Just Keep Running

Chapter 3 I call Shotgun

About 2 hours later we picked up and cleaned the house and put everything back to where it was but we had to throw out the things that were broken which Luke was pissed about. "Why did they have to make such a huge mess?" I say annoyed, "I would rather have a huge mess to clean up then have you getting hurt and going missing" Luke says kindly I smile for a second before "Ow dammit!" I yell and fall to the ground. Luke rushes over to me "What happened!" he exclaims " I stubbed my toe on the corner of the coffee table" I tell him, he laughs "You little idiot" Luke says laughing, "Oh shut up Luke! How often do you stub your toe." I say jokingly "Fair point kiddo come on" He holds his hand out for me to grab, I take his hand and he pulls me back up to my feet.

About half an hour later I get a call from my mom on my phone. I answered, "Hey Mom, how's work going?" I ask her "Hi honey It's going okay I guess but I just- can I talk to Luke for a minute please?" She asks me "Sure mom" I respond, handing my phone to Luke "Hey Annie" Luke says "Hi Luke so I just found out that we are super short staffed today and tomorrow so I won't be coming home at all today or tomorrow probably- what Janice! Friday too! Ugh fine! Sorry about that Luke they just told me I'm going to be working all night today, all day tomorrow and Friday. I'm sorry for dumping all this on you so soon but could you just watch Maddie till Friday?" Annie says, sounding guilty about asking Luke to watch Maddie for so long "Yes Annie that's fine I can watch Maddie till Friday It's not a problem" Luke says generously "Oh my god Luke! thank you so much you have no idea how much you're helping me out!" Annie says grateful. "Like I said Annie it's not a problem I'll be home when she gets back from school and we'll do what we always do, go to the park then do homework and eat just like any other day, alright?" Luke says "Alright thank you again Luke I re- Just a minute Janice jeez. Sorry Luke but I got to go now. I'll talk to you later." Annie says then hangs up Luke walks over to Maddie to give her phone back but she has fallen asleep on the couch. Luke looks at her smiles and sets her phone down on the coffee table, puts a blanket over Maddie, turns off the TV and walks away to his room and takes a nap.

About a few hours later it's about 7:00 am and Luke wakes up to the sound of screaming coming from the living room. Luke rushes out of his bedroom and runs to the living room to see Maddie sitting there with tears in her eyes and breathing heavily. Luke sits next to her and pulls her in for a hug, rubbing her back to calm her down, "Shh Maddie it's okay, do you wanna tell me what happend?" Luke asks trying to see if he can help the situation "I-I had a dream that the m-men came back" she tells Luke "Their not coming back anytime soon not while I'm here it's okay they're not gonna hurt you again" Luke tells her soon Maddie stops crying and breaks the hug "I'm sorry I woke you up Luke" she tells him "No, no Maddie it's okay don't be sorry I was already awake I didn't want to wake you up" Luke lies but he had a good reason Maddie just sits there and nods her head, "Here get up get dressed we're going somewhere" Luke says picking Maddie up off the couch and carrying her the the kitchen before setting her down "get your school stuff ready and bring it with you" Luke tells me laughing "Okay, Okay" I say laughing along with him "Hurry up!" Luke yells jokingly across the room "Oh just shut up I'm trying" I yell back sarcastically making Luke laugh "Here think fast" Luke tells me as he throws me a cereal bar for breakfast "Thanks" I says after I catch it "Your welcome, now walk go,go,go out the door come on!" Luke yells grabbing my backpack and slinging it over his shoulder making me laugh as he pushes me out the door and goes to lock it "um I forgot it was broken" he says making me laugh "well I guess you're gonna have to make a stop at a hardware store" I reply "Oh shut up and go get in the truck" Luke says jokingly I start going down the stairs to the parking garage but I hear Luke running down the stairs yelling "Come on let's go!" He laughs as he runs past me then I start running after him eventually we make it to the parking garage as I run past him I yell "I call shotgun" making him laugh and run after me. Luke unlocks the truck and I get in the passengers side "So where are we going anyway?" I ask Luke "Somewhere" he responds vaguely "Wow that's so helpful" I say sarcastically making Luke laugh.

We pull up to the park, we always go to "Luke why are we here? It's dark and we didn't bring the soccer ball?" Luke doesn't say anything and just gets out of the truck walking over to my side I open the door and get out of the car Luke says "what are ya waiting for" closes my door and grabs my hand and starts running over to where a bench is "I brought you here so we could watch the sun rise" Luke tells me as he lets go of the hand and puts his arm around my shoulders and pulls me toward him as we watch the sunrise over the water and trees. Luke looks down at me, smiling then he looks back at the sunrise and we both just stare into the yellow, orange, and light pink sky.

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