Children From A Lesser God
Chapter Seven: Scully's Bag
Fox wakes up with a start. Fear. Cold and clammy clings all over him. Darkness surrounds his vision and a dustiness infiltrates his nostrils. He's still in the dorm room. His limbs still have an ache.
"What's wrong", a voice asks. Her voice. Fearful. She's tucked herself against him, her head was lying heavy on his chest. That is probably what triggered his nightmare. Except it isn't a nightmare, it's real.
All the fluffy comfort in his life has been lost, and why, all because of Her. Her and her baby, and she won't even tell him her name.
His parents, he doesn't know where they are, if they're even OK. Will he ever see them again?
"It's OK, Fox". His name sounds so alien coming out of her mouth. Her hand now weights on his chest and She breathes in a calming pattern, obviously expecting him to follow. Calm him shitting down with her shitting breathing, as if it will solve everything.
Well it won't!
There is nothing calm about this situation.
Fox screws his eyes tightly shut instead of saying the words aloud. Trying desperately, with all his might, not to explode and say those words out loud to her.
He pushes away from her irritably.
And then again, when he senses her hand coming back towards him, so that she get's the shitting picture. That he wants her to leave him the hmph alone. He wants her to … leave … right off out of his life.
Except he doesn't.
And doesn't that shock him. Because she has been nothing but a burden on him and his family.
He lets out a long breath.
And in the silence, notices that he can't hear hers. But he can still feel that she is next to him. Her presence is heavy on him. Suffocating. And her smell is heavy. Not sweet. Not smelly. Just her. It combines with the dustiness of the room.
"Goddammit! Breathe!"
And she intakes a sharp gasp of breath. More like a small shriek.
Asshole, why did he have to wake up in such a bad mood?
"Can you please just give me some space?" He asks. And he tries so hard to make his tone soft for her. The delicate bird.
He hears her move and already feels so much lighter. Feels like he can breathe.
Out of the corner of his eye, he watches her shadowy form move to the other side of the room in the darkness. He imagines the way she rests her hand on her stomach, it seems to be some sort of soothing coping mechanism she has.
She's a fucking whore.
Fox falls back on the mattress.
He needs to get out of this mood. This is not him at all.
His whole body is pulsating overdrive. Hot and wet.
Maybe he's overheated?
Overheated in a freezing cold room?
That's probably why she was cuddling him, for warmth.
He gets up sharply and starts furiously taking off his top layers. When he's half naked and can feel the cold air on his chest he starts to feel better. He moves to his trousers and notices the weight on his knee. Something is strapped to his knee?
What the…?
His hand feels it.
It's wet plastic.
He feels it more.
It feels like a defrosted pack of peas.
But how?
"Did you do this?" He asks in her direction. He can't see her in the darkness, but he knows the general direction in which she was.
She doesn't make a sound.
"Where did you even get it from?" It's made his whole pant leg and the mattress underneath it sodden; and after blindly untying whatever cloth she used to keep it in place - his sock maybe, throws it, and the unfrozen food bag across the room in her direction. "Are you stupid? Are you trying to get us caught? What if someone had seen you? How stupid can you really be?!" He spiels off as he aggressively takes off the remaining layers of his clothes and flops back down on the mattress.
Did it hit her? He worries.
But then, no, he doesn't care.
The cool air is nice as it washes over him, but he doesn't feel any better. At all.
"I'm going to take a shower", he resolves, getting up. There is no light so he has to feel his way to the direction of the ensuite bathroom, and tries in vain to do it as unclumbsy as possible. Once there, he feels around for the light switch.
Illumination floods his sight and he half turns his body to look for her. Finding the shadowy form of her sat on the floor against the other desk, her knees up against her stomach. He can't see her face but her stance is pathetic.
"I'm sorry, Fox" She says.
"Yeah, well, you said it, not me", he grumbles. He doesn't know why he is being so harsh to her. He really doesn't mean it. He will feel better after the shower though, of that he is sure of. So with that, he shuts the door firmly and goes about his shower.
~xXx~
Five minutes pass and Fox is still boredly watching the shower sprays, waiting for the hot water to kick in, when he hears strange sounds coming from outside the ensuite. Almost clangy or scrapey like. He turns the shower off so he can hear better.
Nothing.
Fox shrugs and goes to turn the hot water back on, when he hears the click of the dorm door shutting.
Where is she going now?!
Why did she have to be such a liability? Why couldn't she just stay still and make his life a whole lot easier?! Someone was going to see her! She was going to get them both back into trouble when he had only just found somewhere safe!
He doesn't bother with a towel, not that he has one, and stark naked, turns left and marches towards her assumed direction of the community kitchen. He understands that pregnant women have cravings, but this is taking it a bit too far.
The room's light turns on automatically on his entrance. Motion censored. If he was smarter, or more with it, Fox would have realised then and there that it meant she couldn't have been in there.
But he isn't yet, so he scans the room for her and finds that there is no one else in the large room apart from him. Two tall fridges, two cookers, three unknown built in appliances - dishwashers maybe. Numerous relatively tidy counter tops with just the odd compilation of kitchenware and food products. Over worn couches, round tables with fluorescent green plastic chairs half hazardly dotted around them, a large flat screen television. It's a nice set up. Fox takes in the inventory and allows a moment to again be impressed with his decision for them to seek shelter here. However, back to his task at immediate hand, there is no Her. She is not in here. The lights would have been on if she had entered in here before him.
Maybe he was mistaken?
Maybe she is still in the dorm room?
He walks back towards their newly claimed shelter, when out of the corner of his eye, he sees her walking down the opposite end of the corridor. Walking away from him. Hurriedly. Her hood up and her backpack on. Just her hoodie, not the one he had also given her. Fox can't help thinking how she would freeze without it.
"Where are you going?!" He calls after.
He notices the twitch of recognition in her body, but she doesn't slow or stop.
"Wait! Please. Stop!" Desperation suddenly runs through him.
But she doesn't, so he runs after her.
He notices that she tries to move quicker but she can't, not with all the weight she is carrying, and he catches up with her in no time.
"Wait, stop", he touches her arm, but she shrugs it off.
It stalls him, but only for a second.
"What's going on? Where are you going?" He rounds her and blocks her path.
She tries to move round him but he's faster than her and continues blocking her ascent towards the staircase. He can tell that she is refusing to make eye contact with him as he tries to gain that contact with her. She must realise that he is stark naked though because she no longer avoids his gaze by looking down and her cheeks have a nice red tint to them. In fact by the way her eyes are dancing, it seems like there is nowhere on him that she is comfortable settling her eyes. In the end she stares over his shoulder.
"Please let me go?"
Even when she's angry, she's polite.
It's obvious that she has been crying, and Fox hates himself that he is the reason why. Her eyes are hard, her frown determined. Fox finds her expression … alluring…? Perhaps? It's definitely new from her usual doe in headlights. And despite the situation, Fox's mind can't help but think how attractive she is and he's, well, he's naked.
"Go where? Where are you going?" He laughs, because it is preposterous. She wouldn't survive on her own five minutes. She's too easy of a target, and Fox's mind flicks back to the leery men at the pizza place, the drunk in the police station.
"Away from you", and her eyes finally rest on his.
It's a kick in his stomach which really he should have expected, and he falls back a little.
She uses this for her advantage and walks around him.
"Away from me?" He repeats her words in disbelief. He's the only person helping her! He wants to shout back at her. But catches her hand and stops her. Pressing his thumb down on her pulse, hoping it will have the same calming effect it had earlier.
She falters, but then continues trying to free herself, but she is not very strong. Not at all. She is not very big either - besides her enormous stomach. She is a small, delicate bird. She wouldn't last five minutes without him.
"It's what you want".
"No it's not", he says smoothly.
"Yes it is", she counteracts, and he can hear and see the tears recollecting in her eyes and her voice. "I've been nothing but a burden to you and your family. To everyone. So I'm just going to go away".
Wait, had he said his earlier thoughts out loud?
"You're not", he says, and then winces because it sounds like such an obvious lie. "I never-"
"-You don't have too. I know! I can see it all over your face. I can see it all over everyone's face. Everyone. I've ruined everything for everyone and I just want it to stop! I just want it to stop! I just want…", she struggles to find other words other than those she is repeating. Fox can't help but sympathise with her. She looks so pathetic, like a baby bird flapping its wings furiously as it tries to fly after having eaten a ton of stones. He instinctively wraps her into his embrace before she falls hard on the ground and breaks every single one of her bones.
She clings on to him tightly, like he is her life line, all the time repeating how she wants everything to stop.
"-Guys, do you mind!"
They both jump at the voice so close to them.
Two male students hover outside their dorm door.
Fox tries to cover her and his junk from the two guys.
Had they really been that loud?
"It's like five in the morning" the other says.
"I'm surprised you haven't woken up the whole floor. Not cool, not fucking cool at all".
"We're sorry", Fox apologises quickly.
"And my eyes do not appreciate the sight of your junk either this early in the morning. Or any time. What are you even doing on this floor? I don't recognise either of you".
Shit.
"Sorry, my girlfriend got herself upset when she couldn't find my dorm. I've just moved dorm and she got lost. I was in… I was somewhere else, before. She's just made the long journey to visit me. But, but she was upset, because, because she couldn't find me. It's my fault. But she's found me now".
"Dude, why are you like half wet?"
"I was swimming in the lake", Fox lies, badly, internally scolding himself. Using the same excuse he gave the cop after he crashed his car.
The guys screw their face at each other in their joint confusion.
"Look… dudes", Fox tries again. "I'm so sorry for waking you both up. We're just going to go back to my dorm, and be super quiet", and with that he starts to escort them backwards, away from them. The last thing they need is these two alerting campus security, or finding out which dorm they are seeking shelter in.
"Whatever", one of them says and shuts the door behind both of them.
Fox halts their movements, and then after counting to ten, quietly and quickly escorts them back to their dorm. He turns back to look at the two guys' dorm room before he enters, and is relieved to see that they are still inside.
~xXx~
Fox turns the lock and bolts the door before firmly escorting her to sit on the other mattress. He decides to help her a bit as the bed frame is quite high up from the ground for her.
He gets back up to turn the light on before searching for something dry to cover himself with. He spots the unfrozen peas on the floor. She was only trying to help. He knew that. He knew that, so why did he have to be such a dick about it?
He can't find anything apart from his sweater that she discarded, so he quickly dries the parts of him which are wet as best as possible and as quickly as possible before throwing it on - it's better than nothing. Not that it benefits her at all. She's not even paying attention to him. Her gaze is instead downcasted on her large stomach.
Her face is streaked and her eyes are so swollen from all her tears.
Fox studies her. "I shouldn't have gotten angry at you", he says eventually, going to sit next to her on the mattress. "I don't know…", he wants to say he doesn't know why he got so angry, but they both know why. It also doesn't explain why he reacted so hostile. "I just. I just have so many new, foreign emotions inside me, and I don't know how to deal with them", his voice breaks, and he composes himself because he doesn't want to cry in front of her, again.
"I'm quite selfish, you see. Youngest child. I've never had to worry about anyone but myself. But overnight, the last day or so, or maybe, maybe longer, maybe since I first laid eyes on you", he admits. "It's not just me. It's me and you. And it burns, it burns so badly inside me. My need to protect you, like my father instructed me to. But, but I am failing epically", he admits, looking down at his hands. "And it's making me. It's making me so frustrated, and unfortunately, you were in my line of fire. And I am, so, so sorry for that".
Her hand laces through his.
Why is she so easily forgiving of him?
Or is it just because he is all she has?
And ain't that the truth. He is all she has, so he has to be there for her.
"I don't want you to go. I want you to be by my side, always", he finishes with a nod, internally groaning at himself. Telling himself to not say anymore on the matter. I want you to be by my side always? Seriously. Which one of Sarah's rom com movies did he get that from? He's already embarrassed himself enough and he is sure she has gotten the picture. He's sorry, he's not leaving her. He's going to finish the job his father gave him. He will protect her and her baby at all costs.
"Like partners", she whispers, and a huge weight lifts from his chest because she sounds like her old self again. Angelic. Which means, which means she really must have forgiven him, and they can pretend the last half an hour or however longs it's been didn't happen.
"Partners", he agrees. "And I promise you that no matter how stressful everything becomes, I will never, never, treat you like I did this evening", his eyes filling with tears over his shame. "If you could promise me, never to go anywhere without me knowing".
She squeezes his hand in agreement.
He squeezes it back.
And they sit in silence for a while until his body starts to feel heavy with exhaustion. His knee still aches, he realises as it dangles from the bed frame.
"We should try and get some more rest", he squeezes her hand again but only lets go after a few seconds. "We can both share this one while the other one dries out".
She starts to unlace her converse. How she can manoeuvre at all with that stomach… "Here, I'll help", jumping off the bed to help her. He wants her to know that he is really sorry about his behaviour, and if he has to jump through a couple of hoops to do that, then so be it.
Her feet are so small. He catches her smile as she watches him work. Her lips are so perfect. So soft and kissable. So ready for him. He listlessly remembers how they wanted to devour him earlier.
He focusses on her stare. Her eyes. Such an endless blue. There are a few stray tears in her eyelashes and he resists the urge to kiss them and instead brings up the hem of his sleeve to wipe them off. She doesn't flinch, which is another good sign.
He then takes her rucksack off for her, catching a whiff of her hair as he does, she has a few stray curls at the base of neck, otherwise she has completely straight hair. He wants to go in for another sniff. A longer one, get lost in the smell in the crook of her neck, but decides to concentrate on putting the rucksack on the other mattress with the other rucksack.
Sleep.
Sleep.
Sleep.
Sleep.
Fox resolves and turns the light off before making sure again that everything is locked.
After some shuffling, they lie side by side on the bed, shoulders barely touching.
Fox is so tired.
He starts to synch her breathing with his.
"Aren't you cold?" She asks.
He is more tired.
He remembers the blanket he saw slung across the couch.
He forces himself to sit up. "I'll be back", he says eventually, and then because he feels her start to protest, "I saw a blanket in the common room area that we can share".
He retrieves the blanket quickly but when he returns, she's already off the bed and only in her vest, panties and socks, and picking his discarded clothes off the floor and hanging them over the chair next to the radiator. He admires her form, the way the stomach stretches the material. He realises too late that he has been staring at her too long.
She now stares at him too and then distractedly tucks her hair behind her ears, her face going a lovely pink.
Fox snaps out of his trance of her and walks over to the radiator and feels it.
She's turned it on.
That was smart.
He would have thought to have done that in the morning of course. Or would have done it already if he wasn't so tired.
"You don't have any other clothes?" She squeaks.
"Why, you don't like what you see?"
He can't help but smile over her face going more crimson.
"You know what they say, the best way to stay warm is two people naked sharing cover" He teases but then takes pity on her and goes to retrieve one of his spare boxers and slips them on, he also puts on his spare pair of socks. Last minute, he takes out his beanie hat and walks over to put it on her head. With both her feet and head covered she shouldn't get a cold.
~xXx~
She startles him awake.
"What's the matter?" Fox asks quickly, sitting up to check the room and identify.
He had been aware of their sleeping positions. But she was like a hot water bottle. And soft. She was so very soft. And smelt nice.
"Outside", She stumbles, fear clinging her voice.
He turns his focus to the door. The sun is up and the see-through curtains filter all the light into the room, it's a wonder that it was the noise that woke her and not the sunlight.
Loud excited chatter from the outside filters through.
"It's probably breakfast time. Don't worry about it", he says, but when he turns back to look at her, there is still fear in her eyes.
Fox rolls his eyes. It's not like they would be able to come in when they've bolted it. Begrudgingly, he gets off the mattress and goes towards the desk in front of the sodden mattress and tries to pull it towards the door. But it is a lot heavier than it looks. In the end, he settles on one of the bookshelves, placing it infront of the door.
He turns back to look at her and her stance seems much more at ease, and she carefully positions herself back down in the bed.
Fox smiles, happy that he has appeased her.
He's about to lay back next to her, happy to again be surrounded in her warmth again when he notices the wet stain at the back of her panties. The blanket he had retrieved from off the floor loosens slightly in his already loose grip, so much so that it almost drops to the floor again.
Has she noticed?
She must feel it surely?
Fox is immediately nervous and embarrassed, because they had been sleeping very close together with not much in the way of clothing between them.
But then, he is a guy, he resolves, and she is pregnant, so she has to know about these things. He also thinks back to the hotel room.
Fox eases himself back in the bed and arranges the blanket around the both of them. He is close to her but not too close, almost like horizontal hovering. He curses himself for thinking back to the hotel room because he is a lot more awake now - some parts of him definitely more than others - and now all he can think about is her. Her scent and musk infiltrate his airwaves and cloud his mind of nothing but her.
Fuck.
Is literally what his body wants to do to her.
How would that work with her being pregnant?
He had seen videos of it online, not that he had clicked on them or they had interested him before, but there was probably some special technique he needed to know. He would have to be careful. She was already so stretched and he didn't want to like hurt the baby, he had felt how much it kicked. No, it probably wasn't the best idea, at least until after the baby. Much, much after.
After?
What did the after look like?
How long would his father leave them on their own?
Besides his father said to protect her and her baby, he could imagine his father wouldn't be to pleased if he found out he was … hmm. No.
And what about Sarah?
Sarah his beautiful, clever, un-pregnant girlfriend.
Of age girlfriend.
Now that he was an adult, and she was fourteen.
Fox stopped right there. Fourteen! Why did he keep forgetting this fact?! They shouldn't even be sleeping in the same bed as each other.
But that didn't stop his body from wanting her.
He got up and announced to her that he was going to hop in the shower and then they could think about finding breakfast. He placed a safe kiss on her forehead and kept the shower door ajar, just incase she decided to run again.
~xXx~
The shower does wonders again for Fox.
He is an adult, She is a child, Sarah is still his girlfriend as they have not officially broken up. He has to stop referring to Her as his girlfriend and instead if the situation ever arises again, introduce her as his step-sister, because they look nothing alike. They will sleep in separate beds.
Getting out of the shower is awkward as he has nothing to dry himself with, his boxers need to be washed and he will not get very far drying himself with his socks.
He contemplates going out there naked again, but then reminds himself of their new adult and child relationship. If he wants to respect that and to stop thinking of her like that, he must stop walking around naked in front of her.
"If you're awake, can you pass me my jumper", he calls out. "I have no way to dry myself".
He hears the bed creak, and after what seems like forever, she drops his jumper and his rucksack in front of the door.
That is also very useful.
She is quite clever and resourceful for a fourteen year old.
It is okay for him to compliment her brains.
He gets dressed and keeps the box of hair dye out on the sink, it would be good if they could do that before he went out again maybe.
As soon as he exits the bathroom, she enters in after him, before he can even say two words to her, and shuts the door firmly behind her. The shower sprays go on instantly.
Fox stares at the door for a few seconds before looking around the room for her rucksack, only to realise she must have taken it in with her.
Damn, and he really wanted to do an inventory of her bag.
While she is in the shower, he makes the 'bed' - literally just folding the blanket into quarters and laying it on top of the mattress. He opens the window just to air the room out a bit but keeps the curtains shut. He checks the other mattress, it is still a little damp, so he decides to just flip it over. He will sleep on this mattress, she will sleep on the other mattress tonight, and all the following nights. Fox adjusts the radiator and stuffs his now dry clothes into his rucksack. Before deciding to empty the entire contents of his bag and order it on his mattress so he can visually see the complete inventory of what he has.
What he would do for a paper and pen.
But still, he has the cell phones, which he plugs into charge.
Fox is fiddling with the sim cards when she walks back out. Wearing exactly the same clothes she has been wearing since they left his parents house. He guesses she did not really have time to pack either.
They silently stare at each other.
"Breakfast?" She asks. Her rucksack is on and she is ready to go and frowns slightly at all his rucksack's content on the mattress.
"I think you should stay here. No offence, its just that you don't really blend in. If those guys from my house are still looking for you, you stick out like a sore thumb", and he indicates to her stomach.
Her cheeks tinge red and she rests a hand on her stomach.
He's offended her.
"I didn't mean to offend you", he walks slowly closer to her. "It's-"
"- No, you're right", she cuts off, blinking away tears, she's turned her head away from him.
Fox stares down at the carpet while she collects herself.
"Is the box of dye for me?" She asks.
"No", he looks up, his cheeks tinging himself now because he didn't think about her. He didn't think about her at all - well, he got her a cell phone, at least he did that. "I got it for me", he admits.
She nods.
Does she also think him selfish?
"I don't think it's the right colour for you. Your hair is dark, even if it does go blonde, it will be difficult to maintain".
Fox shrugs. "What are you, some kind of hair expert?" A little too defensive considering she hadn't sounded like she'd made the remark in offence.
"No, it's just, hair grows. And your hair is the almost opposite to blonde and therefore it would be difficult to maintain", her tone, now being a little offensive.
"Better than nothing", he replies stubbornly.
"I suppose", She huffs and then goes to sit on the chair by the desk. "I'll just wait here I guess for you to come back with breakfast".
Fox can't get away from her soon enough and hurries out the door. It's not until he is outside that he remembers he left the cell phones. Why did he even flee like that? He is the eighteen year old that should be feared and respected and she is the fourteen year old, not the other way round. But then again, that probably is a reflection of the very little he has done to earn fear and respect.
Fox pats the pocket in his jeans relieved that he at least had the thought to put his now fuller wallet and the stolen ID in his pocket. But still, he should have at least made sure she had locked the door behind him. He considers going back. He badly wants to go back, but also what would she say? Just roll her eyes and think him stupid? He resolves the best thing is to get breakfast as quickly as possible.
~xXx~
After ten minutes of walking around aimlessly in the cold - because it was cold in just his one jumper - he finally decides to ask someone for directions and easily finds the nearest campus bakery. He buys four filled croissants, his with bacon and cheese and hers vegetarian. He had considered also getting hers with bacon in it, as on the outside they looked the same, but that evil thought only lasted one second.
He ate his first filled croissant as soon as he got outside the bakery. It tasted so good and was so hot which nicely counteracted the cold outside temperature; he ate it instantly. He debated about his second one, feeling he should eat with her, but then he reconsidered. He wasn't her boyfriend that had to do stuff like that.
As he slowly ate his second croissant, he strolled and contemplated how he could get in contact with Sarah, without letting her know his whereabouts. He could write a letter once they had settled?
His second croissant was finished all too quickly and Fox contemplates eating one of hers, but decides against it with a smile.
There is no reason they couldn't be settled here.
Large campus, he could easily become lost in here. And she could have all the rest she wants until her baby arrives. He could even join in a few classes, just to keep the ruse up. He would love to join the basketball team, but that might be too much exposure… but then again, maybe not. He would have to see how things went, maybe after three wee-
Someone knocks into Fox, almost making him drop her bag of food.
"Sorry about that", a guy's voice says. "Wasn't looking where I was going".
"No harm done", Fox says, going to give a polite smile to … a fellow student.
Fellow student, Fox smiles at the thought. It fell into his subconscious so easily. Subconsciously, he already feels he is part of this campus.
But then the guy doesn't make to move from in front of him.
Fox, his smile straining, frowns quizzically at him, before going to move around because, whatever.
But then the guy steps to block his direction again.
Seriously?
"Look, I was told to give you this", the boy pushes an envelope that Fox hadn't seen he was holding, towards him.
Fox takes the envelope.
"Wait, what is it?" He thinks to ask after the guy.
But the guy shrugs, "I was just paid to give it you when you came back out by some old dude", he points in the direction of the front gate. "Laters".
His father!? Fox thinks immediately, and relief washes over him.
He knew he would come help him, and Fox rushes over towards the entrance, only to stop dead in his tracks.
There is a car.
There is an old dude.
Just one much older than his father.
He recognises him from his house.
The old English guy he had made eye contact with while they were hiding in his wardrobe. Fox had sworn he had seen him.
He's making eye contact with him again.
A serious, hard stare. He points at Fox's chest and then the window winds up, blacking him out from Fox's sight and he drives off.
What…?
Fox is stunned.
Was that some kind of threat?
And then…?
Did he take her?!
He looks up into the direction of Earle's Court but can't see the building from where is.
What should he do?
Run after the car or run to the building?
She would have surely made a scene.
She would have known not to open the door to anyone else but him.
Fox starts to jog towards Earle's Court. As he approaches, he spies their window. It is still open. Fox doesn't know why that eases him a little but it does.
As he rushes up the building steps, he opens the envelope, he can feel some sort of bulky object at the bottom of the envelope and reaches for that first.
A key.
A car key.
Fox stops and quickly takes out the rest of the content, stuffing the croissant bag into the envelope and locking it underneath his arm pit. He carefully puts the key in his jean pocket.
The rest of the contents are photographs.
One of him in Target purchasing the cell phones, the other of the two of them in the hotel reception.
Shit.
Shit.
Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit!
He was looking straight at the camera.
How could have he been so stupid!?
He hadn't realised. He hadn't thought.
Fox carries on rushing back to the dorm.
They found them so easily.
Only it seems like this old English dude was helping them again, but could he trust him?
Why was he helping them?
And if he was helping them, why was he allowing this game of cat and mouse to continue. It, it was torture. If he really wanted to help him, why didn't he just take them somewhere safe. To a safe house or something?!
As Fox rushes up the flights of stairs, he drops the photographs and picking them back up notices, writing on the back of one of the photographs.
You have to be more careful.
DO NOT use the cells - he is waiting for you to use them and use it to track you down.
You were extremely lucky that I went to that particular hotel, Fox, and not someone else.
Try not to crash this car. The Waffle Shop Car Park. E College Avenue.
Someone brushes past Fox and he startles badly, but it seems to just be a student going back to his dorm. And Fox is reminded again about the urgency of the situation.
Not a time to be day dreaming, Fox!
He starts to rush back to the dorm, overtaking the girl that had previously passed him.
Can he trust this guy?
Fox didn't know, but he was more fuelled by the fear that they had found them.
Was She still going to be in the dorm room?
Had they taken her?
Is he running in the wrong direction?
Who is the man who was waiting for them.
The one who smelt of cigarettes?
'Old Smokey', who his other colleagues had shown a fear of.
It was him.
It had to be him.
He had called him by his first name.
This English guy had referred to him by his first name.
They knew his name!
Reaching the door, he tried the handle.
It's locked.
Not necessarily a good sign.
Would she still be in there?
Fox knocks frantically at the door.
If she isn't in there. If she had been taken, what would that mean for him? Would he just go back home. Would his parents be waiting for him again. Would everything just go back to normal again?
He hears the sound of the door opening quickly and the tightness in Fox's chest drops like a ton of bricks when her face peaks around the door way.
But she looks alarmed, like something has really really spooked her.
"Is someone here?" He whispers.
She shakes her head, no.
"We have to go, now", he rushes in, almost knocking her over. He starts to stuff his bag with all his things still laid out on the mattress. "I don't know how, but they found us. That old English dude that I saw. I knew it! I knew he saw me. He found us again. He seems to be helping us though. At least, I think he is. I think he's got a new car for us. I don't know whether to trust him. I mean if he wanted to do anything bad to us, he would have done it then, right? I don't know, he could have shot me or something and sped off. Unless, he is waiting for me to lead him to you", Fox stops and pauses at that thought. That is a possibility. "But its not like we have a choice, right?" He zips his rucksack and turns to look for her. He needs a second opinion on this. "We don't have any choice but to trust him, right?"
She is standing straight against the other mattress, staring at him.
What is wrong with her?
Any sign of danger and she morphs back into her doe in a headlights mode.
He looks around the room for her bag when he sees she's mimicked what he had done on the other mattress and laid out the contents of her rucksack on what was going to be her mattress.
Fox allows a moment to mourn what he thought was an excellent hide out.
Unpacking was so not the right thing for her to have done now, but he walks over to have a quick look at what exactly she is packing.
And it doesn't appear to be too much, which is disappointing.
The first aid kit she took. Crumpled up notes of money, along with a pile of IDs she took.
Fox fingers through them, one of them at least looks useful for her.
Some worn brown paper bags which, he peers into one of them, is filled with medication. There are a few other items but none, Fox reminds himself, that will most likely help them with their impeding situation, and starts hurriedly stuffing everything into her rucksack.
Her brown folder, which he ends up putting in last, is particularly annoying to stuff in and he ends up having to bend it in two. He's about to zip up her bag when she takes it from him and starts taking things out.
He is about to scream at her, what the hell does she think she is doing! That they don't have time for her to organise her bag the way she like its, because they have to leave now, they are coming for them n- when she tosses one of the brown bags contents on the mattress.
All previous annoyance fades to anger for the smallest fraction of a second, and then he realises what had her so stunned.
Overpowering everything else that falls out of the bag is a huge wad of cash, all new one hundred dollar bills it appears. Fox, hurriedly picks up a bundle and flicks through it. Yes, all one hundred dollar bills and in this bundle alone there had to be what one hundred, well maybe not one hundred but, but a lot. And there were what ten of these bundles.
He drops the one in his hand and fingers the jewellery.
He thinks he remembers his mother wearing the green stoned earrings once.
His father's Rolex.
He picks up the passports. Both American. He open's the first one.
It is her eyes that catches his gaze first. He thinks now, he would recognise them anywhere. Her face is very freckly and darker. Her hair is longer than it is now, filled with those multi coloured hair things all the girls get when they go on holiday, but it is still not as long as when he first met her. She looks much younger. Much fuller, as odd as that sounds. Wholesome, for a better description. Not the boney, gaunt, teenager she is now. Definitely a photo taken when she was much younger.
Dana Katherine Scully.
23rd February 1999.
Fox stares at that date.
She really was fourteen years old.
Almost fifteen. Five months is not really that long away.
Fox blinks away that thought.
Issued 1st August 2012.
Only two years ago.
She looks about eight if he is being honest. She's aged a lot in those two years, he thinks, looking back to her photo. In fact, her whole personality seems to have changed. Young… Dana, smiles straight at the camera with so much joy, as if she doesn't have a care in the world. So full of life and laughter, and maybe a bit rebellious, definitely mischievousness. She definitely looks more like a tom boy than a girly girl. Fox, also thinks that she would have been exactly the girl he would have wanted to be friends with when he was that age. What happened to that little girl in those short two years?
He goes to pick up the other passport, he's barely opened it and he recognises the person in the photo.
His father.
His father's passport is in her bag, with his watch, and a stash of money and jewellery.
Fox hastily drops the passport and goes to pick up the brown folder, wanting to understand more, when the sound of a text message rips through him like a gun shot.
His eyes fly to where the cell phones are charging on the floor and then to her.
Dana's, he thinks, and his eyes soften for her.
"I just topped them up with the credit you bought", she starts slowly, clearly knowing something was very wrong about what she did, but not understanding what.
Now they really had to go.
AN:/ So Fox has learnt her name. Of course we knew it was her all along. Do you think they can trust this English dude? I've got - more like forced myself - back into writing again and happily found out it's not as daunting as I thought it would be. So hopefully I will be doing more updates along these next weeks. Until next update!