“Penny, nice name,” Otis chuckles, running his fingers through his hair. He leaned back into the sofa, exhaling heavily. “So, Penny, you seem to know more about this situation than I do. Would you mind filling me in on what you actually know?”
"Not much, I'm afraid," she admitted, biting her lip. She still looked as if she would bolt any second, like a frightened animal. She bit at her nail, one of her bad habits. "This group of people broke into my home one night, and the only reason that I escaped was because of my ability. My sister woke me up, because I used to sleep like the dead, and we were both so scared. I managed to get her out with me, but no one else. I don't know what happened to them. My sister thought it would be safer for her to stay with her friends for a while, since they're hunting me. I agreed. Now these people have been hunting me. All I know about them is that they want people with strange abilities and they'll do anything to get them. Alive." After her little spiel, she looked up back at Otis, waiting for a reaction.
“This is too much excitement for me…” Otis breathed, closing his eyes, the frown still creasing his features. He had done everything he could to keep his abilities hidden, even convinced his parents to go on holiday for a bit while he learned to harness them, but now with Penny sat in his front room talking about a group of people who were hunting people like himself——all his trying appeared to be in vain. “How do you know they’re hunting you for something bad?”
"If they were hunting me for something good, do you think they would have broken in the middle of the night and tried to kidnap me?" Penny asked him sarcastically, raising an eyebrow. "If it was good, why couldn't they just approach me and ask me to help them? I'm fairly certain what they want is something bad, or the least very not good for us."
Otis sat up, rubbing his face in that ‘why am I a part of this?’ kind of way. “What’s the worst they could do? Drain us of our powers? At least for me that would be a hefty burden off my shoulders.” If that were the case, he couldn’t understand why Penny would be so opposed to the idea of going with them.
"If you want to go with them, fine, but I don't like the idea of joining people who tried to kidnap me, are currently hunting me down, and have guns that they are more than willing to shoot," Penny responded, blinking hard and trying not to cry as she thought of her parents. They could be anywhere right now, because Penny refused to believe that they were dead. "Just leave me out of it. I'd rather be on the run than in their clutches."
“Well I’m not likely to leave you on your own now, am I?” Though his words came out harsh, there was a slight smile on his face that would tell anyone that he wasn’t prepared to leave them if they were in danger. It just meant he was going to have to adjust his life… again. “Do you have belongings with you?”
Penny smiled wanly at this, but it was clear that she was a bit more hopeful. "A few, in my car," she responded. "But they probably know my license plate number or something by this point. Shit. I'm pretty new at this whole thing, if you couldn't tell."
“Oh I can tell..” The fact she hadn’t carried her belongings with her in case they decided to seize her car was a clear indicator that she wasn’t experienced at being on the run. “I don’t think it would be worth heading to your car, not with that guy being so close.” Otis slowly stood up, as if his body were a bit heavier than it had been this morning. “I’ve got a spare rucksack I don’t really use, and I’m sure some of my sister’s clothes will fit you if you need a change.” He started mumbling things to himself while searching around for some paper and a pen. “Looks like I’m not going to be home for a while.”
Penny's eyes widened. "You're seriously just going to come with me?" she asked, despite the fact that she knew that he was in danger. If she hadn't seen any of it with her own eyes, she might not have ever left her home and family behind. "I mean, of course I want you to, and it's not safe here anymore, but you barely know me. I just want you to make sure that you're sure and that you don't end up regretting coming along and hating me for it."
“If I regret coming along, I’ll leave you the moment I start to doubt.” Otis replied, not even looking up from the paper he was writing on. He set the pen down on the counter and beckoned for Penny to follow him to his sister’s room. He grabbed a rucksack out of his own room and held it towards her. “Some of her t-shirts and jumpers might be a bit oversized, she likes that kind of thing. She’s got a lot of grunge, but of pastel, some normal stuff. Just take what you want. She’s at college anyway.”
Penny smiled a bit at the grunge-y clothing. “My sister likes grunge too,” she said, thinking of her sister and wondering if she would ever see her again. She did her best to not get emotional in front of this near-stranger. “Thank you.” She took the rucksack from him and went through the clothes, mostly picking the more normal looking ones, but took one or two oversized t-shirts as well because they reminded her of her sister.
“Don't mention it, besides I have no doubt that we’re going to be on the road for a while.” Otis smiled before leaving the room. He went into his parents room, rummaging through the closet until finding the compartment hidden in the base. Inside was a box and a large jar of money. His parents were prepared for anything, even potentially losing their son. After finding out that he wasn’t normal, and being the paranoid conspiracy theorists that they were, they had planned for something like this to happen at some point in Otis’ life.
A knock came at front door, and it didn’t sound pleasant. “Penny!” He called, taking the money and box and flying to his own room. “We need to leave.”
Frantically he began compiling his own things into a large bag, taking only one spare jacket. He shoved his car keys and spare wallet into the jacket he was already wearing, just before another, much louder knock, came from the door. He ran back into his sister’s room. “We need to go.”
Note, keys, wallet.. that should be everything he needed on hand right? Dare he take his father’s hunting rifles?
Penny’s mind raced, and she quickly double checked everything she had on her, which wasn’t much. A wallet, her keys, and the clothes that Otis had given her pretty much summed it up. “Okay,” she agreed, glancing around as she finished packing what she could, and threw the rucksack onto her back. “Let’s get out of here.”
Otis made a quick stop by a cupboard under the stairs, there was no way his father would ever forgive him if he took the hunting rifles, but that didn't mean he wouldn't get away with taking anything else. Not like the Beretta 92 FS would be missed.
Just as another loud bang hit the front door, Otis jumped back, locking the cupboard as quickly as he could with shaking hands. "Come on." he found Penny, taking her hand, running through the back of the house to the door that lead to the garage.
He stuffed the gun into his jacket pocket, opening the door to the garage. His little Ford Fiesta was waiting for them, and they would have been out of there sooner if his hand wasn't shaking so much—though eventually he unlocked the car. "Get in.."
Penny nodded and got into the passenger seat, buckling the seat belt with a soft click. She glanced around nervously, terrified that at any moment the two of them would be caught. It still amazed her that this boy who she had barely met was willing to go with her, but she also felt immense gratitude for him.
(Okay so where would be a good place to take the two characters?)
(idk probably a big city bc it’s easy to get lost so maybe like la, las vegas, nashville, nyc, etc.)
(by that i meant easy to lose those dudes bc in a small town they’d stick out)