Day 6: 10,000 Words

Again, at six in the morning, Sally was out on the beach. As repetitive as this was, she found comfort in it. She was doing it out of wanting to do it. She wasn't afraid to go outside by herself, at least not for the last couple of years. The first time Sally came out to the beach was to write, bringing her lawn chair and some writing supplies.

Stephen found her, easily that is. With the sun still down behind the horizon, it was cooler now. They both wore sweatshirts but today Sally wore a specialized sweatshirt.

"You have merchandise from Nanowrimo?" He asked setting up his own chair.

Glancing from her notebook, she smirked before going back to writing. "Yep. I bought it from the website. Mom said I could. And I got this notebook, too."

The notebook had a typewriter on the front, from what Stephen could see.

"It gives me hints on what I need to do for each day, the word count goals. I'm using it to keep my story ideas in."

"Good for you, Sally." Stephen smiled as he settled into his lawn chair. "So after your lessons today, are you willing to go to the Write In with me?"

"I plan to, yes." She replied.

They made small talk but Stephen had a really good idea for his part of the novel he was writing. Sally enjoyed the quietness they shared, along with the rising sun that marked the sunrise part of the day.

At around nine, when they were heading back to their houses, Stephen asked, "Have you heard from your brother?"

"No, I haven't. No one has. And that's what scares me. I don't know what is up with him. I think it has something to do with drugs. He's been moody for a while now, maybe that's it." Sally said as she pushed her glasses up her nose.

Maybe, Stephen had heard of the effects of drugs on teenagers, and the lengths they would go to get what they wanted.

"He probably sold off my tablet to get money for a fix." Sally shook her head. She spoke as if she knew what he was thinking. "Okay, I'll see you later this afternoon, Stephen."

She lightly touched his arm as she turned to look at him. And then she made her way back towards her own home.

Sally had just finished up her school work for the day when she realized that she was in the house alone. Her mother Rochelle said that she needed to go out to do some shopping. That left Sally in the house alone, since her two younger brothers were gone at school. But with the time of the Write In looming, Sally was packing up to head back over to Stephen's place.

"He was really nice for letting me use his laptop." She said to herself as she headed down the stairs.

And standing in the front room, going through some drawers in the desk that was in the room was her brother Daniel. Daniel's unkept blonde hair hung loosely around his ears as he looked for something. He looked frantic, like he was hallucinating or high, or scared of something.

"Daniel, what are you doing here?" She asked, causing him to look up.

"What are you doing here?"

"I live here, duh. I'm on my way out. What are you doing here, Daniel. I thought you left."

"I need money. Do you have any?"

"No. And why did you take my tablet? Grandma gave that to me, Daniel. It was special. I want it back."

"You can't, I, I sold. I just need money, please."

"I'm leaving, and I'm not giving you any. Go find it somewhere else. You need to leave." She said.

"No, I just, I just, I just need some cash. That's all. And I need your keys again."

"No." She said, moving towards the door. She was scared.

She had every right to be scared. This wasn't like her brother. She knew this was not what he had been like for a long time. Maybe there was drugs involved, maybe she had been right.

"Sally, wait." He tried running after her, trying to grab her arm.

His hand missed her forearm, she could feel the cool breeze as it barely missed her. Not bothering trying to close the door, Sally ran for her life.

Stephen, having worried when Sally didn't show up on time for them to leave, had just stepped out of his house. When he closed the door, he turned and felt a smaller body collide with his, small arms wrapped around his middle and a face in his chest.

"Sally?" he looked down at the top of her head. "What's wrong."

"Daniel came back. He was looking for money. He wanted my keys, he wanted money so I ran. I thought he was behind me."

"I don't see him, Lass." Stephen looked around. "It's just us out here."

Sure enough, when she turned to look around there was no one else outside besides them. With the sun fully up, it was warm enough to not need a sweatshirt anymore.

"He was in the house, Stephen. I swear he was."

"Okay, okay, calm down, Sally." Stephen put his hands on her shoulders, and ran his thumbs over her shirt. "Lets go see if he's there and then we can close up before heading out."

Aside from the drawers that Daniel had been rifling through, nothing was out of place. And since Sally was carrying her keys, her car was still in the drive way. Stephen went ahead and checked the rest of the house, looking in each room and closet, just to be sure.

"No one is here, Lass." He said as he descended the stairs.

"I swear, he was here, Stephen."

"I can see someone was here. They left in a hurry I bet. Best to stay with me for now. Get a hold of your Ma and tell her what was going on."

"She's not here, she didn't take her phone."

"And ya still want to go to the write in, don't ya." He knew her well enough that when she was planning on something she got a little freaked out when it didn't happen. "I don't blame you, best to get your mind off of this." Stephen said as he guided her to the door. "We'll take my car. The laptop is in there anyway."

Hours later, and a phone call to her mother and her father, the family was sitting together in the front room. Sally's younger brothers were out at the moment, playing basketball with some friends at a park.

"Thank you, Stephen." Rochelle said, looking at the Irishman, as she sat with her arms around Sally.

"It isn't a problem, Rochelle," he answered, getting a nod by David. "But with this happening, maybe it is best to figure out what is wrong with your son. He scared her something bad today. It took an adult writing session to get her over what she went through."

"She can come over to my house any time she wants. I am home as it is, it isn't a problem for me."

Sally stood up. "I have homework to finish up and I want to get some words in before bed. Bye, Stephen."

She really was scared. He couldn't blame her. Her brother was on the loose and she didn't feel safe anymore.

Not the best of updates but now I'm starting feel the struggle with writing this. Thanks for reading!