Ten

"When I was a child, I was afraid of ghosts. As I grew up I realized people are more scary."

- Unknown

Jayce is coming around me and Cameron when I realize what is happening. They are going to steal me and my best friends. "No!" I scream, trying to pry Ernie's soiled fingers off Tessa's beautiful face. "No!" Then I smell Jay coming around to Cameron's face. "No! Stop it!" I shriek. "Stop! You'll hurt them! Stop! Stop!"

Then another hand goes around my face. It doesn't smell like smoke or fish, it smells like home, oranges and pancakes. Dad.

I try to struggle from his grasp but it is no use. I look up to him with an innocent expression, hoping that will either make him tell me what he is doing, or let my friends and me go. It doesn't work. Either of them. So I try to pry his fingers off my mouth. "Stop," he says calmly. I glare at him.

"I'm only doing this for your own good."

I motion to my friends.

He nods.

"Well what kind of sick and twisted person do you think I am?"

He pauses. I fear the next sentence.

"I wouldn't take you away without your friends."

I gasp. Then I shake my head. No! I think. No! He can't take them! They have families! Tessa has five older siblings! And Cameron has six older siblings and five younger ones! My father doesn't have the right to steal them from their homes!

Then I do the only thing I can think of. I had just enough room to stick my tongue out, so I do. I lick my father's hand. He jerks his hand away and lets me go. I run over to Tessa to get Ernie away from her. But there is Cameron, too. I can't save them both. I don't have enough time. My dad will have me in his grasp in seconds. I decide to get them both. And risk myself.

I kick Ernie in the gut, and do the same with Jayce, who is right next to him. They both collapse to the ground, grumbling and cursing in pain. I grab Tessa and Cameron and talk as quickly as possible.

"Go! Now! They can't take you from your families."

"But what about--" Tessa butts in.

"No, I have to. For you guys."

"But Eleanor!" Cameron protests.

"No."

"We're not leaving you with these creeps."

"But--"

"No."

"We're coming with you."

"You can't!"

"It's decided, Eleanor."

Then I feel my father's hand grip over me, and I'm struggling to tell my friends to leave before they get hurt. I watch as they turn around. I'm hoping that they leave, but instead, they kick Ernie and Jayce in the spot, and turn around to me. I shake my head, but they pay no attention. Tessa kicks my father where it hurts while Cameron punches him in the face and gut. He lets go of me, and we book it. We run all the way to the school grounds and hide on one side of the school.

"Where are we supposed to go?" Cameron asks breathlessly.

"I don't know, we can't go to my place," I say. "He'll find us too easily."

"We can't go to any of our houses, it'll put all our families in danger." Tessa says reasonably.

"We…" I say, trying to think of ideas.

"Got it!" Cameron says.

"What?"

"We go back to your house, Eleanor, and grab some money. You have all that money from your school. We grab your money, your laptop, and a backpack to put it all in, and we run away."

I consider this idea. What if something happens to us that causes death? What if they find us? What if we get lost? What if we run out of money? But what other choice do we have?

I sigh. "If we're all up to it, let's do it."

We look at Tessa. If she disagrees, the idea's off. If not, we go with it. There is a look of fear on her face. "What about my family? Our families?"

"What other choice is there, Tess?" Cameron asks.

"Okay, let's do it," Tessa finally says after a couple minutes.

We all sneak around the school, looking for Ernie, Jayce and my father.

"No sign of them," Cameron says.

"Or anyone," Tessa responds, shivering.

We run to my backyard and sneak in through the window well. As Cameron said, we get my wallet, backpack, and laptop. We also grab all of my sweatshirts, since we can't go back to either of their houses. There is some food in my room: a carton of orange juice and a box of apple sauce. We grab both and some paper cups and go out the window again.

"Where are we supposed to run?" I ask.

Cameron pauses. "Out of the city, to start."

"Wait," Tessa says. "We all have our drivers license."

"Oh yeah!" Cameron exclaims

"My mom's truck! We can use it!" I say, running to the driveway across the front lawn. Luckily, the keys are still in the car.

The tall rusty-red truck is old and dirty, but it works like a charm. Cameron's family has a truck like it, only cleaner and nicer, so he knows how to use it. He starts the car, and pulls out of the driveway.

"Let's go to the car wash," he suggests.

"Wow, Cameron," I say sarcastically, shutting the door as I got into the front seat.

"No, I mean it, that way they won't be able to recognize the car."

I understand his meaning. I nod in response.

"Oh my gosh!" Tessa exclaims, slamming her door to the backseat, and pulling something out of her pocket as she was buckling herself.

"What is it?" I ask.

"I have my wallet with me!" she says. "There's tons of money in here from my job that I had at that restaurant."

"I think I have mine too!" says Cameron, checking his pockets, and pulling out a wallet. "Yes! And I have lots, too! This is great! Now we have more money than we started with."

We rush to the car wash and wash the car, obviously. After that, one of the employees gives Cameron a coupon for a paint job. Cameron examines the card. "Thirty dollars…" he murmurs.

"Excuse me?" Cameron says before the employee leaves.

"Yes?" he responds.

"How long will the paint job take?"

"About twenty minutes here," the man says, grinning.

"Do you think we could use this coupon now?"

"I don't see why not!"

So in twenty minutes, we move out of the car wash with a lovely navy-blue truck.

"Now what?" I ask.

"We leave," Cameron replies.

I turn on the radio and listen carefully to the woman news reporter.

"And now, we'll turn to Blake with breaking news." There is a short theme song and then a man starts speaking.

"Be aware for two men around Mississippi, they have just escaped from the Gulfport jail two days ago." Tess and I exchange looks. Cameron looks at Tessa from the rear-view mirror.

"Do you--" Cameron starts.

"Shh!" I shush.

The man continues. "Their names are Ernie Lee and Jayce Miller. Stay alert for any sightings of them. More breaking news with a shooting at--"

I shut off the radio. "Now we can keep in check with where they are and where they've been."

Cameron nods, keeping his eyes on the road. Tess gets out her phone and taps her Google search bar. "What were their names?" she asks seriously.

"Ernie… Lee?" I say, questioning my words. "And… Jayce… Miller."

She nods, typing in their names.

"Okay, here's what I've got," she says. "Ernie: Full name, Earnest Joseph Lee, born in Sydney, Australia. His parents were Joan and Jones Lee, and parented him until he was at the age of seventeen, when he ran away."

She pauses to look at me. I nod. "And Jayce?"

She searches Jayce's name into the search bar.

"Full name, Jayden John Miller, born in Brittany, New York. His parents are unknown, but it says that he ran away from home when he was eleven years old."

"Okay, anything else important?" Cameron asks from behind the wheel.

"Not from here. And there's no websites or anything to go off of. Just the search engine."

"Okay" is all Cameron says.

We drive in silence for a while until I break it.

"Where are we?"

"Out of the city, that's for sure."

"So does that mean 'the middle of nowhere?'" I ask.

"I guess so," Cameron responds.

We've been in the car for about seven hours. We're around Arkansas somewhere. I suggest stopping somewhere to park so we can sleep in the car. By 'we' I meant all of us. Including Cameron.

"No," says Cameron. "I don't need to sleep. You guys can."

"Really, Cam?" Tess asks. "You do need sleep. Like, you really do."

Cameron shakes his head. We don't bother arguing anymore. It isn't any use. So, while Cameron is driving, Tessa and I sleep. I sit in the front seat and fall asleep with my shoulder as my pillow, and Tessa lays down on the whole backseat with a blanket from the trunk.

After a few hours, I wake up to Tessa screaming. "Tessa," I say sleepily. "It's only a nightmare."

"No!" I hear her scream. I open my eyes. She is sitting up, and pointing behind us. "It's them! It's them! Ernie, Jayce and your father! They're following us! We have to get out of here. They have to lose us."

I gasp. I look in the rear-view mirror to see better. Sure enough, Ernie's plump face is driving an old rusty run-down car, Jayce with his bony face, and in the middle of the backseat was my father, smiling grimly, gazing at me.