To Grandmothers house we go
5 hours after being crammed in a car with my mom, dad, and smelly brother were finally came to the city my grandmother lives in. We drove past the mall that she owns, the school, and Colins trailer park. I nearly jumped out of my seat when I realized that we were by his house.
My mom asked me what I was looking at when she caught me staring out my window.
"Nothing mom." She didnt know about Colin and I. I knew she, let alone my dad would never approve of him. He wasnt a bad kid, he just came from a bad part of town.
We pulled up to the drive way and my mom came up to the door to say goodbye. I remembered vividly that this was where Id first seen Colin. I looked around to see if possibly he was standing on the same street corner. No, he wasnt there. Just then the door opened.
"Hello Marcie! Erin! How are you?" it was my one and only, grandma.
"Im good." I said trying to go inside.
"Looking forward to playing ball again this summer Erin? I know those boys have missed you on their team." she smiled, and I frowned.
"Boys? Baseball?" great, my mom had been paying attention. Now I would have to explain everything to her... Or not...
"No mom you see, last year I made friends by hanging out at baseball games, and I used to keep score and stuff for this team, and I became friends with them. Thats all."
"Oh, okay. Well I have to go. We have to be in Los Angeles by morning."
"Okay, bye mom." 'Smooth' I said to myself.
"Bye honey. I love you!"
Grandma shut the door as I walked in. It was the same house, with the white leather furniture, and ruby red walls. The huge kitchen, and dining room. Grandma may be old, but she had good taste.
I walked up to my room. Set my stuff down and just stared. So much had happened in this room. I then looked at my watch. It was only 1:00. I still had half a day left.
Without unpacking, I ran down to my Grandma and told her I was going out to try and find some friends. She said it was okay but she wasnt going to be home from 6 to 12. She had a business meeting to go to.
I ran out the door and thought, 'If I can find Colin, and everything is alright, we can come back here, for 6 hours!'
'But where to go first?' I started down the street. "The sandlot! Of course!" I started running to the towns oldest, run down baseball field called the Sandlot. The team that played, Colins team, didnt have a name, they werent part of any league. They just loved to play. Lucky for me, their were two people on the field passing, I hoped I knew them, walking up to the slowly, they turned to look at me. They then started talking to each other and then called out,
"Erin!" I began to run to them. It was Ollie Kliner, and Kyle Patterson, Colins best friends.
"Hi you guys!" I gave them each a big hug. "Whats up?"
"Erin I thought you werent coming back for another 2 weeks." asked Ollie.
"Yeah, well my brother had to leave early so he could go to orientation for school. So hear I am" I looked around, everything was still the same, the broken down dug out and beat up field. Id missed it a lot.
"Um, Erin, we have to tell you something."
"About Colin?" I said anxiously.
"Yeah." said Kyle. "Well, he kind of ran away." he gulped. "No one knows where he his. His mom could really care less, kind of a druggie she is now the his dad left."
"Weve all been really worried, but nobody has seen him, we all just assumed he ran away especially after last year." Ollie said.
"Oh my god! What if something happened to him?! What if his dad found him! Where could he have gone?" I was crying by now. But then I remembered where Colin had gone the last time he ran away. I looked up at the old treehouse looking over the nearest houses backyard. I began to run to it.
"Erin hes not in there!" I heard Ollie yell at me But I didnt care.
I started climbing the wooden steps leading to the top. I got there and looked around. Nothing. He wasnt there, nothing was, except for an old box of cookies.
I broke down then and there, I couldnt take it any more. I looked toward to coming back here all year to see Colin, and he had disappeared.
Just then Kyle came up behind me, he put a hand on my shoulder.
"How long has be been gone?" I mumbled through my tears.
"Almost 5 weeks now." I couldnt believe it.
Colin Porter, the first guy Ive ever loved was gone, no where to be seen or heard of.
Two weeks later...
I woke up and walked down stairs to get my regular bagel and cup of orange juice. Looking at a schedule on my refrigerator I saw that my grandmother had a meeting today from 6 to 11.
'Wonderful.' I thought to myself. ' I get to be locked up in the house for another 5 hours'.
Ever since I heard about Colin disappearing, I hadnt went anywhere with my friends, I hadnt played any baseball or did anything that reminded me of Colin. It was hard, because all of the guys kept coming over and tried to get me to come outside. The sun had been shining bright, every day that Ive been here, but my skin was as pale as the white linoleum on the kitchen floor.
I went upstairs and put on a tee shirt, and some jeans, I was freezing, and decided to read a book.
Lush
by Natasha Friend
A girl grows up with an alcoholic father and tries to protect her little brother from the abusive man.
Thats all of the description I read, Everything I did anymore reminded me of Colin. I was beginning to get depressed. I had already read all of the books in the house at least twice, so I decided to go to the store and look for something else to occupy myself with.
I left the house with a crisp twenty-dollar bill in my hand. Turning down the street, I tried to remember where the closest store was. I did, and when I got to the parking lot I saw Kyle standing with Ollie drinking sodas.
"Look whos decided to come out for some fresh air Kyle." Ollie said, a smile spread across his face.
"Whats up Erin?"
"Nothing Kyle. Nothing, Im just getting some new books to read."
"Well, if you feel like it, were all meeting at the Sandlot later, why dont you stop by and say hi to all the guys?"
"I dont know, I dont really feel like it today guys. Ill see you later." I walked into the store. I never really felt like doing anything anymore. I felt like there was no reason to have fun, because of Colin.
I went to the book section of the store and what do you know? I see my very least favorite person standing there with his baseball groupies.
"Hey baby, you miss me?" Jacob Vandeborne, was to most stuck-up, perverted, show off there ever was.
"No." I gave him a nasty look and continued searching for a good book.
"Oh come on, remember last year? That was great wasnt it? Dont be in denial about it. Its okay to admit it. We had something special."
He walked over to me and tried to grab me.
"Get away you freak!" I ran out of the store with tears welling up in my eyes.
I went back home and lay on my bed and cried for the rest of the night. I hated my life. Why did Colin have to run away like that? He has made me miserable.
Tap tap tap tap
I heard on my door. The door leading to my balcony outside. I didnt want to look, it was probably just Ollie trying to get her to come outside again. But just incase...
"COLIN!" I couldnt believe it! Colin Porter, my Colin Porter was standing outside my window. I ran up to the door and opened it.
"Oh my god! I thought- What happened? Where were you? Are you okay? Why havent you come sooner?" Questions started pouring out of my mouth. I didnt mean to bombard him with all of my questions, it just happened. I was so worried about him.
"Erin, its okay. Im fine." He was covered in dirt, his old baseball shirt was ripped and grass stained.
"What happened to you?" I motioned for him to come and sit next to me on my bed.
"Well, first off" before he said anything more, he leaned over and kissed me . " I had to do that. Second, okay, Erin, my dad, he came back."
"Yeah I figured."
"But the first time he came back, nobody but me knew about it. MY mom, is kinda messed up right now and she wasn home to know. But about a month ago, my dad came back, drunk, as usual, and stormed into the house. I was sleeping on the couch at the time and was startled to see him standing over me." Colin took a breath and continued. "He slapped me for being a bad son, and he never wanted to see me again. He said, if I was a good boy I would have stopped my mom from cheating on him."
"Of course I didnt know about my mom, I knew she did it before, but the way he made it sound, shed been doing it with a whole bunch of people while he was gone. Then I told him I didnt know anything about her. And He hit me again. My mom goes absent for about days at a time, and I wasnt safe at all in my house so I ran. I ran all the way to the next city, I stayed by myself for about 2 weeks, stealing stuff from dollar stores, not something I m proud of, and as of 2 days ago, I decided to come back, because I knew youd be here."
Colin finished and I was almost in tears. "Colin, I had no idea. It had been so horrible since I heard you went missing." I leaned to him and hugged him for a long time.
"But where will you go now?" I asked.
"I dont know...maybe back to our secret spot?"
"No Colin the condition there is horrible..." I started to think... "What my grandma doesnt know wont hurt her.
