The Last Good Place of Lily Odilon by Sara Beitia

Author:Sara Beitia
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: young adult, teen fiction, fiction, teen, teen fiction, teenager, angst, drama, romance, relationships, mystery, thriller, runaways
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD.
Published: 2010-10-31T16:00:00+00:00

Albert might be the one whose strength is almost tapped by something as stupid as an asthma attack, but Olivia is the first to drain to zero.

“Let’s stop a minute,” she says when they arrive in the town. They drop themselves onto a bench in the cove of a bus shelter. The best they can say about it as a resting place is that it’s dry, at least, and out of the wind. That’s good enough for Olivia. Within a few moments of what’s supposed to be a short break, she’s slumped against Albert, deep in sleep.

He looks down at her upturned face, smashed into his shoulder. Snores and humid breath come from the open hole of her mouth. Placing a hand under her cheek, he lowers her down to the bench while scooting himself out from under her weight. She stirs a bit and tucks her feet up onto the bench, but she doesn’t wake up.

Albert is very tired, too, but sleep is about as far away as Antarctica. Watching Olivia drop off like a little kid, he envies her the ability to do that. At least one of them is getting some rest.

Maybe it’s because he’s tired, or maybe it’s an effect of constant worry, but when Albert closes his eyes he can see himself floating up above the bus shelter. He looks down and he sees himself and Olivia below. With their frizzled heads and rounded shoulders they look small and ridiculous, and definitely not what anyone would hope for when expecting the rescue to come riding in. They are just two teenagers slumped on a bench in the middle of the night, far from where they were going and still farther from home.

Albert opens his eyes, and he is himself again. Pathetic.

For a few minutes he lets himself just wallow in his misery. His legs bounce up and down in a jerky, nervous rhythm, and he has that speed-freak adrenaline that surges on the strangely alert other side of exhaustion. Unable to take it any longer, he stands up, and Olivia slumps farther down the bench as he does.

“I’m just going to take a walk up the block and back,” he says to her even though she’s now asleep, totally beyond the reach of his voice.

Albert has to move, that’s all—he’s too worked up to sit and watch Olivia sleep. If he just goes up the block and back he’ll be able to keep his eye on the bus shelter the entire time, but still work off some of his nervous energy. He’s afraid that if he doesn’t move his legs will give out on him, like machinery pushed until their springs pop and the whole thing jams.

By this time of night, the town is shut down. Nothing seems to be open, and even the traffic light has gone from timed cycles of red and green to a steady, blinking yellow. Pacing the sidewalk in an unfamiliar town while the rest of the world sleeps, Albert is the loneliest he’s ever been.

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