“Stop worrying. I can handle things,” Londyn assures me, as if reading my mind.
“I’m not worrying,” I lie. “Well, not about that.”
“Then, what are you worrying about?”
“Where Dad is, the power getting turned on, getting ahold of the landlord.”
“So, the usual things.”
“Yep.”
Silence encases us, except for the soft sound of music floating from somewhere outside.
“Do you think we’ll ever stop moving?” Payton wonders. “I mean, while we’re living with Dad?”
I want to tell her yes, but I can’t bring myself to lie. “I’m not sure.”
Sadly, I can’t envision our dad suddenly becoming responsible again and taking care of the bills in a timely manner so we won’t get evicted. And honestly, in the back of my mind, where my imagination sometimes runs crazy, I wonder if perhaps our dad does it on purpose. That he moves us around so frequently because he’s running away from something.
“Night,” I whisper to my sisters as Payton turns off her phone. “Love you.”
“Love you, too,” Londyn mutters sleepily.
“Love all your crazy asses,” Bailey mutters through a yawn.
“Love you guys, too.” Payton sneezes. “I don’t love this dust, though.”
“We’ll clean it up tomorrow.” I roll over to my side.
No one says anything more, and a handful of moments later, Payton starts snoring.
As my eyelids start to grow heavy, I swear I hear a thump from either in the house or just outside.
On edge, I turn on my flashlight app, climb out of the sleeping bag, and do a quick search of the house, but I stumble across nothing and it’s too dark outside to see much of anything.
Giving up, I climb back into my sleeping bag, and it ends up taking me half the night before my eyelids lower shut again.
5
HADLEY
“Hadley, wake up.” Someone shakes my shoulder.
I wish they’d go away. I’m having the best dream about going off to college. I live in a nice one-bedroom apartment that has a dishwasher.
“Hadley, wake up.” They shake me again.
Ugh.
No, I don’t want to wake up. I want to stay here in my dream …
But the apartment fades as Bailey appears in front of me, a bruise on her cheek.
“Why did you leave us?” She pouts.
“What happened to your face?” I ask worriedly.
“Dad hit me,” she says with tears falling down her cheeks. “He smacked me across the face because I told him off.”
“That happened to me once.” My cheek begins to burn. “Recently actually.”
“I’m sorry, honey.” My mom suddenly appears in the dream.
“Mommy.” I start to sob as I throw my arms around her.
“Shh … It’s going to be okay.” She hugs me tightly.
“No, it’s not,” I sob. “Everything’s broken without you here.”
She hugs me tighter. “I know.”
“Will you …? Will you please come back?” I move back to look at her, but she starts to fade away. “Mom!”
She vanishes.
Then I’m suddenly standing near the street with a river flowing on the other side, car engines filling the air. I hear tires skidding, followed by a loud splash.
“No!” my dad shouts from beside me. Then he rushes toward the river, leaving me behind in a mob of bystanders.
I start to run after him, but my stomach clenches as someone screams and I’m—
“Hadley!”
My eyes pop open, and I bolt upright, my cheek throbbing in pain, my skin drenched in sweat. It takes a couple of panicked breaths to get my bearings, to realize I’m not at the scene of my mom’s accident. That I’m sitting up in my sleeping bag that’s spread across the floor of my new home, sunlight trickling in through the grimy windows. On one side of me is Payton’s sleeping bag, and on the other is Londyn’s. Bailey is kneeling beside my feet, already dressed in a pair of black jeans and a matching shirt, her hair pulled into a ponytail, and worry written on her face.
“What time is it?” I ask, rubbing my sleepy eyes and trying to rub away the lingering images of the accident.
“Almost ten o’clock.” She continues to observe me in concern.
My hands fall to my lap. “Why didn’t my alarm go off?”
She wavers. “It did, but we turned it off.”
“Why?”
“Well, mostly because we were trying to figure out what to do.”
I comb my fingers through my tangled hair. “With Dad?”
“No.” Her gaze zeroes in on my cheek. “Your cheek looks really gnarly.”
“Don’t change the subject.” I throw the sleeping bag off me and rise to my feet. “What happened? And where’s Payton and Londyn?”
Bailey chews on her bottom lip. “Outside … looking at the damage.”
Worry instantly rushes through me. “The damage to what?”
When she doesn’t answer, I dash out of the room. I don’t bother changing out of my plaid pajama shorts and tank top as I barrel out the door and into the warm August air of Honeyton.
We arrived late enough last night that I didn’t get a good look at the neighborhood. Part of me was hoping that perhaps it’d look better in the daylight. If anything, it looks worse. The entire street is covered with dilapidated two-story houses, yellowing front yards, and the occasional junkyard. But we’ve lived in places equally as bad before.
“Great pick, Dad,” I mutter as I jog toward my car where Londyn and Payton are huddled together. “What’re you guys doing?”
They jump away from each other, Londyn pressing her hand against her chest and Payton gasping.
“Holy crap, are you part ninja or something?” Payton jokes nervously as she works to catch her breath.
I stop in front of them, my gaze dancing back and forth between them. “Why are you guys acting so twitchy? Bailey said something about something being damaged.”
Bailey moves up beside me, and the three of them exchange worried looks. It’s unusual for me to be the outsider, but I totally feel like one right now.
I put my hands on my hips. “All right, whatever you did, fess up.”
“We didn’t do anything.” Bailey rubs her hand across her forehead. “It was just like that when we came out here.”
“What was like what?” I track her gaze to my car, and my worry skyrockets. “What happened to my car?”
Londyn frowns, while Payton looks away, and Bailey chews on her fingernail.
Giving up, I circle the car to see if I can find out for myself …
“What the heck?” My lips part in shock as I spot one, two, three, four … “How the hell are all my tires flat?”
“It gets worse,” Payton mumbles, scuffing the tip of her shoe against the dirt.
I look to Londyn for help.
Sighing, she rounds to the trunk and pops it open. “There’re some, um, car pieces from the engine, I think, in here. I’m not sure which ones since I don’t know shit about cars.”