A/N: Sorry for the delay! I've been slightly busy. The end of spring break usually kicks my tail with track andown field. But! I had some time during our meeting and finished this chappy up! Hope you guys enjoy! Thanks for reading!
Chapter 8: Some Mistakes
As the sun was beginning to set, Harley woke up and looked around. Doc was knocking was coming into the room just as she was stretching out her axels.
"And she's up." Doc said with a slight chuckle. He drove up to her with a glass of water. "You feeling any better?" He asked and moved it over to her. She took a drink and nodded.
"Uh-huh, a lot better." Doc smiled and looked her over.
"You still seem a little pale. But it could just be your color settling in. Usually your color stops changing at age four or five, but there are those exceptions." he justified then drove over to the window. He closed the curtains and switched on a night light. "You've been asleep for quite some time, so I'll let you stay up a little. But no later than 8:00, you hear?" Harley nodded and continued to drink her water. Doc nodded and drove out of the room. Harley looked around trying to figure out what to do in her free time. She could draw, but really didn't feel like doing that. Watch a vhs movie? She shook her hood then found her little radio she got for her birthday. A small smile found its way to her features as she drove over and turned the radio on a low volume. A song played a sweet melody and Harley softly sang along until it was abruptly stopped.
"We interrupt this program for a news update on the case of Harley Davis Stockrim." Harley looked at the radio and was taken aback. Did it just say her name?"The time and date of the hearing that decides whose custody she lives under has not been decided yet, but it is being targeted for August 11. That's in two weeks time, folks." Harley shook her hood. What was this little box talking about? She decided to go ask Doc about it and went off slowly and quietly. She ventured off into the examination room of the clinic and saw Doc. She was about to speak up when she hear another voice. She backed up slightly and could hear Sheriff talking to him.
"We need to decide on a date and write them back." Harley furrowed her eye rims confused.
"I know, but.." Doc sighed. "Could we make it any later?" Sheriff shook his hood at him.
"August 11th is the latest." Sheriff insisted. "Her brother is coming and we need to write them back so that she can pass on the information." Doc looked away from Sheriff and Harley backed up even more, but not very carefully. She drove right into a cart filled with tools that clanked around once she hit it. She winced at the sound and looked up nervously as Doc spun around and saw that Harley there close to the door way.
"Harley?" He questioned, "What is it? Something wrong?" he asked and she quickly shook her hood.
"N-no. No. I just had a question-" she stopped and thought about it. Maybe now wasn't a good time.
"A question about what?" Doc asked slightly leaning to one side.
"Uh, I was just, uh, wondering if I could go get a snack from Flo's." she paused and nodded to herself. "I'm kinda hungry." Doc slightly smiled and nodded his hood.
"Of course you can." he said and slightly moved out of the way so she could get to the double doors. She glanced at Sheriff with a small awkward smile as she made her way out. She drove next door to the café and sighed once she was there.
"What's the matter, sugar?" Harley was slightly started and jumped up when she heard Flo.
"Oh! Uh, nothing…" She said and looked away from her.
"Mm, I know something's up. I can hear it in ya voice!" Flo said and drove up beside her. "Tell Flo what's wrong and she can help ya." Harley chuckled and looked up at her.
"Well, it's Doc-"
"I knew it!" Flo cut her off and quickly lowered her voice. "Sorry, doll, go on."
"Um, okay… well, Doc's been really busy…" she said and looked off in the direction of the clinic. "I think he's dealing with a lot of stuff. I think it's about me..." Flo nodded in understanding.
"He's just workin', workin', workin'. Always wants-"
"What's best." Harley finished with a low and unenthusiastic voice. She looked to the pavement, and Flo frowned at Harley. Her silver smile quickly returned as her features again became bright.
"You know what you need? A nice good smoothie! I'll mix one up for you and have it out in a jiffy!" she darted into the café and Harley sighed.
"Oh, hey Harley!" She looked up and saw a rusty tow truck.
"Hey Mater..." she quietly said.
"Well, what's da matter with you?" he asked and went up to her."
Doc's been really busy and I feel like I never see him. He's been pretty grumpy too." Matter nudged her with his tire.
"Nah, that's just good ole Doc bein' good ole Doc." he justified and Harley shrugged her tires.
"I guess you're right." She said and Mater jumped up.
"Ya know what'll cheer you up!" He said and Harley looked curiously up at him.
"What?" she asked
"Oh, you'll see! Jus' follow me!" He then began to dart onto the street the. paused and looked back. "Well, come on now!" he called. Harley looked back at where Flo had vanished to then back to Mater. She glanced down and thought about and with a small smile, she made up her mind.
"Okay, let's go!" she said and followed behind him.
"Woo-hoo! This gonna be fu-un!" he shouted as drove out of town.
"Wh-where are we going?" She asked and Mater laughed.
"A field!" he joyously said.
"Hm…" Harley wasn't sure if she liked this idea and thought it over. What could there possibly be at a field? Before she knew it, they had made it.
"Okay, now we gonna be real quiet." he said and began to drive past the broken wood fence. They went into a field of sleeping tractors.
"What are those?" Harley asked. She had never seen a tractor in her life.
"They're trackers!" Mater said. "And we gonna tip 'em!" he sneaked up to one very quietly and once her was close, he honked. He moved backwards as the eyes of the tractor shot open. He then tipped up and let hot hot air from his exhaust. Mater then began laughing and drove back over to Harley. "See! Tracker tippin' is fun! All ya gotta do is sneak up, honk, and they do the rest!" Harley awkwardly chuckled and nodded.
"Uh, cool." she said and Mater mugged her.
"Come on, your turn!" Mater insisted ands pushed her towards a tractor.
"Um, alright." she snuck up closer ah have a short honk of her horn. Nothing.
"No, no, you gotta really honk." Mater said and nodded his hood. "Go on." Harley sighed and looked back at the tractor. She gave a loud and long honk and it did the trick. "Haha! Thatta way!" Mater shouted then drove off to find another victim.
Harley softly giggled at the approval and went on with this odd game. She kept tipping until there were hardly any left to tip. She drove up to Mater and they were both laughing.
"This is weird. But it's kinda fun, I guess." Harley decided.
"See, I told ya that it would cheer you up!" Mater said nudging her fender with a tire. She giggled again and Mater laughed right along side her, until he abruptly stopped. Harley's giggles faded out once she realized he now looked very alert.
"Wh-what's wro-?"
"Sh-sh-sh-sh." Mater cut her off and turned to a corner of the field. A dim light could be seen and a beastly noise followed it. "Drive, Harley, drive!" Mater bolted out and Harley looked around, then she saw it. A huge combine came crashing through the bushes and bellowed in her face. With a scream she flipped around and began driving as fast as she could. She was hitting 90 miles per hour and the combine was right at her bumper. She saw Mater up ahead laughing and screaming but all she could think of was the combine's hot air chasing her. Suddenly everything faded out to black. Bad memories started to fill her mind and all she could her was a voice yelling from behind her. His voice. She forgot where she was and just kept driving and driving until she felt herself crashing through Ford-knows-what.
"Harley!" she heard another voice call from a distance, but everything was still dark, an engine roared behind her.
"Harley, you best stop if you know what's good!" Jeremy called from behind.
"Harley!" The other voice was louder, more serious. She turned, trying to lose her pursuiter and crashed through something else. Then reality melted back in and she was headed straight for a wall. "Harley!" She slammed on her brakes and stopped inches from a terrible wreck. She was huffing and puffing then remembered what she was running from. She spun around, expecting to see a dark red car, but instead, was blinded by a red siren behind a shiny blue paint job. She looked past them and saw that she had plowed through Mater's junkyard, scattered, wrecked up the some oil cans at a café and finally blew through a few stacks of tires. She looked back to the two older cars in front of them. One was upset, but the other was clearly very, very angry.
"Harley!" Doc shouted and Sheriff nudged him.
"Hey, calm down." he said and drove up in front of him. "Harley, what happened?" She was still panting as tears filled her eyes.
"I… I… he w-was behind me! He-he cha-chased me! I-I-" her hiccups got worse the longer she spoke.
"Harley, just calm down. Take a deep breath." In between hiccups, she inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. She looked down and continued the process until she gained her composure.
"Harley, you and Mater are in big trouble…" Doc said once he was sure she was okay, the began driving to the clinic. "Come on!" he called out. Harley looked around at all the worried looks of everyone else. And at the mess she caused. She then saw from the corner of her windshield Doc's red brake lights. "Harley!" he called again, sharper this time. She slightly flinched then sighed and slowly started to follow him. They we think I to the dim clinic and she looked around nervously. There was silence and Doc was turned away from her. He took a deep breath then turned to face her. He looked at her with furrowed eye rims then shook his hood.
"Harley…" He said softly, but harshly.
"Y-yeah?" she weakly asked and he again shook his hood, slowly this time.
"First the tires, then the paint, now you went and tipped tractors, got Frank after you and wrecked several shops!" There was a pause then Harley said under her breath.
"The… the paint?" she asked and Doc sighed in frustration.
"You think I didn't know of the paint? I know why you're a shade lighter!" he snapped and Harley reversed back.
"Y-you know?" she asked looked down at her lighter hood.
"Yes I know! I had my suspicions, so I went and asked Ramone and he told me everything that happened!" Doc turned away and and groaned. "Harley…. You're driving me up the wall with all this bad behavior." There was a beat then Harley squeaked.
"I… I'm sorry." she said and Doc turned back.
"That's great, but you have to learn that 'sorry' can't fix everything." He said in a more understanding voice. "Sorry wouldn't be able to fix the crash you almost had back there! You were speeding, Harley, speeding! You could have-!" He stopped himself and looked away from her. "You could even have been very hurt… and I'm not sure if I would be able to fix you…" more silence. Harley saw it best not to speak, so she quietly sniffed as tears filled her eyes. All she could think of to say was 'sorry,' but that obviously didn't help her the first time. Doc shook his hood and looked down at the tile floor. "It's been a long day Harley... it's getting late and I'm tired." she then looked up at him and moved inches forward.
"You're tired?" She asked. "Why?" her curiosity slipped before she could stop it.
"Why?" Doc repeated then turned to her. "Because I've been busy. I'm tired of being busy. I'm tired of dealing with the court! I'm tired of dealing with the same questions over and over and over again! Are you staying, are you leaving? Do I write them? Do I let them come? I'm tired of dealing with your behavior, of dealing with you, I'm-"
"You're tired of me?" Doc realized his mistake and he shrank down.
"Harley, I didn't-"
"You're tired of me." She cut him off again. "Maybe I shouldn't have come here then..." Doc was shocked and inched closer.
"Harley, no. It's just…"
"No!" Harley saw that it was her turn to snap. "Ever since I came, you've been really, really tired and really, really busy! And you said that sorry can't fix it. But I'm sorry! Sorry I ever showed up!" she then sped off to her room and slammed her tired on the peddle to close the door shut. Doc stayed there in disbelief then shook his head and looked down. He felt ashamed of himself and slowly made his way to her room. He looked at the pedal on the other side, but thought she had it closed for a reason. He knocked on the door and spoke softly, but loud enough for her to hear.
"Harley… open the door." No response. A beat. "Harley? Harley, please open the door." He asked again and sighed. "Harley. Harley listen to me, can you do that? You don't have to answer, just listen." another pause. "I… I'm sorry. It just been hard dealing with all of this. I just want what's best for the town. For you. I shouldn't have snapped at you. I've just been stressed and-"
"That's what Mama used to say!" Harley barked.
"What?" Doc asked, slightly confused.
"That's what Mama used to say about Jeremy… that he was just stressed! Always stressed… always busy..." Doc stopped short and let a beat pass.
"Harley… it's… it's not like that." He said, shocked that he was compared to that awful car.
"Really?" She asked, but with zero sincerity. "Because he did the same thing. He was stressed then yelled a lot… then…" she trailed off and began to sniff through her hood again.
"Harley… I'm not like him at all… I promise…" Harley slightly scoffed.
"Prove it…" Doc thought for a moment. Prove it? How? Then he quickly realized it. But he couldn't admit to that. If he admitted to it, he knew he wouldn't be able to second guess it ever again. He wouldn't be able to let her go. Even if he had to.
"Harley…" His voice was softer. Kinder. "The difference between… Jeremy and I is…" he sighed and looked down at his hood. He loved his voice to an inauditable volume. "I can't do this, can I…" he muttered to himself. There was more pause. More heavy silence. Harley had stopped sniffing and listened closely. She didn't say a word, just listened.
"Harley… the difference is… I…" he stopped himself again and turned away from the door. "I'm sorry." he said in a low voice and drove away.
"I'm sorry..."
