Chapter 5
Walking down the sidewalk, I jump down the hopscotch Mummy drew for me on the path. We’re almost out of chalk, so she said this would be the last one for a while. I want to use it as many times as I can before it goes away again.
Hopping on one foot, I cling my bunny, Mr Muffins, closer to my chest, careful not to drop him.
It’s so hard to clean him when he’s dirty, and Mummy won’t let him under the blanket with me when he’s dirty.
Counting, I hop the three spaces. One…two…
three…then I jump a big jump like a starfish, landing on four and five.
My tummy rumbles, but I ignore it as I hop two more spaces.
Six, seven, then, one last jump to eight and nine, standing like a starfish.
Mummy said I’m good at hopscotch, that I can count to nine like a big girl! I’m the only one in our group who can count to nine; not even Lucas can and he’s nine years old himself.
“Hey, Darlia.” My friend Chloe smiles at me. She’s four like me, but she’s so much smaller than me. Mummy said it’s because she doesn’t get as much in her food packs, but I don’t understand why her mummy gets less than us. We’re all hungry, why isn’t she as hungry as me?
“Hi, Chloe, wanna play hopscotch?” She smiles and nods, joining me on the chalk and my tummy rumbles again. I haven’t eaten since the sun was awake yesterday, and the sun is sleeping now.
“Chloe, have you seen Mummy?”
“Nope, my mummy isn’t back yet either. But it’s food day.”
Food day, the day that the scary looking men hand out packs of food to our mummies. They have guns always in their hands. Mummy said guns are bad and hurt people, so I’m not allowed to go near the scary men.
When I can’t take the pain in my belly anymore, I walk back towards where Mummy and I sleep, in the corner of the new order building.
The entire bottom floor is for people like me and Mummy without a big fancy house.
We have a mattress and a blanket we share, and Mummy has her work bag when she gets back from her station.
Sitting down on the mattress, I hold Mr Muffins closely, squeezing him to my chest and hiding under the blankets. Sometimes when my tummy rumbles, my body gets really cold. So if I go under the blanket now, I can’t get cold later.
“Lia.” My best friend’s voice surprises me, and I peek out of the blanket, smiling.
“Ash!” I squeal, throwing open the blankets. I jump up into his arms that wrap around me immediately, his warmth making my shivers stop.
“Were you with Chloe again?” Ash asks, keeping his arms tightly around me.
“Yes! We played hopscotch,” I say proudly, wrapping my arms around Ash’s neck, but he’s tall and has to lift me off the ground so I can reach.
“Lia?”
“Yes?”
Ash nods his head towards the bed. “You’re cold, lay down.”
I don’t argue, crawling back under the covers. I hold open the blanket, inviting Ash into the warmth with me. His arms wrap around me as he cuddles into me. I like cuddles, they make me feel safe and warm. Especially Ash’s cuddles.
Ash is older than me by four years, he’s all grown up unlike me. I wish I could be a big kid like him. He gets to stay up later, and he even helps the scary guys sometimes. I don’t like that part as much.
“Here, eat.” Ash holds out a ration bar to me, and I shake my head.
“You need that, my mummy will be back with our food soon.” Something I don’t understand flickers in his eyes before he holds out the bar to me again.
“Take it, Lia. I can always take more when I help hand out the food.” I try to shake my head again, but Ash forces me to take a bite. And after one, I don’t stop until the whole ration bar is gone.
“You’re my bestest friend,” I whisper, and Ash smiles.
“Best,” he corrects. “Bestest isn’t a word, Lia.”
“Well I’m making it a word. You are my bestest friend in the whole world. Promise me we’ll be bestest friends forever?” I hold out my pinky. He hesitates for a moment before he wraps his pinky around mine.
“Promise, Lia.”
Then the screaming starts, loud bangs going on outside that hurt my ears. Ash wraps his arms around me, pulling the blanket over our heads.
“Don’t make a sound, okay? I’ll protect you, I promise.” I nod, too scared to do anything else.
Tears well up in my eyes, but I blink them away. Curling into Ash, my body trembles with how scared I am. Where is Mummy?
The bangs start to get louder and louder, the screaming getting closer until it’s right outside the building. Suddenly, the blanket is thrown off of us. I scream, thinking it’s a bad guy, but Mummy stands there, looking upset.
“Mummy? Why are you sad?”
She sighs, pulling me into her arms and out of Ash’s. “We have to go, baby. Pop on your jacket.” Helping me put my hands through the arm holes, Mummy sighs again before grabbing one of the bad guns and pulling it back, making a click sound.
“Stay with Mummy, okay? Promise me, Darlia. No running off.”
“Pinky promise!” I hold out my pinky, but she doesn’t loop hers around mine.
Instead, she grabs my arm and pulls me away.
I almost trip at how fast Mummy is walking but she doesn’t slow down.
Turning around, I expect to see Ash behind us, but he isn’t following.
He’s watching us from the mattress we’ve been sleeping on, and there’s a tear running down his cheek.
“Mummy! Mummy, stop! We need to take Ash!”
“We can’t take Ash, baby. I need you to stay quiet.” Mummy's voice is different, it’s kind of scary. She sounds scared, but my mummy is never scared. She said so herself.
“But Mummy, I don’t want to leave Ash! I want to stay!” She doesn’t listen as she pulls me outside, picking me up and placing me on her hip as she starts to run through the streets, taking all the back alleys she says I’m not allowed to walk down.
“Mummy, we left Ash!” I cry, but again, she doesn’t listen. Why won’t she listen to me? I go to speak again, but her hand moves over my mouth, covering it before continuing to run.
The screaming is so much louder now, the bangs echoing around us. Mummy quickly hides behind a dumpster, putting me down and kneeling in front of me. “Mummy? Why are people screaming?” I whisper since she keeps telling me to be quiet.
“They aren’t screaming, baby, it’s a lot of loud laughing. You just can’t hear it.”
My nose scrunches as I try to listen really hard. It doesn’t sound like laughing, it sounds like screaming. But Mummy is always right, and if they’re laughing, I want to laugh, too!
“Can we laugh, Mummy?” I whisper, watching as a tear falls down Mummy’s cheek.
“Not today, baby.” Her tummy rumbles so loudly that it echoes between the walls of the alleyway we’re hiding in. I wish I saved Ash’s bar. I would have shared it, I swear I would have.
“Mummy, where is the food pack? Your tummy is hungry.”
“There wasn’t a food pack today, love.” I watch as my mummy sits down, leaning against the dumpster behind me. Her breathing sounds really weird.
“Mummy?”
“Shhh, baby,” Mummy whispers, pulling me into her lap and wrapping her arms around me. I rest my head on her shoulder, closing my eyes. My cuddles are magical, maybe they can heal mummy and make her stop breathing funny.
“I love you, Darlia.”
“I love you, too, Mummy.”
I don’t remember falling asleep, but when I open my eyes again, the sky is still sleeping. Mummy is asleep, her arms no longer holding me tightly. They’re down by her sides, and she’s sleeping with her eyes open. It looks so silly, you have to close your eyes to sleep!
I shake her, trying to wake her up, but she doesn’t move.
“Mummy? You need to close your eyes. You can’t sleep so silly!” I wait, but she doesn’t move. But her funny breathing is gone. I knew my cuddles would heal her! I always had magical cuddles, Mummy said. But this just proves it! I healed Mummy!
“Mummy, you need to wake up.” I shake her again this time. Her head falls down to her shoulder before her whole body collapses onto the concrete.
“Mummy, wake up!” I shake harder, holding onto her shirt tightly. “Mummy! Mummy, wake up! I’m scared!”
But she doesn’t.