"I don't need your help, so please, just leave me alone." She threw my hand off her shoulder. "Sir." She threw a glare at me over her shoulder as she turned away and ran back down the path- opposite the way she'd originally been heading.
Ouch. I'd just been trying to help her. She was, what? Two years younger than me? I was just doing the right thing! And I specifically asked her not to call me 'Sir' because it made me feel old.
Should I chase after her..? I groaned, "What the heII do I have to lose?" I ran down the paved path along the woods, "Miss! Miss!" She was fast. Really fast. I sped up, running faster as I tried to catch up to a girl who was younger than me. I could just hear Rachel chiding in my head, 'disgraceful, Perce… disgraceful'.
I eventually caught up to her. I didn't know how to get her to stop, because I doubted she would listen to me if I asked her to, 'kindly please stop running so we may talk'. I snorted and the girl looked over at me before taking off faster. I inwardly cursed. Maybe it was out of desperation, but for some reason, I let out a yell and…
Tackled her. I tackled the girl onto the ground. To be fair, I pushed us off to the side on the grass. But, I did push her down the hill into the thicket of trees before the lake rather than on the green grass beside the road. 'Disgraceful…'
She looked up at me, spitting hair out of her mouth and saliva into my face. So there's a new way of hitting two birds with one stone. Once she got all of her hair off her face, she glared at me. I didn't return the glare, I just looked her. Despite the layers of grime and filth on her face, she looked beautiful. Her honey-blonde princess curls were fanned out on the ground around her. Her gray eyes bored into my own and I felt like she could see into my soul. Her lips formed a pout. A glorious, glorious- "Gah! What'd you do that for?" That glorious, glorious pout had spit her saliva into my face. Again.
"I… wanted to help." I didn't know why, but there was something in the back of my mind nagging me to help her. Maybe it was because I could relate. Sure, I never ran away from home, but I remember feeling just as lost as she was probably feeling right now.
The girl scoffed, "Yeah right, help in what? Breaking even more of my bones?" I was surprised to hear that but didn't let it show through. "No, you just seem like a person who needs help." She snorted and I winced, "Not like that. I just- you were digging through my trash, and I just thought that maybe…" I trailed off when I noticed how her eyes had looked less defiant and more defeated now. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, and for a second, she looked scared.
I softened, "Hey, if you need somewhere to stay..?" I didn't finish my question, and I hadn't had to either. It was open ended and was just an offer. Whether or not to accept it was up to her.
She glanced at me warily for a few seconds before finally deciding on the, in my opinion, lame excuse of, "my parents will worry," because obviously if they were the worrying type of parents she wouldn't have run away. And if she didn't run away, she had some serious explaining on her part for how she looked. But, I couldn't force her to do or accept anything against her own will.
I sighed, turning around, "It was nice to meet you…" I let her fill in her name, but she never did. I nodded curtly, all righty then, and began walking forward, back home. I could hear the hesitation in her voice, but the words were firm, "I do need somewhere to stay." I smiled.
Yeah, I know it's short, but it's something! Hopefully tomorrow will be a better writing day (visiting grandfather at cemetery, family 'linner', and taking a shower with stitches on my foot (four, to be precise, and I had to tie bags around my foot so water wouldn't seep in and irritate it) so it was busy today). Love you all!
