Run Away*
PRESENT DAY…
Vi sat on the bottom edge of the staircase in the foyer for a long time. The echo of her sister slamming her bedroom door played over and over again in her head.
It wasn't even noon yet. The sun was still struggling to shine, although the day was cold. The house was quiet. In the silence, Vi eventually picked herself up and set herself to finishing other chores around the house.
She vacuumed, and swept, and mopped the floor. She finished the laundry and folded it all.
Powder still didn't come out of her room.
When it turned to lunch time, Vi looked in the fridge and found a sad, little tomato and a piece of cheese with green stuff growing on it. There was only crust in the bread bin.
"Hey, Powder…" she called upstairs, "I'm going into town. We need groceries. Did you need anything?"
Powder didn't answer.
Vi sighed, pocketing her keys. When she passed the door to the drawing room, she took a moment to readjust the bunny on the mantel.
"I won't be gone long," she said as she closed the front door behind her.
…
Inside her bedroom, Powder crawled out from under the blankets on her bed and went to her window. She watched Vi leave the house and walk to the garage. She waited until Vi drove out of the driveway in her truck.
Then Powder had an idea that made her smirk to herself.
"But I might be."
Then Powder went downstairs. She opened the junk drawer and frowned when she didn't find the black key amongst the bits and bobs. She put her hands on her hips and scanned around the kitchen. Then she glanced up and huffed at Vi's choice of hiding place.
Powder got a chair and pushed it over to the kitchen door. She climbed onto the chair and reached up toward the nail sticking out above the door with the big, black key hanging from it.
But she couldn't reach it.
Powder got down, then got a broom from the coat closet. She climbed back on the chair again and poked up with the broom handle.
Clink.
She climbed down from the chair and picked up the key. She smiled triumphantly. She leaned the broom against the wall and went into the drawing room.
The old black key felt colder than her hand. She pushed it into the keyhole.
Powder stopped and listened. She knew she was doing something wrong, and she was trying to listen for her sister coming back, but she heard nothing. Then Powder put her hand on the key and turned it. It turned smoothly with a satisfying clunk.
Finally, she opened the door.
She opened her eyes when she felt a breeze play with her hair. The tunnel stretched out before her, just like in her dreams.
"I knew it was real!" She smiled.
She only looked over her shoulder once more before crawling through the little door.
…
A short while later, Powder crawled out of the tunnel into the drawing room, with the painting of the happy boy licking his ice cream.
She walked into the kitchen and found the table was laid with all her favorite foods: pizza, hotdogs, caramel covered popcorn. And there was a box, like a shopping box from a store. There was a note on top.
Dearest Powder,
Miss Spink and Miss Forcible have invited you downstairs after lunch. I hope you like the new outfit I made for you.
Love, Mother
Powder smiled, popping a caramel-covered popcorn in her mouth as she opened the shopping bag. Inside, she found a pair of black jeans that seemed to be made of velvet night, and a gray sweater, the color of smoke with faint and tiny stars in the fabric, which twinkled. She draped the new outfit over her arm and went to change.