The moment Annie mouthed "run", they took off with the men on their heels.
As they ran, Annie looked for a place that could hide them from the men but it was an open street and everyone just walked on like it was none of their business.
Like it was a common thing to find kids being chased by men in Suits on a normal evening.
Just then, Bertha tripped.
"shit" Annie cursed and stopped to pick her up.
She didn't even have the time to think about harsh language as she carried her, and ran.
Annie eventually had an idea when they ran towards an alley she'd noticed as they passed by on their way to a store.
It opened to a backyard but she didn't bother about that.
Her target was the dumpsters....it was the one place the idiots wouldn't think of searching.
It was currently the safest place, well ignoring the stench that is...the last time was still imprinted in her memory and she was sure, that of her siblings too.
She ran towards the alley and they were midway jumping into the dumpster when they heard a little voice whisper behind them.
A girl's head was poking out through an opening in the wall of a house opposite the dumpster.
She was gesturing to them, motioning them towards her.
Jon didn't even think twice.
He ran towards the girl and the opening.... anything was acceptable and better than the dumpsters.
He crawled his way in, then came Bertha, with Annie pushing her forward.
Annie had crawled in just in time and the girl covered the opening before the men ran past it.
Annie held her knees and struggled to get her rapidly beating heart under control.
Jon just laid on the floor, his chest rising and falling very fast.
They felt like their lungs were about to burst, especially Annie afterall she had been carrying an extra while running, doing the work for two people.
When she could finally get her breathing under control, she turned to their godsent Angel.
She was a girl just few inches below Jon's height, she was wearing blue shorts, a white t-shirt with a print of an American rapper in monochrome, an inscription 'life is a joke' written boldly in italics, under the photo and a black jean jacket over the ensemble.
Yup, Annie agreed.
Life was one big joke, a fucking circus and it had just used the girl's t-shirt to remind them of what kind of big joke their lives were fast becoming.
The girl was a brunette and she had on clean glittering white sneakers.
Yup, she was silver spooned alright, but Annie couldn't help but wonder why she was wearing blue shorts and a black jacket not to mention the glittering shoes oh lawd.
Apparently, whoever dressed her was a walking fashion disaster.
She prayed it wasn't the girl's mother, else the girl was in hot soup, very hot soup until the age she was allowed to pick her own clothes. She looked about Jon's age.
"Hy I'm Leslie" the girl said holding out her hand to no one in particular.
"Annie, Jon and Bertha" Annie replied, taking her hand.
"Why'd you decide to help us" Annie asked raising her brows at the girl.
"I saw you running through the glass windows and those men chasing you, they looked mean"
"plus that dumpster stinks like crazy...I wouldn't want to be jumping in there even if I were being chased by demons" the girl said scrunching up her nose.
Annie was beginning to like her already.
"what are you doing here all by yourself" Annie inquired further.
"it's my spot" the girl replied
"your what now?" Jon asked
"my spot... found it one time I got mad at my mom and ran away now I come here whenever I want to get away or hide"
"how old are you again?"
"I'm 10" the girl replied.
Jon and Annie stared at each other but didn't say a word.
They looked around their hiding place.
It was an abandoned bar, there were bent over tables, chairs, there were cobwebs hanging on almost everything. The floors, the doors, ceilings, not to mention all the dust.
Jon suddenly had the feeling of hunting for treasure, like they'd just discovered it's hiding place.
"how do you breathe in here it's damn stuffy" Annie said, putting her hands over her nose to filter her breath.
The girl just walked on then she opened a door leading to another room.
This one was just cleaner and more breathable than where they'd just walked through.
The girl lead the way and spread her hands wide open.
"cleaned it up myself" the girl said with a grin.
The room was bare except for some chairs and am makeshift sleeping mattress, few chairs and a tent in the middle.
"my brother helped me do that" she said at Annie's raised brows.
Apparently, it had been some sort of storage room or an office... Annie couldn't tell which.
"Nice" Jon said, his hands in his pockets.
Annie eyed him.
"thank you for helping us out Leslie but we really have to go"
Annie said while Jon was already dumping his body on the soft mattress in the room.
He sighed blissfully.
His stiff muscles hadn't touched a soft bed in days. This felt like heaven even with how low it was.
"c'mon Jon we have to go" Annie said, arms folded, eyeing him. Bertha busied herself with exploring the tent.
"you too Bertha" she added, Bertha responded by poking her head through the tent's opening.
"how do you know those men chasing you aren't outside waiting for you to just walk right into their open arms"
"they're gone...they should be gone by now"
"what if they're just waiting for you somewhere around, along the streets for you to walk past then they grab you" the girl added.
Annie eyed her, squinting her eyes.
"are you hoping for us to get caught"
the girl raised her hands in a surrender gesture.
"of course not... I'm just stating the obvious"
she said.
"don't worry about us....we'll take a bus. We don't live around here anyway" Annie replied.
"your call.." the girl said shrugging, helping Annie out of the tent.
Jon groaned as he got up.
He was in no hurry to leave the comfy fluffy soft bed. Even as he stood, he looked longingly at it causing Annie to glare at him.
"will you be coming around next time?" Asked the girl.
"sure, whenever we're in town next" Annie replied with a smile.
It was getting late and they need to head back to their shelter if they stayed more, they might not be able to find a bus back.
"hold on a minute" Jon said as they neared the cracked opening
"if you don't come here often, how do we find you"
"you can come here whenever you like, no one cares about this place anyway" the girl shrugged.
"how about your house address" Jon asked.
"ohhhh... silly me" the girl said, her eyes widening then she smacked herself oh her forehead.
"I'll be right back" she said, running back to the back room.
She returned with a piece of paper on which she had scribbled an address.
She stuck a hand out and Annie took it, folded it and shoved it in her pocket.
"thanks again" Annie said to the girl then she turned and followed her siblings out.
"I'll see you around" the girl said behind them then she closed the opening.
If only they knew that would be the last time they would meet under these circumstances.
Annie wondered how the damn thing was able to stay hidden when the men ran past it.
As the girl closed it, she turned and then she understood.
What the girl used to seal it was the same color as the walls and was made of wood, cement and paint.
It was painted the same colour as the walls.
A normal outsider wouldn't be able to know the difference.
Hell they'd even missed it and were already heading towards the dumpsters until the girl called them.
Annie and her siblings stood at the bus stop not long before a bus arrived.
Apparently it was the last one and they were lucky to have arrived the stop on time.
They could have missed it.
By the time they alighted the bus, Bertha was already asleep.
"Shoot....I wish we could go back there....oooh that soft soft soft bed" Jon said dreamily and sighed when they stood in front of the dilapidated building.
"oh come on....if we stay there we'll be caught.
That entire town is crawling with those men...too risky Jon" Annie said reasonably.
Jon just pouted his lips regretfully.
"Come on" Annie said, walking towards the half open gate.
"wait" Jon said suddenly.
"what" Annie asked, brows raised.
"we forgot dinner" Jon said dramatically with a gasp.
"we'll eat tomorrow morning...no big deal" Annie said shrugging her shoulders then she balanced Bertha on her shoulders and climbed up the stairs.