Life's Long Road Home
Disclaimer: I do not own Holes or any of it's contents.
Chapter Two: Escaping Mr. Sir
Author's Note: Hey again! I am trying to move along pretty fast with this story. But with homework, it's impossible. Right, TalleyAnne? Haha. Well, here goes.
~*~*~
Around 1 pm the next day, the 4 runaways were all tired from walking. They had only taken a break a few times and never actually went to sleep.
"I'm tired." Star whined.
"Me, too." Cherry complained.
"I stole the tent while you guys were walking ahead. Pretty sneaky, eh?" Caveman smiled and grabbed a miniature size duffel bag out of his backpack and started to set up a tent.
"Sneaky indeed." Star gave him a little wink. Cherry looked confused. Star saw her looking at her suspiciously. "We planned this together, okay?"
Squid laughed. "Lovers."
"Shut up!" Star playfully pinched Squid's arm.
"Oww." Squid laughed again.
After tent was set up, Cherry, Star, Squid, and Caveman all got into blankets and laid down. Everyone except Squid soon fell asleep. Squid saw Cherry shivering and decided to make his 'move'. He scoot closer to her, and rested his head to make sure she didn't wake up and notice. He kept inching closer and closer until he had been so close he couldn't move any farther. Cherry's eyes shot open and Squid looked taken aback.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Cherry whispered loudly at him.
"Sleeping. What are you doing?" Squid tried sarcasm.
"I know that you are sleeping, but why are you so close?" Cherry knew that she liked Squid, but she didn't want him to be doing it as some sort of a joke. Guys were like that a lot, and she didn't want to be hurt by someone she truly liked.
"I like you, okay?!" Squid was a little loud, but no one woke up.
"That's all you had to say. I like you, too, but. damn you scared me!" Cherry smiled and Squid smiled back.
"Now can we just go back to sleep before the others wake up and try to torture us into walking again?" Squid asked. Cherry nodded. Squid laid down silently as Cherry slid her body underneath his arm. They were a match made in heaven.
"Perfect. Just peachy." Star stood above the dream couple. Caveman was trying to pry Squid's arms off of Cherry's delicate body, but Squid refused.
"COME ON!" Caveman yelled.
"No! She's mine! You can't make me!" Squid wasn't sure if he was playing around or being serious, it just seemed like the thing to say.
"Squidy." Cherry taunted, "we can hold hands on the walk if you let go."
"Okay!" Squid immediately released his grip and Cherry fell down with a thud.
"Sorry!" Squid retaliated.
"I'm fine." Cherry scratched her forehead.
~*~*~
"Jack, let's clean up this place." Cindy told Ken's best friend, Jack.
"Not now. I'm going to have the worst hangover." Jack grabbed his jacket and walked out the door.
"I'll do it myself then." Cindy called out the door, and slammed it behind. "I can't believe Ken's friends with him."
Cindy walked upstairs. She decided to do the upstairs first and work her way throughout the house. It was a 4-story house, so she was going to have to work for a while. She started on the balcony. She picked up towels leftover from hot tub guests and put them through the laundry shoot. Next, she grabbed beer cans and tossed them into random trashcans that she was planning on wheeling from room to room. The next stop was Ken's bedroom.
Cindy dragged her feet, not wanting to do all the cleaning alone. Nonetheless, she started working on the room. She removed all of the bedding and tossed it down the laundry shoot. Then, she decided to pick up all the miscellaneous trash and that was about it.
After the whole entire 4-story house was clean, Cindy laid down on the downstairs couch. She waited, watching TV, by the phone, for a call from the E.R. Nothing happened for hours, and she found herself drifting off to sleep. It was about midnight by then.
All of a sudden, the phone rang. Cindy jumped up, very scared because it was her first time alone in the huge house. "Hello?" Cindy spoke into the phone quietly.
"Hi, baby. It's me. Kenneth." Cindy recognized Ken's voice right away and almost screamed with delight.
"How are you?" Cindy sounded worried, and Ken could tell.
~*~*~
The group had been walking for a while, when Squid tripped over something. "Whoa!" Squid fell on his butt and everyone started laughing or giggling.
"Awww, poor baby. ha ha!" Cherry laughed and sounded as if she had pity for him at the same time. "What did you trip over, anyway?"
"This." Squid held up a bottle with paper inside of it.
"Let's get the paper! Come on!" Star yanked the bottle out of Squid's hand.
"It's mine! I tripped over it!" Squid said, and grabbed it back.
"Read the note already!" Caveman stomped his foot as he was the most impatient of the group.
"Okay! Okay! Okay!" Squid moaned and stuck his finger down the bottle, slowly but surely pulling the note out from the bottle. "Can I read it?" Cherry stuck out her lower lip. Star and Caveman whispered something into each other's ears and Squid smiled sweetly. He handed Cherry the note, and examined the empty bottle.
"Read it." Caveman, impatient as before, egged Cherry on.
"It says:
Dear Reader,
If you have found this, you must know that you are standing in a Lake. It is dried up now, but it is called Blue Lake. It may sound stupid, because of the color mix-up, but this is what Camp Green Lake is based on. If you are from Camp Green Lake, you are in the correct area for digging. Some rude old man a little while down the way thinks he has found the correct area. Please don't, I repeat, please DON'T tell the man you found this note. If you are the man, well--- OH SHIT!
What does that mean?" Cherry read the note and added a comment.
"It may be from." Star grabbed the note quickly, "Yes. From Kissing Kate Barlow herself!"
"You're right!" Caveman was now excited.
"No, guys, it says that it's her great grand-daughter. Kissing Kate is long gone to write this note. This girl is obviously hiding something. And I agree with her, no telling Mr. Sir. He's obviously the mean old man. Duh!" Cherry gave out so much truth at once that everyone was shocked at her. Cherry wasn't so honest usually. Especially to her mom.
~*~*~
Strawberry was beginning to see some interesting things on the news. Cherry never appeared on TV again, but she saw some other faces. They weren't Star, either. They were girls and boys, older and younger than Star and Cherry, who were missing. Some were found dead, and other families just lost hope.
"I can't lose my hope. That's for sure." Strawberry told herself.
~*~*~
"I'm fine. I just suffered a mild concussion." Ken made it sound like it was no big deal at all.
"When are you coming home?" Cindy asked, very worried, but not showing it.
"Tomorrow. I have a few errands to run, well, actually only one, but I'll be home by 2p.m. Can you have lunch ready?" Ken asked her kindly.
"Sure. Can I order a pizza? I have been working hard lately." Cindy asked him, because she had been working hard a lot lately.
"Yes, it's fine. I will see you tomorrow. I'm sleepy, and I'm sure you are, too. See you tomorrow." Ken hung up the phone after they exchanged farewells and I love you's.
Cindy felt better and laid back down onto the couch. The TV was still on, and she fell asleep very quickly.
~*~*~
"This is very interesting info. But, we can't tell anyone, guys. If there's treasure here, then." Squid started, but Star cut him off.
"We can't just start digging in the middle of nowhere. Think, Squid." Star gave him a cross look.
"Without being so rude, Star." Cherry gave Star a look, "she's right. I mean, we can't just go somewhere, buy shovels, and come back."
"And who said there's treasure anyway?" Caveman looked at them all and shrugged to his own question.
"True. We can always report it in the next city." Squid suggested.
"Good thinking." Star gave a compliment for three reasons. One, he was right. Two, Cherry might get mad if she didn't start acting nicer. Three, she felt bad for making him look stupid.
"Thanks." Squid smiled, and they continued walking.
When the quad found a local police station after they hit the next city, they walked in and found no one there. There was an older looking, rusty sign that suggested to them that the police station was closed.
"This is freaky. Let's go, come on." Cherry started to turn around but there was a bear behind her. "Run!" Cherry screamed.
Everyone ran behind the sign and didn't stop, because the bear was running with them! Another bear appeared and Star thought, 'No wonder the police backed out of here!'
"This is so much scarier than I thought running away would be!" Cherry yelled, and ran the opposite direction, toward to two bears.
"CHERRY! What are you doing?!" Squid yelped, scared for his newly found girlfriend.
"Come and get me! I have no reason to live through this!" Cherry started crying hysterically. Squid was almost in tears, but his will brought him through it.
The blood-hungry bear leaped onto Cherry and pushed his teeth into her flesh, straight through her small and fragile hand. Cherry's tears changed. She cried more and more until she couldn't cry. Her skin was aching, and she regretted coming at the bear with such force. Squid could only stand back in horror. Soon, a police officer ran in and looked like he had been running, from the sweat on his face.
The officer known as 'Officer Judd' pulled out a small dart gun. The city was obviously known for bear attacks, because it looked like a tranquilizer of some sort. Officer Judd shot the bear and the bear fell over. The other bear, that was beginning to chew on Cherry's leg, was also shot. She fell over with the same loud thud as her mate.
"Thanks. so. much." Squid was in shock, so he spit out the words, and Judd could hardly make out what he said.
"What are you kids doing?! Trying to get yourselves killed?!" Judd was half mad and half worried about the kids.
"N-no." Squid cowered and shook.
"We're not from around here, Sir." Caveman made sure that Judd knew the details. "We're on a vacation with our parents." Caveman lied, so the police officer didn't call them in for running away.
"Yeah. With our parents. And, we found this note, from Kate Barlow's original family. We can show you where we found it, but we came here to report it. We didn't know that this place was a bear cave! There was a sign and all, but. you know us kids." Star was sarcastic, since there was no sign. Judd blushed.
"Okay. I will check out the spot where the note was. This better not be a fraud or a joke." Judd actually acknowledged the kids' note, which surprised Star a lot.
"If it's a joke, it's not our joke." Caveman reminded him.
"Sure, sure." Judd waved his hand and walked out of the building. He apparently didn't care much about Cherry.
~*~*~
All of the 'just discovered' serial killers were beginning to scare Strawberry. She changed her house's locks and everything. She missed Cherry more than ever. Cherry hardly thought about her mom at all. If only Strawberry knew that it was Cherry's fault that she was missing. or that Cherry had just been attacked. It wasn't a serial killer, but Strawberry jumped to conclusions easily.
~*~*~
"Cherry. Cherry. Cherry, please. talk." Squid was now lying next to Cherry, crying. His father always said, 'Real men don't cry.' Everyone was looking, but Squid looked up at the sky, because his father was dead, and he yelled, "I never liked you!"
"Squid, settle down!" Star screamed, so frustrated. She had only known Squid for a short while, but she already knew that he was the first boyfriend that might treat Cherry right for once. She had seen Cherry get hurt multiple times by guys, but this was one that she could count on to take care of her best friend.
"I won't settle down! I won't! You hear me up there, God?! I'm going to scream until you bring her back!" It was just then that Squid never checked to see if Cherry was alive or not. He was breathing harder than he had been before, and knelt over, checking Cherry's pulse.
"Is." Star was interrupted.
"SHE'S BREATHING!" Squid jumped up. He grabbed Cherry into his arms and decided to carry her out into the sunlight.
"At least she's okay." Caveman nodded at Squid.
"Yeah. It's great." Squid smiled and sat next to the spot he laid Cherry. on a large rock that all four of them could fit.
~*~*~
Ken came home when he said he would, and the house was clean, like Cindy planned it to be. Ken gave her a kiss, and they ate the pizza that Cindy ordered, as promised. Ken was glad that he was back to normal. Some coma's lasted a while, and he was fortunate to get out before his memory started going.
"Will you come to dinner with me tomorrow night?" Ken asked Cindy, as they were cleaning up. Kenneth planned on keeping his house cleaner, party free.
"Yes. I will." Cindy smiled, and she smiled so slowly that you could hear the small -crack- that was there when you opened your lips.
"Good. I have something planned." Ken smiled wider than Cindy, so Cindy knew it was going to be formal.
"When are we going?" Cindy asked him, excited and a little jumpy.
"Later. Around 8, when it's about dark." Ken wanted to watch the sunset with her.
"Sounds good. Well, I am going to go home so I can straighten up. I've been here for a while." Cindy kissed Ken's cheek, and walked out to her SUV.
"Okay. See ya!" Ken called out to her and waved.
~*~*~
"Cherry?" Squid woke up with a jolt in the middle of the night. He was dreaming of her.
"Is that you? I didn't want to wake anyone." Cherry's voice whispered, soothing Squid's soul, helping him a lot spiritually.
"I'm here." Squid rubbed her back. He played with her hair. He kissed her. He did anything he could, while she was still alive.
"My hand hurts. My leg, too." Cherry pulled the blanket off of her, and showed him her gash, in the moonlight.
"Oww. What does your leg look like?" Squid asked her.
"Not sure." Cherry lifted her pant-leg, and Squid could see the deep, gruesome teeth marks.
"Wow. We'll have to clean that all up." Squid was nervous around Cherry for the first time, and he wasn't sure why.
"We could pick up and leave, you know." Cherry was feeling rebellious that night.
"Huh?" Squid was confused. "We already ran away."
"No. From Star and Caveman. We can run away. We can be together, Alan." Cherry used his first name, and this made his skin tingle.
"We--we, we are together." Squid was almost afraid of what she might say next.
"Come on. we can have more alone time." Cherry pulled his arm. Squid grabbed their bags, and ran with her. He didn't realize what he was doing, but he ran with her.
~*~*~
A/N: Strawberry will basically be out of the picture until something interesting happens. Just so you know.
~*~*~
Ken called Cindy, to tell her that he was picking her up. "Okay. I'm coming." Ken said into the phone after they had talked for a good ten minutes. "Alright. Ready." Cindy said and then hung up. Ken slipped something into his pocket, and grabbed his car keys. He raced out to the door. Ken arrived at Cindy's house right when he said he would. Cindy looked beautiful. She was wearing a red silk dress, with black beaded embroidery, and a nice shawl to match. She had a red and silver coin purse, but he was paying, so he told her to leave that in the car. "Where are we off to?" Cindy asked excitedly. She had never been out to a formal dinner with Ken, unless others were invited. "You'll see." Ken closed the car door behind him. "I can't hold it in, I know it. I'll tell you. It's that little French place at the corner of Speed and Hocking." Ken gave off the street names quickly, and she then knew that he was nervous. "Oh! I've never been there. It looks nice." Cindy was even more excited now that she knew where they were going. When they arrived, she was a nervous wreck. "We're here." Ken stepped out of the car, and opened the door for Cindy. He then gave the Valley Parker his keys to his Lexus.
~*~*~
Squid and Cherry ran for about a mile, non-stop. Squid was panting and Cherry was laughing. "I feel so free." Cherry spun around, giggling some more.
Squid playfully pick Cherry up and ran ahead with her. He dropped her onto the first grassy area that they'd seen for a while, and got out the tent. "I had one, too. Caveman just needed the glory, so I never told." Cherry laughed.
"This seems like a good idea, eh?" Cherry laughed some more. Cherry's eyes glistened in the moon. She seemed so happy that night.
"Yeah. Good." Squid went into the tent and Cherry followed. They both lost their virginity that night.
~*~*~
Author's Note: A little shorter than expected, but hey. as long as I'm done! I like this chapter a lot. If you don't, I'm sorry. Star and Caveman were getting a little lame. Cherry is the main character anyway. Sorry, all you Caveman and Star fans! I will write another story, and you can bet you'll here more about Star and Caveman. their reactions when they wake up, so on. But what about Ken and Cindy? What's going on with Strawberry? Keep reading!
Disclaimer: I do not own Holes or any of it's contents.
Chapter Two: Escaping Mr. Sir
Author's Note: Hey again! I am trying to move along pretty fast with this story. But with homework, it's impossible. Right, TalleyAnne? Haha. Well, here goes.
~*~*~
Around 1 pm the next day, the 4 runaways were all tired from walking. They had only taken a break a few times and never actually went to sleep.
"I'm tired." Star whined.
"Me, too." Cherry complained.
"I stole the tent while you guys were walking ahead. Pretty sneaky, eh?" Caveman smiled and grabbed a miniature size duffel bag out of his backpack and started to set up a tent.
"Sneaky indeed." Star gave him a little wink. Cherry looked confused. Star saw her looking at her suspiciously. "We planned this together, okay?"
Squid laughed. "Lovers."
"Shut up!" Star playfully pinched Squid's arm.
"Oww." Squid laughed again.
After tent was set up, Cherry, Star, Squid, and Caveman all got into blankets and laid down. Everyone except Squid soon fell asleep. Squid saw Cherry shivering and decided to make his 'move'. He scoot closer to her, and rested his head to make sure she didn't wake up and notice. He kept inching closer and closer until he had been so close he couldn't move any farther. Cherry's eyes shot open and Squid looked taken aback.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Cherry whispered loudly at him.
"Sleeping. What are you doing?" Squid tried sarcasm.
"I know that you are sleeping, but why are you so close?" Cherry knew that she liked Squid, but she didn't want him to be doing it as some sort of a joke. Guys were like that a lot, and she didn't want to be hurt by someone she truly liked.
"I like you, okay?!" Squid was a little loud, but no one woke up.
"That's all you had to say. I like you, too, but. damn you scared me!" Cherry smiled and Squid smiled back.
"Now can we just go back to sleep before the others wake up and try to torture us into walking again?" Squid asked. Cherry nodded. Squid laid down silently as Cherry slid her body underneath his arm. They were a match made in heaven.
"Perfect. Just peachy." Star stood above the dream couple. Caveman was trying to pry Squid's arms off of Cherry's delicate body, but Squid refused.
"COME ON!" Caveman yelled.
"No! She's mine! You can't make me!" Squid wasn't sure if he was playing around or being serious, it just seemed like the thing to say.
"Squidy." Cherry taunted, "we can hold hands on the walk if you let go."
"Okay!" Squid immediately released his grip and Cherry fell down with a thud.
"Sorry!" Squid retaliated.
"I'm fine." Cherry scratched her forehead.
~*~*~
"Jack, let's clean up this place." Cindy told Ken's best friend, Jack.
"Not now. I'm going to have the worst hangover." Jack grabbed his jacket and walked out the door.
"I'll do it myself then." Cindy called out the door, and slammed it behind. "I can't believe Ken's friends with him."
Cindy walked upstairs. She decided to do the upstairs first and work her way throughout the house. It was a 4-story house, so she was going to have to work for a while. She started on the balcony. She picked up towels leftover from hot tub guests and put them through the laundry shoot. Next, she grabbed beer cans and tossed them into random trashcans that she was planning on wheeling from room to room. The next stop was Ken's bedroom.
Cindy dragged her feet, not wanting to do all the cleaning alone. Nonetheless, she started working on the room. She removed all of the bedding and tossed it down the laundry shoot. Then, she decided to pick up all the miscellaneous trash and that was about it.
After the whole entire 4-story house was clean, Cindy laid down on the downstairs couch. She waited, watching TV, by the phone, for a call from the E.R. Nothing happened for hours, and she found herself drifting off to sleep. It was about midnight by then.
All of a sudden, the phone rang. Cindy jumped up, very scared because it was her first time alone in the huge house. "Hello?" Cindy spoke into the phone quietly.
"Hi, baby. It's me. Kenneth." Cindy recognized Ken's voice right away and almost screamed with delight.
"How are you?" Cindy sounded worried, and Ken could tell.
~*~*~
The group had been walking for a while, when Squid tripped over something. "Whoa!" Squid fell on his butt and everyone started laughing or giggling.
"Awww, poor baby. ha ha!" Cherry laughed and sounded as if she had pity for him at the same time. "What did you trip over, anyway?"
"This." Squid held up a bottle with paper inside of it.
"Let's get the paper! Come on!" Star yanked the bottle out of Squid's hand.
"It's mine! I tripped over it!" Squid said, and grabbed it back.
"Read the note already!" Caveman stomped his foot as he was the most impatient of the group.
"Okay! Okay! Okay!" Squid moaned and stuck his finger down the bottle, slowly but surely pulling the note out from the bottle. "Can I read it?" Cherry stuck out her lower lip. Star and Caveman whispered something into each other's ears and Squid smiled sweetly. He handed Cherry the note, and examined the empty bottle.
"Read it." Caveman, impatient as before, egged Cherry on.
"It says:
Dear Reader,
If you have found this, you must know that you are standing in a Lake. It is dried up now, but it is called Blue Lake. It may sound stupid, because of the color mix-up, but this is what Camp Green Lake is based on. If you are from Camp Green Lake, you are in the correct area for digging. Some rude old man a little while down the way thinks he has found the correct area. Please don't, I repeat, please DON'T tell the man you found this note. If you are the man, well--- OH SHIT!
What does that mean?" Cherry read the note and added a comment.
"It may be from." Star grabbed the note quickly, "Yes. From Kissing Kate Barlow herself!"
"You're right!" Caveman was now excited.
"No, guys, it says that it's her great grand-daughter. Kissing Kate is long gone to write this note. This girl is obviously hiding something. And I agree with her, no telling Mr. Sir. He's obviously the mean old man. Duh!" Cherry gave out so much truth at once that everyone was shocked at her. Cherry wasn't so honest usually. Especially to her mom.
~*~*~
Strawberry was beginning to see some interesting things on the news. Cherry never appeared on TV again, but she saw some other faces. They weren't Star, either. They were girls and boys, older and younger than Star and Cherry, who were missing. Some were found dead, and other families just lost hope.
"I can't lose my hope. That's for sure." Strawberry told herself.
~*~*~
"I'm fine. I just suffered a mild concussion." Ken made it sound like it was no big deal at all.
"When are you coming home?" Cindy asked, very worried, but not showing it.
"Tomorrow. I have a few errands to run, well, actually only one, but I'll be home by 2p.m. Can you have lunch ready?" Ken asked her kindly.
"Sure. Can I order a pizza? I have been working hard lately." Cindy asked him, because she had been working hard a lot lately.
"Yes, it's fine. I will see you tomorrow. I'm sleepy, and I'm sure you are, too. See you tomorrow." Ken hung up the phone after they exchanged farewells and I love you's.
Cindy felt better and laid back down onto the couch. The TV was still on, and she fell asleep very quickly.
~*~*~
"This is very interesting info. But, we can't tell anyone, guys. If there's treasure here, then." Squid started, but Star cut him off.
"We can't just start digging in the middle of nowhere. Think, Squid." Star gave him a cross look.
"Without being so rude, Star." Cherry gave Star a look, "she's right. I mean, we can't just go somewhere, buy shovels, and come back."
"And who said there's treasure anyway?" Caveman looked at them all and shrugged to his own question.
"True. We can always report it in the next city." Squid suggested.
"Good thinking." Star gave a compliment for three reasons. One, he was right. Two, Cherry might get mad if she didn't start acting nicer. Three, she felt bad for making him look stupid.
"Thanks." Squid smiled, and they continued walking.
When the quad found a local police station after they hit the next city, they walked in and found no one there. There was an older looking, rusty sign that suggested to them that the police station was closed.
"This is freaky. Let's go, come on." Cherry started to turn around but there was a bear behind her. "Run!" Cherry screamed.
Everyone ran behind the sign and didn't stop, because the bear was running with them! Another bear appeared and Star thought, 'No wonder the police backed out of here!'
"This is so much scarier than I thought running away would be!" Cherry yelled, and ran the opposite direction, toward to two bears.
"CHERRY! What are you doing?!" Squid yelped, scared for his newly found girlfriend.
"Come and get me! I have no reason to live through this!" Cherry started crying hysterically. Squid was almost in tears, but his will brought him through it.
The blood-hungry bear leaped onto Cherry and pushed his teeth into her flesh, straight through her small and fragile hand. Cherry's tears changed. She cried more and more until she couldn't cry. Her skin was aching, and she regretted coming at the bear with such force. Squid could only stand back in horror. Soon, a police officer ran in and looked like he had been running, from the sweat on his face.
The officer known as 'Officer Judd' pulled out a small dart gun. The city was obviously known for bear attacks, because it looked like a tranquilizer of some sort. Officer Judd shot the bear and the bear fell over. The other bear, that was beginning to chew on Cherry's leg, was also shot. She fell over with the same loud thud as her mate.
"Thanks. so. much." Squid was in shock, so he spit out the words, and Judd could hardly make out what he said.
"What are you kids doing?! Trying to get yourselves killed?!" Judd was half mad and half worried about the kids.
"N-no." Squid cowered and shook.
"We're not from around here, Sir." Caveman made sure that Judd knew the details. "We're on a vacation with our parents." Caveman lied, so the police officer didn't call them in for running away.
"Yeah. With our parents. And, we found this note, from Kate Barlow's original family. We can show you where we found it, but we came here to report it. We didn't know that this place was a bear cave! There was a sign and all, but. you know us kids." Star was sarcastic, since there was no sign. Judd blushed.
"Okay. I will check out the spot where the note was. This better not be a fraud or a joke." Judd actually acknowledged the kids' note, which surprised Star a lot.
"If it's a joke, it's not our joke." Caveman reminded him.
"Sure, sure." Judd waved his hand and walked out of the building. He apparently didn't care much about Cherry.
~*~*~
All of the 'just discovered' serial killers were beginning to scare Strawberry. She changed her house's locks and everything. She missed Cherry more than ever. Cherry hardly thought about her mom at all. If only Strawberry knew that it was Cherry's fault that she was missing. or that Cherry had just been attacked. It wasn't a serial killer, but Strawberry jumped to conclusions easily.
~*~*~
"Cherry. Cherry. Cherry, please. talk." Squid was now lying next to Cherry, crying. His father always said, 'Real men don't cry.' Everyone was looking, but Squid looked up at the sky, because his father was dead, and he yelled, "I never liked you!"
"Squid, settle down!" Star screamed, so frustrated. She had only known Squid for a short while, but she already knew that he was the first boyfriend that might treat Cherry right for once. She had seen Cherry get hurt multiple times by guys, but this was one that she could count on to take care of her best friend.
"I won't settle down! I won't! You hear me up there, God?! I'm going to scream until you bring her back!" It was just then that Squid never checked to see if Cherry was alive or not. He was breathing harder than he had been before, and knelt over, checking Cherry's pulse.
"Is." Star was interrupted.
"SHE'S BREATHING!" Squid jumped up. He grabbed Cherry into his arms and decided to carry her out into the sunlight.
"At least she's okay." Caveman nodded at Squid.
"Yeah. It's great." Squid smiled and sat next to the spot he laid Cherry. on a large rock that all four of them could fit.
~*~*~
Ken came home when he said he would, and the house was clean, like Cindy planned it to be. Ken gave her a kiss, and they ate the pizza that Cindy ordered, as promised. Ken was glad that he was back to normal. Some coma's lasted a while, and he was fortunate to get out before his memory started going.
"Will you come to dinner with me tomorrow night?" Ken asked Cindy, as they were cleaning up. Kenneth planned on keeping his house cleaner, party free.
"Yes. I will." Cindy smiled, and she smiled so slowly that you could hear the small -crack- that was there when you opened your lips.
"Good. I have something planned." Ken smiled wider than Cindy, so Cindy knew it was going to be formal.
"When are we going?" Cindy asked him, excited and a little jumpy.
"Later. Around 8, when it's about dark." Ken wanted to watch the sunset with her.
"Sounds good. Well, I am going to go home so I can straighten up. I've been here for a while." Cindy kissed Ken's cheek, and walked out to her SUV.
"Okay. See ya!" Ken called out to her and waved.
~*~*~
"Cherry?" Squid woke up with a jolt in the middle of the night. He was dreaming of her.
"Is that you? I didn't want to wake anyone." Cherry's voice whispered, soothing Squid's soul, helping him a lot spiritually.
"I'm here." Squid rubbed her back. He played with her hair. He kissed her. He did anything he could, while she was still alive.
"My hand hurts. My leg, too." Cherry pulled the blanket off of her, and showed him her gash, in the moonlight.
"Oww. What does your leg look like?" Squid asked her.
"Not sure." Cherry lifted her pant-leg, and Squid could see the deep, gruesome teeth marks.
"Wow. We'll have to clean that all up." Squid was nervous around Cherry for the first time, and he wasn't sure why.
"We could pick up and leave, you know." Cherry was feeling rebellious that night.
"Huh?" Squid was confused. "We already ran away."
"No. From Star and Caveman. We can run away. We can be together, Alan." Cherry used his first name, and this made his skin tingle.
"We--we, we are together." Squid was almost afraid of what she might say next.
"Come on. we can have more alone time." Cherry pulled his arm. Squid grabbed their bags, and ran with her. He didn't realize what he was doing, but he ran with her.
~*~*~
A/N: Strawberry will basically be out of the picture until something interesting happens. Just so you know.
~*~*~
Ken called Cindy, to tell her that he was picking her up. "Okay. I'm coming." Ken said into the phone after they had talked for a good ten minutes. "Alright. Ready." Cindy said and then hung up. Ken slipped something into his pocket, and grabbed his car keys. He raced out to the door. Ken arrived at Cindy's house right when he said he would. Cindy looked beautiful. She was wearing a red silk dress, with black beaded embroidery, and a nice shawl to match. She had a red and silver coin purse, but he was paying, so he told her to leave that in the car. "Where are we off to?" Cindy asked excitedly. She had never been out to a formal dinner with Ken, unless others were invited. "You'll see." Ken closed the car door behind him. "I can't hold it in, I know it. I'll tell you. It's that little French place at the corner of Speed and Hocking." Ken gave off the street names quickly, and she then knew that he was nervous. "Oh! I've never been there. It looks nice." Cindy was even more excited now that she knew where they were going. When they arrived, she was a nervous wreck. "We're here." Ken stepped out of the car, and opened the door for Cindy. He then gave the Valley Parker his keys to his Lexus.
~*~*~
Squid and Cherry ran for about a mile, non-stop. Squid was panting and Cherry was laughing. "I feel so free." Cherry spun around, giggling some more.
Squid playfully pick Cherry up and ran ahead with her. He dropped her onto the first grassy area that they'd seen for a while, and got out the tent. "I had one, too. Caveman just needed the glory, so I never told." Cherry laughed.
"This seems like a good idea, eh?" Cherry laughed some more. Cherry's eyes glistened in the moon. She seemed so happy that night.
"Yeah. Good." Squid went into the tent and Cherry followed. They both lost their virginity that night.
~*~*~
Author's Note: A little shorter than expected, but hey. as long as I'm done! I like this chapter a lot. If you don't, I'm sorry. Star and Caveman were getting a little lame. Cherry is the main character anyway. Sorry, all you Caveman and Star fans! I will write another story, and you can bet you'll here more about Star and Caveman. their reactions when they wake up, so on. But what about Ken and Cindy? What's going on with Strawberry? Keep reading!