Crossed

episode 5

I hear the siren go off and get to my feet. Lileti is strapped to my chest in her baby carrier bag. I have my phone at my ear, still trying to reach my mother but if went straight to voicemail. I feel tears roll down my cheeks and I allow them to.

I see Sekani running towards me and I immediately wipe away the salty liquid on my face. I smile to hear and hope my puffy eyes won't give me away.

"Have you been crying?" She asks as soon as she reaches me.

Busted.

I laugh.

"Of course not." I lie, " I have been sitting in the cold too long." I smile.

"I thought you would stay home and look after Lileti,why did you come to school?" She asks before her eyes find the two bags that were at my fit. I only packed the little I needed to.

" I'm here to speak with Ms Penny." Ms Penny is my science and homeroom teacher. She always told us we could run to her for anything, and here I was, running to her.

A smile appears on her lips as the cup of coffee departs from them. I look through the window, Lileti seems to be smiling at Sekani, and she at her, and it breaks and warms my insides at the same time.

Ms Penny catches my gaze and follows it, a smile beams still on her lips.

"They get along together, don't they now?" She draws my attention when she speaks. "You care for them." She adds on.

"Why have you been missing school?" She asks when I say nothing. " it's been quite a few days." She adds on.

"Well," I begin but my throat is dry, my voice shaky and my lips cracked. "Well, my parents" I play with my fingers, " our parents abandoned us." Was all I could come up with.

Of course I wasn't going to tell her I murdered my father and my mother ran away because of her monstrous children that killed her husband.

She scans me over the large frame of glasses. I look away, my eyes finding the floor.

"Ms Penny, I don't think I can attend school for a while." I let it out.

She stares at me a moment, like she's waiting for me to say more, but I say nothing. Two lines appear between her brows, as if she was felled with worry.

A second later she goes round her table and takes the chair next to me.

" Helen," she calls my name with the maximum softness I have ever come across in my life. "What is going on, why are you taking time off school?"

Her eyes speak more concern than I have ever seen in my own mother's eyes.

"Something came up, " is all I can word out. Emotions start shifting in me.

"Something...something like what?" She claps my hands in her, like she noticed they had started shaking. My lower lip was beginning to shake too, tears were threatening to break out.

It's like Ms Penny's eyes and soft, kind voice were ripping the fear, pain and anxiety I have stored out into the open.

But I wouldn't let her, I couldn't put Sekani and myself in any kind of danger. I couldn't trust anyone around me.

"Mum and dad skipped town for a bit," I lie, I add up the hospital bull I made up about dad and tell her the lady of the house was out looking for money while we were kicked out.

"All we need is a place to stay until she can pick us up." I conclude.