We walked out, creeping towards the
stairs. It was midnight now, and no one was out. We went up a
few floors and met with the man. He didn't even
acknowledge the lipstick on our faces. He just took the key
and left.
---
Noah and I walked into the room. I sighed and flopped down on
the bed. "That wasn't even fun," I
complained.
There was a knock on our door. I put on a gray sweatshirt to
cover my black clothes and opened the door. It was that Ralph
guy.
"Kids, I know this is your first day," he said,
"But you're ten minutes late. You should have
already transported the key."
I stared at him. "We did."
Suddenly, we were all running up the stairs to catch the
phony who had taken the key. Then, there was a scream. A
girl's scream.
"Dad!" cried Noah.
His father was going to get caught.
I looked a Noah, sympathetic. Suddenly, Ralph grabbed both of
our arms.
"We need to get out of here. We'll get caught,
too."
And then we were running.
We ran back into that bar, got in Greg's car, and drove
home. It was just Noah and I in the car. He drove, and I saw
tears silently streaming down his face.
I knew what he was going through - I had lost my own father,
after all. But I was too young to know what was going on. He
knew what was going on exactly - he had to resist
the urge to help.
"Noah," I breathed.
He turned towards me for a moment and then looked back at the
road. "Yeah?" he sniffled.
"Noah, it's going to be okay. I promise."
I saw him smile a little. "Thank
you."
chapter
eighteen