11:02 am
I get caught.
I was about to scavenge through the house after leaving her in the kitchen when I was surveying the living room. Nothing really caught my attention except the neutrality of the place; it was awfully dull and not even a photo is hung on the walls. Strangely enough, there were traces of frames across the walls, given the holes where nails might've been stuck in a certain past. Even the light canary wallpaper's quite indifferent. Right in front of a sofa, on a black, wooden, coffee table, an ashtray filled to its rim disperse its miasma in the house. It might've been white originally, but now, it was only a disgusting grey. I thought the ash in it would spill anytime.
The question: "And what might ya be doin', kid?" broke my gaze that curiously fixed on the ashtray.
I hadn't even noticed the old man entering this house. My first guess was in his late 50s, and he was dead serious, or at least, not glad. His hoarse voice led me to think that he was the one who burnt all this ash through his lungs. And also that I broke into his house. We looked at each other for a while, without a word, but his eyes were so sharp that I resigned first.
"Hear me first sir, we mean you no harm. We're only looking for a ride and I figured you had one, so I broke in."
"We?"
"There's a disabled girl with me…"
He didn't even seem to raise an eyebrow, though his wrinkles waved in such way that I could tell he was confused.
"Like I said, we need a car. She wanted to go to the sea."
He shut up first but then his face spoke 'understandable' somehow. Out of nowhere, he started to draw back the curtains.
"If ya need a ride, I got one in my garage. But stay a bit and bring that girl here first," he casually opened some windows then.
When I got back into the kitchen, she looked a bit afraid while holding tight her hat and her backpack. She had probably heard my ass getting caught.
"Hey, relax, it's fine. I was busted but I explained things to the owner, and he seems willing to lend us his car."
Her grip loosened a bit.