Gives You Hell
When I woke up the next morning I felt like I had gotten hit by a truck. Seriously, it sucked. My head was throbbing, my whole body was sore, my skin was dry and gross and my hair was completely dull. I groaned loudly as I barely managed to lift my head off the pillow.
"Well, do you feel like shit too?" Dallas asked beside me.
I turned and looked at him. He looked even worse than me-no offense. His hair was jacked up, his skin had weird red blotches and he had purple bruises under his eyes; probably from the lack of sleep he got. He groaned and held his head in his hands as I continued looking at him.
"Gee, isn't this a great way to start off the day?" I asked sarcastically.
Dally grunted-I think it was supposed to be a laugh. "Sure is, Girlie." He lied back down and tossed his arm over my shoulders. "Ugh, please tell me today isn't Sunday."
"Why? And no, it's Wednesday."
"Good," he whispered. "Ponyboy always tries making me go to church on Sundays. Kid says it'll help me find answers to stuff or something like that." He closed his eyes as he tried going back to sleep.
I chuckled and tried getting up, but I was too weak and too sick to get up so I just tried going back to sleep like Dal. As I closed my eyes and started to drift back to the dream world I started to feel better as the pain seemed to vanish, but a loud banging noise woke me up again.
"Violet!" a familiar voice shouted from somewhere inside the house. "Violet, Dallas, wake the hell up!"
Oh God, it was Tim.
Dally and I didn't bother to answer him, but soon the door to the guest room swung open and we heard Tim start shouting again. "Hey, lovebirds wake up! Violet, you're going to be late for work so get the hell up."
Dally and I groaned. Tim could be so annoying sometimes. Especially now-oh God he was irritating.
"Tim," Dally managed to mumble, "shut the fuck up, okay? We're too sick to get up."
Tim didn't say anything, but he did proceed to rip the blanket off of us and throw it on the floor. This made Dal and I glare at him.
"Gee, someone's cheery today." I said.
Tim gave me a dirty look. "You know if you two get sick after sex that isn't a good thing. You should probably see a doctor about that."
"We didn't have sex." Dallas said sharply.
Tim snorted. "Yeah, sure. Then explain to me why you guys are in the same bed and why you, Dallas, are half naked."
I answered before Dally did. "Well Tim, as you can see there in only one bed in here. So naturally we both just decided to share it since we were so tired from having to walk home last night." I shot him an annoyed look. "And as for Dally being half naked, many men decided to wear only jeans or underwear to sleep in. It's very common these days."
Tim looked away. "Psh, whatever. Like I care." It was painfully obvious he did. "But still, get up Violet."
"Why?" I asked, covering my head with a pillow.
"Well first, you have to take care of that mutt of yours and second, you have to work today. Or did you forget about both of those things while sleeping with your boyfriend over there?" he pointed at Dal.
Oh shit, I had forgotten about Brownie. But not for the reason Tim listed. "Oh yeah, I have to take care of-"but before I could finish Dally pushed me off the bed. I landed on the ground hard and my head rang with pain when I landed. "Ow," I curled up in a ball holding my head.
"Go feed the dog, Girlie." Dallas said, annoyed. "Before he rips apart any of my stuff."
I groaned. "Fine." I managed to get and walk/stumble out of the room. Tim gave me a weird look as I walked out of the room.
"Hey, hurry up. We don't have much time." He nagged.
"Yeah, yeah," I replied as I went into the kitchen. The dog food was in the bottom right drawer. When I found it I got an old bowl that nobody used and filled it to the top. Then I got another one and filled it with water. Well, Brownie will be happy. Then I walked outside where Soda had said he had left him, but as I got there he was nowhere in sight. Great, had Soda left the gate open and he got out? I set the food and water down by the side of the house and ran to the front. When I got there I checked the gate; it was locked.
"Violet!" I heard Tim yell. "Hurry up!"
I ignored him and ran to the backyard again. Where was he? I started looking around, whistling for him, but nothing changed. He wasn't here.
"Damn it," I ran my fingers though my hair nervously as I kept looking around. "Oh damn it."
"Violet, I told you to hurry up-"Tim yelled as he walked outside. He stopped when he noticed how scared I must have looked. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"Brownie's gone."
"What?"
"He's gone." I repeated. Worry started to fill my thoughts. Oh God, what if someone stole him. What if he's lost? Oh gosh, oh gosh. Where is he? My precious baby.
Tim saw my worried expression and sympathy started to roll over his face. "Hey, Vi," he walked towards me and put a hand on my shoulder, "we'll find him. Don't worry." He slightly grinned and hugged me. "Don't worry, love" he said, stroking my hair, "he'll be okay."
"Thanks Tim…." I managed to reply.
He didn't say anything, but continued to hug me. Seconds turned into minutes, but he never let go. It was starting to get a little weird.
"Uh, Tim, you can let go now." I said a minute later.
"Oh," he responded. He let go of me and just stood there for a moment. It was awkward.
When we walked back inside Tim told me to go get dressed for work; I couldn't be late today. When I was changing I heard him talking to Dallas about Brownie being gone.
"Did the little mutt get out?" Dallas asked.
"Maybe," Tim responded. I heard the flick of a lighter and a second later smelled cigarette smoke. "I hope not. Violet will be even more upset if he's lost in the city somewhere." He paused. "Maybe Two-Bit has him."
"Yeah, maybe," Dallas said with a yawn. "Hey, you two go to work. I'm gonna crash for a little bit, but I'll help you guys look for the little guy later. Okay?"
"Okay," Tim responded.
Just then, I walked out of the bathroom dressed for work. I was still dead tired and I didn't feel too hot, but Tim convinced me to at least work until noon. I needed the money.
"See ya, Dal," I called back as we left the house. I thought he was already asleep but he walked out and followed us to Tim's truck. Right before I got in he surprised me by giving me a hug. When I looked up at him wide-eyed from shock he smirked at me and kissed the tip of my nose. What made it even weirder was Tim didn't even seem to mind.
Tim drove us to work in silence. I tried taking a few quick naps on the way there, but the movement of the truck kept jolting me awake. Eventually, I stopped trying and just rested my head on Tim's shoulder and looked out the window. Whenever I glanced up to look at him he was smiling to himself and trying to keep all his focus on driving.
When he pulled up to work and stopped the car he paused. I gave him a weird look and started getting out of the truck.
"Violet," Tim whispered, suddenly grabbing my wrist.
"Yeah?"
"I…." He stopped himself from saying whatever he was going to say and just stared at me. After a few minutes of just sitting there he spoke again. "We'll find Brownie. Don't worry." He shot me a smile.
I returned a grin. "Thanks, Tim."
We left the truck and started making out way to the main building. As we got closer we could hear all the other workers shouting and laughing at something. We each gave each other confused looks and turned the corner to see what they were doing.
I wish we hadn't.
When I saw what they were doing it felt like I had had the wind knocked out of me for a split second. There was Brownie, covered in blood. He had cuts all over him and he was crying loudly. Tears began to sting in my eyes.
"Oh, so there she is." One worker proclaimed. He strolled over to us, the smell of whiskey on his breath. "Do you like what we did?" He pointed at Brownie while the other workers laughed. "Man, it was sure hard to get that dog out of the yard as quietly as we did, but we did it. Right boys?"
The other workers cheered and nodded.
"What….the fuck did you guys do to him?" Tim asked. He sounded stunned.
"Oh you know," he spoke. "When the little guy wouldn't stop crying Roberto over there," he pointed to some Mexican, "gave him such a beating the little guy started bleeding. And then after that we-"
"You fucker!" I screamed.
"Hey bitch, you deserved it!" Roberto yelled back.
I snapped.
The next thing I knew I was beating the guy in front of me into the ground. I was screaming, cursing, crying. My knuckles started turning red from hitting him so hard and I eventually realized they were bleeding. Badly. The guy, on the other hand, was squirming and trying to get away. His face was all scratched up and he had a bloody nose. This didn't make me stop; in fact I kept pounding him until someone wrapped their arms around me and pulled me off of him.
"Tim," I screamed, still crying, "let go!"
"Violet, calm down!" A voice replied.
Huh?
When my vision cleared a little bit I saw Tim pounding at least five guys by himself. One of them was Roberto. All the other workers had run off.
"Alex?" I asked.
The guy turned me around and I came face to face with him. Alex. His black and blue hair was wavy and he wasn't wearing any make up. I almost didn't recognize him for a moment. He looked so different from last night.
"Violet," He whispered. He brought his hand up to my face and wiped away a tear. "Why are you crying?" He looked over my shoulder and saw Brownie cowering behind some boxes. "Oh shit…"
"They stole my dog and nearly beat him to death," I croaked out.
Alex's face froze for a moment. Then, rage filled it. He narrowed his eyes at the guy I had beaten and cursed at him. He lunged, pulled the guy up by the collar of his shirt and slammed him up against a wall. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" He screamed.
"I…i…it wasn't my idea…" The guy stuttered. He pointed at the Mexican fighting Tim. "It…it was Roberto's idea. He thought of it…." He gasped for air. "Said the girl deserved it. That she was a real bitch that needed to be taught a lesson. I-"
"I don't care who thought of it." Alex sneered in the guy's face. "You still went along with it, motherfucker!" Then, as I stood there too stunned to do anything, Alex lifted the guy up and threw him a good couple feet away.
I watched in shock.
Alex's face went dark. When the guy he threw didn't get up he turned his attention on the guys Tim was beating up. "Which one is Roberto?"
"The Mexican." I said.
"Okay, just making sure." Then, Alex sprinted towards him, tore him away from Tim and punched him straight in the face. You could hear the crack before you saw the pain in Roberto's face.
All of a sudden, Roberto started screaming and trying to push Alex away from him, but Alex didn't stop attacking him. He punched him over and over-each time you could clearly hear a deafening crack; Alex was literally trying to break every bone in his body. He tackled Roberto to the ground, punching him even harder than before.
"Alex! Stop!" I ran towards him and pulled him away from Roberto. When I glanced at Roberto his face was unrecognizable and drenched in blood; he was screaming from the pain and even crying a little bit.
Oh shit.
"Violet, LET GO!" Alex was struggling to get out of my grasp.
I didn't answer. I clenched him tighter and closed my eyes, praying I could hold him back. The thing about Alex was when he got mad-and I mean really mad- he'd go insane. He'd black out and beat up anyone that got in his way. The worst thing was he wouldn't even remember it afterwards.
"VIOLET!" Alex was screaming. Over and over; he was bent on killing Roberto.
"No," I whispered. "I'm not going to let go, Alex."
He screamed louder.
I was sitting in the lot. It was dark and the smell of cigarettes was surrounding me. Alex was lying down in front of me; he was looking up at the sky with a blank expression on his face and smoking another cigarette. The bruise on his cheek was swollen and purple; it stood as a reminder of what had happened earlier.
I wish today had never happened.
After I had pulled Alex away from Roberto he went crazy. Roberto, terrified for his life, ran away. Of course Alex tried chasing him, but I held onto him tight enough to stop him. It took all the strength I had left to clutch on to him. All the while, Tim had gotten Brownie away and had somehow called Dally. Dallas had rushed right over when he heard Alex was there. Finally, when I couldn't keep holding on to Alex and he managed to get loose of my grasp Dally was suddenly there. He punched Alex so hard that he fell unconscious and I was finally able to let go.
After that, Tim, Dally and I dropped Alex off at Darry's house (Dally volunteered to stay with him) and Tim and I took Brownie to the vet. He had multiple wounds all over his body, but was going to be alright. He had to stay there for a few days and it was going to take time for him to get over the emotional damage, but for the most part the vet reassured us that he'd be alright. When we got back to the house we heard Dally shouting Alex before we even walked in the house. Dally was screaming, telling Alex what he did to Roberto and how he could have put me in danger. I didn't feel like going inside after that. Tim decided to go into the house while I went to the lot. I wanted to be alone for a while. Alex came to join me a few hours later.
In the hours we sat together, we never talked. We smoked cigarettes and stared up at the clouds. When they vanished we looked at the stars instead. Every once in a while Dally or Tim came over to check on us- well check on me, actually. They didn't trust Alex. I couldn't blame them.
We'd been out here for hours and we hadn't spoken a word. The silence was unbearable.
Finally, Alex broke it with three little words.
"Violet, I'm sorry."
I didn't say anything. I just kept staring up at the stars; watching them twinkle form billions of miles away. I wish I could be where they were; I wish I was billions of miles away from here.
After a few more minutes of silence Alex broke it again.
"Vi, I'm sorry. I really am."
"I know." I responded.
"Do you?" he reached over and grabbed my hand. When I looked at him his eyes were sad. "I'm sorry…for everything I ever did to you." He paused and looked up at the stars. "I never meant to hurt you. Ever. What I did before, and I don't mean beating that one guy nearly to death, I'm really sorry about. You've been through a lot since you were young and I've only added more pain to you. I'm sorry."
"I know you are, Alex but that doesn't change the past." He looked at me again. "We can't change the past no matter how hard we try."
"Does that mean you'll always hate me?"
"No." I answered back. "Dally will, but I won't. Time to move on I suppose…I'll forgive you, but only on one condition."
"What is it?"
I took a deep breath and felt the tears slid down my face. "Don't tell Tim or anybody else what happened between Dallas and I when we were younger." I couldn't stop myself from crying. The memory was too traumatizing.
As I continued crying Alex came closer to me and rested his head on my shoulder. "Fine, I promise." He whispered into my ear.
"Thank you."
And with that, we continued looking up at the starry sky wishing we were both somewhere else. And in those moments of honesty and anguish, Alex never let go of my hand and I didn't want him to.
