Me and Catori sat in the seat of our mother's car, waiting for her to tell us that he's okay. Catori sat in silence, shaking her leg up and down. I sat slouched in my seat, waiting for answers. What was that boy thinking? It was so out of nowhere. I feel bad for him. He must have thought, after Nari's death, that no one loved him anymore. His phone was off, so he couldn't tell anyone, so no one could stop him. It's all his damn dad's fault. Maybe if he didn't control every little thing, that boy wouldn't be so depressed. Maybe if the school system wasn't fucked then he would still be here, alive and well. I bet if I sued them I would win.
The signs of abuse from home and the kids from school weren't hard to see. Thanks to them, Nox has scars on his arms, little ones from glass shards. The first few weeks he had them he purposely wore short sleeved shirts, no one cared. He even told people at school, teachers and peers, what was happening. He only got beat up more, and thanks to them, he got used to the pain and soon didn't care.
He even went to a senior kid and asked him to teach him how to fight, and he learned well. That was in 7th grade where it all started. I thank that senior every day. But, that's also when the real drama started. Whenever he beat up a kid for punching or picking on him, only Nox got in trouble, because he had good grades and should be the bigger person. And yeah, he's a smart ass kid, and got good grades even in suspension and detention. He's the smartest but yet they don't protect him. When Nari went to college, they expected a thanks for their good teaching. But instead, she told everyone at the graduation not to go there, and still talks shit about the school. They were appalled and still are. Nari's shit talking even got the Mayor of the town involved, but the school seemed to pass.
That morning they told the kids to lie about the misbehavior of their peers. I remember the announcement to this day.
My phone got a text, a loud bing sound. I was terrified to see "Noxy" on my phone screen.
Noxy
Ok, dont ask about money, dont ask where we'll go. We are running away, pack your things and meet us at the koo.
I paused for a minute and looked at Catori, she saw the text too. As little rebels ourselves, we replied the only way we knew how to.
ChayChay
Alr
Tori ⚡
Right on,
Me and Catori got out of the car and ran down the busy road. I tried to run faster than her but she was always faster than me. We got wet from the passing cars. It has been awhile since we had a real adventure. I wonder what we would take with us. I've always wanted to run away. We ran all the way to the trailer park.
We ran into the house and to our room. I rummaged under my bed and pulled out a black backpack, with many different pockets and storage. Catori had a similar one but with her name stitched on it, she stitched it herself. I packed a couple of notebooks and a flashlight. I also packed my feathers that I had collected over the years. I dug in my jewelry box and pulled out my Seneca Nation necklace with a metal feather and a pendant on it. I tied it to my bag.
Catori was in the kitchen and ransacked some of the snacks and water. I packed a first aid kit, lighters, warmers, gloves, and some extra boots. I picked out a beanie that I would take with me. It was a black beanie with red feathers embroidered on it. I love this hat.
When we finished we ran outside and began to follow the river to the koo.
"Where do you think he's taking us?" Catori asked.
"I have no idea, but I hope it's good and far away from here." I responded.
"Yeah, maybe this is for the better. Who knows, we might find better people." She smiled.
"I wonder what will happen when they realize that we went missing. I could only imagine the headline." I laughed. "What do you think the headline would be?"
"I dunno, five dumb kids went missing after the death of their oldest cousin?" Catori snickered.
"I was thinking something like, Aster cousins went missing after the death of the oldest. Maybe Rome will finally admit to being an ass dad." I sneered.
"Maybe, or this will be his chance to seem like a good one and he might look for us all, just to have the whole package. A good dad and a good uncle. Man, I wish grandpa and grandma hadn't died. This would have never happened." Catori frowned, downcasted.
"Yeah, she would've been on the school and Rome's shit if they found out what they have been doing. She would've called the cops and CPS." I glared. "Maybe everything could have been different."
"Well, at least now we can get away. Wherever this crazy boy is taking us." Catori smiled.
"Hopefully, but this got me thinking. What will happen when the police catch up to us? This plan is so chanced instead of being thought about. What will we do when the law comes to us? What about the money Nox was talking about, where did he get that from? I just hope we're not making the wrong decision." She chirped.
I thought about it. It wouldn't be the first time that I have been in cuffs. I'm not scared of the law, and hopefully Catori isn't either.
"We'll figure it out. Just think of not having a choice. If we don't have a choice, we do it, right? Just think of it like that." I grinned.
She nodded and smiled, looking toward the river. She worries a little too much but I guess I can see why. She doesn't like getting in trouble.
We walked around in the dark night, the mud squishing under us as we walked. We are almost to the koo, I loved the willow tree. Such a majestic place. I remember going there for the first time when Nox came into town when he was in preschool. We were showing him around the forest and then he just ran off. We chased after him, afraid of losing him. He ran into the small clearing and to the willow tree. I found it weird that he knew it was there but has never been to California before. We just went with it. I told my mom that day and she said that good people had good gut feelings. That's how I knew that he was the most innocent little thing ever and that I had to protect him.
Me and Catori stopped at a carving, a tree carving with a carving of a sanrio character. It was a kuromi carving. We all marked trees of things that we liked, like I carved a tree with a carving of a feather, for my culture. Me and Catori stopped for a break. As Catori prayed for good hopes in escaping, I ate a donut that I had packed. I only ate half and gave the other half to Catori when she was finished. We went on our way.
I got on my phone and turned off my location after Catori asked me if I had already. Hopefully, no one was already looking for us. I texted Valentine, telling him that we were on our way and he responded that he was almost there.
We reached the clearing and smiled to see Nox there, lying on the ground