Page 54 of Hard Count

“The faster we get out of here, the faster we can go home and do that again,” I tell him.

“Oz, the first clue is ‘It’s your birthday.’ Are there any books about birthdays?” Nash asks, zipping into action and making me laugh. He smiles back at me over his shoulder.

“Nothing on birthdays,” Holden answers.

“Wait, didn’t we have to give them our birthdays when we signed up?” Frankie asks. “Our box has a number lock on it.” There’s a shuffling noise and then she says, “It’s not mine or Eli’s birthday.”

We take turns giving her our birthdays. “Your birthday is in a few weeks?” Nash asks after I tell Frankie mine. “Why didn’t you say something?”

I nod. “It’s not a big deal. I don’t really celebrate my birthday.” The whites of his eyes glow as they widen in disbelief and then droop in sadness. I turn away and pretend to read the clues on the wall. It’s not that I’m against birthday celebrations. I just never pushed for them. I got the occasional card or gift depending on which parent I was with at the time.

He wraps his arms around me from behind me and covers my hand with his where I’m spinning my bracelet around. He moves my hair aside and rests his head in the crook of my neck, breathing me in.

We both tend to do that a lot. As if being in the same room together grants us something that most take for granted.

A full breath.

Whatever we're building together, it leaves me breathless at times. It also makes me forget about my past. All the pain I feel is lifted off my chest and my lungs expand, filling with air and I can breathe.

“It worked, oh my god, I got it open!” Frankie screams. “A dictionary? What the fuck?”

“There’s also a key, baby,” Eli says. Nash and I look at each other and smile. I can’t wait to ask her aboutthatlater.

“We have a padlock. We need a number code to open it. What about you?” Frankie asks.

I walk over to our door. “Padlock over here too.”

“The key must be for our door to get out,” Holden says.

“The clue on the wall says read it in a book. What books do you have over there?” I ask. Ozzy lists all the books.

“You said you have Shakespeare?” Frankie asks.

“Yeah it’sMuch Ado About Nothing,” Holden replies.

“That quote on the wall. One foot in the sea. It’s from that book,” Frankie explains. “Flip through that one. Maybe there’s numbers or another clue.”

I stare at the wall looking for anything else. “What are you thinking?” Nash asks.

“That one,” I point to the line about letting our hardships define you. “Frankie, you said you had a dictionary?”

“Yeah.”

“Look up hardship.”

I can hear pages being flipped from both rooms.

“There's a four digit number. Two-four-seven-nine. Try it in your padlock and I’ll try ours,” she says.

“Good job, little fox.” Nash kisses the side of my head as I punch in numbers. Our door pops open and we enter the room with Ozzy and Holden.

Their room is just as dark as ours except for the glow of the flashlights on their phones. “Anything in the book?” Nash asks.

“Nothing. We looked at every page,” Ozzy answers.

“What about with that flashlight?” I nod toward the black flashlight on the desk.

They turn their phones off and start flipping through the pages again with the light. “Here’s a nine. A six.” Holden flips a few more pages. “Three and a nine.”