Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. I never expected to get one review
let alone two. Wow, that sounded really sad... Anywho, please review and
tell me what you think or if anything is wrong. I'm trying to make this as
much like the movie (and perhaps book) as I can.
Dawnie-7: Oh my God, you're the greatest!! "Liz": Glad you got my email and I'm happy you like my story so far! MorbidMan: Happy you like!! And yes, I certainly plan on continuing because I've always wanted to do fanfiction about "The Stand".
*~*~*
Chapter 2: June 20- Home
Josephine walked out of the building and onto the Cleveland streets. She shoved her hands into her short's pockets (after flipping up the flaps to them) and watched as the cars and people zoomed by, although there weren't as many as there were on other days and Josephine assumed that was because of the flu epidemic. But the ones who were in their cars and on the steets had somewhere to go and an agenda to keep but Joey simply took her time and enjoyed the feel of the warm, June sun on her legs.
"Baby, can you dig yo man? He's a righteous man..." Josephine sang under her breath. She always liked that song.
Josephine was completely capable of driving herself home. She got her drivers license at the allowed age but she had always preferred to walk home.
"Oh... my God, ma'am, I am so sorry." Joey said as she bumped into the side of an older woman, no more than 50. "I wasn't watching where I was going."
The woman looked at her and smiled. "It's alright sweetheart." she said as she continued to walk along.
The two had then went on their separate ways. Sadly, the woman never realized that in the split second Josehpine had bumped her, she slipped into the woman's pocket and found a twenty dollar bill. Josephine looked at the bill, smirked wickedly, and shoved it into her own pocket.
As I said before, Josephine was a pick-pocket and she was very good at what she did. She realized at a young age that people had always left everything from loose change to fifties in their pockets, even though they had wallets and purses. She knew she wasn't the only theif in the world so whenever she bought pants, she made sure they had buttonable flaps over each of the pockets and her purse... well, even she sometimes had trouble getting into it.
She looked up at the clear blue sky as she walked along. It was only about 2 in the afternoon and the sun was bright and made everything seem so pleasant. The sky was amazingly blue and only a cloud or two floated lazily along. Josephine smiled and took a deep breath of the sweet air, well, as sweet as the air can get in Cleveland, Ohio. She was so used to the smells of everyday life in Cleveland that she didn't realize that anyone who wasn't from the city would be gagging considerably.
On her way down the main street, Josephine passed by a row of stores. One store was very expensive and there was a pair of black boots, similar to combat boots, in the store window. She practically threw her body up against the window as she stared at the shoes with wide eyes. The shoes were over fifty dollars, but she didn't have that kind of money with her at the moment. All she had was the twenty.
She frowned as she walked away.
She could've gone around, stealing from others until she had enough money to buy the shoes, but that would take time. Time was something she didn't have since she had to be home before her parents got suspicious and just called the police, which they have done before.
She walked by the other stores and as she passed the final store in the line, she saw a red tank top. She saw the price and she walked into the store to buy the shirt legitimately. Yes, that's right, she didn't steal it, but she did steal the money she used to buy the top. But in her book, that didn't count.
*
As she walked through the door to her house, she hid the bag with the shirt behind her back, trying to conceal it from her parents so they would be none the wiser when she wore it out. She headed straight for the stairs, which led to her bedroom.
Too late. "Josephine Kenndler, what do you have?" an older woman's voice spoke out from beside the staircase. It was a perky voice but the way she always talked to Josephine made the teenager out to be only five.
"I bought a shirt, ma." Josephine said, rolling her eyes. She was caught and now there was the possibility of a fight. She continued towards the stairs but this time not caring if the shirt was seen or not.
"You stole it, didn't you?!?" the woman said as her voice went up a decibel or two. Mrs. Kenndler stood in the way of Josephine, right in front of the stairs.
Josephine was getting irritated and she sighed. "No, ma, that's not what I said. I bought it. Really, I did." she said, sounding almost indifferent. Josephine slipped past her mom and continued up the stairs.
She could hear her mom yelling from the living room. "Bob! Josephine's been going into those stores again! I think she stole something again!" her mother cried out to her father but then let out a loud, painful cough. Then there was a pause. "Bob?!? Are you even listening? I said our daughter is getting into trouble again!!"
Her father coughed for a moment. "April, shut the hell up!!" he yelled back from the couch. "She's eighteen. She does whatever the hell she wants. She's an adult now and if she gets into trouble, then it's her goddamn problem. And besides, what do you want me to do about it? I'm sick as a fucking dog and I can barely move."
"Fine, Bob. Fine." Mrs. Kenndler muttered before going back itno the kitchen. "When she's in jail, I'm not bailing her out."
Josephine was, by now, in her little sister's room showing her the new shirt. "So, do you like?"
"Yeah! Do I ever!! Can I wear it sometime?" a young brunette said while sitting with her big sister on a little pink bed. She had these radiant blue green eyes, just like her sister.
"Ha ha. No, Kimmy. You're only nine and besides, it's a tank top, and a really small one at that. So not for a while yet." Josephine said as she stuffed the top back into the gray bag.
"Awww. OK." Kimmy moaned before going back to her barbies.
Josephine smiled as she walked out of the room and into her own. She loved Kimmy more than anyone else in the world. They were not only sisters, they were best friends. Josephine took care of Kimmy since her parents rarely did.
The day went on as any other day would. Josephine isolated herself in her room and Kimmy would stop by every once in a while to show Josephine the new outfits that had been mixed and matched and then placed on her barbies.
Once Josephine got bored with the TV show she was watching, she flipped to the evening news. All the were talking about was Captain Trips, the superflu. The newswoman was looking ill herself and she would cough sparatically. She said that there were reports that hospitals were filling up in the south and west of the U.S. and many of the people in them were dying. She also went on to say that the government and health officials were denying that the bug even existed. She said many people were getting sick. She went on reporting all of this for the entire news hour.
Josephine sat there astonished. She knew people everywhere were getting sick, but she had no idea that many were dying. She slowly got up and turned off the TV and went downstairs. She peaked around the corner and saw her father lying there on the couch, bundled up in a blanket. He had been watching the evening news as well.
"Wash up." April said coldly to her daughter as she looked at her from the kitchen. "And get your sister too. It's dinner time."
Josephine looked at her mother and saw circles under her eyes. Josephine got the distinct impression that she was sick or was becoming sick. Without a word, Josephine got her sister.
"C'mon Kimmy. Dinner." Josephine said as she left the girl's doorway. She walked down the hall and as she did so, she heard Kimmy sniffle and then sneeze. Josephine got a sinking feeling in her stomach as she washed her hands and sat down to eat.
*
Most of dinner was eaten in silence. And this time there were only three people at the table since her father could barely move. Mrs. Kenndler had served him dinner in the living room.
"What are you going to do about that top, Josephine? You stole it, it's only right you return it." her mother said cruelly after too long of a silence.
Josephine was becoming angry. "I told you I didn't steal it, ma!! I bought it like everyone else!" Josephine yelled.
"Ok, honey, just like you bought that purse and those pants." April said before shoving another spoonful of mashed potatos into her mouth.
"Go to hell, mom! I did nothing wrong!!" Josephine yelled once again. She got up from the table and stalked up to her room and slammed the door as hard as she could. She was being childish and she knew it.
She flopped down onto her bed and glanced at her clock. It was eight in the evening. She never went to bed this early, but she was getting tired. She reached for the lamp on her bedside table and clicked it off. The darkness invaded her room and filled every crack. And it felt good. She enjoyed the comfort that the night gave her. Something like a smile slipped over her features as she drifted off into a restless sleep.
*
She found herself standing in a cornfield that stretched as far as the eye could see. Although, she couldn't really see that far because the corn was taller than she was. The color of everything, even the sky, was odd, too. She couldn't explain it.
Faintly, in the distance, she heard singing. She was immediately pulled in the direction of the singing and it got louder and louder. It was an old woman's voice singing some sort of religious hymn. It was comforting, except for the fact that Josephine was atheistic. Josephine had lost her faith years ago, and this strange dream was making her question it even more.
Josephine suddenly found herself standing at the edge of this cornfield, facing a small house. Sitting on the porch of this small house was a very old black woman strumming her guitar and singing. Josephine could feel this immense warmth radiating from this woman and she was attracted to it, so she walked forward. The woman didn't seem to notice Josephine at first.
"Hello." Josephine said softly. She felt this great urge to simply be nice to this woman.
The old woman stopped playing and singing, startled for a second. "My lord, child! Scared me half ta death!" she said softly. The old woman had been slouched over. There were great creases in her face and her gray hair was pulled back.
"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Josephine said.
"My name's Abigail Freemantle. But folks in these parts just call me Mother Abigail. I'm one hundred n' six n' still make my own bread!" the old woman said.
Josephine smiled at that. "Where is this?" she asked.
"You're in Hemmingford, Nebraska, honey. You come see me, Josephine. You come see me 'afore He catches up with you!" Mother Abigail said, pointing to th corn behind Josephine.
The sky suddenly got darker and a flash of lightning streaked across the sky. Josephine whipped around to see burning red eyes staring out at her from the darkness of the corn.
*
Josephine sat up straight and stared around her pitch black room, eyes wide open. As the dream dissolved into reality, she heard, in the far distance of her mind, "You come see me, Josephine. You come see me, darlin'." Josephine felt comforted by the voice, but that still didn't stop her from searching for the demon that lurked in her dream even though he was no where to be found.
She found herself to be breathing heavily and sweating. She kicked the light sheet down to her feet and after taking another glance around her dark room, she feel into another restless sleep, but this time it was dreamless as well.
Just before she fell asleep, she heard her father cough. He was still on the couch.
Unbeknownst to her, a bird, a crow to be exact, sat on the telephone line next to her window and watched her. It was a clear night and the bright moonlight reflected off of it's shiny feathers. The bird's onyx eyes peered in at her and then it flew away.
*~*~*
Author's Note: Whoa, I'm sorry people, but I've just realized that people in the north part of the U.S. didn't get really sick until two (eh, maybe three) days after the 20th of June. I would just like to speed things up because I have some whatnot planned for Josephine. Review!!
Dawnie-7: Oh my God, you're the greatest!! "Liz": Glad you got my email and I'm happy you like my story so far! MorbidMan: Happy you like!! And yes, I certainly plan on continuing because I've always wanted to do fanfiction about "The Stand".
*~*~*
Chapter 2: June 20- Home
Josephine walked out of the building and onto the Cleveland streets. She shoved her hands into her short's pockets (after flipping up the flaps to them) and watched as the cars and people zoomed by, although there weren't as many as there were on other days and Josephine assumed that was because of the flu epidemic. But the ones who were in their cars and on the steets had somewhere to go and an agenda to keep but Joey simply took her time and enjoyed the feel of the warm, June sun on her legs.
"Baby, can you dig yo man? He's a righteous man..." Josephine sang under her breath. She always liked that song.
Josephine was completely capable of driving herself home. She got her drivers license at the allowed age but she had always preferred to walk home.
"Oh... my God, ma'am, I am so sorry." Joey said as she bumped into the side of an older woman, no more than 50. "I wasn't watching where I was going."
The woman looked at her and smiled. "It's alright sweetheart." she said as she continued to walk along.
The two had then went on their separate ways. Sadly, the woman never realized that in the split second Josehpine had bumped her, she slipped into the woman's pocket and found a twenty dollar bill. Josephine looked at the bill, smirked wickedly, and shoved it into her own pocket.
As I said before, Josephine was a pick-pocket and she was very good at what she did. She realized at a young age that people had always left everything from loose change to fifties in their pockets, even though they had wallets and purses. She knew she wasn't the only theif in the world so whenever she bought pants, she made sure they had buttonable flaps over each of the pockets and her purse... well, even she sometimes had trouble getting into it.
She looked up at the clear blue sky as she walked along. It was only about 2 in the afternoon and the sun was bright and made everything seem so pleasant. The sky was amazingly blue and only a cloud or two floated lazily along. Josephine smiled and took a deep breath of the sweet air, well, as sweet as the air can get in Cleveland, Ohio. She was so used to the smells of everyday life in Cleveland that she didn't realize that anyone who wasn't from the city would be gagging considerably.
On her way down the main street, Josephine passed by a row of stores. One store was very expensive and there was a pair of black boots, similar to combat boots, in the store window. She practically threw her body up against the window as she stared at the shoes with wide eyes. The shoes were over fifty dollars, but she didn't have that kind of money with her at the moment. All she had was the twenty.
She frowned as she walked away.
She could've gone around, stealing from others until she had enough money to buy the shoes, but that would take time. Time was something she didn't have since she had to be home before her parents got suspicious and just called the police, which they have done before.
She walked by the other stores and as she passed the final store in the line, she saw a red tank top. She saw the price and she walked into the store to buy the shirt legitimately. Yes, that's right, she didn't steal it, but she did steal the money she used to buy the top. But in her book, that didn't count.
*
As she walked through the door to her house, she hid the bag with the shirt behind her back, trying to conceal it from her parents so they would be none the wiser when she wore it out. She headed straight for the stairs, which led to her bedroom.
Too late. "Josephine Kenndler, what do you have?" an older woman's voice spoke out from beside the staircase. It was a perky voice but the way she always talked to Josephine made the teenager out to be only five.
"I bought a shirt, ma." Josephine said, rolling her eyes. She was caught and now there was the possibility of a fight. She continued towards the stairs but this time not caring if the shirt was seen or not.
"You stole it, didn't you?!?" the woman said as her voice went up a decibel or two. Mrs. Kenndler stood in the way of Josephine, right in front of the stairs.
Josephine was getting irritated and she sighed. "No, ma, that's not what I said. I bought it. Really, I did." she said, sounding almost indifferent. Josephine slipped past her mom and continued up the stairs.
She could hear her mom yelling from the living room. "Bob! Josephine's been going into those stores again! I think she stole something again!" her mother cried out to her father but then let out a loud, painful cough. Then there was a pause. "Bob?!? Are you even listening? I said our daughter is getting into trouble again!!"
Her father coughed for a moment. "April, shut the hell up!!" he yelled back from the couch. "She's eighteen. She does whatever the hell she wants. She's an adult now and if she gets into trouble, then it's her goddamn problem. And besides, what do you want me to do about it? I'm sick as a fucking dog and I can barely move."
"Fine, Bob. Fine." Mrs. Kenndler muttered before going back itno the kitchen. "When she's in jail, I'm not bailing her out."
Josephine was, by now, in her little sister's room showing her the new shirt. "So, do you like?"
"Yeah! Do I ever!! Can I wear it sometime?" a young brunette said while sitting with her big sister on a little pink bed. She had these radiant blue green eyes, just like her sister.
"Ha ha. No, Kimmy. You're only nine and besides, it's a tank top, and a really small one at that. So not for a while yet." Josephine said as she stuffed the top back into the gray bag.
"Awww. OK." Kimmy moaned before going back to her barbies.
Josephine smiled as she walked out of the room and into her own. She loved Kimmy more than anyone else in the world. They were not only sisters, they were best friends. Josephine took care of Kimmy since her parents rarely did.
The day went on as any other day would. Josephine isolated herself in her room and Kimmy would stop by every once in a while to show Josephine the new outfits that had been mixed and matched and then placed on her barbies.
Once Josephine got bored with the TV show she was watching, she flipped to the evening news. All the were talking about was Captain Trips, the superflu. The newswoman was looking ill herself and she would cough sparatically. She said that there were reports that hospitals were filling up in the south and west of the U.S. and many of the people in them were dying. She also went on to say that the government and health officials were denying that the bug even existed. She said many people were getting sick. She went on reporting all of this for the entire news hour.
Josephine sat there astonished. She knew people everywhere were getting sick, but she had no idea that many were dying. She slowly got up and turned off the TV and went downstairs. She peaked around the corner and saw her father lying there on the couch, bundled up in a blanket. He had been watching the evening news as well.
"Wash up." April said coldly to her daughter as she looked at her from the kitchen. "And get your sister too. It's dinner time."
Josephine looked at her mother and saw circles under her eyes. Josephine got the distinct impression that she was sick or was becoming sick. Without a word, Josephine got her sister.
"C'mon Kimmy. Dinner." Josephine said as she left the girl's doorway. She walked down the hall and as she did so, she heard Kimmy sniffle and then sneeze. Josephine got a sinking feeling in her stomach as she washed her hands and sat down to eat.
*
Most of dinner was eaten in silence. And this time there were only three people at the table since her father could barely move. Mrs. Kenndler had served him dinner in the living room.
"What are you going to do about that top, Josephine? You stole it, it's only right you return it." her mother said cruelly after too long of a silence.
Josephine was becoming angry. "I told you I didn't steal it, ma!! I bought it like everyone else!" Josephine yelled.
"Ok, honey, just like you bought that purse and those pants." April said before shoving another spoonful of mashed potatos into her mouth.
"Go to hell, mom! I did nothing wrong!!" Josephine yelled once again. She got up from the table and stalked up to her room and slammed the door as hard as she could. She was being childish and she knew it.
She flopped down onto her bed and glanced at her clock. It was eight in the evening. She never went to bed this early, but she was getting tired. She reached for the lamp on her bedside table and clicked it off. The darkness invaded her room and filled every crack. And it felt good. She enjoyed the comfort that the night gave her. Something like a smile slipped over her features as she drifted off into a restless sleep.
*
She found herself standing in a cornfield that stretched as far as the eye could see. Although, she couldn't really see that far because the corn was taller than she was. The color of everything, even the sky, was odd, too. She couldn't explain it.
Faintly, in the distance, she heard singing. She was immediately pulled in the direction of the singing and it got louder and louder. It was an old woman's voice singing some sort of religious hymn. It was comforting, except for the fact that Josephine was atheistic. Josephine had lost her faith years ago, and this strange dream was making her question it even more.
Josephine suddenly found herself standing at the edge of this cornfield, facing a small house. Sitting on the porch of this small house was a very old black woman strumming her guitar and singing. Josephine could feel this immense warmth radiating from this woman and she was attracted to it, so she walked forward. The woman didn't seem to notice Josephine at first.
"Hello." Josephine said softly. She felt this great urge to simply be nice to this woman.
The old woman stopped playing and singing, startled for a second. "My lord, child! Scared me half ta death!" she said softly. The old woman had been slouched over. There were great creases in her face and her gray hair was pulled back.
"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Josephine said.
"My name's Abigail Freemantle. But folks in these parts just call me Mother Abigail. I'm one hundred n' six n' still make my own bread!" the old woman said.
Josephine smiled at that. "Where is this?" she asked.
"You're in Hemmingford, Nebraska, honey. You come see me, Josephine. You come see me 'afore He catches up with you!" Mother Abigail said, pointing to th corn behind Josephine.
The sky suddenly got darker and a flash of lightning streaked across the sky. Josephine whipped around to see burning red eyes staring out at her from the darkness of the corn.
*
Josephine sat up straight and stared around her pitch black room, eyes wide open. As the dream dissolved into reality, she heard, in the far distance of her mind, "You come see me, Josephine. You come see me, darlin'." Josephine felt comforted by the voice, but that still didn't stop her from searching for the demon that lurked in her dream even though he was no where to be found.
She found herself to be breathing heavily and sweating. She kicked the light sheet down to her feet and after taking another glance around her dark room, she feel into another restless sleep, but this time it was dreamless as well.
Just before she fell asleep, she heard her father cough. He was still on the couch.
Unbeknownst to her, a bird, a crow to be exact, sat on the telephone line next to her window and watched her. It was a clear night and the bright moonlight reflected off of it's shiny feathers. The bird's onyx eyes peered in at her and then it flew away.
*~*~*
Author's Note: Whoa, I'm sorry people, but I've just realized that people in the north part of the U.S. didn't get really sick until two (eh, maybe three) days after the 20th of June. I would just like to speed things up because I have some whatnot planned for Josephine. Review!!