As always, a big THANKYOU to those who reviewed! :) And I have a quick question: I know the kids are in New Jersey, but where was Dewey's apartment and all? Was that in the city part of NJ, or in New York somewhere? If you could IM me or leave that in the review it would be most incredibly helpful to upcoming chapters…. –wink

-Sienna

Chapter Five: Katie's in Heaven

I run to the 7-Eleven. I seriously just bolt on over there, Freddy in my tracks. He grabs my arm.

"Hold on, Brown."

I stop. "Sorry…"

Freddy's digging around in his backpack. He comes out with a handful of money—three twenties, a ten and a five.

"I had a fifty, but I thought that would look kinda suspicious," he explains.

"A little," I agree. He shoves the crumpled bills into my hands.

"You be treasurer, okay? I don't trust myself not to spend it."

I shrug, "I'm better than you at math anyway."

Taking out my little blue wallet, I add his money and keep a twenty in my hand. "This is our cash for today. And we're going into hiding, right? (He nods.) So we have to buy enough food to keep us happy all day, wherever we hide."

"I like your under the deck idea," he says. I wonder if he's serious.

We push open the door and as a gust of warm air hits us, I say a silent thank-you to God for 24-hour convenience stores. There's nothing quite as wonderful after a night in the cold as their golden light, the shelves and shelves of snackage, the pretty bottles of drinks all lined up, and the one creepy cashier in camouflage sitting behind the register watching TV….

He gives us a funny look. "You kids are up early."

I just smile, but Freddy says, "yeah, we're going to New York today."

The guy watches us closely as we go up and down the aisles. I select a thing of milk, a bag of mini-donuts, two bottles of water for later, a Three Musketeers bar and a bag of pretzels.

"That's not going to be enough," Freddy says, dumping on the counter three Cokes, three Hershey bars, two packs of Twinkies and another big bag of Doritos.

"Don't you already have those?"

"Yeah, but I plan on eating them."

I sigh—Doritos are expensive. "Whatever, let's just get this for now."

The cashier starts ringing everything up and I watch the total get higher and higher, hoping it won't go over twenty dollars. Freddy seems oblivious—he keeps finding other things to add to the pile. I smack his hand when he decides he needs yet another candy bar.

"Hungry kids," says the guy. He definitely thinks we're weird.

"Grandma can't cook," Freddy says, shrugging and grabbing our bags. "Merry Christmas."

It seems even colder outside after the happy warmth of 7-Eleven. We're on the edge of the town now, a few shops on either side, a CVS and a big grocery store up the street. The houses here are thin, but if you go down the crossroads, there are some bigger neighborhoods. We head toward one of the side streets as the sun rises.

"That dude was cracked," says Freddy. I nod, because I've stuffed my mouth with doughnuts. "Hey, share."

I offer him the bag. We eat and walk in silence for a block or so, until I stop on a likely-looking street. Lots and lots of houses backed right up against the woods…with sheds.

Freddy looks where I'm looking, then wiggles his eyebrows at me. "What do you think, Katie? Time to lie low?"

"Definitely. It'll be completely light in like twenty minutes, and then we're stuck."

"Right," he says.

We stop to shove all the food in our backpacks. Once settled, I start walking up the street—but Freddy grabs my arm and points to the backyards.

"Vedy vedy sneaky," he whispers.

Our loud footfalls are far from sneaky, but we crouch low and sneak anyway. It's a funny word, sneak. I keep repeating it to myself as we go. Sneak, sneak, sneak. Sneak, sneak, sneak.

"Okay, that's getting annoying," says Freddy.

Oops. "Sorry." Guess I wasn't thinking it after all.

"What about this one?" I ask, pointing to a seemingly random house on our left.

"Why that one?"

"No cars in the driveway."

"Oh. Good call."

They have a big new-looking shed, painted green with white trim to match their house. I'm ready to turn away when I see there's a combination lock on the door, but Freddy makes a "psh" sound and brushes me aside.

"These things are easy." He kneels in the snow, takes off one glove and starts turning the knob with his head tilted close to the lock.

"You're going to pick it?" I say incredulously.

"Shh. Not exactly."

Freddy fiddles with it for a few minutes, first listening, then putting in numbers and pulling. It opens after a few pulls.

"Oh, I am magical."

"You're a crook, Freddy Jones." I open the door a little and stick my head inside. It's not quite as new as the paint makes it look, but it'll do.

"What are you waiting for?" he asks, peering over my shoulder.

"Nothing. Be quiet."

There are all the usual things: lawnmower, bikes, garden tools, flowerpots. A narrow path leads through the clutter. It's really amazingly dark in there, so I let my eyes adjust before stepping in.

"I think there's an open space in the back," I say. "Come on."

"Bloody hell, I can't see anything…."

I grab Freddy's gloveless hand and lead him forward. A couple of cobwebs brush my face, but nothing disgusting. It's only a little warmer in here than out there. I was right, there is a space in the back, a three-by-three corner into which they haven't pushed any junk, yet.

"Score," I whisper.

We go to work, removing our backpacks and fitting ourselves into the small opening. It's sort of cozy. We put our feet on the lawnmower and our backs against the outside wall and eat, finishing the doughnuts and Freddy's first bag of Doritos. I make a mental note to brush my teeth when we get up.

"What do we do next?" I ask.

He shrugs. "We nap?"

"I mean after that."

"Um…again, Katie, I've never gone this far before…."

"I know, I'm asking what you think. I'm not expecting you to have a set plan for this whole week."

"Okay, well. We need to get out of town."

"What?"

"Seriously, unless you wanna spend your week in sheds and closets…we need to go someplace where there are more people, and farther away from our own families."

I guess that makes sense, but somehow I hadn't really considered skipping town. It seems kinda scary. You know what, I'm just not going to think about it right now.

A yawn escapes me, and I realize how tired I am. I was afraid to sleep last night before we left, afraid that my alarm wouldn't wake me up, or would wake someone else up, or something. I scoot down and snuggle my head into the puffy shoulder of Freddy's jacket.

"Let's just take our nap now," I suggest.

He yawns too. I can smell Doritos on his breath. "Sounds good, Katie…."