Welcome back, lovelies! Sorry if this is overdue, I had a lot of school work (the classic reason XD) but I also really REALLY wanted this to be a good chapter, so it took a while to write and I didn't want anything to be... well, off. Ya get my drift, right? But if I thought you guys would hate me for the last one... let's just end here before I say somethin' stupid...

Well away with me, there's a chapter waiting for you :)

Chapter 10

In Which I Get Beat the Hell Up

...

In the previous chapter...

I called out to Sam and tossed fifteen bucks onto the floor -because I can- explaining I had to leave early. Sam made a dejected face and stuttered, but I was already on my way to my baby. I knew what he was going to ask for a little extra money, so I threw in three more dollars. See? I'm not THAT mean, even if it cost me a candy bar.

I slid into the drivers seat and turned on the ignition, driving out of the driveway and onto the road. If only I had seen the police car behind me...

…

The mellow and graceful voice of a woman singing rang through the small space of the tiny vehicle, the slowly-growing-louder beat behind the melodious lyrics making me instinctively nod my head along with it without my notice. That is, until a tassel of dark hair fell in front of my line of vision, effectively killing the little yellow demon bird on the dimly lit screen. To be honest, I almost just chucked my phone out the window.

"God fucking damnit," I ground out between my teeth, clenching my jaw a little too tight. The score read "14." I can't play this game for shit. Can't even make it past 15, for crying out loud. I exhaled and shut my eyes. "That's enough of Tweety Bird's rendition of hell for now," I groaned. I open the dual-colored orbs and turned my gaze to the time in the top right corner, hoping for a distraction from the absolutely infuriating rage game. The developers did their job a little too well for my liking. The little numbers wrote out "6:57." I glanced out the front of the windshield. The scene was dark, besides the tiny amounts of light seeping out through the cracks in the window shades. With that dim illumination, the cracks in the sidewalk were barely visible and you could just barely make out the pizzeria's "Welcome" sign. It was a small shop nestled between two apartment buildings not so far away from the intersection with the two cozy cafés and the tattoo shop. An odd set-up, if you ask me.

I slumped into the driver's seat, tossing the cellular device into the one beside me, and sighed again, my shoulders dropping from their previous tense position. My eyes fell shut, the pain behind pulsing behind them from staring at the little screen becoming quite the nuisance. I switched the crossed feet placed on the dashboard, my right foot starting to become numb. The dreaded feeling of pins and needles causing me to shake my foot, only to whack it against the hard glass of the windshield.

Aww shit fuck owww, that hurt.

Turning back to the subject I was about address before I was so rudely interrupted, I contemplated whether or not I should get a little snack. The pizza usually takes about half an hour to be finished -perfection takes time, my readers- and I had been sitting here bored out of my mind for only ten minutes. I really don't think I can stand twenty more minutes of that horror game without throttling someone.

"Yeah, a snack doesn't sound too bad," I hummed thoughtfully to myself. And I swear, not four seconds later, my stomach growled in agreement with the pleasant idea. I stared down at my stomach and my lips turned up a slight bit at the corner. "I'm glad it's a unanimous vote," I chimed humorously.

I snagged the small leather wallet from the possession of the passenger seat and open the little car door, sliding out of the cramped seat. I stood up and stretched, grabbing my elbow and pulled it behind my head. I dropped the limbs with a loose swing and rolled my head in circles until a satisfying 'pop' was heard. Annie always thought that was gross, but ironically, she's the one with the double-jointed elbows. Goosebumps found their way onto my skin and I shivered. Double-jointed elbows are not only creepy but just flat out weird. Not to mention it's kinda brisk out here.

I looked at the lit building ahead and observed the dark alley ways at the sides of the brick structure. If I remembered correctly... there should be a little stairway down to the sweet shop on the right side of the pizzeria. The sweet shop was a small one, practically the basement of the stone apartment complexes. It had a small parking lot, well, if you only count the part the shop actually owned. The candy heaven's parking lot was only a tiny corner of the full fledged thing, the rest was owned by a dollar store, and a 1960s styled diner. The throw-back restaurant was placed right up against the road while the dollar store was a ways behind the grease factory. You had to go through the diner's plot of the parking lot to get to the dollar store's, unless you took the stairs from the alley way down of course. An even more odd set-up. Jeez, this town is bizarre.

I began to stroll over to the dark stretch between the buildings and saw that my horrible memory turned out to be right for once. Woohoo, candy here I come. I bounded down the steps like a child and turned to the right, the clear glass of the small store almost blinding me in the process. Holy flipping... flipping what? Pancakes? Pancakes are good.

The little bell above the door jingled when I entered, signaling my arrival to my heaven. PREPARED TO BE DEVOURED, SUGARY TREATS OF UNHEALTHINESS... That's a word, right?

A large smile was plastered on my face, my hand grasping the stretchy plastic handle of the bag, almost overflowing with different chocolate bars, Skittles, Sour Patch Kids, and Mounds. I absolutely adore Mounds. I bought four packets of the stuff I love them so much. But my wallet took a massive blow. And here I thought I was out of cash.

I slipped into the drivers seat and gingerly placed the goods into the passenger seat. Annie would kill me a thousand times over if she found out I did anything to harm her precious Sour Patch Kids. How she can like those sour-death things of jelly is beyond me. Miss Rosette didn't really care all that much about sweets, always insisting we should eat better, but if you placed a candy bar consisting of chocolate in front of her, you better say sayonara.

I snagged one of the Mounds bar from the bottom of the bag and ripped it open, quickly biting into the perfect dark chocolate-coconut concoction of heavenliness. I hummed in content, relaxing into the stiff fabric seat.

After I finished devouring the first treat -I wisely decided not to eat another one, in fear of being too full to eat the soon-to-be-done pizza- I glanced at the time. Still got 17 minutes, really? Well shit. What am I going to do with all that time?

I glanced at the mirror, the lights reflecting off the little extension twisting and shifting. A police car drove past slowly, and I'm not sure whether or not my eyes were messing with me, but I did not see anyone driving it. It must be my eyes fucking with me. No way can a car drive itself. I hadn't paid any attention to it before, but this must've been at least the fifth time it's driven by the pizza place. Doing rounds maybe? I dunno man. There's no reason to check on a fucking PIZZA PLACE five. Fucking. Times. I drew a deep breath and sighed louder than necessary, my eyes sliding shut.

"Wow. I'm so bored I'm worrying over a haunted, paranoid cop car. Heh heh..." I pressed into the seat and laid my arm across my shut eyes carelessly. I felt completely drained, as if all the energy in my body had been shwoop, stolen right before my eyes. I would be lying if I said it didn't happen from every now to then. They were kinda like... moments of fatigue. When you're just so tired all you wanna do is lay there and hope to fall asleep. I hadn't had one in... well, a while. The last one I could recall first was four days before my birthday. It was worse than average, but not unusual. The best way to put it was not only had I woken up on the wrong side of the bed, but on the wrong side of town. I didn't want to move, I didn't even feel like putting in the effort to breathe. I remember just feeling numb, staring at the blank white ceiling but not really seeing the pale surface. I was lost, trapped, caged, in my own empty thoughts. I barely acknowledged the forceful and violent shaking from a panic-stricken Annie, who had tears streaming down her cheeks, screaming for Miss Rosette to come help. I remembered sitting up like a robot, eyes glassy, Annie hugging me so tight she could've cut off oxygen to my brain if she wanted to, Miss Rosette's concern as I did my normal routine without any emotion or care, no special retorts, no small smirks, no gasping laughs. I was just like a robot. And I hated every moment of it.

I tried my best to fight against it, the hopelessness that would take me over and run me like a program, but sometimes the defenses would collapse without a moments notice. Some cases were worse than others, the case I was having currently very moderate compared to the one above.

According to Miss Rosette -if the case was ever really bad- at the end of the day, I would wander off to the same edge of town and do god knows what. I didn't ever recall any of it happening. Miss Rosette claimed that my reasoning for this these outlandish actions was: "It's really pretty out here, the stars are really bright without the lights, calming too." I could just picture the dopiest expression written on my face at that. A small snicker erupted from my lips. Come to think of it...

I could probably use a little calm right about now.

Yeah, that sounds real nice.

It didn't really matter which outskirts of town I drove to, it felt nice to be away and free from the what now seem to recognize itself as suffocation. I laid on the still-warm hood of the small Mazda, my back stiff against the hard windshield, but it was comfortable nonetheless. My back is gonna be in some serious fucking pain tomorrow. I'm gonna regret this, and I'm sure as hell on that.

The car was a little ways off the side of the two-laned road, which was so barren it seemed as if it hadn't been driven on in years. The scene surrounding was dark, but from what I could see, it was an open plain with a few outcroppings scattered here and there. But that wasn't what I was admiring. The clear dark navy expanse above with tiny twinkling lights imbedded into it was a sight to behold. And I daresay even rival Ian's eyes.

Did... did I actually just think that? Did I REALLY just fucking think that?!

Nope. NOPE. NOPE THE SHIT OUT OF THAT!

I groaned and rubbed the palms of my into my eyes. I don't need that assbag on my mind at all. I don't know why, but at some of the most random and most unfortunate times he would just somehow poof his way to the forefront of my mind. I really didn't wanna know why. I dropped my hands unceremoniously onto the hood, a sharp thud resulting from the sudden connection. A small pain made its debut before quickly fading away.

"Owww," I moaned into the thick veil of... err... I sighed in pride-bruising defeat. I suck at trying to make something sound good. I've done well enough so far. I wonder what Ian would say to that. Somethin' cheeky and no doubt douchy as fuck. A tugging warmed its way into my chest, my cheeks almost immediately matched the hue of a tomato. Damnit, WHY?!

I abruptly sat up, flailing my arms around like a madman, fingers clawing at the empty air in a vain attempt to just get the asshole out of my head.

The sight beside me did a mighty fine job at it.

Aaand I almost fell off the hood from surprise, a hands slipping off the steel-like surface. I quickly recovered and sat up straight, my heart nearly beating out of my ribcage from the scare. Don't you fucking tell ANYONE!

The cop car slowly drove up beside the off-roaded -that's a word, too, right?- Mazda, coming as close as possible without leaving the designated paved path before stopping. Did... did this cop follow me all the way out here?! Are you shitting me? What IS IT with people and liking to follow me?! I'M FUCKING SICK OF IT! I barely managed to keep the little temper tantrum under reigns and avoid showing any sign of it in my actions, not wanting to give this cop any reason to be "concerned" just because of mental spat that didn't want to stay mental. I gave a strained smile, the corner of my lips lifting. I slid off the car hood as gracefully as I could ever conduct purposefully. I internally rolled my eyes. Not looking like a drunk underage or someone on their high horse in front of police officer sounds like a great plan.

Walking up to the driver's side door, I fully expected one of those cliché moments where the cop would roll down their window and then tilt the Aviator glasses -even if it IS night, cops in this town, I swear- peer over them and then say something smooth.

What I got was not that.

Not even close to that.

But the window did roll down.

FINE! Closer than I originally thought.

Now was not the time to debate over technicalities, you idiot!

At the sight of the tiny stick thin robot hanging on the steering wheel, who may or may not have been been pointing a -hold up, is that a fucking pee-wee shuriken?! rude-I booked it faster than Speedy Gonzales on a good day back to the car. But not without screaming like a five year-old a phrase a five year-old should not scream.

"HOLY SHIT!"

I practically swan dived into the driver's seat and scrambled to turn the keys, the items already in the ignition. Thank mercy I left them in. I turned the keys with a quick flick, released the parking brake by smashing the butt of my palm against the release, the lever dropping down, and shot my left hand to the shift, my right hand preoccupied by the steering wheel. I did this all within the speedy time of two seconds. I sped forward and away from the police car as fast as the little white car could go, the little needle on the display rising fast.

I had to get back to town. Had to get back to people -never thought I would say that- I had to get back to safety. Safety in numbers. Safety in numbers. Maybe it would leave me alone. It wouldn't want to cause a scene, would it? Yeah, yeah of course. I had to get back to town. I had to turn around.

My heart was pounding hard behind my ribcage, the thrumming so loud all other noise was drowned out.

But when I turned to head back...

My heart stopped dead.

It was no longer a police cruiser upon the empty road. It was a fucking fifteen foot humanoid robot, with a gun-like shape in place of a hand. Pointed at me. I swerved off the road and onto the sand-covered face of the desert, the dust flying up behind. I prayed to heaven above that would give me a little time to get closer to town. To safety.

Please, let me live.

I was back on the asphalt when the dust cleared. I glanced at the small mirror appendage from the corner of my eye. That thing was the police cruiser again and it was gaining faster than I liked, sirens blaring and screeching, while bright alternating colors of blue and red nearly blinded me. Wutdafuck wutdafuck wutdafuck wutdafuck wutdafuck.

It all just seemed like a bad dream that I would wake up any minute from. Just another one of those hyper-realistic nightmares that would freak the fuck outta you. Fifteen foot death robots? That change into cars? It just couldn't be real. There was no fucking way. None. Nada. But this all lacked that dream-daze-feeling that made you realize at the back of your mind it was a dream. That little reminder that reality was just eight seconds away from your grasp. That indescribable notion that made you remember that those peaceful illusions are just that: illusions.

Please, let it all be just another illusion.

But the unanticipated swing of the vehicle jarring to a stop, the close sound of glass shattering on impact with something, the sharp pain that set my nerves aflame with agony, the ache that broke and fractured my bones on contact with the rough stone of the pavement, and the fear that left me so terrified and paralyzed...

Was an unfortunate reminder that this was all very real.

The ground trembled violently beneath my fingertips, shaking me out of the frozen stupor. I didn't dare look behind me. Whatever this thing was, it very much wanted end my existence. Why? I couldn't begin to imagine the reasons. The pain was excruciating beyond tangible words. My head felt like it was pierced with with a steel rod and smashed against a brick wall. My arms stung and grieved in anguish with every movement. And my legs... The undisputed hurt that came from right leg was mind-numbing it was so horrible. But there is no fucking way I'm gonna go out doin' nothing.

With all the willpower I possessed, my right arm slugged its way into the front of my vision, which was blurring and slowly blacking out, the darkness around the rims closing in at a snail's pace. The quaking was nearing, but taking its sweet time as if savoring all the torment I was in. That is sick. I dragged my left arm up from my side. Good girl. Now c'mon, you can do it! I clenched my eyes shut and pulled myself forward only a couple of centimeters, screaming out in exasperation when I just couldn't anymore. My arms collapsed underneath me, my head smacking against the asphalt. All the sounds were muffled and distorted, all feeling gone and cold. The metallic taste of blood covered my tongue. Why was everything spinning and... hurting?

Even with half-lidded eyes, I could still clearly see the comforting orange lights of town not so far away. So close. It's... so... close...

Something chilled curled around my form, and even from this trembling state, I could tell that this touch was filled with nothing but pure malice. I squirmed in a pitiful attempt of escape, but the grip only tightened. So... much... for that... useless idea...

A dark, sonorous, borderline raspy chuckle overwhelmed my ears. I cringed at the sound of it, my arms shaking violently. I squeezed my eyes closed, the world beginning to spin rapidly once again, my stomach about to purge whatever was left in it. Something warm trailed down my cheeks and the taste of salt making me cringe once more. Was I... crying?

I opened up my watering eyes and was met with a set glowing rubies. I-I can't breathe. Why... can't I b-breathe?! Metal parts stuck and twisted together to make what could be barely called a face. Heh... I'm about to die... and I'm still more funny than Annie. A small smile made its way onto my lips.I felt the tight grip around me squeeze harder, something cracking in my midsection beneath the force. A new pain blossomed in my ribs, my insides set on fire then dumped in ice cold water. Every short, dreaded breath causing the pain to flare up anew. I ground my teeth and growled against the stinging. I wasn't gonna let this thing have its enjoyment that easily. If... if I'm... g-gonna go out... I'm gonna go out w-with... my pride s-still... intact. I lifted my head and glared at the thing, coming up with the best mischievous smirk I could manage despite all the blood and tears covering my face. I took a deep breath, the action burning my lungs...

And did the most stupid thing I could ever be proud of.

"Y-you're supposed t-to ride the bus, n-not get hit in the f-face by it," I sneered. I couldn't keep my head up much longer, too tired to support it anymore, and lowered it, dark hair meshed with crimson framing my line of sight. I still had a small smirk over my bloodied lips. Hot damn... better... p-put some ice... on that... one...

A low rumble of distaste shook the tense air. Out of the corner of my vision, a sharp claw rose.

"Pathetic insect."

The pointed appendage was plunged into my chest.

My vision faded into nothingness.

...

...

..

.

A loud feminine voice broke the sweet blissful slumber I had been in, the world still cloudy and foggy. I brought my legs up to my chest and hugged them close, pulling the deflated pillow over my head in a vain hope of block out the intrusion of my sleep. Something, however, quickly ripped the pillow off and away, a soft thump resulting soon later. Nooo... I don't wanna wake uuuuup.

"I said: Get up, it's time for school. I don't need the teachers on my tail because your late." I groaned and pulled the not-so-fluffy covers over my head in retaliation. Let's see how far she'll go.

A quiet sigh was heard. Oh shit. I tightened my grip on the covers to my knuckles went white. There is no way I'm gonna win this one.

The comforter was torn from my grip and flung onto the other side of the room. The next thing I know is I was being attacked by an assault of tickles. I cried out in surrender.

"Okay, okay! I'm awake! Jeez." The woman held a smile of victory on her face, black hair tied up in a neat bun, eyes alight.

"Breakfast is downstairs, so I suggest you get some before your brother eats it all," she insisted before walking out of the room pridefully. I sighed and stood up, walking away from the warmth of my bed and over to the dresser in the corner of the room.

"Yes Mom."

Whaaaaaaaat?! What the heck is goin' on here?! But holy crap, did it take a while to write. Sorry if there's any mistakes, I tried to catch them all (lol GOTTA CATCH THE ALLLL) but sometimes there's a few slippery ones.

HAPPY EARLY EASTER! Unless you're read this on Easter... THAN HAPPY EASTER! For those of you who don't celebrate Easter: HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!

I would like to thank...

CarsCars2Fanatic, Bee4ever, ShiftFrame, and zRedgrave FOR REVIEWING!

CarsCars2Fanatic: Looks like Barricade did quite the number on Beth, huh? Boy, somebody is gonna get maaaaad.

Bee4ever: Thank you and I'm glad your feeling better! Hope you recover soon... unless you already have... then WOOHOO YEAH!

ShiftFrame: I couldn't agree with you more XD

zRedgrave: *Accepts hugs and munches on chocolates* I LOVE DER HUGS AND DER CHOCOLATES! XD I think you can guess what happened here. Sorry to disappoint... or did I? ;-; Hehe. I'm glad to see this story bringing laughs, but I don't think this chapter brought that many. But it was a cheesy -ahem- it was a candy sweet chapter, am I right?

So what do you guys think happened? I'd like to see your theories! It's soo fun to hear from you guys. Make that a million and one. Shut up Beth, it's my turn. And now your turn is over. Oh, right. Well, not entirely! See: I'll see ya guys in the next chapter!

~Adamas out