When the sky turned an inky-blue and the sun disappeared behind the rolling fields that surrounded them, Kit decided to pull over. He knew they weren't close enough to a town to make a stop for the night. Emily agreed. They stopped the car on a small mud track off to the side of a road.

The warm air that had been following them all day gave way to a cooler night and Kit welcomed the change. He slumped back in his seat and looked up at the sky above their heads. Without the thick smog and smoke that covered the city, Kit could make out the stars that lit up the sky above his head.

"I've never seen stars before," he said, scratching his chin.

"Beautiful, aren't they? When I was about six, just before the war broke out, Father took me and my brother to the coast. We snuck out one night and just looked at the stars. He told me all about the constellations."

"That sounds like fun."

"It was. After he died, we still went to the coast, but it wasn't as often and Father made sure I couldn't sneak out of my room again." She sighed. "It's nice to be able to see the stars without a pane of glass in the way."

"It's nice to be able to see them."

Kit turned to look at her, the swooping sensation in his stomach reappearing as he watched her look at the stars with a small smile on her face. She looked free, the nervousness gone, and a look of happiness he'd not seen on her before. He had escaped the confines of a brick city that worked against him. She was finally free from her controlling Father. They had nothing holding them back.

He relaxed against his seat, tilting his head back to the sky to watch the stars and the small wisps of clouds that were just visible in the bright moonlight. It was the calmest he had ever felt. Despite what had happened in the town, he didn't feel the need to look over his shoulder constantly and could just rest until they planned their next route.

With Emily's new idea of travelling throughout the country and not really settling down, they needed to plan their next moves. They definitely wanted to go to the coast and the supplies and petrol would get them there, but Emily had suggested along the way they stop off to get some new clothes. If they were being searched for, the clothes would give them away.

"We should clean your ear," Emily said. "It might only be a graze, but even those can be dangerous."

"Fair enough. Then we should eat, get some sleep, and figure out where we will go next."

Emily reached into the backseat and grabbed a small piece of cloth and a little glass bottle. Kit watched her pour a small amount of liquid from the bottle onto the cloth before lightly pressing it to his ear. He tried not to flinch at the slightly stinging sensation. When she was done, Emily threw the bit of cloth onto the backseat and grabbed one of the few sweet buns they had left.

"Because you were so brave." She laughed, handing him the bun.

"Not because they're going to go stale?"

"Well, that too. Sweet buns for supper has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember."

"I used to eat them all the time, but you get sick of it after a while, like most things I s'pose. They were cheap to buy at the end of the day when the baker was closing up. Pa would buy them when he finished work."

"That was the first time I think you mentioned your father."

Kit shrugged, tearing the sweet bun apart and placing a small piece in his mouth. "There ain't much to say. Both my parents died a couple of years ago, but they weren't great parents and we didn't have much. I started running with Rob and the others to make a bit of money."

"How old were you?"

"About nine when I first started. The war was going on, Pa went off to fight, Ma struggled to put food on the table, and I figured I didn't have nothing to lose. 'Course, I've been in Newgate several times, but it was worth it to have a few extra coins in my back pocket and some food in my stomach."

Emily nodded, twisting the sweet bun around in his fingers. "Must have been hard. Here was me thinking that living with Father being the way he was was bad. It's nothing compared to what you went through."

"It don't matter. It's all the past, right? We focus on what happens next. That's all we can do."

"Right. The next adventure awaits."

Emily grinned and tucked into the stale sweet bun, Kit following suit and quieting the slight rumble in his stomach. They ate in silence, feeling the night air on their skin and gazing up at the stars shining brightly above their heads.

The stale, sweet bun reminded him of all those evenings when he was younger. He would wait for his father to come home, initially excited at the idea of sweet buns for supper, but quickly growing bored with it. They never had enough money, never had enough food, and Kit would spend his nights curled up on the straw mattress on the floor listening to his parents argue with each other.

It was a time in his life that he didn't like to think about or dwell on any longer than he had to, even if it had pushed him to the life he now shared with Emily. He had done his best to forget all about his parents and the life they had led all those years ago, but he could never forget listening to them argue. He'd never forget the bruises on his mother's face and the tears in her eyes when she tried to act like everything was normal.

When they finished the sweet buns and tucked into a can of peaches, they grabbed the blankets that Emily had managed to grab. Not wanting to leave the car, and exhausted from the chaos of the day, the two of them curled up in their seats and promptly went to bed.

~~~

First Published - February 11th, 2024