, and she takes a step back, laughing lightly as I double over in pain.
“That’s not funny,” I say, my voice squeaking from the pain.
“It is to me.”
“I told you to run after you got free.”
“I know how to run. What’s the next lesson you’re worried about before you leave? Going to teach me how to kill too?”
We’ve never talked about it, but she knows what I’m capable of. I don’t know how or why, but my future will involve killing people. It’s not abnormal for our neighborhood; you either kill or be killed. My father tops the list of people that deserve to die. I’m too small to accomplish the task now, but soon…
I haven’t killed yet, but I know how to hold a gun. I know how to use a knife; all I’m waiting for are my muscles to come in and the right opportunity.
But Liesel will never have to kill. I won’t allow her soul to be in the torment to which mine is destined.
“No. We keep our promises. You’ll hunt when I need you to.”
“And you’ll kill for me,” she whispers back.
I nod. “I won’t let you kill. I’ll kill for you. No matter where I live. No matter where I go to school. I promise you.”
She exhales a heavy breath.
“And you promise you’ll never kill? You will call me and let me do it?”
“Yes,” she says.
I’ll hold her to that.
I don’t have to worry about her killing to survive. I taught her the basics for protection, although, she’ll need more lessons. What’s more worrying is that she doesn’t have any money or food. I’ve stolen food and money for us when we needed it. None of our parents can provide such simple things. At eight, we already have to feed ourselves.
I glance at my watch. Forty-five minutes until Dad said I needed to be home—it’s not enough time.
“You need money,” I say. I’m hoping that after my dad remarries his new wife will be gracious enough to give me money to help support Liesel. But until then, I need to ensure Liesel has money for food.
She opens her mouth to disagree but then snaps it shut. She knows she needs money.
“What do you suggest?”
“We are going to steal it from someone who doesn’t need it. Okay, huntress?”
“And where are we going to find someone around here who doesn’t need money?”
I frown. I honestly have no idea.
“You’re the huntress. Do you have any ideas?” I ask, embarrassed that I don’t have an idea of how to help her.
She smiles. “Maybe.”
I grin along with her.
“Do you have money for bus fare?” she asks.
I reach into my pocket and pull the twenty-dollar bill out—the only money I have left.
“This enough?”
“It’ll have to be.”
We spend the next twenty minutes on the bus driving toward the beach. We’ve ridden the bus this way before, but usually to enjoy the beach, not to steal.
We stand on the crowded beach. I suggested we go to an area with shops and stores, but Liesel disagreed.
“Okay, we’re here. Nothing but tourists for miles.”
She grins. “Exactly. Tourists swimming in the ocean, leaving their belongings on the beach. And tourists always have cash.”
I suck in a breath. “I hope you’re right.”
“I am. I hunted, it’s your turn to go in for the kill.”
I laugh. “Stay right here. I’ll be back soon with plenty of moola.”
She stands on the edge of the beach as I jog along the tourists’ belongings, looking for an easy target.
Liesel was right—there are unattended bags everywhere. But if I start going through belongings, I’m going to draw attention to myself. So rather than going through every bag, I pick my targets carefully, only selecting bags where the wallets are already in plain sight.
I snatch a wallet and pull out the cash before dropping it back down before anyone notices.
I do this three more times, collecting almost two hundred dollars and then run back to Liesel. It should be enough for a while, but not enough to grow up on. She needs money for years. Money to feed her, clothe her, send her to dance classes or let her join the softball league. Money she’ll never have. Money I’ll never be able to give her.
“Here,” I say, shoving the money into her hands.
“Wow, that’s a lot of money. Um…maybe you should keep some of it.”
“I won’t need it where I’m going.”
She nods slowly in understanding and fists the money.
I glance at my watch. I’m officially a half-hour late. I know the beating I’ll have to endure for being late, but I don’t care. Tomorrow, we leave. Tonight, I’m spending every second with this girl.
4
Liesel
We sit in comfortable silence on the bus ride home as I hold more money in my fist than I’ve ever held in my life because of this boy—this boy I’m about to lose.
It’s more than him just moving away; there is something else happening. I don’t understand what it is, but I can feel it in my bones. After tonight, everything changes.
The bus stops. We climb off and start walking the five blocks to our houses.
“You need to go home?” I ask.
Langston looks down, shuffling his feet with his hands in the pockets of his suit.
“No. I think we should camp under the stars tonight. One last epic night together.”