A/N: I might not have the time to finish my story. I don't want to leave it without an ending. I don't want to leave it at all. So I'm going to try as hard as I can to continue. My life is going through hell right now. I'll be starting high school and college prep. I have to find a job so I can have money for drivers education and I also have to do 20 hours of volunteer work in an area where there is no place that will take volunteers under 18. My mum is dating a guy who treats her as if she is stupid and she doesn't understand that I'm trying to tell her that he's manipulating her. I get almost 3 hours on my computer a week now. In other words I am really busy. BUT... I will work as hard and as often as I can on this story because it is the one thing that is keeping me sane. Thank you for all the support and fan art. I would love some more of it. As much as possible! I will tag all of it once I have it. I have been also trying to get a hold of my animator friend but it seems she is unreachable. I have gotten several requests from other friends to make this into an animation. At least some parts of it. So if you want to see that or would like to animate it, post a review or PM me. I'll make sure to keep everyone informed. Here's chapter Ten! Finally! ENJOY! :3 XX))((X
Karkat looked at the clock that hung on the wall. It was almost six thirty and the house was filling up. Latula had left to the store to get food and Kankri had gone to get his SUV. Sollux was going to drive everyone to the cabin and everyone who would be going was showing up at Karkat's house.
There was going to be ten people total going and that meant a lot of food and a lot of car room. Karkat's living room was filling up.
The TV was playing some stupid cartoon with dancing squids and Gamzee sat on a huge pile of blankets, covered in what looked to be type style clown faces drawn on with multiple colored sharpies, staring at the screen and singing along to the theme song. He had painted his face white making it look as if he had a clowns face. Next to him with his head in Gamzee's lap was a half asleep Tavros hugging an off white stuffed bull with little fairy wings tightly in his arms.
Leaning against the wall next to the front door was Terezi talking on the phone with Latula listing off things that she needed to buy. The good thing about Karkat's dad working for a huge big law firm was that Karkat got his own credit card. He had given it to Latula to buy the food with. He didn't want her to but it all out of her pocket. That wouldn't be right. Aradia sat at Terezi's feet talking to Sollux an open book sat in her lap. She was laughing and smiling and so was Sollux. He red and white bedding sat at her feet along with her backpack.
Karkat stood in the kitchen doorway watching the commotion in the living room. On the couch sat three of the friends Terezi had invited. A taller girl wearing strapless jade green shirt over black jeans and flats. He bright red over coat hung past her butt and stood out. She had short hair and wore green lipstick the same color as her shirt. Terezi had told Karkat her name was Kanaya and to be nice to her. She looked oddly familiar and Karkat couldn't figure out from where. In her lap was a blonde girl. She was twirling her hair in her finger as she talked to Kanaya. Her name was Rose. She was the daughter of the drunk lady at the front desk that Karkat had met earlier that day. She was also Kanaya's girlfriend. She wore a knee length gold dress that swayed a bit when she moved and she also seemed a bit drunk.
On the couch next to them was a girl named Jade. She was one of Rose's friends that Terezi had met through her and Kanaya. She was one of the people who had stuck by Rose her whole life. Never leaving her side.
Karkat looked around the room again. Someone was missing he counted heads. Only eight. Nine including his. He heard something shatter in the kitchen and he tuned to see a small girl bent over picking up pieces of a glass cup off the floor. She pulled her hand away from the glass with a gasp. She had cut herself on it.
Karkat shook his head and grabbed the broom. She didn't seem to have noticed him as he walked over. Karkat could see that she was crying. He tapped her shoulder and she got up not looking at him and hurried out of the room. Karkat couldn't tell who it was and he hurried to sweep up the glass. Once it was all cleaned up he walked out the back door. The girl had ran out there and he wanted to make sure she knew it wasn't a big deal that she had broken the cup.
She sat on the back porch Troll in her lap. She was petting him gently with her uncut hand. The snow was falling again and Karkat sat down next to her. She looked up and Karkat frowned down at her. "Nepeta?" Her cheeks were bright red and she pushed a curl behind her ear. Tears were still streaming slowly down her face and she smiled up at him.
"Hi Karkat." Her voice cracked and she began sobbing.
Karkat sat there awkwardly. Nepeta just continued to sob into her arms. Karkat could tell that she wasn't sobbing from cup because that would be stupid. He reached over and pulled her into his lap hugging her tightly. He felt bad and he didn't know what else to do. Nepeta wrapped her arms around him burring her face in his shoulder. "What's wrong? Can you tell me?" Karkat wasn't usually like this, but he couldn't just let her sit there crying.
It took Nepeta a moment but she pulled away long enough to speak. "You saw today how Equius-" He voice broke off with another sob but she tried to compose herself. After another moment she spoke again. "He beats people up all the time. And We've been dating for almost 3 years now... Last year he went to a party and got drunk. He drank all night and the next day was valentines day and I wanted to surprise him. I sat on his porch waiting for him and when he came home we went inside. I gave him his present and he didn't like it. He hit me. I thought it was because he was drunk and pushed it aside. It never stopped and he continues to hurt me. You saw this morning how possessive over me he is and how he hurts me and others." She wiped her tears away taking a deep breath. She was still sitting on Karkat's lap but he ignored it. "I don't want to be with him when he's like this. I just don't know how to get away. He'll hurt me and make my stay."
Karkat looked at her and sighed. "Go with a bunch of friends and have them be there for you. I'm sure you have friends that would help you. I mean if you're Terezi's friend then you have to have a bunch of friends. They'll protect you."
Nepeta shook her head. "You don't understand. I'm not safe." She reached up and pulled off her blue hat with the ears sticking out from under it. Where there should have been more curls was a bald patch covered in soars. "You see what I mean?" Karkat nodded and Nepeta broke down in tears again burring her face in his shoulder again.
"Avoid him as much as possible, okay? Stay around your friends." Nepeta nodded. She stood and wiped her tears away. Karkat heard a horn go off in the front yard and Karkat stood. "Let's go load up. We're leaving to the woods!" Nepeta laughed and they walked back into the house. Latula stood in the kitchen along with Kankri and they smiled at him.
Kankri walked over to them his arms full of pillows and blankets. "Here. I got these from the house just to make sure you guys all have enough. I'll call the school tomorrow and make sure everyone is excused for the week."
Karkat smiled at his older brother. "Thanks." Karkat walked past his brother and out into the living room.
His bags sat in his fathers arm chair and he picked them up along with the three heavy blankets he slept with every night. He walked over to TV and shut it off getting a verbal complaint from Gamzee. Karkat glared at him and walked over to the door. He had already put on his heavy boots and he stopped and turned back to face the living room and everyone in it. "Time to load up! We're not coming back until Friday! So if anyone of you morons want to come back any earlier then you're screwed. Let's go!" Karkat walked outside stepping off the porch and heading down the driveway. The snow crunched under his feet as he walked. He heard the others walking behind him and he smiled. Sollux walked hurriedly past him opening the back of Kankri's black SUV.
Karkat caught up and threw his stuff in the back pushing it down to make sure there was room fore everyone else's stuff. He went around the side of the SUV and jumped into the passengers seat waiting for everyone to finish packing up. After about ten minutes he heard all the door slam shut and the chatter began. Karkat looked over his shoulder.
The SUV was only made to hold eight people so Latula and Kankri were going to drive Gamzee and Tavros along with all the food to the cabin. They had already left and Karkat smiled. He never thought that Latula would agree let alone help with this. Ditching school. Taking a bunch of kids out so that they could go to a cabin in the middle of no where.
Sollux jumped into the drivers seat and smiled at Karkat. "You ready to go?"
Karkat didn't smile back he just nodded. Sollux's face dropped and he shifted into drive pulling out onto the road. Karkat leaned his head against the window and stared up at the sky. It was dark and he couldn't see the moon through the thick clouds. Even though Karkat had slept most of the day he started to drift off. The rev of the engine relaxing his nerves. Within minutes he was fully asleep.
Karkat sat in a chair in the corner of a small office. He was eight years old and had just been in his first fight. There was people surrounding him, their faces blurry. Two people walked up and the others disappeared. Karkat recognized them as his mother and father.
"Come on Karkat." His mother said through clenched teeth. "It's time to go home." Karkat stood and his surroundings changed. He was now standing in the small living room of the house he had grown up in. His mother paced in front of him her heals clicking against the wood floor. 'ClickClickClickClick' His father leaned against the front door. His mother stopped moving and faced young Karkat. "What should your punishment be?" Karkat sat still looking up at his mother. Fear plain on his face. She smiled at him like any mother would at a young child. But her eyes read something other than love. "I don't believe I have a choice. If you're going to do bad stuff then you're going to get punished." She tied up her long hair in a bun. Karkat knew what was coming. He hated it. But he had no choice but to sit through it. 'ClickClickClickClick' His mother walked over to the piano that sat in the corner picking up some sheet music and folding it into a tube.
She walked back over to Karkat. He reflexively curled up into a ball. His mother grabbed his by his hair dragging him off the couch onto the floor. She started beating him with the rolled up paper. It stung and Karkat cried out. "Mommy! Stop! You're hurting me! Stop it mommy! I'm sorry! I won't do it again. Please!" His mother didn't stop. She didn't stop even after the paper bent and she started beating him with her hand. Not until Karkat stopped screaming. Till he stopped begging. He lay there limp on the floor. Unable to move. It hurt to much.
He lay there still as he heard the clicking of his mother walking out of the room. He closed his eyes and when he opened them again he was on the top bunk of the beds he shared with Kankri. Crabdad stood there shaking them awake. He had to bags in his hands. Each of them full of clothes. Karkat sat up. "What's wrong Daddy?" He just shooshed him and helped him down off the bed. A 13 year old Kankri took the bags and Crabdad lifted Karkat into his arms.
"I need you guys to be really quiet. Okay? No noise at all." The two boys nodded their heads in agreement and they ran out of the room. They moved silently out of the house and into the dark alley that ran along the edge of their back yard. An old Cadillac sat on the other side of the small fence. The boys grandpa sat in the drivers seat. Kankri climbed into the back seat and Crabdad threw Karkat in next to him. He slammed the door and climbed into the front seat. Karkat's grandpa hit the gas.
As they drove away Karkat saw his mother standing in the back yard flipping them off.
"Karkat. Wake up. Where am I going?" Sollux elbowed Karkat awake and he sat up in his seat. He looked out the window.
Sollux had pulled over and Karkat pointed to the right up ahead. "Go down that road for half a mile. Then there's going to be a sign that says 'Vantas'. Turn onto it. It will turn to dirt and there will be no street lights. That road will go for ten miles and then there will be a long driveway to go up. We'll be at the top of the hill so go there." Sollux laughed and Karkat sighed as the car started moving again. He watched out his window at all the passing trees.
More fucking snow...
A/N: FAN ART! I've only gotten a few pieces! I'd love more. And I don't care how bad of an artist you think you are! If you want to do some fan art I'm not stopping you! I'll accept it all and I'm going to love every last piece of it! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I tried to make it good even though it was just put in to help make sense of other stuff and it was a bit slow. I hope it gave you some character development and understanding! Thank you for reading! XX))((XX