“You’re freaking nuts!” I shouted at the top of my lungs when Derek got out of the car, too. He was a maniac. He drove like…no, that wasn’tdriving. He was deliberately trying to crash us into every single car we passed for the whole ten minutes we’d driven. I’d kept my eyes open for all of two minutes before I had enough. The sight of headlights and taillights, the sound of honks, and cars coming so close to us so fast while Derek pressed on the gas and laughed had been too much. I’d prayed harder than I ever had before in my life, and I couldn’t believe I was still standing.
“Thanks,” Derek said and went to the back of the car, pulling the trunk open. I strode to him, so angry I could set him on fire with my sheer willpower alone.
“What the hell is wrong with you? You shouldn’t be allowed to drive a car!”
“Technically, I’m not, but you know. I need to get places. Here.” And he offered me a white plastic bag.
Full ofpads.
Different brands, different sizes, at least twelve packs of them.
I didn’t even know what to say and the shock alone was in control of my body. That’s why I reached out my hand and grabbed the bag from him.
“Just be very,verycalm, okay? Because she’s…well, she’s pissed. And she’s scared. And when she’s pissed and scared, she gets a little…you know.” And he spun his index finger next to his temple.
I wanted to laugh, but something told me he wasn’t joking. “Who?”
“Agnes.” He turned around, stepped onto the sidewalk, and walked to the three-story house on the other side of it.
I watched him, sure that this was a dream now. I mean, I’d survived for ten minutes in the car with him—that’s as close as one gets to amiracle. And I was standing in a quiet street, God knows in what part of the City, with a bag full of pads in my hand, and still no idea what the hell was going on.
“You got this,” I said to myself, when Derek pushed the gate open and walked up the four steps to the entrance door, whistling a happy tune. “I’m already here. I’m alive. I just need to keep going.”
I turned around and looked at the street again. There were a few people walking down the other side, which seemed normal enough. And the street was wide, the neighborhood clean, and the houses on either side almost identical—made of brown bricks and big windows, most lights turned on.
“C’mon, Teddy,” Derek called from the door of the house, waving for me to move.
I did. Holding onto the bag in my hand, I walked after him, through the gate and up the stairs, barely even breathing.
Derek walked inside the door and I followed. The foyer was wide, two wooden shoe racks against the wall full of all kinds of shoes, all sizes, and two doorways next to it.
Also, four sets of eyes were looking right at me.
I froze.
“Who’s that?” one of them said. A kid. A boy, barely a teenager. And the other next to him was even younger. The tallest of them, the girl with purple hair, was already sneering at me, and the smallest couldn’t be older than eight, with two blonde pigtails resting on her chest, and a pretty pink dress like the ones my mom used to make me when I was little. She, at least, was smiling at me.
“This is Teddy. Say,hi, Teddy,” Derek said, closing the door behind me.
“Hi, Teddy,” they all muttered, except the little one.
“Hi, Teddy. I’m Emilie. You’re so pretty. Can I touch your hair?” She came closer to me, smiling brightly, her chubby cheeks slightly pink.
“Oh,” I breathed and kneeled down so she could reach me. “Yes, of course. Hi, Emilie.”
She came to me and touched my hair gently, running her fingers over it slowly. “Wow. Is it real?”
“Yes, it’s real,” I said, still too shocked to come up with a single thought.
“I want pink hair, too, when I grow up. Dominic won’t let me dye it right now, but I’ll show him when I get older,” she informed me.
For some reason it made me smile.
“What is she doing here, Derek?” the girl with the purple hair said. “We’re not supposed to let strangers in, remember?” She sounded bored out of her mind already.
I stood up again, trying my best to smile at Emilie.
“She’s not a stranger. She works with Dom. And she’s going to help,” Derek said and waved for me to follow him through the second doorway. “Come on. This way.”