2.
"This road never looked so lonely. This house doesn't burn down slowly, to ashes...to ashes. It's time to begin, isn't it? I get a little bit bigger, but I'll admit I'm just the same as I was."
'It's Time,' by Imagine Dragons
.
FIVE WEEKS LATER
"Charlie?" Griffin poked his head in the door of the tan RV.
He still sometimes felt weird making himself welcome there, but Elsa was insisting and he was starting to get used to it. He was just more cautious than he had ever been, and the woman seemed to accept that and didn't take offense.
"Saying something?"
He whipped around to find Charlotte coming around the end of the camper. She was smiling, and her dark hair was piled on top of her head to keep it away from her in the muggy heat.
"Yeah, looking for you. We're supposed to go out past the train tracks- forget, did you?"
"No," Charlotte huffed. "I didn't know if you'd be late, so I got busy helping out."
Griffin had hopped a ride into town with some troupers because he needed some more clothes. He only had a couple sets and they were getting somewhat old. Elsa had set him up with work cleaning after some of the animals for a small price, so he had enough cash to get a few things from a consignment store.
"I'm never late. Come on, then..."
Charlotte sighed. For some reason she still liked to deny the fact that she liked their outings.
"I should find Elsa to let her know..."
"She already knows the plan," Griffin insisted with a groan. "Let's go!"
Charlotte kicked the ground but caught up to him quickly, anyway, when he just headed off without her at his side.
They had paid close attention to the area when they travelled to this performance location. There were train tracks not far away, and they cut along them out into a wooded area. From there, they could Jump somewhere to... "play"
It had taken nearly a week for Elsa to convince Charlotte to Jump with their new pal. Griffin thought she'd only done it in the beginning to get her Aunt to shut up about it- the older woman had harped on it almost to the point of Charlotte's tears the one day.
The girl had been mildly comforted to hear Griffin had rules passed-down by his parents about where one should or shouldn't Jump, but she'd been reluctant all the same. Once they started, however, they quickly bonded. As the only people either of them knew who had their ability, maybe it was natural. Same gift, same feeling of isolation, similar histories ...it helped push them together.
"Are we going to the same place?" Charlotte asked once they'd left the others behind and made it to the tracks.
"Yup," answered Griffin, hopping up onto one side of the tracks to walk it like a balance beam.
Charlotte copied him on the opposite rail, and they wobbled along together.
"Isn't that unsafe? To keep going there?"
"Nah. It's in the middle of nowhere."
The last time they'd ventured out, Griffin had decided to take take her to The Empty Quarter. It was hard because of all the memories regarding the place, but it was also where he felt at home to learn and practice. Charlotte was trustworthy to him, so he could share the place with her.
"How did you find that place anyway? Jump there on accident?"
"Remember I said my dad and I used ta practice this sort of stuff?"
"Mmmhmm," Charlotte answered without speaking because neither of them talked about their parents very often.
"...he found the place. We used to live in San Diego and The Quarter's about...two hours away or so," he remembered.
Griffin didn't have paintball guns to practice with, but he taught her some karate skills and about jumping around to confuse and distract someone...they worked on making that kind of thing a reflex to her. At least she actually Jumped now ...the first time he'd Jumped her to a secluded space she kicked sticks around for nearly half an hour before flipping doing something.
And then she was back in the swing.
"You're lucky he could teach you this kind of stuff..."
"Pretty lucky, yeah,' Griffin agreed.
His father's lessons stayed engrained in him and had already helped him on more than one occasion- he was thankful, yes.
They were somber for a while, then, tottering along the tracks together.
"Far enough?' she asked after some ways.
"Sure...fan out a bit to check the area first..."
They both hopped off the train tracks and circled around in opposite directions to make sure no one was around who might see. Charlotte was a quick learner on that type of thing, he'd give her that. She was cautious and understood perfectly why they should be careful since they had the time and space to be.
When they met back together near the tracks they nodded and then disappeared only to reappear under the sun in the dry Quarter.
"You're it!"
Griffin "tagged" Charlotte a little roughly on the shoulder and then Jumped away.
"Cheater; I wasn't ready!" Charlotte screeched.
But whining rarely got her anywhere with this particular boy, so she simply vanished away after him.
It was hide-and-go-seek tag for the most part. As neither wanted to get caught, when they were found they ran ...Jumping as they did so to get a few extra feet ahead and force the other to Jump to catch up.
They laughed and teased and tuckered themselves out.
"Jerk!" Charlotte complained when Griffin gave chase to her and Jumped only a foot or so in front of her own Jump.
She was unable to stop in time, and she collided hard with him, sending them both rolling into the dirt.
"Miscalculated," he explained, but his smile left Charlotte wondering if he'd done it on purpose.
"Still a jerk," she told him and just decided not to get up yet.
They'd been at it a while, and she was breathing hard. So was Griffin, so he didn't make fun of her for throwing-in the towel.
"I'm glad we started doing this," Charlotte confessed as she pulled herself into a sitting position.
"Not as glad as Elsa, I bet," Griffin commented.
Charlotte rolled her eyes. Too true. Her Aunt was always in a much better mood after one of their "trips out to explore and play," as they told the other troupers. She smiled and asked how it went and just got all of a dither about it. Griffin didn't get it, but girl types were very strange sometimes.
"I don't know what gets into her," Charlotte smiled. "I asked her if she thought you were my boyfriend or something, but she laughed and said no."
Griffin scrunched up his face. That thought was ...strange. He wasn't sure where he stood on girls. He no longer thought they were horrible and had what one of his classmates had told him were "cooties," but they were odd and...well... Charlotte was alright, but ew.
"I'm hungry," Charlotte sighed and pushed herself to her feet to brush off sand from her clothing.
"Yeah...it's a bit of a walk back, too... ...wanna just Jump off somewhere to get some dinner?"
"Yeah!" Charlotte responded quickly before truly even thinking the idea over.
She laughed at herself.
"Can we?'
"...why not?" Griffin shrugged. "I have some pocket money on me...I know a mall not too far off- we can use the food court."
Griffin pictured the mall and the stores. His mother used to buy him clothes there ...there was a parking garage on one side of the building and they could jump there and then let themselves in. He concentrated on the place, and then Charlotte let him take her arm so they could Jump away.
He had misjudged.
Maybe his memory was off because it had been so long since he was there, or maybe there had been some remodeling. Instead of appearing in a dim parking garage they appeared in a brightly lit walkway of the mall next to a fountain.
He should have known better.
Someone shouted, drawing extra attention beyond those who'd seen the boy and girl simply appear. People were pointing and frowning in confusion. A couple people looked around like they were looking for a trick or a joke.
"Jump or run?" Charlotte whispered.
"Run," Griffin nodded and pushed her to move.
They scurried towards the closest door they saw and that lead them to a large, full parking lot.
"What did we do!" Charlotte yelled. "We need to go home!"
"Hey kids!" A security officer had come outside.
"Go!"
They dashed through the parking lot, but the only place to go then was right into the road. Charlotte stopped short, but Griffin pushed her forward and tumbled with her, Jumping away before they were run over.
A blaring car horn rang in their ears even though they were out of the street and back in The Empty Quarter.
"Oh no...shite," Griffin cursed and punched the air because there was nothing nearby to hit.
"Push me in front of a car- thanks!"
"Like it matters! We're fine!" he snapped.
"Yeah, we gotta go ...come on," Charlotte urged as she righted herself again.
"Go where?!"
"Home," Charlotte told him in a "duh" kind of tone.
"Are you daft, is that it? They saw us! Someone will cause a fuss, and they will come ...malls have video cameras, Charlie!" Griffin shouted. "Shite..."
"No ...no ...but they don't know us; we aren't there anymore. They can't find us..."
"No? We are only one state away and our face'll be everywhere when they realize it was us. I only just started coming back around California cuz my face was in the papers when my parents were- when they died. Weren't people looking for you?"
"...yeah," Charlotte answered alone.
Her face had been all over the local news in Olympia, Washington, but she'd gone to her Aunt down South so she'd not been recognized.
"We can't go back ...you're from Washington, I'm from California...they will make sure it gets put together and that it's a big deal to find us...missin' kids or somethin'. It's not like we were hiding at the fairgrounds ...people comin' and goin'. People have seen us!"
"...will they go to the camp?"
"Dunno, but we can't be there or everyone's in trouble.
Charlotte's eyes grew wide. He could see she was getting it. Getting how far they would follow you, how well they'd track down leads...
"So ...so ...what do I tell Aunt Elsa? She'll be scared if we don't come back!"
For a brief moment Griffin basked in the word "we" and really took a moment to appreciate there was an adult out there who cared about him and was possibly waiting for him.
Then the moment was over.
This was what you had to do with normal people if you were a Jumper: leave them.
"Tell her? You can't go back and tell her anything!" He exclaimed and then saw how distraught she looked. "Well, okay ...maybe in the middle of the night. In a few days when maybe it's blown over ..." he relented.
They sat in silence for a few long minutes.
"...no, we go now," her face had grown hard.
"Now?!"
"Yes before anyone has a chance to catch up on us! When if they find where we've been in a day or two? Then it's too late. We need out stuff! Elsa can say she doesn't...that she never had me to stay..."
Griffin considered her reasoning. Little though he relished the idea of Jumping back there yet (he felt "watched" and "contaminated" just now), he figured maybe she was right. He'd feel better about the situation in a few days, but that didn't mean the situation would actually be better...it could be worse. Their whereabouts could have been tracked by then.
"Okay, let's go ...straight to the RV. Inside."
Charlotte nodded, and a few seconds later they were both home in the comfort of the cozy RV.
It wasn't home anymore.
"Elsa?"
Charlotte checked the back.
"She's not here!"
"Maybe she'd working- just get packing. Anything that's yours just pack it up so we can get it out," Griffin demanded and started pawing the few things he had setting out into his duffle bag.
He'd stayed there with them a while but never got too homey. He Jumped his things away into The Quarter and then popped back just as Elsa was entering.
"I was going to make dinner ...what are you doing? I thought you didn't Jump here?" she eyed him over in confusion, and then her eyes widened when Charlotte bustled out with nearly all of her things in a disorganized heap. "Charlie?"
"We ...made a mistake," Charlotte told her Aunt vaguely. "They might come, so we have to go..."
"They?" Elsa snapped and straightened her spine. "The ones who killed Maya and Raymond?"
"Yeah ...we think we might've been seen on a camera. It was stupid...we're talking all our things..."
"So they can't prove we were here," Griffin supplied. "Just tell 'em you don't know me and haven't seen Charlie in a few years..."
"Of course, of course...and you know the others- they won't talk. They won't give information to outsiders," Elsa nodded confidently.
"I'm sorry," Charlie sniffed now that she was actually faced with parting from her Aunt.
"Child, yara, no..." Elsa signed and bent to her. "This would always happen eventually. You would be found or I would not be here to be with you ...I won't be living forever, but I am at peace because you won't be alone. You have a friend."
She gave a glance to Griffin.
"It's my fault," he scuffed a toe on the warn carpet.
"No ...no, not at all. If it was a mistake...accidents happen and no one is to blame. Do you both hear that?"
Griffin nodded along with Charlie, watching Elsa stand and cross the small space to him. He did not understand how she could be so serene all the time... even now.
"I have told you before, Griffin, that I believe in signs and destiny ...and I know that's why you came to us when you did. You needed a friend, too, to not be so alone ...my chamatkar..."
She'd said this to him before. He didn't know what it meant, but it sounded nice so he chose to believe that it was.
"I dunno bout all that ...just wish I didn't always bring trouble with me..."
"Hush ...you will return when you think it's safe to show me that you are in one piece, eh?"
The children nodded.
"Thanks for everything," Griffin muttered.
"But of course- I'll always be grateful we found you," she gave him a brief hug.
He realized it was the first hug he'd received in some time, so he let himself enjoy it. Once he was released Charlotte was throwing herself at her Aunt in a fierce hug. Elsa whispered some things to her, and then they parted. Charlotte was scrubbing at her eyes, and Elsa was wiping at her own.
"Before you leave," she sniffed.
Elsa strode to her small room at the back and returned holding many folded bills.
"Food, shelter, clothes ...whatever you need to hole up somewhere," she tucked it into Charlotte's front jeans pocket.
"Look after each other."
"We will," Griffin nodded in response to the charge.
"Yeah... be safe"
"Of course"
"I love you," Charlotte whispered.
Elsa smiled one last time, and the children jumped one after the other.
Charlotte reappeared a few feet from Griffin; she'd Jumped after scooping her things off the floor where she'd dropped them to hold onto her Aunt. Clothes, books, shoes, some sheets of music, a few pictures, and various others were piled together inside a quilt that was pulled together at the corners.
She sniffled quietly and shuffled a few feet away. Griffin let her do so and busied himself rifling through his bag again just to double-check. He didn't know what to say to her to make her stop crying; maybe she just needed to cry ...he wasn't sure how that worked.
"...I have a tent stashed in a tree near where I first met you and your Aunt. I'm going to check if it's there still..."
Charlotte's back was still to him, but he saw her nod so he Jumped away. When he returned, small tent in tow, she was sitting cross-legged by his bag.
"It's small but, ya know ...we'll fit... ...I nicked it from some surplus store a while back. Keeps the rain out," he prattled on to fill the breezy quiet.
"Okay..." Charlotte nodded and didn't bat an eye about the confession of theft.
He was a boy with no home ...if he needed a tent to sleep in, then he needed a tent to sleep in. She was sure she'd need to work on her own pokerface so that she could learn to steal, too.
Somehow, she didn't feel bad about that thought. She didn't think she'd ever feel okay to rob some downtrodden soul, but ...some Joe Shmoe...why not? She was a kid, and the world already hadn't been fair to her. Was it wrong to do unfair things in return? Couldn't she just do what she had to in order to get by?
"Griffin...what do we do?"
"Find some shade and set up the tent ...lay low a while- no one alive has ever known I come here.
He said it so matter-of-fact.
"I mean ..after that. What. Do. We. Do?"
She looked up at Griffin, and he saw she looked desperate. He wasn't sure how he felt being responsible for her welfare when he'd inadvertently got people hurt in the past, but ...he did find that he rather liked that she looked to him for answers. Like a leader ...yeah, that part was a good feeling.
"Move around a lot ...pick-pocket for money. Do odd jobs if we're by a neighborhood- ya just tell 'em ya live a block or somethin' over and want some spare money but don't have a paper route. People don't ask as many questions as ya think," he shrugged. "We'll be okay..."
"We? It's we, right?" Charlotte clarified.
"...yeah. All I've brought friends is trouble, but you and I are the same, so ...we're both on their bad side anyhow. Might as well team up, huh?" he was nodding to her and to himself. "Batman and Robin kindda pair or somethin' ...obviously I'm Batman..."
Charlotte smiled and sort of started to cry at the same time. She scrubbed her hands over her face and tried to hide it.
Griffin wondered if she was going to need ...a hug or something. He wasn't sure how to do that sort of thing that way. He'd seen his dad comfort his mom, but he couldn't do that...
Luckily, she pulled herself together on her own ...or at least together enough to take a deep breath and stand up.
"Shade then?'
"Yeah, let's go, Robin..."
