AN~ Hey guys! This is my FIRST EVER fanfiction so please tell me if you like it, and I appreciate any constructive criticism. Bonanza was one of my favorite shows, and I especially loved Griff King in the fourteenth season. I was so sad that he was only there for half of a season there isn't much fanfiction written for Griff, so I decided to write my first one about him. I will have one OC, please tell my if you like her. Thanks~ Claire
Hope That Lingers
"Lissa? What are you doing out here, you have to leave! He'll hurt you if he sees you talking to me."
"Griff, what's happening? I'm scared!"
"Go inside now Lissa, hurry! I think I hear him coming." The young, lanky teenager pushed the younger girl into the house.
"Griff? What are you doing? Come with me! Please!" The girl clung to Griff's hand.
"No Lissa. Listen to me now, he ain't gonna hurt you no more, honest. Now go!" Griff pushed Lissa into the small shack, and began to close the door, but the frightened girl shoved it open again, and wrapped her arms around her protector's waist.
"I love you Griff, please don't get hurt!" The child raised her big grey eyes to look directly into the soft grey ones above her.
"Can't promise that Honey. Go on now, I love you." The boy had just shut the door for the last time, when a tall figure staggered into the yard. He was obviously drunk, and he leered at the raven haired boy standing frozen on the steps.
"What you doin' boy? You was supposed to be gettin a job."
"I-I tried, s-sir, but there ain't many jobs open for a fifteen year old." Griff's voice quavered, but steadily grew stronger. "Especially when you tell everyone that I'm a no-good, lazy kid who is always inta trouble." The boy's face darkened with suppressed rage.
"Don't you talk to me like that! I'll show you, yeah, I'll show him who's boss." The last few words were spoken in a drunken mumble. The man began to advance on Griff, but suddenly his face contorted and he threw up. Griff watched in disgust as the man emptied the meager contents of his stomach.
"No good drunk, you go around spreadin rumors that I'M messed up. Well you a liar as well! You've come home every night, drunk. Stumbling around, saying that I should get a job, that I should clean up the yard, house. Why haven't I done this? And that, I should be responsible. Then the next minute you ranting about everythin that I can't do. I'm the reason momma died, the reason the house is fallin apart, the reason Lissa is sick. Stay away from her, you say. You'll ruin her. Well why haven't you gotten her a doctor? Huh? It's not my fault, it's yours! It's all your fault! You killed momma, you wrecked the house! Well let me say something now: Lissa and I are leaving. We aint never comin back. So make your own money. I'm outta here!" Griff stood panting. He'd gone and done it. He'd exploded; he knew that he would have to leave, he'd find Lissa a doctor that would hopefully feel pity for the two children. Well, one child; Griff couldn't pretend to be a kid any longer. It was time to grow up.
Griff slowly turned from the enraged man and walked back toward the ramshackle house, but he was struck down. He rolled over onto his back, moaning in pain to see his step-father standing over him, with a raised pick-axe.
"You ain't goin nowhere, but to Hell!"
The famous words that Griff would remember for the remainder of his life. The rest of the night passed in a blur, and before he knew it, Griff was in jail. He got a message, one year into his ten year sentence. Lissa had died. Griff didn't care anymore. He used to spend hours a day, planning revenge, planning escape, planning his sister's rescue. None of that mattered anymore. She was dead, and so was any hope.