You Can't Run Away Forever but There's Nothing Wrong with Getting a Good Head Start

[D/N]

Aaaaaaah.

She was back at home.

(Nikki Nelson-Kelly continued from Welcome to the ****ing Monkey House)

Turned out she hadn't run all the way there, or even fast-walked. By the time Nikki got back to the where the path branched off towards the village it was probably late afternoon, and she'd brushed enough of what had just happened to the back of her mind where it just lingered like the dandruff she only needed to treat once a week to keep away.

So she stopped and lingered at the crossroads a moment and remembered to breathe. Realized then that she was right out in the open and was that someone coming down the path? Maybe. It could be other people. Way better people this time. And it'd all be good and safe or maybe it wasn't or maybe it was some animals escaped from the zoo or maybe her imagination and she went north instead of east and hung out camouflaged in the woods for a while as she stealthily approached the west side of the village from behind. She never did figure out for certain who or what might have been coming along that path, but that was OK.

Hey.

You know what Nikki was realizing she was pretty good at? Using this map! She's found it pretty darn easy to figure out where all the paths lead and about where she was. That was a good skill; one she'd never realized she'd possessed. Nice.

OK and it wasn't exactly dark yet but the sun was just starting to get close to nearing the lower edge of her vision so she'd better get back inside before she really put that theory to the test.

The western edge of the houses were all in sight now and she crept to the treeline, fixated on one in particular, and waited another who knows how many minutes until it was just starting to darken a bit more until she fluttered out of cover and up against the exterior. She pressed herself there, stole a glance through the window, and decided beforehand that if anyone was in there and looked friendly she'd be happy and say hi, but no one was in there so the point was moot. Then she listened for any other sounds, heard what might be something in a couple other houses thankfully not right near to this one, and scrambled around the perimeter until she was back inside and saw the same notes etched in the wall where the bed was pulled out just a bit.

DONT GET HURT
STAY +VE
BELIEVE

There we go.

She was back and uncomfortably squashed under the bed, thinking and debating about how much time she could really stay down here. After a while it was pretty dark out and it took a few brain rollovers for Nikki to realize that holy crap, it was probably only like 7 or 8:00 but felt like midnight or something. She'd been out a couple times, peed in the toilet she'd already used this morning and realized that the whole house was gonna smell like pee soon gross, and she'd tried to put a chair under the front doorknob but it didn't seem to be fitting quite right.

So instead she made too much noise dragging the kitchen table to the door to block it. At least if anyone came they'd either knock and be good people or have to like shove at the door to open it and she'd definitely be ready. She tossed the chair she was going to use on top of the table for good measure and went back to the bed and tried lying on top of it for a while but it was really tough for her to imagine sleeping there.

And if it was only like 8:00 jeez how long was she gonna coop up here.

Never mind cause it'd be OK. It'd give her time to think so she went back under the bed and did that. Nikki rested her fingers on her scarf. Hehe, she had that. And with no one to see.

She gently rolled one edge of the scarf under her collar, creating that nice little buffer zone between metal and skin. Held her breath.

And did manage a couple hours sleep split between on top of and underneath the bed.

But by the time Nikki woke and decided she couldn't get back to sleep it was still pretty dark and the sun looked like it was maybe just starting to rise? Man, it had to be like 5:00 or something and she never got up that early. She guessed that's what happened when there's nothing else to do late at night.

Man, she missed her phone.

But either way, new day.

New time.

New ideas and new people and that brought those memories of what was now yesterday back to the front of her mind as she left. And she suddenly felt sick no matter how much she tried to remember those tents. She repeated them.

Because those announcements would gonna be on soon, wouldn't they?

And Danny and Shauna, they'd...

Positive.

(NIkki Nelson-Kelly continued in Sink or Swim, Better Dive Right In))