The Queen

After study hall ended I couldn't get out of the class fast enough. I ran into the girls’ bathroom to hide, still unsure of whether Aodh was trustworthy or not. As soon as I heard all the class room doors I left the bathroom and went to my locker. I stuffed whatever I thought I would need into my book bag. I ran out of the school and headed for home.
I wanted to get into our apartment without any trouble. However, with my luck someone stopped me.
"Elizabeth aren't you suppose to be in school," a voice as withered as a rose in the Sahara asked.
I turned to face Mrs.Milard, our noisy sixty year old neighbor. She looked like any other grandma. In fact I remember she use to bake cookies for all the kids in the apartment. However, Mrs.Milard was known for spreading gossip about the attendants.
"Yeah, um, I'm not feeling too well," I said, it wasn't a complete lie.
"Do you want me to call your mom and have he-"
"No," I nearly yelled. "No, the school called her. Karen's on her way."
Mrs.Milard nodded her head mulling my excuse over. I used that time to get in my apartment. I went to the phone and called Karen. I got her answering machine. I slammed the phone into the receiver.
"Damn it," I whispered.
What am I going to do? Someone knows my secret. Someone who could use it against me. Oh God! What am I going to do?
Run.
I didn't stop to consider who had thought that. It wasn't me. The voice sounded a lot like me but it had an accent. It was faint but it sounded English, no French? It was a combination of a couple of different accents, but still it wasn't me.
I ran to my room and grabbed an old backpack that I had used another time to run away. I ran through my mental checklist that I had for years. Underwear, couldn't forget that. Toothbrush? Would I have time to brush my teeth? Yeah I would. Shampoo and soap? Just in case, I may find a place with running water. Jacket? Defenatly. Jeans or shorts? Both. Shirts, yes. Am I forgetting something?
I know I'm forgetting something. But what? Diary. I pulled out the old radiator in my room and grabbed out my mother’s diary from beneath the wall. I was ready to go.
I quickly wrote a note to Karen explaining what had happened and that I would call her and let her know that I was safe as soon as I could. Then I wrote out a fake note for her to give the police and the foster care agency.
I ran out of the building as fast as I could and hopped on the subway. I figured if I got to the nearest Greyhound quick enough there wouldn't be a missing person’s bolo out. I was right.
Getting on the Greyhound was easier than expected. I bought a ticket to Jersey. It took about an hour and a half. Stupid rush hour. Getting to Jersey was easy. As I was leaving the bus station a news report caught my eye. I stopped to see what was going on. A news anchor was on explaining the new story.
"In other news a Manhattan apartment caught on fire today," the reporter said. "We're going to Tasha Nurkrok who is live at the scene."
The camera went to a pretty blonde Miss America type.
"Thank you Richard," Tasha Nurkrok said. "Behind me you can see the flames engulfing the apartment. The fire started from a gas leak in one of the apartments. All of the tenants got out except for one family, who was in the apartment that started the fire."
Pictures flashed on screen of the family who was presumed to be in the fire. My stomach dropped a thousand miles, down to the Earth's core.
The family in the fire was Karen, Michel, Sarah and Jacob.
"It's a good thing you weren't in that fire," a voice that I'd now become so familiar with said. "If you were our people would lose their only hope for a new age."
"Hello Aodh," I replied coldly.