5th grade
Soul mates. Paper airplanes. Soul mates. Paper airplanes. One in the same. They connected. Bullshit. He had heard about these, his mother was always screaming about them. "Bud, why have I never gotten one of those shitty airplanes?" he always stayed in his room during this, it wasn't safe out there. He would usually try to escape, but last time he had gotten caught leaving.
"Well I've sent them! So guess what, I don't love you!" Edna had heard it many times. Said it many times. Screamed it many times, proved it many times. She proved it when she stormed out of the house. When she screamed at him, telling him that no one could ever love him and that this is what life was like. She screamed it back at his father. She never said it to the men that weren't his father, but they already knew.
So when a stack of papers with a stamp saying cu united in the top right corner appeared, he thought about shredding them. Thirty papers in total. His best friend Eric was on about them all the time. What had he said?
"Hyde, look you cant shred those. There real! Here, look at mine. I already got a letter. Not a real good one. Anything that could possibly give away their identity. Names, describing themselves, where they live, what age they are, are all blanked out." He handed Steven the letter and spoke it out loud as he read it.
"Hi! My name is _, and I live in _ _, I'm _ years old and I love basketball. Also I'm a girl. My mom said I should write that. What do you like? Please respond. I want to know if you're real. Bye!" he finished with a sigh. She sounded boring. But maybe she wasn't, there where a lot of blanks.
"How'd you know your mom didn't write it?" Hyde huffed.
"Well I was in the bathroom taking a ba- a shower" he corrected himself quickly "and all of the sudden, I went to grab my towel and a little paper airplane was there. It wasn't there before."
He was snapped back into the moment. Bud. Edna. Fighting. He remembered hearing a door slam. Edna left. He heard the clink of a glass rolling on the floor. Bud was drunk. He had already pushed his bed to the door, and opened the window. Before he left and ran through the woods to the nicer part of point place, he grabbed a shoebox. Airplanes.
And then, just as bud pushed the door open, he was on the ground and running. Once he reached the hole in the fence. He paused a moment. It was always funny hearing what slurs bud had to say.
"Damn puff headed punching bag!" that was a good one. Hyde chuckled as he crossed to the lot on the other side of the fence.
:)
"Now Jackie, we've been over this before. What are you going to do when you get your cupid airplane letters?" pam Burkhart looked at her daughter, with no love in her voice.
"I'm going to learn all about him, and find him, and love him forever!" she said as she twirled, holding her unicorn, pinkie, tight in her arms.
In the next instant, her mother's hand was grasping tightly around her fore arm.
"NO! JACKIE! WE WANT MONEY" her grasp was tightening on Jackie's forearm, she could feel the loss of circulation, and she knew it would be bruised by tomorrow morning.
"Now, Jackie, what do you want?" she looked at her with a frustrated expression, tears had started trickling down Jackie's cheeks
"I-I-I I want l-money." She sobbed, swallowing the lump in her throat was becoming harder and harder.
"Good. Write your first letter. Ask him about money, how much his parents make." She let go of Jackie's arm finally and patted her own knees before getting up "now, I'm going to the country club with your new uncle Robert." She strode out. Jackie despised her. Her designer shoes and sunglasses. Her flashy dress and bleach blonde hair. As soon as the door shut she started really crying, rubbing her arm. It felt worse than usual, like something had cracked. Her left arm too. She wrote with her left hand. She ran across the room and opened a box decorated with hearts and glitter.
She swiped a piece of paper from the inside and a pen from her desk.
She tried writing in her good hand, but it hurt so badly that she had to switch to her right. She scrawled her message quickly; after all it was only two words. She looked down at the paper.
Help me. Yes, that was what she needed. She looked as the paper sprang to life, levitating of the ground before folding itself into the perfect paper airplane. It shook in the air for a second and then it left. She heard yelling downstairs, and quickly grabbed her go bag; she had it for times like this when she knew things could only get worse. She slung it over her shoulder and peered out the door, shadows where at the bottom of the stairs yelling at each other.
The window it was.
The one flaw with the window was it was hard to get down. Plus her arm. She would have to make it work. Or jump.
She peered down. The latticework up the side of her house with roses growing u it was her best way down. She tossed her bag into the bushes, and started climbing down. Then she heard the slamming of her front door.
It was her mom. Walking out to the Lincoln. Thank god she had shut her light off. She turned to look at her mom and lost her footing. She held with both of her hands onto the wall, but her injured arm couldn't hold her, no sooner had her mom left the driveway than she had fallen off the wall.
But it wasn't really off. It was more down. She wished she would have fallen off, to the unforgiving grass, but instead she tumbled down the thorns of the roses and into the mud. She had scratches all over her body, and they were all bleeding. Including the one on her face.
She couldn't feel her left arm now; she had fallen on that pretty hard. Where would she go? Who could she talk to? She didn't really have friends. Her parents wouldn't let her talk to the 'poor kids'. So she just started walking.
:)
Hyde was right in front of the foremans house when he saw a paper airplane sitting in a puddle. Couldn't be Eric's, he wasn't out here. He would be damned if it was his. He picked it up and unfolded it; a shiver went down his back.
Help me.
The words were slurred in the part of the plane that had been sitting in the puddle. But the top right corner, along with the stamp, had individual droplets on it. Someone was in need of help just as bad as he was. That's when he heard the sniffles. He turned his head around and didn't see anything, but then the small girl emerged from the darkness into the street lamp, she was on the other side of the road but he could tell something was wrong. She tripped and then yelped, cradling her arm.
It was two o'clock at night.
He walked over to her and looked at her.
Her arm looked funny.
She had a lot of cuts all over her.
She was shivering, covered in mud.
She was carrying a fairly full bag.
He scooped her up and took her back across the street. Then taking her inside.
Mrs. Forman was a nurse. She looked at the girl and immediately knew what to do.
"Steven, lay her on the couch in the other room and then go get Eric."
In the next few minutes, Mrs. foreman had gathered all of the supplies.
Alcohol, ace wrap, glue, water and aspirin.
She wiped of all the mud, cleaned and bandaged all of the cuts and then looked at the poor girls arm. She knew it was broken and quickly made a home made cast. She handed her some aspirin and then left her alone for a minute.
Steven came in and looked at her. He was curious, and wasn't afraid to ask questions, she was a stranger, and she also owed him.
"What happened to you?" he asked.
"What specifically? If your asking about my arm, it would be my mom and then the times I fell trying to leave. And if it's about the scratches or the mud, I fell off a wall of roses." She smiled and shook her head. Zen.
"Where were you going?"
"Away. Thanks for helping me by the way." She turned and smiled. "What about you? You were out late too."
"Avoiding the situation you found yourself in" he huffed.
Then Mrs. foreman came in, taking Jackie up to lories room, she was staying the night. So was he, but in Eric's room.
:)
Hyde was right in front of the foremans house when he saw a paper airplane sitting in a puddle. Couldn't be Eric's, he wasn't out here. He would be damned if it was his. He picked it up and unfolded it; a shiver went down his back.
Help me.
The words were slurred in the part of the plane that had been sitting in the puddle. But the top right corner, along with the stamp, had individual droplets on it. Someone was in need of help just as bad as he was. That's when he heard the sniffles. He turned his head around and didn't see anything, but then the small girl emerged from the darkness into the street lamp, she was on the other side of the road but he could tell something was wrong. She tripped and then yelped, cradling her arm.
It was two o'clock at night.
He walked over to her and looked at her.
Her arm looked funny.
She had a lot of cuts all over her.
She was shivering, covered in mud.
She was carrying a fairly full bag.
He scooped her up and took her back across the street. Then taking her inside.
Mrs. Forman was a nurse. She looked at the girl and immediately knew what to do.
"Steven, lay her on the couch in the other room and then go get Eric."
In the next few minutes, Mrs. foreman had gathered all of the supplies.
Alcohol, ace wrap, glue, water and aspirin.
She wiped of all the mud, cleaned and bandaged all of the cuts and then looked at the poor girls arm. She knew it was broken and quickly made a home made cast. She handed her some aspirin and then left her alone for a minute.
Steven came in and looked at her. He was curious, and wasn't afraid to ask questions, she was a stranger, and she also owed him.
"What happened to you?" he asked.
"What specifically? If your asking about my arm, it would be my mom and then the times I fell trying to leave. And if it's about the scratches or the mud, I fell off a wall of roses." She smiled and shook her head. Zen.
"Where were you going?"
"Away. Thanks for helping me by the way." She turned and smiled. "What about you? You were out late too."
"Avoiding the situation you found yourself in" he huffed.
Then Mrs. foreman came in, taking Jackie up to lories room, she was staying the night. So was he, but in Eric's room.
:)
"So, what's your name? You seam cute." The blonde asked from her side of the bed. Mrs. foreman had insisted on blowing up an air mattress, and she did, but Lorie invited her into the bed.
"Jackie Burkhart." She smiled.
"Well, Jackie, I think well get along. Your welcome hear anytime, do you know how to curl hair?" and then Jackie squealed, nodding her head excitedly.
"how do those airplanes work?"
:)
"So, what's up? Other than you being here. Pretty sure I know the answer to that one."
"I got an airplane message today"
"And what did it say?"
He opened up the crumpled letter and turned it around.
"Help me. Edna must have put it in the box and it blew out. This is bullshit"