Crown’s Plank (forty-one) Dirt Mouth

Tobi stared at Tess’s limp body and wondered what she would do next. Surely, dawn couldn’t be too far away. Let Miss Antonia find her on the floor with Tess and there would be hell to pay. Her mind and her heart warred with one another. Trust never turned out well for Tobi, ever.

She would put her in bed. Yes… she would put the girl in bed and pretend that none of it had ever happened. Lie? No. She would simply shut her mouth and pretend that she knew nothing. Hadn’t that saved her before? Yes. The less involved, the better.

Just as quickly as the option came into Tobi’s mind, she dismissed it. No. She had been abandoned and she knew how that felt. She would not do that to Tess. She felt hopeless and terrified, like a small child lost in a crowd.

She needed to be close to Tess. She gently took the girl’s head from her lap, slid down behind her on the floor, and placed her forearm beneath Tess’s head as a sort of pillow. She wrapped her other arm around Tess’s body, pulled herself as close as she could to the girl, and buried her face in her silky hair.

Dad… Vawndila… mom… anyone, help me…

To be continued…

Crown’s Plank (forty-two) The Fourth Nine