• I was having too much fun to remember trust anymore. I ran down the stairs and into the living room sitting in front of the furnace again. I hugged my knees to my chest and balanced my forehead on them. My legs warmed up a little bit and I opened my eyes. Jack stood in front of me silent and frowning. Emily stood in front of me confused and a bit disappointed. I probably hadn’t been amazed enough with the secret room as I should have. I frowned and looked away from them.
    “You can’t live with nothing to hold on to Janet.” Jack mumbled to me. Emily probably looked more confused than before.
    “I’ve tried trusting people it doesn’t work Jack. Not for me trust has never worked for me.” I said. Emily spoke up in her little voice.
    “Mommy says that everyone needs someone.” I didn’t know why but that sounded familiar. The doorbell rang startling me to my feet. Emily ran to the door and looked out of one of the windows next to the door and screamed Mommy. She flung the door open and a lady who had the resemblance of Emily but much more matured walked through the door. With a pocket book on her left arm and a bag with three sodas in it on her right. The fan turned on after Emily flipped the switch. My hair blew a bit to the right and I collapsed to the criss crossed position again. The woman walked toward me and smiled. She was smiling though I don’t know why because I was a huge mess. My hair looked like it needed an all time wash, my dress was splattered with dried mud, and my feet were barely passable as feet. I bet I even had a leaf or two in my hair.
    “Hello and who is this Jack?” she asked she tracing my face with her finger tips. I stood up. Her smile widened a little more. The woman was very clean and had some business pants on and a white collar shirt with a black jacket.
    Jack moved to the left of me a little forward though.
    “Hi mom this is Janet. I was wondering if she could stay the night seeing as she has no home?” He was very convincing when it came to smoothing the edges. I looked down a bit self-conscious.
    “Of course Jack she is welcomed to stay in the guest room if she’d like.” She offered.
    “Ma’am umm Jack showed me the tree house out back and I was hoping to stay there.” I said uncomfortably
    “Of course you can but why ever would you want to stay there?” she questioned. I looked down and pondered why I did want to stay there when I could sleep in one of these comfy rooms. I saw Emily appear at the woman’s left elbow. Jack jumped in for me.
    “She said that she’d never slept in a tree house before and she wanted to see how it felt.”
    “Oh ok you may sleep there. I’m just going to make dinner then you all go find something to do. Maybe help Janet with washing up a bit Emily.” She looked me up and down and walked into the same room Jack had when he went to go get a snack. Emily surprising enough was very intelligent with the sophistication of at least ten. But when it came to emotion she was at the same level as her age. She showed me to her room. This was to the left at the top of the stairs. It had pink walls that were tinted here and there. It had a purple rug and a fluffy white bed. She was very happy that I awed at her room.
    “I have a secret room too. But Jack and mommy don’t know about it. You want to see it?” She whispered excitedly holding my hand waiting for my reply. I looked into her big happy blue eyes again and shrugged.
    “Sure Emily.” I told her. She pulled me to the other side of the pink room and pushed back one of her purple dresses. Behind there was a wall and Emily thought it a door. I was confused she wasn’t though. She pushed something I couldn’t see and where she touched glinted and I saw it clearly. It was a miniscule knob so small you had to be looking for it to find it.
    Emily looked back at me her hair swinging around loosely. She saw the genuine awe on my face and giggled. She let go of my hand to use her right thumb and pointer finger to turn the tiny knob. She pushed and the wall pushed in not just a small section like in the room we were hiding in before but the whole entire left wall caved in.
    “Whoa.” I whispered Emily giggled again
    “Come on I have to show you something.” She whispered quietly. I walked through behind her bare feet. The stone floor was freezing. Emily pushed the door closed and it was like the whole room had frozen in darkness. She took my hand again and dragged me through the darkness a few feet. I heard a tap and a light flickered on next to my right shoulder I jumped.
    “Stop being so surprised you’re going to wake them up. Jack leaves them in here to sleep so they don’t act badly.” She whispered tiptoeing towards a little window. I saw a very faint glow in the window panes. It was a bluish white glow. She tapped the window and the glow brightened a bit. She started tapping in a rhythm that I had no idea meant. But it was melodic.
    “Jack doesn’t know that there’s a window either.” She whispered so softly that you couldn’t here the echo. The light that had popped on next to me earlier crackled a bit and fizzled out. Emily wasn’t scared so neither was I. But I did hate the dark. To end with her tapping she used her finger nail to poke where all four panes met. The window creaked open and the glow intensified in a pattern. And soon it was no longer glowing but a bright light. She held her hand in the window and the bracelet wolf that hung together by their tails jumped onto her palm. Her smile could clearly be shown. I was starting to wonder what kind of family I’d entered.
    “Aren’t they pretty?” She asked mesmerized by their running. “Jack says their dangerous when they haven’t slept. But they aren’t they’ve only slept once the past few days.” She was still mesmerized.
    “Emily I-I think we should put them back and get washed for your dinner.” I said my voice cracking here and there. I was really scared now her eyes wouldn’t move off of the figurines. I thought about what she said no one knew where we were or what this place was. No one would know if we died in here. My heart beat faster than ever. Emily smiled and her eyes widened watching the bracelet. She let the wolf run around her shoulder’s and stop on the other arm.
    One wolf stopped its running that wolf was on the end. The other white wolf turned in protest. Emily was still smiling.
    “Keep running, keep running!” she said to the wolf on the end. “Keep running or you’re gone!” she said her eyes filled with little tears. I was frozen to the spot and I wanted to help her so badly but I couldn’t. All of a sudden the entire wolf pack stopped running and Emily collapsed in an odd position. Her eyes closed with her smile still positioned on her face. It brought me back to the surface I picked her up and threw the bracelet back into the window slamming the window closed. I ran and the light fizzled on for me to see clearly. The door opened automatically some how. I bound threw it and lay her body on her bed. I put the dress back in its position.