My second contribution to the Fiction500 community and something completely different to my first attempt...
I wouldn't have left it like that usually but I was late today and didn't have time to be tidy. Anyway, by the time they got home the maid will have been and tidied away the evidence.
I quickly started shoving things in my bag and crept out the back door just in time to hear the front door open. I knew I'd been pushing it but that was far too close.
I didn't want anyone to find me so I needed to be much more careful.
I quietly shuffled down the garden and climbed the big old oak tree. The tree house had been here already when they moved in, and they never came near it as she couldn’t have children. I'd been living in this tree for two months now and no one had noticed.
I dropped my bag in the corner of the small room and lay down on the bunk beds.
I'd managed to grab a towel today, the nearest thing to a blanket I could find and was looking forward to a warm night.
After today's close call I decided I'd lay low for a couple of days. I'd got sufficient food to keep me going and I’d grabbed enough loose change to buy a coffee or two, maybe even a can of coke too.
I sat up and reached for my pack. I pulled out the towel and buried my face in it. It had that comforting and oh so familiar smell and was thick and warm.
I laid the towel down on the bunk and reached back into my bag and pulled out a packet of Doritos and a bread roll. I was starving but had to make this haul last so resisted the urge to eat the muffin and apple too. I ate the roll and half the Doritos and then settled myself down on the end of the bunk beds huddled under the towel and stared out of the tiny Perspex window.
I had a great view from here. I could see most of the main house and would spend my evenings watching them move through the rooms.
I'd sit for hours staring while they cooked together in the kitchen. Then eat together at the breakfast bar smiling and laughing with each other. Then they would move into the living room and curl up in each other’s arms on the sofa and watch TV. Finally they would disappear up the stairs and I would see their shadows moving around behind the curtains in the bedroom and the lights go out. I longed to be the lady of that house, with not a care in the world and a devoted man by my side.
I’d had it before and it would be mine again one day, I’d make sure of it.
I lay down on the bed and drifted off into a fitful sleep full of dreams of luxury and love and the fateful day that ripped it all away from me…
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