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He glanced over dolefully, only for his eyes to brighten at the sight of chocolate. “You did have food,” he accused happily, snagging it from me.
We polished off the Snickers in seconds. But it didn’t appease much. Now both our stomachs were grumbling.
“Got any more?” Brick asked hopefully.
When I shook my head, he sighed and glanced toward the shopping center. “She sure is buying a lot. That guy must’ve really broken her heart.”
I doubted it; our mother would actually have to have a heart before it could break. But I glanced toward the Metropole as well, agreeing that she was definitely taking her sweet time inside. This wasn’t the first time she’d made us wait for her outside a store, so that wasn’t new. But this evening felt as if she were taking longer than usual.
“You think she’s okay?” Brick asked. “What if she got hurt? Or she’s, like, dead?”
I shot him a dry glance for such a ridiculous question, even though it caused a little leap of fear to gallop through my stomach.
“Grow up,” I said. “There’d be ambulances and police or something all over out here if someone inside got hurt.”
“Maybe she was kidnapped,” Brick guessed. “And no one saw the bad guy take her.”
I wrinkled my face in denial, even as the fear grew stronger. “Who’d want her?” I said.
She wasn’t exactly nice.
“Well, what if someone takes us?” Brick countered. Shivering, he huddled closer to me.
I shoved him away with a scowl. “What’re you doing? Get back.”
He hugged his chest and began to rub his arms vigorously. “I’m cold.”
I was too, come to think of it. I glanced up, growing aware of the time. The sun had set, and with it, it had taken any warmth that had been in the air. Brick was right; the temperature was dropping. Fast.
“She’ll probably be out soon,” I murmured, even though my eyebrows bunched with concern. I hoped she came out soon. I didn’t want to stick around out here too much longer in the dark.
Brick’s comment about someone stealing us kept running through my head. I’d just seen a bit on the news last week about a rise in human trafficking, specifically more boys being kidnapped as sex slaves.
Brick was younger and prettier; they’d probably go for him first. But over my dead body would anyone take my little brother anywhere.
“Hey, I think the mall closed,” Brick said abruptly.
I made a face and tsking sound, because that was just crazy. “The mall didn’t…” But when I glanced down into the entrance’s courtyard, no one was going in or coming out. And did it look darker in there? It definitely looked darker.
Oh crap, had the mall closed?
I sprang to my feet, more uneasy than I wanted Brick to see. But he could tell I was freaking out. He surged up beside me. “It’s closed, isn’t it?”
I glanced around us, wanting to ask someone when the shopping center closed. Except none of the signs were in English. And no one around us was speaking English. Whatever they were saying to each other sounded—I don’t know—French?
This was all wrong. I just wanted to go home. I was starting to get scared. And where the fuck was our mother?
“I’m going to go see if the doors are locked,” Brick announced.
But I grabbed his arm, staying him. “No. I don’t want you going that far away by yourself.”
He rolled his eyes. “Then come with me.”
“But what if she comes back, and we’re not here?”
He flung his hands in the air, fingers stretched wide with aggravation. “Well, what the hell are we supposed to do? Just sit here all night and freeze to death?”
I chewed on my lip, indecisive. Wherever she was, Mother definitely should’ve come back for us by now.
