Chapter Text
This was it, the night Cedar would make it out. Make it /away/. She sniffed a little as she checked the time on the vintage clock on the wall; _10:00pm_. Her foster parents had gone to bed half an hour ago and had quickly fallen asleep, not before sending Cedar to bed with a new unexplained bruise on her arm. Putting on a beanie and a wrist watch, she tiptoed to the kitchen and carefully grabbed a few muesli bars and a bottle of water and slid them into a messenger bag by the door.
Tiptoeing to her ‘mother’s’ purse on the counter she hesitated before nicking a $10 note. And then a $5 for good measure. As she made her way to the front door there was a rustle coming from behind her. Cedar paused, her heart racing, as she slowly turned her head. Nothing.
She looked down to see a mouse scuttle across the floor and stifled a giggle thinking about what would have happened if her ‘mother’ were in her place. She HATED mice, squeeled in fear and jumped on the nearest high surface when she saw one, Cedar thought they were cute.
Back to the task at hand. Unlocking the door and turning the knob she stepped outside into cool night air. Freedom! But... when she closed the door she realised that she would have to lock it again somehow so that her caretakers didn’t suspect a thing. Then again, they probably would suspect a thing when they find that she hasn’t turned off her alarm for _7:00am_ and started her daily housecleaning tomorrow morning.
Shrugging and letting the door close with a tap, Cedar took her first steps into the unknown.
As she walked down the street, the feelings of victory started to ebb away and be replaced with uncertainty. Now that she thought about it, there wasn’t much of a plan past getting out of the house, just the thought of stepping out the door felt like having iron shackles released from her arms. Looking around, half expecting a solution to appear in front of her, Cedar figured she could head to a nearby park and hide out there to figure out a plan. Once she’d made good distance between herself and the house, she started to speed walk to the park. She wanted to run but that seemed too desperate and she didn’t want to put a damper in her dignity.
Soon she was at the park, the walk had warmed her up enough that she didn’t notice how cold it was. Sitting on a patch of grass by a tall tree, Cedar opened her bag and spilled it’s meagre contents; snacks, water, money.
She was completely unprepared.
Packing away her stuff with a sigh, she noticed that something else had come out of the bag, a bus pass! Valid until sometime next year! Now she had the start of a plan, she was going to use that card to get as far away from this town as possible. Maybe go somewhere on the coast, or in the country, somewhere accessible to tourists. That way she could blend in. Maybe she should’ve grabbed a pair of sunglasses too... for a disguise. Nah it won’t matter, she’ll be so far away that no one would even be bothered looking for her. Yes this was a good start. Glancing at her watch Cedar decided to get up _at 5:00am_ and go to the bus station, she trusted to wake up on time, she had a habit of waking up early in Summer.
With one last look at her last night in this neighbourhood, she lay in the grass, shuffling away from a mound of dog poo, and drifted to sleep.
Cedar woke with a jump as something tapped her leg.
“Gah!?”
She shot up and looked down to see a beetle.
“Hey! You scared me!” She whispered harshly. Then she flicked the beetle off.
Checking her watch in the low light she read _4:59am_. Standing up with a stretch she looked back at the beetle uprighting itself in the grass. She picked it up and placed it back on its legs with a short apology and began her walk to the nearest bus station.
By the time she arrived, the sky was a shade lighter and a few houses had lights on inside. Looking at the timetable on the inside of a bus stop shelter, she saw that the next bus would arrive _at 6:00am_. Cedar traced the map to the furthest point of its route in a few towns over, she decided to keep boarding buses until their last stop until she’d gone far enough to call it a day.
Her breath formed a cloud as she sat and waited for the bus.
By the time the bus arrived, two other people had gathered beneath the shelter, a man in a suit presumably heading to work and a lady in a light cardigan and paisley pants. Stepping onto the bus behind the two people she pulled out her pass and scanned it by the door and bee lined to the back of the bus. The door let out a tshhhh as it closed and the bus jerked into a start. Cedar watched the waking town whizz by out her window with a soft smile, she relaxed and enjoyed the ride. Best to live in the moment after all.
The ride took three hours with all the stops and traffic but that gave Cedar time to plan her next moves. Pulling a brochure out from a sleeve in the back of a chair, she flicked between its covers and sized up her chances of surviving in the listed towns and cities. They all seemed too close. Her guardians didn’t care for her she knew that, but they might still make an effort to find her; pass out missing posters or something. She’d need to get far away enough to avoid being recognised.
‘If I got to the furthest town on this map, then I could get a new map and look further.’
Good idea, that seemed like the best plan, albeit the only plan. Settling back into her seat and opening a muesli bar with a sigh, Cedar let herself relax again.
At the last stop, she disembarked the bus and looked at the time table for her next stop. After a moment she noticed that the bus beside her hadn’t set off yet.
“You’re goin’ a long way aren’t ya?” Asked the driver.
Cedar turned to face a broad shouldered lady and quickly came up with an answer.
“Ah, yes. I’m, visiting my auntie. She lives a fair way away.”
“Long way huh? May be quicker to take the train then, just a suggestion. I’ll let get ya on now then, seeya.”
“Uhm bye.”
Watching the bus leave, Cedar took a breath. She hadn’t anticipated that. But people would question what a young girl was doing travelling so far on her own. Her quick answer seemed to work, but for how long?
‘No, I’m fine. I doubt I’ll see the same people each bus.’ Cedar reassured herself. ‘Just keep going. Just keep going.’
Checking the timetable and her watch, the next bus should arrive in an hour. It’d be _10:00am_ by then.
That’s a long time. Looking up and down the street she saw a corner store nearby and decided to loiter around there for a while, maybe buy a toothbrush since she didn’t bring her own, if she did then it would’ve been obvious that she’d gone off to live somewhere else. She was hoping to give the impression that she was kidnapped or something.
Inside the store, Cedar was determined to avoid the chocolate isle, but after passing it a few times she gave in and grabbed herself a bar.
‘Ok what have I got; toothbrush, chocolate, what else? A carrot, I like carrots. Ok that’s it.’
All up it cost $7. That means only $8 left. She was going to regret getting that chocolate.
Cedar wandered around the street looking at books and teacups and other trinkets in the little stores, keeping her mind off of her ‘parents’ and what they might be up to now. Once her hour was up, she went back to the bus stop and waited for her ride.
The day passed by quickly. By _5:00pm_, Cedar had travelled a long way to a seaside city called Dover. By then she’d eaten her carrot and her muesli bars, but not the chocolate, she was saving that. ‘I still have $8, maybe I could get something else.’ Cedar contemplated. She decided to save it for tomorrow, right now she’d have to find some shelter, somewhere reasonably safe to sleep and she figured that could take a while.
She walked down side roads and between buildings looking for a temporary resting place.
“Too damp.”
“Too smelly.”
“Too many people around.”
“I think that’s a cat in there? EEK!”
“Not there. It’s already inhabited.”
“Not here.”
“Not there.”
“.... no.”
“Aha! This’ll do.”
Finally settling in a crevice behind a fairly secure looking abandoned building, Cedar crawled into the dry, narrow space. It was certainly sheltered, there was even some cardboard on the floor and all in all seemed reasonably cozy. It wasn’t much worse than what she normally slept on! It just didn’t have a blanket or pillows... but the day had been so warm that that wouldn’t matter.
Particles of dust curled through the air as her hands and knees padded the cardboard, making the air smell earthy and damp.
Cedar curled up in her makeshift bed and watched the evening light disappear through a gap beside her.
She did it. For now. She’d escaped.