Guilty
Again, I do NOT own any of the characters of the Story "Holes." Except for my OC Star.
"Crap, crap, crap!" Star shouted in pure and utter panic. "I'm totally gonna be late!"
Yeah, she had worked too hard sweeping the floors, cleaning the windows, dusting every inch of the house, and feeding her family whatever they wanted that early afternoon. She had work at Sheila's every Saturday, Sunday, and Monday - 1:00 p.m. on the dot. However, as any passerby could probably tell, she was very much late: as it was already 12:50, and Star was not even close to arriving at the diner. Her legs carried her as quickly as they could, but she knew in her soul that she would get that yelling-at from her boss for being late. And thinking of all the apologizing she would have to do, Star cursed to herself. "Geez, why am I so stupid!?"
"Oh, sinners! Let's go down, let's go down, let's go down! Oh, sinners, let's go down! Down to the river to pray!" One of her favorite songs, "Down to The Valley" played in her headphones against her ears. She listened to this band, and many others, daily, while cleaning the house or walking around her hometown. But today, it was her extra motivation to run faster and faster.
"Oh sinners!"
Above her, a loud highway boomed.
"Let's go down, let's go down!"
Beside her, the cement supports of this high-rising highway was filled with graffiti.
"Let's go down!"
Around her, there was seemingly nobody but her.
"Oh sinners!"
To her left, were only old buildings that were abandoned by their previous families.
"Let's go down!"
To her right, was a vast blue sky that had a sun blocked by the loud highway.
"Down to the river…"
But in front of her - the person she had failed to notice after looking down and cursing to herself…
"To pray."
Was the person who'd change her life forever.
"Woah…!"
"Ow!"
"...O-Oh my gosh! I am so sorry!" Star quickly sputtered after she and the person she bumped into fell onto their butts. It hurt, of course, but Star being Star cared more about the person she had "selfishly" ran into. I mean, she had been running pretty fast, so the collision she had with the person's chest probably hurt them more than her. "Are you okay?!"
"I'm… I'm fine," the boy grumbled as he rubbed the back of his head. "But, um, are you o- Oh."
For a few moments after he trailed off, all either of them did was stare into one another's eyes. Star's were more innocently puzzled, while the boy's were more shocked than anything. Looking at his features (her headphones now resting against her shoulders), Star noticed the round face and dark brown eyes of the boy first. He looked so young and pure - didn't even look like he'd hurt a fly. His hair was frizzled underneath his red cap, as a tan backpack and a striped flannel adorned his skinny body. However, regardless of this strange situation they had found themselves meeting each other in, there seemed to be no awkwardness between them.
There was this…odd understanding. Their eyes stared into the others almost like they had seen one another before; like a peculiar twist of fate had knocked them together once more. Who was this person, they both asked themselves. But right when the question finally came out of their mouths simultaneously…
"Who are-"
WEE-WOO, WEE-WOO! A police car's sirens screamed from the highway right above them. Both of them whipped their heads up at the noise, squinting their eyes up at the Texas sun. However, what had unexpectedly blocked that sun yet again, was no loud highway towering above. Two blobs with a line between them flew down towards them; and before they knew what was going on, each individual blob…had hit them right in the face.
"OW…!" both of them shouted from their spots still on the ground. What they saw on the ground between them, though, made both of their eyes widen in confusion. Two shoes: red and white with x's on the backs. They squinted to see if they were seeing right, but it seemed that their eyes were working just fine. And this time, it was only the red-cap boy who spoke. "What in the world… Did those just fall from the sky?"
"Directly onto us?" Star inquired and then let out a snicker. "Wow. What luck we have, huh?"
At this, the boy even snickered himself. "You're tellin' me."
WEE-WOO, WEE-WOO! But just then, those same police sirens blared again. Yet this time, they were directly behind the two. Once more, the two did the simultaneous action of snapping their heads at the noise, eyes wide in awe. And by the time the lonely police car had parked in front of them, four more had already made their way around the two.
They were surrounded.
"PUT YOUR HANDS UP!"
And the next thing the two strangers knew, they were in handcuffs.
"O-Officers!" Mrs. Sirius squeaked instantly after opening her front door to see two police officers standing there. "What happened?! Is something going on in the neighborhood?!"
"You're Mrs. Sirius, correct?" the woman police officer asked instead, making the older woman nod.
"Yes, that is me… Um, excuse me, but can you please explain what is going on?"
"This is your daughter, right, ma'am?" However, once the man police officer questioned this and pushed Star into view, the red-head's expression turned dark. "Is Star Sirius your daughter?"
"Daughter-in-law, but… Yes, Star does live here," Mrs. Sirius said with clenched teeth. "Just…come inside."
The hairs on the back of Star's neck stood up, while her heartbeat quickened in pace. The entire time the officers were talking to Mrs. Sirius or looking around their house, Star could only downcast her eyes shamefully to the ground. She could tell how exasperated her "mother" was, and she wanted to do nothing more than try and prove her innocence. But since nothing seemed to work in the police car, Star slowly realized there truly was nothing she could do here if there didn't work. They wouldn't listen to her or the boy she bumped into, so…
Star gave up.
Yes, she of course tried a few more times, but…
Again, nothing got through to them.
Naturally, a far-fetched story of how the sneakers fell from the sky and magically just landed on the two of them did not go well to prove their innocence.
Star could only huff at her own misfortune.
Oddly enough, though, the only thing that could get Star's mind off of this situation was…the equally unfortunate boy. She had never gotten the chance to ask his name, so the only thing she knew was his looks. But again, something seemed oddly familiar about him. Who was he? Who was the boy with big brown eyes and a red cap?
"I am so sorry for her, officers," Mrs. Sirius apologized once more as the two said people stood outside their front door. "She is…quite a troubled girl."
"Just keep her on tight wraps until we figure out what to do with both of them," the woman police officer said before showing us all a wave. "Have a good rest of your night."
Click… The door clicked shut behind them.
Slap..! And a loud, painful-sounding slap followed it.
"You air-headed, half-witted dumbass!" Mrs. Sirius screamed, causing her daughters to chuckle and Star to lightly touch her now red cheek with her hand. "Why would you steal those shoes?! Why would you make me look so bad?!"
"I'm sorry, but…" Star gulped. "I swear, I didn't steal those sho-"
"I should have known this would happen," Mrs. Sirius then barked in a low tone. She stared at Star like she was a piece of trash: disgusting and full of unwanted material. "That damned mother of yours and her great grandfather's greed. I had hoped her death would take her thieving dirt with her, but it seems that ugly trait has been passed along to you. You are a disgrace to your family, especially to your father's memory. He would be so disappointed to see who you have become."
"I'm sorry," Star squeaked painfully, trying her best to keep her tears at bay. "I'm so very sorry for troubling you."
"Good," Mrs. Sirius hissed and then turned around on her heel. "Let's just hope you get the punishment you deserve."
A week later, Star was sent to court.
It all felt so surreal and strange - almost like some weird nightmare. But it wasn't a dream or a nightmare - it was real life. This was happening. This was actually happening. Mrs. Sirius provided no lawyer for Star, nor did she even speak up for her. She merely sat behind the teenager, watching aimlessly as the judge ridiculed her for her actions. And all Star could do was that shameful downcast, not being able to look anyone in the eye. I mean, if her own family believed she stole those shoes from that homeless shelter, then what was stopping the rest of the world? There was no way out, she learned that first day in that wooden room. Star did try a few times to tell her side, but again, it was her word against so many others.
"This could be it…" Star heard Mrs. Sirius talking from upstairs while she laid in her bed. "We can finally be rid of that waste of air. Ha! God must finally be sorry for my troubled soul!"
What would happen to her?
Would she go to jail? Some asylum for bad girls?
And how… How was that boy doing?
If his "luck" was anything like hers, Star knew he wouldn't be doing anything better. So, keeping the selfish tears locked in, she turned onto her side and closed her eyes. She even felt her three little friends snuggle up beside her, yet she was too depressed to pay them goodnight.
Some people were worse off than her, Star kept telling herself.
Don't complain.
It took another two weeks for Star to finally go back to court, and the reason being was more shocking than anything she could have ever imagined. Clide Livingston, the previous owner of the shoes, had come in to give his own testimony to the situation. He looked down at Star like some dirty-rotten animal, all of his emotions showing in the way he stared at her.
And even though Star didn't actually steal the shoes, she felt this guilt rise within her as Mr. Livingston explained his anger to her eye-to-eye. "Well, I was an orphan. I grew up in that home… I-I just don't understand what type of person steals from homeless children."
But I didn't, she told herself. Please, I would never do such a thing.
Yet his glare never ceased, and Star was left to sit there oh so guilty.
"Well… Do you have anything else to say, Ms. Sirius?" the judge further asked the girl, making her shake her head sadly.
"No, your honor. I'm sorry, but I don't."
She heard Petunia cackle. "Pfft!"
And Poppy laugh. "Loser!"
"Then I have nothing else to say either," the judge stated before hitting his gavel down onto the table. "Star Sirius, I sentence you to eighteen months in Thrive Girls Ranch and Home!"
…
…
…
It felt like an eternity sitting there.
The hallways of the court were completely empty, and there was no sound except for Star's slowly beating heart. She had been waiting for Mrs. Sirius to complete the final paperwork in the other room, being that she was her legal guardian, while the two sisters had gone out for some celebratory ice cream. All three were so happy for Star to finally be gone, and all Star could do was cycle through the many negative emotions she felt at that moment.
She felt so bad.
So stupid.
Why couldn't she ever do anything right? Or good?
All she ever wanted was to be courageous and kind, but she seemed to suck so horribly at both of those. Her mother and father must have been looking down on her so disappointed, she thought… Yes, they must have thought very little of her right then.
Maybe she deserved this treatment.
Maybe she deserved this harsh reality of worthlessness.
At some point sitting there, Star didn't even care about the unknown "ranch" she was going to. The only thing she started caring about…was what she deserved. And if the world believed she deserved to go to that girl's camp, however deceitful the reason was, then she'd accept it.
It was obvious she was not made for the outside world.
"Your great grandfather wasn't a very accepted man, Star," she remembered her mother's words from one of her stories. "So when he decided to help Kissing Kate Barlow, he didn't leave much behind. He was an outcast like her, and he liked that understanding they had. Since, however wrong their actions were, they still had a bond like no other… And a lot of people cannot say they have such a bond with someone, Star."
A bond created by shared criminology and mindset?
Yeah, that didn't sound scary at all.
"Here." And when Mrs. Sirius eventually returned, Star did not hesitate to take the paperwork from her hand. She looked down at the many sheets, seeing an informational brochure and some legal-stuff for her to still sign. "When you sign your name, you will officially be a member of that Thrive Ranch sinkhole. But, of course, you don't necessarily have a choice to sign it or not, so… I think it's just because you're so young and innocent."
But at her words, Star could only stare down at that blank line where her name belonged. There had been this question plaguing her mind, making her anxiety only worsen. And now that the woman herself was right in front of her, plus her current predicament, Star had nothing else to lose. "Mrs. Sirius?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you miss my father?"
"...What kind of question is that?"
"One that I've been meaning to ask," Star said with a sad smile. "And now that I'm being shipped away, I think I can finally ask it with confidence - I have nothing else to lose."
"God… You're so annoying, you know that?" Mrs. Sirius scoffed yet sat down beside the girl. It was a rare occurrence - them being on the same level - so Star's eyes widened slightly in response. "But… Yes, I obviously miss your father. Noah was a kind man; much kinder than my previous husband ever was. He accepted me even when I was too rash or too blunt, and his patience was something to be admired. That man would have listened to anyone, however mean or sad or poor. Noah would have done everything in his power to do the right thing, even when…he usually had no idea what it was."
Star's eyes only widened more at Mrs. Sirius' honest words.
And the bashful smile on her face…was something so, so beautiful to Star.
If anyone had been as wrecked as Star when her father died, it would have been Mrs. Sirius.
She cried for many months.
Mourned for many years.
Mrs. Sirius…probably understood Star's feelings the most out of everyone.
And Star had thought this, but never had the evidence to prove it.
But now she did.
So now she smiled at her mother-in-law. Because, at that moment, Star realized that she never really cleaned that house of theirs every day only for her own sake or her parents: It was also to preserve what Star and Mrs. Sirius loved so deeply.
Hence, Star finally realized that leaving that house truly was okay.
Mrs. Sirius would protect it for her.
Star knew it in her heart.
She could leave.
Yes, Star could leave to the place she belonged without regrets.
"Stanley Yelnats…"
But all of a sudden, as she could finally smile to herself, Star unexpectedly heard a man's voice speak a name she knew all too well. Before this, she had heard muffled voices from within the random courtroom she was sitting next to, but she was too in her thoughts to actually listen. Yet that name… That name of that boy with the last name spelled backwards would become his first name, she would never be able to forget. A name like that was as famous as some A-list actor to Star.
"Stanley, what do you want to do?" a familiar judge's voice asked.
"Oh no… Please, no…" a shaky woman's voice stammered.
"Shh, it's okay, sweetheart," a man's soothing voice cooed.
"...Star?" Mrs. Sirius called from behind the girl in question after she abruptly stood up and walked closer to the door. "Star, what are you do- Wait!"
Creek… But Star opened the door before Mrs. Sirius could stop her. Regardless of her impolite appearance, though, the courtroom was so tense with fear that nobody seemed to notice. And because of this free passage, Star's eyes could focus solely on the boy standing stiffly to the right. His hair… His curly, brown hair… She'd recognize that skinny, brown-haired boy anywhere. And that name…
Could it truly be?
The judge stared down at Stanley patiently, waiting for the scared boy's answer. "So, Stanley Yelnats? Jail, or Camp Green Lake?"
Stanley…
Stanley Yelnats.
He looked so scared. So alone. Just like her, Stanley must have been found guilty of stealing those shoes, so this "Camp Green Lake" must have been where they were sending him. Yet those fearful eyes of Stanley's, broke Star to the core. His family, who must have been sitting in those seats behind him, she concurred, looked equally as fearful. They didn't want to be apart from him either; and Star's heart almost broke completely at how loved Stanley was, and how he'd have to wrongfully go months without them.
Alone.
All alone.
Stanley would have no one but himself.
And, knowing Stanley's family history, that wasn't the best for him at all.
"Star…" Suddenly, she heard her mother's voice whisper in her ear. Star recalled these same words being spoken to her back when she was a child - back when she was still obsessed with her mother's stories. "Star, you must understand that what my grandfather and Kate did wasn't right. Especially because they knew they were the bad guys, yet they kept going on like there was nothing wrong."
"Of course I know that, Mommy," Star remembered saying back to her. "But… Deep down, they were good people, right? Somehow, there must have been some good in them."
"There was, Star. There was." Star then felt her mother's hand on her cheek and her brown eyes staring seriously into her young ones. "Star, there was only ever one man Kate's team ever felt bad for, and that same man's treasure is the only treasure they never used."
"Why…?"
"Because he was cursed just like them, Star. Stanley Yelnats understood Kate's and your great-grandfather's depression; they understood how unlucky and cruel life could be."
"But… But what happened to the treasure? If Stanley was so good, why did they still take it?"
"Star, don't you think the both of them knew that all the money in the world couldn't break their curse? That money drove Stanley madder than he already was, and Kate knew that it didn't and couldn't solve his problem - it only worsened it. Stanley needed to find a way to break his curse without the distraction and illusion of money."
"Hmm. I guess that's kinda right, but…I still feel bad for Stanley. I hoped he found his treasure when he finally realized that money couldn't break his curse."
"Well, Star, then you might be surprised. With that kind of thoughtful thinking, you might have been able to help Stanley and do what your great-grandfather could never do."
"Which was…?"
"Help Stanley Yelnats break the curse."
"Wait…!" I shouted before anyone could say anything else. "I wanna change my camp! Let me go to Camp Green Lake with Stanley!"
