(A.N. Well my lovelies, here's what I like to call Side Projects on Steriods. [That would make a good title for an autobiography. Or an album. I claim that as mine.] What originally started out as a oneshot in my mind has seemed to spawn into a multi-chaptered fic of epic proportions. So instead of tossing it into the corner of my brain that all plot bunnies lie I decided to let this idea grow. And grow it has. It grew so much I had to get someone to help me! So the wonderfully awesome guitargoddess2016 has volunteered to put up with my writing and laziness for the sake of this story. Thank her.
This will probably only be updated every week or two weeks. Feel free to bug me about it though. Among this I also have Only Hope [Which a new chapter is in the works for. In a burst of creative genius I have decided to rework a few major plot points. Trust me, it'll be awesome] and a mini fic that has been bothering my mind for awhile and is slowly being written. Slowly.
So now I will shut up and let you read. Enjoy.)
Join The Parade
Prologue – The End.
For a boy with the emotional range (and intelligence level) of a teaspoon, Chris Barker could throw one hell of a party. His parents had left him-for a week while they had a second honeymoon halfway across the world, no less-with an unlocked liquor cabinet and the answer of yes, he could have a couple of friends over while they were gone.
If a couple of friends meant almost half of the junior class, then they would be totally fine with it.
Nora Patton silently wondered how she'd gotten herself into this situation as people around her danced to the ear-splitting music pumping through the speakers in Chris's living room. The alcohol had been flowing all night and when Chris's parent's supply had run dry his twenty-two-year-old brother Nick had gone to get more.
A thin haze of smoke and the scent of cigarettes, sweat, and even a hint of marijuana clouded the air in the house and Nora wasn't surprised that drugs had found their way into the party. They were in a small town; there was little else to do for kids like her to have fun besides get high.
Sometimes Nora was sure that her mother would find out about what she did in the middle of the night. She was just waiting for the day for her mother to finally pull back the good-girl attitude she'd hid behind for years and reveal the mess-up that her peers and so-called friends had made her into. Eventually her mom would realize that she was stumbling home, wasted, supposedly coming back from an all-night study session. But she figured her mom would rather just turn a blind eye and pretend her daughter was on her way to becoming a productive member of society.
Sliding out of the mass of dancing bodies, Nora set her drink down on a nearby table and searched for her friends. Well, the people she talked to every day and had gotten her into this party. Friends didn't let friends do this to themselves.
She found Jess, Amy, and Madison draped around their respective boyfriends and before the awkwardness of being alone could set in she felt an arm behind her wrap around her waist and her boyfriend's deep voice and hot breath tickled her ear.
"Hey baby," Jack said from behind her, his head resting on her shoulder. She giggled and put a hand on the side of his face, turning to peck him on the cheek. He moved to press their lips together. His chips-and-salsa breath contrasted with her beer-and-nicotine breath but somehow it worked. He had promised to stay sober that night and to be the designated driver at the end. He didn't drink anyway, ever since his dad had gotten in that drunk driving accident.
"Having fun?" he asked loudly above the music as he let her go, spinning her around to face him.
She nodded and said, "I'm going to go dance some more. Wanna join me?"
He shook his head, "Gotta keep an eye on Trevor. You know how he gets." He leaned down to kiss her again, "Just save a dance for me, okay?"
She giggled and gave him a thumbs-up, turning to head back to the dance floor. Picking up her drink on the way, she rejoined the mass of sweating teens and let loose.
After a few sips of her beer she had started getting dizzy. Blaming it on all the dancing and loud music, she had stepped out to get some air on the back porch. The only people there were a sweaty couple making out and after she came out they both looked up and hurried to straighten themselves out before the girl pulled the boy back into the house with a mischievous grin on her face.
With the haze around her getting thicker she took a few deep breaths and another gulp of beer, draining the cup. Tossing it off the deck and into the yard, she admired the calm night, feeling the bass of the music indoors beneath her bare feet on the wood.
Leaning on the railing of the deck for support, the haze grew and her mind began to panic. It became a dark tunnel, pulsing at the corner of her vision and growing bigger by the moment, swallowing her. Gasping for breath she realized what was happening as she grasped the railing hard before feeling herself give way.
Jack, was her last thought, I have to get to Jack.
When the haze lifted, she opened her eyes. On top of her sat a boy, but she couldn't see his face in the darkness. She was in a forest somewhere, and she felt dead leaves and branches around her, scraping her bare arms and legs, and she immediately wished she'd worn something besides a tank top and shorts.
The air was hot and humid for the middle of the night. Sticky. She felt disgusted and tried to move, her head aching, before arms pinned her down.
"She's awake," one voice said, deep and male, slurred after one too many drinks.
"Good," another voice cackled, nasally and female.
"The fun can begin," the boy on top of her said, and she saw him smirk, twisted, crooked teeth shining in the moonlight.
She tried to move, tried to scream, but she felt sluggish and a piece of thick duct tape was placed over her mouth. Her hands were bound by the duct tape as well, and one of the boys had gripped her by the hair, dragging her across the ground and sitting her up against a tree.
"She's so out of it," the girl laughed, "She won't remember a thing."
The other boys just stood there, flanking the girl, who stood in front of Nora with her arms folded and her hip cocked to one side.
"Do whatever you want," she said, turning away and walking a few feet before calling out, "you've got an hour."
She didn't remember what exactly happened to her, she hoped she never would because all she knew was that she was now naked, her thighs caked in blood, her lower body aching and her entire body feeling violated and sticky, caked with dirt and blood and she didn't want to know what else.
The girl stepped forward then as the boys, faces still obscured in darkness, though she figured she would have probably been able to see their faces if she hadn't been drugged, zipped up their pants and Nora looked through heavy-lidded eyes at what the girl held in the hand.
A pocketknife glinted in the moonlight.
Through the tape, she screamed.
The girl knelt in front of her, studying her, taking Nora's face in one hand.
"You're very pretty," she said calmly, "It's a good thing you'll be able to die young. You'll make a pretty corpse if they ever find your body."
Nora squirmed, trying to get away from the girl, but the girl's long fingernails dug into her chin and Nora's slow, weak attempts at fighting didn't even faze the girl.
"Then again," the girl took the sharp end of the blade, pressing it in the middle of Nora's chest and applying pressure as she dragged at down slowly, deliberately, "They probably won't find your body. And even then, you'll have so many marks." The girl considered her words, continuing to drag the knife over different parts of Nora's body, "You won't be pretty anymore."
The entire time Nora had promised herself she wouldn't cry. But now she let the tears fall.
They left her broken and bleeding on the forest floor. In the back of Nora's mind she must be behind Hyde Park, the playground only half a block from Chris's house.
The front of Nora's mind fought back the last of the drugs and the immense headache as she realized she was dying.
Holy shit, she was dying.
And she deserved it. She was a liar.
Every day of her life she had lived a lie. And now her mother was going to have to bury her only child, all because Nora had let herself fall into the wrong crowd and had loved every minute of it.
She thought of her family. Of her grandparents and her cousin and her friends and Jack oh Jack forgive me, forgive me. I didn't mean for this to happen. I swear to God.
Nora had never been very religious. Her mother had never made her go to church, though her grandmother had a few times. It just wasn't something she did.
But that night, Nora prayed. She prayed and begged and sobbed on the ground, looking at her arms which lay limply in front of her, the blood coating them black and shiny in the darkness.
Please God, she prayed, her words jumbling into one run-on plea for salvation that she knew would never come, Please just let me live and I promise I'll change and I'll tell the truth and I won't drink and I'll stop smoking and I'll go to church every Sunday and even on the weekdays if you want just please oh please don't let me die what will happen to Jack and to my mom and to all my friends and I know if I die all alone out here it will just kill my mom and I don't want to hurt her I never wanted to hurt her or anyone I was just having fun just please oh please don't let me die…
Looking up, she thought she saw someone walking towards her through the trees. He was tall and stern-looking, with short white-blond hair and hazel eyes that she could feel judging her but also trying to calm her down. He was in a black marching uniform with gold trim and the smallest white light illuminated him, like a halo. He stopped about three feet in front of her and just stared down at her.
Using all her strength, she raised a bloody hand out for him, her cracked lips moving to form the words, "Help…me…" She didn't care that she was naked and bleeding on the dirty ground. She just wanted help.
He just sighed and stepped forward, getting on his knees in front of her. She just looked into his eyes, so sad and wise, and he took her hand.
With that, she let herself fall away from the world.
(A.N. Please don't forget to review and favorite. And hop on over to guitargoddess2016's profile. Her stories are koala tea and worth reading. Plus she's got a Doctor Who story, and if there's one thing I love more than Mikey Way it's British men in bowties.)