Free Lost Girl: Part 2 by Elodie Short Page B

last night when he took his top off, I thought I was going to scream in excitement.
    When I’m finally finished editing the paragraphs I had set out to do today, I look at my digital clock and see that they’ve been gone for over three hours now. For a moment I worry, but then push it to the side. They’re probably just spending some time at home, talking to their mom and hopefully working things out. I get up from the chair and stretch out, feeling a little stiff from sitting in the same position for so long, I wonder if I should make myself some lunch or if I should wait for them to come back.
    I pace up and down my apartment a few times trying to decide what to do, then get my phone and text Rick, /are you back for lunch? x/ I wait for a little while, but when no reply comes back I decide to make myself a cheese sandwich. I’m just about to sit down at the table when the door buzzer sounds.

Chapter 2
     
     
    “Hello?”
    “It’s us,” Rick replies in a shaky voice.
    “Come up,” I answer and press the door release to let them in.
    I open my front door and wait for them to come up the stairs. Before I see their faces, I notice the big red stains around Rick’s collar on his shirt. “Oh my god!” I shout out and rush up to them, “what happened?”
    Anna’s bottom lip trembles as she tries to speak, but she starts crying instead.
    “Come inside,” I usher them while I place a hand on her shoulder to guide her in.
    “What happened?” I ask again once we’re in my apartment and I’ve closed the door behind us. I can now see the clear extend of damage to Rick’s face up close. His nose has been bleeding and looks a little swollen and there’s a black circle forming around his left eye.
    Anna is still standing aimlessly next to us, trembling and looking scared.
    “Go play with Herbert Annie,” Rick whispers to his sister with a pained face and then slumps down on one of my kitchen chairs. Anna slowly slopes off towards Herbert and I open up my freezer to get some ice out. I wrap a handful of ice cubes into a kitchen towel, and carefully press the bundle against Rick’s eye.
    “Long story,” he sighs, “Mom did not agree with me taking Anna away again.”
    “So she hit you?” I ask in shock.
    “She didn’t hit me, I fell.”
    I raise my eyebrows at him in disbelief, “did anything happen to Anna?”
    “No.”
    “Then why did she cry?”
    “I guess she’s just upset at seeing me hurt.”
    I sigh, dropping the bundle of ice cubes into my lap I sit down, “are you going to tell me what really happened?”
    “I will,” he whispers, “but I don’t want Anna to hear.” He takes the ice cubes and from my hands and presses them back to his face, “how bad does it look?”
    “As long as you keep the towel there, you can’t see a thing,” I joke. He laughs in reply and then instantly whinges in pain.
    “We could go outside to talk,” he suggests, looking over at Anna in concern, “do you think she’ll be okay?”
    “She didn’t break anything last time I left her alone, if that’s what you mean. You know her better than me. Do you think she’ll be okay?”
    “You left her alone before?” he asks in astonishment.
    “Yeah, but only to take a shower.” I shrug lightly. “She showed up yesterday morning when I was still in my pyjamas.”
    “Oh, okay,” he sighs in relief, “I think she’ll be okay for a bit.”
    I open the door and pick up my keys from the kitchen counter so we can close it behind us. We sit down in the gallery with our backs against the wall, just about able to look down to the ground through the railings. I look at Rick for a long moment while I wait for him to start talking and I watch his face change from pain to anger to sorrow as he collects his thoughts.
    “Did you talk to your mom?” I ask, hoping to get him started.
    “Yes.” He breathes out deeply, a wrinkle forming above his brow, “and she wasn’t too happy with what I had to say.”
    “I was