Between Two Worlds
Lou

I slip back out of the building and then move as quickly as I can, hiding behind buildings, doing my best to stay in the shadows and not be spotted. It takes me two hours to make a journey that should have only taken thirty minutes. But I absolutely must not be spotted, anywhere near where I think Lou is being kept. I make it to the apple orchard and hiding becomes a lot simpler, as there isn’t anyone in sight. I easily slip from tree to tree, looking for the house that’s rumored to be somewhere near the middle. After another thirty minutes, I finally replace it. A child’s voice carries, I can’t hear what’s being said, but I’m fairly sure the voice belongs to Lou. I hear giggling and laughter, as I approach.

“Let’s play hide-n-seek!” a child says.

“I love that game!” another shouts.

“Me too!” Lou says.

I peek out from behind a tree and see two little girls beside Lou. They look like they are a couple of years older than she is.

“You two hide, and I will seek.” One of the little girls says.

I’m only a few feet from Lou and the other little girl, and I’m considering just stepping out and snatching her up when I hear something that is concerning. The slamming of a door, and another person. An adult. A woman who appears to be a few years older than me. I fade back behind the apple tree and hold my breath. Please tell me this woman didn’t see me. I was right there, in the open, easy to spot.

“Hey kids, what are you guys doing out here?” the adult says.

“We are playing hide-n-seek.” One of the kids says.

“What’s that over there?” the adult asks.

Oh, no. Please no.

“What’s what?” one of the girl’s asks.

“That right there. By that tree.”

I’m found. We will never get to sneak out of here, now.

“Oh, that. We made a pretend friend. We needed one extra person because replaceing two people is no fun.” A little girl says.

“Are those your good clothes?”

“No momma. They are the ones you threw away. I rescued them from the burn pile.” Says the other girl.

I can hear the woman sigh. “All right. Have fun, and make sure Lou doesn’t get lost. Mr. Altair would not be happy if something happens to her. You have about twenty minutes until dinner time. When I come back you have to stop playing, okay?”

“Okay, mommy.” The other little girl says.

“Bye, mommy.” The first little girl says.

I don’t move, I don’t even breathe until I hear the sound of a door slamming shut. I let out a sigh of relief that is covered by the sound of all three girls giggling. I thought for sure I was caught.

“Okay, Lou, you hold my hand, and we will go hide, together.” One of the girls says.

“No! I want to hide by myself! I am not a baby!” Lou shouts.

That’s my girl! Much easier to sneak you away from here if you hide by yourself.

I hear one of the little girls counting. “One... two... three...”

I pop my head back around the tree, in time to watch the back of Lou disappear into the orchard, not far from me. I see the other little girl disappear in the opposite direction. I silently move from tree to tree, heading in the direction Lou went.

“Seven... eight... nine...”

Where did she go? I swear she wasn’t that far ahead of me. I quickly walk, looking behind bushes and in tall tufts of grass. I have to hand it to that girl; she is really good at hiding.

“Sixteen... seventeen...eighteen...”

I’m starting to get frustrated. I know she is here somewhere.

“Twenty! Ready or not, here I come!” the little girl shouts.

“Aunty Rain!” Lou shouts.

“Ssshhh!” I whisper, looking around. I finally spot her, in the hollow of an old dead tree, just ahead of me. “We are playing hide-n-seek, remember?”

“You are playing too?” she whispers.

“Yes, of course, I am. I really love this game.”

“You want to hide with me?” she asks.

“Yes, but we are going to play by the grown-up rules. What do you think of that?” I ask, thinking quickly.

“What are the grown-up rules?” she asks, eyes wide with curiosity.

“Well... the grown-up rules are that we have to hide somewhere else. You have to hold my hand and we have to try and sneak out of here without anyone seeing us.”

“What happens if someone sees us?”

“I don’t know, exactly, but I’m pretty sure that means we lose, and I never get to see you, again.”

“Oh no!” she exclaims, clapping her hands over her mouth.

“Sssshhh! Remember, we have to be quiet.”

“I know a shortcut.” She says, climbing out of the hollowed-out tree.

“A shortcut, where?” I ask, holding out my hand.

“A shortcut, outside. But I’m not supposed to go there, because it’s dangerous.” Lou says, placing her small hand into mine.

“I’ll tell you what. You take me to the shortcut, and I promise that I won’t tell anyone you were there. How does that sound?”

“Sounds great,” Lou says. She starts pulling on my hand. “It’s this way, Aunty Rain.”

She leads me through the orchard and to a stone wall. I look over my shoulder, there’s a small house, visible from here. Please do not come out. I turn back around. “Let’s move a little faster. In grown-up hide-n-seek, if an adult catches you, you automatically lose.” My words have the intended effect, Lou picks up her pace, and is now pulling me along. I look behind me again, the house has disappeared.

“Lou where are you?” a little girl’s voice calls out. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

“Yeah, we give up!” another little girl calls out.

Their voices are faint, but if they catch the attention of their mother, it’s all over.

“Look, Aunty Rain! There it is.” Lou says excitedly.

“Lou? Are you over here?” a little girl calls out. This time the voice sounds close.

We are going to have to move fast. I look in the direction she is pointing and see a small hole in the wall. As we approach, I can tell the hole is just big enough for me to squeeze through. “You stay here a moment. This wall seems to lead outside of the city. I’m going to look around really quick and make sure it’s safe.” I drop the bags through first, and then slip through the hole and look around. No sign of mutated dogs or anything else.

“There you are, Lou! Stay away from the hole or I’m telling mom. And you’ll be in big trouble.” A little girl says.

We’re caught!

“I can go through the hole because...”

I pop my head through the hole, Lou hasher back to me, blocking my view of the little girl and more importantly blocking her view of me. I grab Lou, pull her through, pick up both bags and take off running, carrying her in my arms. The shrieks of two little girls echo through the surrounding woods. Great, just what I needed. Altair will replace out she’s missing and go looking for me. He’ll be onto me within the hour.