rewritten version of Laura and the Edwards-O'Malleys

not proofread bc my brain will not

-

When Laura woke up, it was light outside. That was normal. She sat up, stretching, grabbing her bag, looking around for Lucie. She saw no sign of her. And then the realization hit her like a fucking truck. It was light out, the sun had risen, Lucie was gone. She was only supposed to take a few minutes. She hurriedly stood up, grabbing her bag, slinging it over her shoulders.

"Lucie? Lucie! Lucie, where are you? Lucie, this isn't funny!" 

There were no other sounds aside from the morning birds chirping. 

"Lucie?" She called again.

No response.

She turned on her heel, continuing through the woods. Several hours of walking later and she was in a city. She vaguely recognized this place as Toronto. She'd been here once, maybe twice, before. After maybe another couple hours of walking, she found herself in a neighborhood. She stopped in front of one house. There were two flags in either of the upstairs windows. Laura didn't recognize either of them.

She noticed a red pick-up truck in the driveway. Without a second thought, she climbed into the  bed of it, with her bag. She lay there for a few minutes before she heard a female's voice. "Yeah, see you later, mom." She then climbed into the truck, started it and drove off. Admittedly, this was a little mesmerizing to Laura. Watching the sky and trees and whatever pass as she lay there, bouncing along.

Eventually, the truck stopped outside another house. Unnamed Driver stopped the truck, got out and went inside. Laura hurriedly climbed out, hiding behind a bush. The house was a lighter blue color, with a completely white porch, with an also white porch swing. On a flagpole, there was a rainbow flag.

After a few minutes, a black haired girl and a blonde girl in a revealing pink dress walked out. The black haired girl had the same voice as Unnamed Driver so Laura could pretty easily figure out that she had just been a taxi service for her. The blonde and Unnamed Driver talked and then got into the pick-up truck and drove away.

So, Laura sat there for a few minutes, weighing her options.

Option A- keep walking and hope you find yourself somewhere pleasant.

Option B- approach the people in the house.

She ended up choosing B. Breathing in, breathing out, she walked up to the door, raising her fist and then knocking. After a few seconds, a redheaded girl, not too much older than Laura, opened the door.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

Well, shit. Laura hadn't thought ahead this far. Well, blunt is best. "May I please come in? Maybe spend the night? I don't have anywhere to go, I'm hungry, please." This was probably the nicest Laura had been since she was little.

"Uh, one second." She smiled, awkwardly, and went down the hall. "Mom? Mama?" She called and two women appeared around the corner. One redhead, one brunette. They walked forward and the brunette bent down in front of Laura.

"Hello, sweetie. What's your name? Are you lost?"

"My name's Laura. I'm not lost, I need somewhere to go."

"Are you a runaway?"

The blonde shrugged. "I guess."

"Well, hello, Laura. I'm July."

"July? You're names July?"

"I've gotten that before, I'll get it again." She stood up. "How about you come in for a second? We can get you something to eat, and we'll discuss some things with you. Alright?"

"Sure." Laura shrugged, walking inside. "Hold on." The redhead woman spoke, holding up a hand. "Hi. I'm Wilma. Uh, how old are you?"

"Twelve."

"Where did you run away from?"

"I think that's none of your business."

"Well, it-"

"It's none of your business and if I decide I want to tell you, I'll tell you, Wilma." Laura spat. "Can I have that something to eat now?" Wilma stared at Laura for a moment before turning to the redhead girl. "Sissy, go get Andy."

Sissy nodded, running upstairs, soon coming back with a brunette boy. The Andy. "You two, watch Laura." And July and Wilma walked off, upstairs, and shut their bedroom door.

"Wilma, we can't just kick her out. We have to help this kid," July said. "I agree. We should help her. Honestly, if we call the police, she'll probably just be returned to her abusive family, I'm assuming that's what she escaped from, or she'll be put in foster care and that system is...no child should have to experience it." Wilma sighed. "She can spend the night. We'll see what happens in the morning."

"Alright." July smiled, turning the doorknob and walking downstairs into the living room where Sissy, Andy and Laura were sitting. "Laura? We're gonna let you stay the night, okay? We'll discuss more in the morning. Alright?"

"Whatever."

-

That night, Laura couldn't sleep. Two things:

1. way too quiet, how do people sleep like this?

2. Lucie

What the hell had happened to her? Was she okay? She'd probably just kept walking, not noticing Laura was gone. But she'd had to have noticed by now. God, was she okay? What had happened to her?