Leaving Through The Window: Chapter 5-The Farmer And The Stepmother
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The afternoon started out with a nice breeze, and weather that was just the right temperature. That all changed when the rain clouds hovered overhead for awhile, before opening up and pouring down water in buckets.
Detention had gone by agonizingly slow, and by the time Hallie and Logan had gotten out, the weather had already made a turn for the worse.
"Great..." Logan mumbled, staring up at the rain as they stepped out of the school and made their way down the cement steps.
Hallie stood there, with her skateboard stuffed halfway into her backpack that was slung over both shoulders. She smiled widely, running out into the rain with her arms spread and spinning around. "Ooh I just love the rain sometimes!! Aw man, it's nice an' refreshing compared to bein' stuck inside all day." she laughed jubilantly.
Logan sighed with a half smile, following her out into the rain and giving her the, you're crazy, look. "Yeh, but yer not the one who's gotta work out in the rain repairin' a busted fence." he grumbled as they began their walk back home.
Today, neither had the choice if they wanted to walk to school or not. Logan's truck was busted and Hallie didn't have a car. Besides that, the last late bus from school had just left and they missed it.
Hallie glanced sideways at Logan as they walked down the street through the rain, their clothes and hair already matted down and clinging to them. "Why do you gotta fix up the fence today?"
Logan shrugged, shoving his hands into the now-wet pockets of his jeans. "I dunno, my Pop was hollerin' 'bout it this mornin' when I got up. 'Guess he remembered some o' last night."
Grimacing, Hallie absently began chewing on the collar of her black t-shirt. "Wow, he was actually awake when you got up this mornin'?"
"Uh-huh." Logan answered absently, then said, "He was really pissed, drinkin' early and everythin'." he mumbled, staring at the puddles in the street that gathered more water, as they walked the long, straight road.
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The soft light from the tv flickered as Hallie sat on the couch, lazily switching the channels about every three seconds. She hadn't felt like changing her wet clothes from the walk home, so she was sitting in the living room with a hair-dryer, trying to get her clothes dry.
"Hallie, what are you doing?" Maurine drawled as she stepped into the house from the kitchen.
Turning slowly and un-plugging the hair-dryer, Hallie glared sideways at her stepmother.
Maurine was a tall woman with dark, wavy auburn hair that flowed past her shoulders. She was fairly rounded, but not fat, and she always seemed to wear much more make-up than was necessary.
"I'm makin' pancakes." Hallie snapped sarcastically, rolling her eyes because it just happened to be so obvious what she was actually doing. Kind of. Sometimes she went out of her way to be atleast a little bit nasty to Maurine, whom she never really liked. Just to show her she wasn't Hallie's boss.
Maurine huffed, propping her hands up on rounded hips. "Don't get an attitude with me Hallie, unless you want to be locked up in your room for the night." she spat at the disgruntled teenager.
Standing abruptly and dropping the hair-dryer to the floor, Hallie started to storm out of the room. "You can't make me do anything!" she yelled angrily, running into the kitchen and out the door into the rain.
Hallie hated it when Maurine got all authorative on her and tried to act like she was her mother or something. She knew the woman was technically her legal guardian since her rotten dad took off, but it didn't matter. Hallie sometimes thought that she'd rather be in a foster home then with her disgruntled stepmother.
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Outside was dark as the rain fell, the only sound was the 'pitter-patter' of water hitting the ground.
Hallie remembered that Logan was out fixing up the fence his truck plowed through the other night, and began walking along the road toward the spot, wondering if he'd like some company.
Walking further along the road until finding the damaged fence, Hallie spotted Logan hammering a new fence post into the ground. Through all the dense rain she wondered if he even knew she was there.
Pausing for a moment and dropping the sledge-hammer, Logan ran a hand through his wet hair, slicking it back and out of his face. He'd forgotten to bring a pair of work gloves out with him, and his palms were bleeding from blisters. Looking up when he thought he'd heard something, Logan thought he saw Hallie coming towards him. Squinting his eyes against the rain he made a confirmation. "Hallie, what the hell're ya doin' out here?"
Hallie shrugged, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her brown cargo pants that were still damp from earlier and almost soaked through from her recent trek out into the rain. "I dunno, Maurine was pissin' me off. I guess I jus' figured you'd still be out here." she told him with a small smile.
Logan just nodded simply, glancing down at his hands as blood dripped from them, thinning from the rain water. He picked up the sledge-hammer and another wooden stake, then started to drive it into the ground, but finding it difficult with only one hand to strike the hammer.
Tilting her head to the side, Hallie frowned and grabbed hold of the stake, crouching down and steadying it so Logan could hammer it into the soft ground. "Jus' don't hit me." she smirked.
"I'll try not to." Logan teased, nodding thankfully. He then raised the hammer before smashing it into the stake, driving it atleast half a foot into the soft ground. "Ok Hal, you can let go now."
Hallie pulled away and stood back as she watched Logan slam the sledge-hammer down again, the stake going another half-foot deeper into the dirt. She sighed, wiping her own wet hair out of her face. "Why don'tcha go inside Logan. I'm sure yer dad's not gonna know if you finished or not."
Shaking his head as he dropped the sledge-hammer again, Logan began absently rubbing his sore, blistered hands together. "It's not that." he mumbled gruffly. "He's in a real bad mood Hal, really bad. I jus' wanna stay away as long as possible. Atleast 'till he's asleep anyways."
"Well, you can stay at my house tonight if ya want." Hallie told him with an assuring smile. "You can climb up on top o' the porch roof that leads ta my bedroom window like you've done before. Then when I get inside I'll let'cha in."
Logan sighed, watching her a little worriedly. "Eh, I dunno Hal..."
"Listen," she continued, "I know I got some o' yer clothes that you've left at my house, you can wear those ta bed an' go home before school to change in the mornin'."
"..Okay, fine. Let's go." Logan answered with a lopsided smile, putting an arm over Hallie's shoulder as they walked back.
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