Before anyone says how this couldn't possibly happen, its just a story. Enjoy.
She felt as if she was always cold, always hungry, always afraid. She wasn't sure for how much longer she could live like this. She wanted to cry, and she always felt as if she was on the verge, but never did.
Bonnie hugged her blanket closer to her, balling her fingers around the ends and tucking them underneath her chin as she shivered. She tried not to breathe in to much of the mold odor emitting from her blanket, but knew it was pointless when she was surrounded by mold because of the decaying house they had found refuge in. She brought her legs closer to her chest and dug her back further into the corner of the old, gutted out room she had deemed hers.
A rough series of coughs drew Bonnie's attention to the area across the dark room right beside the cold, broken fireplace. Her grams sat there, under a mound of blankets, frail fingers skimming over the rims of the cans of food they had left as she counted and planned.
Bonnie instantly felt bad, guilty. If she were cold and hungry, she could only imagine how the much older woman felt. Bonnie knew the woman went without eating some days just for she could have more. She also knew her grams didn't sleep much, allows on the look out for those who wanted to cause them harm.
She loved her grams, these days more than she ever had before. The woman was strong, amazing.
As if feeling her eyes on her, Sheila Bennett eyes flickered up and met hers. The old woman smiled, astonishing Bonnie once again. Bonnie found it hard to smile these days.
Sheila sat up a little straighter and opened up her blanket and waved Bonnie forward. "Come on, child." Bonnie didn't waste time scrambling to her feet with her blanket and moving across the dusty floor to her grandmother, and even though she wasn't exactly a child anymore, not at seventeen, she curled up next to her grams, enjoying the heat the woman let off.
Sheila closed her blanket around them as she hummed the tune she always hummed ever since Bonnie was a small child. Bonnie rested her head against the woman's shoulder and closed her eyes briefly.
"Grams," Bonnie asked hesitantly, opening her leaf green eyes. Her grams stopped humming her tune and hummed in acknowledgment. "Are you feeling alright?"
"I'm fine, Sweetie." The woman said simply.
Bonnie bit her lip, gaze on the boarded up, bay windows across from them. "Why don't we try going to the border?" She asked the question that had been on her mind ever sense they had met that dying man in the forest a few days ago who claimed he was trying to reach the border.
"It's not safe," Her grams reasoned.
Bonnie sat up straight and looked at her grams. "But maybe a part of it is now? Maybe that's why he was trying? There's a part that's safe now."
"That man was desperate, Bonnie. He just wanted to try and he died trying. Its not safe."
Bonnie chest burned with indignation. "But grams its not safe here either. They could come for us at anytime, then what? They'll kill us, like how they killed dad." She shouted.
"You better lower your voice, Bonnie Bennett," the woman scolded. "You need to listen to me, I know what I'm talking about."
"Than why is dad dead and why are we living like this?" Bonnie shot back.
Sheila's eyes widened briefly before her face hardened. Bonnie wished she could have taken her words back as soon as she said them.
"Maybe you're right, Bonnie," the woman said quickly, interrupting her, "Waiting her is just waiting on the inevitable." He gaze flickered to their pathetic collection of canned goods. "We'll start for the border tomorrow." Before Bonnie could say anything else or apologize, her grams was standing, dropping her blanket around Bonnie. "I'm going to make sure the back is locked up tight, get some rest, child." The woman quickly moved out of the room, leaving Bonnie behind to beat herself up.
(H)
Her grams always did things early, so Bonnie wasn't surprised when the woman roused her just as the sun was rising, already packed and ready for travel.
"Roll up your blankets, we're leaving now, we don't have a lot of sunlight." The woman handed her a box of raisins. "Hurry up, child."
Bonnie quickly scrambled to her feet, ignoring the aches and pains that came from sleeping on the hard floor. As she rolled up her blankets and threw a couple of glances at her grams. "We don't have to do this, grams. I was just in a bad mood yesterday."
Sheila gave her a strained smile. "No, you're right. Its just as dangerous being here as trying for someplace better."
Bonnie wasn't sure what to say, so she finished rolling up and blankets and shoved them into her dull, green backpack and slung it over her shoulder. She pulled the raisin her grams had given her out of her pocket and began eating her meager breakfast of dried fruit. Her grams seemed to be in deep thought.
"Now, we're going to stay in the trees, Bonnie, and avoid the roads at all costs." Bonnie nodded, she knew this. "If you see anyone you hide," Bonnie frowned, "it doesn't matter if they have skin like ours or as pale as a ghost, Bonnie, you hide." Grams locked eyes with her. "We don't trust anyone."
They couldn't even trust those in the same situation they were in, those with the same skin color? She couldn't understand that. "We have to trust someone at some point, right, Grams?" She asked.
The woman sighed. "Unfortunately, yes, but for now you just trust me. You can do that, right, Bonnie?"
The girl nodded quickly, wanting to make up for what had happened between them yesterday. "Of course, grams."
The woman still didn't seem pleased and actually seemed more worried as if a sudden thought had just hit her. "But if you need to trust someone because I'm not around, just trust in your instincts." Bonnie hesitated but nodded.
(H)
Bonnie wiped her her nose with the back of her glove covered hand as she followed after her grams through the tall naked trees. Her whole was numb with cold and her nose ached and ran. She watched the white tufts of air come out of her mouth with each haggard breath she took. She coughed weakly, attempting to make as little noise as possible as cold air rushed down her throat.
They had been walking for hours with just a couple of breaks between. Bonnie wasn't sure how far the border was from where they were, but she knew that the terrorists that called themselves The Caucasoid Confederation for a Better World, or the CCBW, had taken over most of Virginia, except of Washington D.C., North Carolina, South Carolina, and parts of Georgia the last time she had been able to hear. That was months ago though.
Before they grew to power, Bonnie was a normal junior in high school with two best friends, she lived in a nice house with her father, drove a car gifted to her on her sixteenth birthday, and thought they there was no way for what happened to happen in the United States of America.
Since the CCBW took over her town Bonnie's life went to hell. Every person's of color life went into the pits because of the radical, violent, racist extremists. Houses were burned, churches were burned, men were dragged out of their homes and hung from trees.
She and her family had been forced out of their home and onto the street, they went into hiding like so many others. But they were hunted down. If you weren't 100% white, you were an enemy. Her friends, the ones she had since she was seven years old were no longer allowed to talk to her or help her in fear of being labeled a traitor to the confederation and punished.
Her dad had been with them at first, back when they lived in the old cabin his boss had said he could hide out in until all of this blew over. They stayed there for three months, it was secluded and hidden away, a perfect place to hide. It had been lonely, but it had working water and heat. It wasn't to bad. But than one day men in big, black trucks arrived with their big guns and forced her dad outside were they executing him right in front of them with a bullet to the back of the head.
Bonnie remembered how gleeful all of them had been as they laughed over her father's body. She remembered how they promised to return and do worse to her and ordered them not to leave until a transportation team arrived to haul her and her grams off to one of those horrid camps. They hadn't stayed though, they ran once the men left, before they could bury her father's body.
Bonnie thought about her friends a lot. Elena and Caroline, her two best friends since kindergarten. She wondered how their lives were now, better than hers she didn't doubt. Sometimes she found herself wallowing in resentment towards them though obviously CCBW's rise wasn't their fault and she doubted they agreed with their views. But she just felt as if in general people could have did more.
"Bonnie," said girl came to a stop upon hearing her grams voice. She brought her attention to the woman and off her own mind. Sheila stood in front of her, one hand raised as she obviously listened, covered head cocked to one side.
Bonnie tried to listen as well, straining to hear what had caught her gram's attention. It took awhile but than she heard it, an excited whoop and the reviving of an engine.
Bonnie quickly looked at the woman who was staring in the direction of the noises in concentration. A second later, Bonnie found herself being dragged along after the woman as she pulled her left, off the path they were traveling. Coming upon a mess of shrubby, both Bennett women hunkered down behind it and waited.
Bonnie felt as if her breathing was to loud, but each time she tried to control it, it only seemed to get even louder. Her heart raced with fear along with her mind. She was sure this was it. It was all her fault for wanting to leave the house. Her grams had said this was a bad idea.
The feeling of her grams hand lightly coming to rest on her back, nearly made her scream, but the gently rubbing had her calming down a second later, her breathing evened out. She watched the woods through the shrub as the noises grew louder, her gloved fingers sank into the muddy ground and curled in an attempt to find some levity.
It wasn't to long before the Four wheelers and their riders came into view, speeding along around trees, laughing and shouting. They all wore camo as if they were out hunting, the long guns strapped to the back of their vehicles confirmed that they were. It was four of them and all of them came to a skidding stop just were Bonnie and her grams had just been a few seconds before. They all were not wearing helmets which made it very clear that they were all young, white men.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are, niggers," one of them shouted. Bonnie flinched. Her grams hand stilled on her back.
The four hunters waited, listening. The woods were as quiet as the dead, nothing spoke, nothing moved. Than something snapped, sounding like a gunshot in the quiet. The four instantly spun around to face their direction.
No Bonnie wailed mentally. She turned to look her her grams, wanting to see what she was going to do but the woman kept her eyes on the men. Bonnie swallowed harshly.
Just as Bonnie was about to urge her grams to move, to run, their was another rustle of movement before Bonnie caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned quickly just as the men howled with excitement as a woman and man darted out of another clump of shrubs nearby and took off running, in the woman's arms was a small child, who cries Bonnie could hear clearly now.
She watched wide eyed as the woman ran with the child, the man behind her. The hunters gave chase. The man was running slower than the woman, much slower, as if on purpose. The hunters caught up with the man not to far away and circled him, cutting him off from the woman. The woman kept running with the child, the hunters distracted.
One of the hunters pulled out a baseball bat and a second later smashed it against the mans head with a giddy laugh. Bonnie heard the crack from her position and flinched. The man went down and didn't move anymore. They circled a few more times before taking off after mother and child.
When they were gone, Bonnie found she couldn't hold in her sobs any longer. Sheila was still staring off after the hunters. Bonnie shook and she couldn't stop.
"Bonnie," her grams' voice cut through her mind which was playing the events that had just taken place over and over again. "Stay here, stay here until I come back," the woman said, standing out of her crouch.
Bonnie scrambled up after her. "What are you doing? Where are you going?" She asked panicked.
The older woman blinked rapidly, as if warding of tears. "That woman and her child need help. I'm sick of everyone not helping each other because they're afraid."
"I'll go with you." Bonnie quickly said, not wanting to send her grams off to face violent racists alone. "I am going with you."
"No you're not, Bonnie." The woman turned to face her, her gloved hand caressing Bonnie's face. She smiled sadly. "You're going to stay here and wait for me. Listen to me this, Bonnie, please."
Bonnie didn't want to stay behind. She didn't want her grams to go off alone. But something about her grams expression made her nod numbly in agreement. "I will." She forced herself to say. "But if you're not back by sunrise, I'm coming looking for you."
"Fair enough," the woman said. She turned as is she was going to leave, but stopped. "But if I don't come back, let me finish, Bonnie," the woman sighed. "If I don't come back, I want for you to be strong and survive, for me and for your father." Bonnie heart sunk at the woman's words. Grams shrugged off the backpack she was carrying with their food in it and sat it down next to Bonnie's boot covered feet. "I love you."
"I love you too," Bonnie quickly said, her voice cracked.
Sheila smiled one last time before moving quickly in the direction the mother and child and their hunters had gone. She didn't spare the body of the man a glance.
(H)
Her dad taught her how to make a fire the first week after they were kicked from their home, so Bonnie built one for the first time that night. Normally, grams would say no to the idea because it could draw unwanted attention, but Bonnie was cold and she wanted her grams to find her when the sun went down.
Bonnie sat for hours waiting on her grams, her knees pulled to her chest, eyes on the small fire. She tried not to think about her grams absence the whole time she was gone, but when the sun began to rise again, she couldn't ignore it any longer.
With soft early morning light being her only light, Bonnie threw dirt onto her fire and stomped it out with her boot. She ate half a box of raisins before heading off to find her grams, following the tire tracks.
She walked until she could clearly see the sun above her through the thin tree limbs, long after she had lost track of the tire marks along the dirt and leaves. But the trail of blood the popped up told her where she needed to go.
Her heart in throat she came across the body of the woman first. The woman's brown skin was ashen with death and her clothes damp with drying blood. One side of her head was bloody and torn from where her braids had been ripped from her head. Bonnie couldn't bring herself to look for long.
She knew what she would find, but that hadn't stopped her from looking. It didn't stop her from following the blood trail.
Her eyes found the child first, because she couldn't bring herself to look at the other body right away. She couldn't gaze at the child for long either, she felt sick. The little body was face down, the back of his head a bloody mess, the bloody rock not to far away.
When she looked at her grams, she knew she was dead. The deep slash across her throat said so, but the dullness in her usually warm eyes was most damning.
Bonnie didn't cry, she didn't break-down into tears besides her gram's blood soaked body, all she could manage to do was blink rapidly. Her mind somehow not connecting with what she was seeing. A numbness she knew wasn't right climbed inside her and made a home for the whole ten minutes she stood there gazing at her grams body.
She turned away finally and took a step forward, away, before taking another. She was twenty feet away when the numbness suddenly left her and her emotions returned. She wailed like a broken animal and fell down to her knees and sobbed into her hands, not caring how much noise she was making.
Her grams was gone.