“I don’t need it anymore,” he said.
I felt him watch me walk to the bus station. I sat outside on the bench, huddled in his hoodie. It smelled of boy, but clean—not like Brian and Gavin. A shudder went through my body when I thought of them. Had they made it back to town yet? Were they looking for us? They’d want us dead for sure now.
I looked down at my wrists, the skin sore and aching under the fabric strips. I clenched my hands, made fists, gritting my teeth against the pain.
I was never going to let anyone hurt me again.
CHAPTER TWELVE
A dark-colored truck slowed as it neared the station. I gripped my packsack, ready to run. I glanced at Owen’s truck in the dark, then back at the one coming closer. Was it them? The truck passed under a streetlight. A glimmer of silver hair, a grizzled face peering over the steering wheel. An old man.
Finally light was coming up on the horizon. An hour later, the bus pulled into sight with a groan of brakes. There was a noise behind the station door as it was unlocked, then an open sign was shoved in the window. A small cluster of people had been gathering for the last hour. They filed in.
The woman behind the counter slurped her coffee and took my money without even looking at me. Her hair was messy like she’d just woken up. I climbed aboard the bus, which smelled faintly of lemon cleaner and vomit, then settled into a window seat. I watched my sisters walk across the road. Courtney seemed off balance, wobbly, like a passing vehicle could blow her over. Dani was gripping her arm. They went inside, then came back out and got on the bus.
My eyes met Dani’s when they passed but we didn’t smile or speak.
A heavy woman sat beside me, shoving her bag under the seat in front of her, pushing at it with feet that looked like they were going to burst through her shoes, the laces straining to hold all the flesh in. She gave me a look and a disgusted sniff, then pulled out a book. I was happy she didn’t want to talk.
It would take six hours for the bus to get to Vancouver. Six hours before we were away from Brian and Gavin. I watched out the window, studying trucks going past, people climbing aboard the bus, catching my breath every time I saw a baseball cap or someone tall. Finally we were loaded and the bus was pulling away. It stopped in the next town, and a couple of others, but we never got off to stretch our legs. I walked to the back once to use the washroom, not even glancing at my sisters, but from the corner of my eye I saw that Dani was leaning against the window, Courtney asleep against her shoulder.
I had to squeeze past the woman in my seat, almost landing in her lap, then settled myself against the window, counting telephone poles zipping by until the sway of the bus finally lulled me to sleep. I woke with a lurch as the woman beside me grabbed my arm. She gave me a strange look.
“You were having a nightmare.”
“Sorry.” My face flushed, my skin felt hot.
I stayed awake after that.
*
When the bus got closer to Vancouver I stared out the window, my forehead pressed into the cool glass. I was amazed by all the people, cars, buses, the huge buildings.
The bus depot was a large building on the harbor. I’d expected something industrial, concrete and metal, but it was stone. The bus driver intoned over the speaker that it was a heritage building. Behind the depot I could see the wide blue expanse of ocean sparkling in the sun. As I stepped off the bus, gusts of wind blew salt water toward me. When I stopped to inhale the scent, the large woman bumped into me, nearly knocking me over. I hoisted my packsack over my shoulder, gripped the skateboard Owen had given me, and moved on.
Outside the station, I watched people mill about and waited for my sisters to get off the bus. Courtney still seemed dazed and was walking stiffly, but at least she was looking around. Dani had dark circles under her eyes, her shorn hair sticking up on one side. They were holding hands.
Dani glanced at me, her face revealing nothing. Across the parking lot a maroon van started up and slowly came around. PHOENIX BOXING AND TRAINING was written on the side doors. I couldn’t see the man behind the wheel, just a shock of white hair and a beefy forearm covered in tattoos hanging out the window. I remembered Owen saying his dad’s friend had been in prison.
The van pulled in front of my sisters. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the side door opened automatically and they climbed in.
Dani’s eyes met mine for just a second, then the door was sliding shut.
They were driving off.
I wanted to run after them, screaming, Stop, don’t leave me!
The van turned onto the road and was swallowed up by the traffic. I looked around. Most of the passengers were gone. The fat woman was climbing into a Jeep, two big dogs in the backseat licking her neck.