Hey guys, I'm working on this in hopes that it's better than the original. Honestly, I already like where this is going. I'm excited for the future of this so yay, motivation. I hope I get more done soon and catch back up to where I decided to start revising. Anyway wish me luck and have a lovely day.
~Much love, Ice~
Hitting the rides on the boardwalk with Paul was better than I thought. We had gone on roller coasters and other rides like the whirl -o- something. I couldn't remember, fast paced rides like roller coasters were my bread and butter- I live for nothing if not for the thrill of tricking my body into thinking we're dying. Usually they made me sick afterward, but with Paul, he distracted me with how fast they were with his loudness. He held my hand and got me laughing so that it was actually really fun, it was different than doing it all by myself. It was fun. I was starting to actually have fun when we got off the last roller coaster.
"Hey if you go save that table for me, I'll go get us cotton candy," and with a flash, Paul was gone to a food stand and I was sitting at the table on the far corner of the food court.
"There you are, you stupid bitch. We've been looking for you everywhere," someone behind me growled. I turned very slowly and I was met with a switchblade less than an inch from my nose.
"You look like you're looking for someone else." The eerie calmness of my voice threw me off. I was quite alarmed, but couldn't afford to express it.
"No. I know it's you. You were the slut that took off with Kenny last night." They guy with the knife was about David's height with light brown hair, misty blue eyes, and tanned skin.
He wore an open Hawaiian shirt, swim trunks, and flip flops. He had that king of the beach bullshit going for him as behind him five other guys stood. Arms crossed, shitty look on their face... Oh they were Surfer Nazi's alright and one in particular looked very familiar.
"You boys are mistaken."
"Nah, man. I know, I know. You're the one because you're the same white haired bitch who kept grinding on me and Kenny before you led him away from the party," the familiar brunette slurred, glaring at me through watery, exhausted eyes.
Part of me wanted to feel bad for what I did, for what I could only imagine Dwayne did to him. Considering mohawk douche hasn't been seen by his friends, I'm going to assume it's as grim as I secretly hoped it was.
"And who the fuck do you think you are bothering my girl, Donovan?" Saved by the bell, thank fuck. I turned to see David had come up behind me along with Marko and Dwayne.
"I wasn't aware she was with you David," all the sudden beach king looked pretty nervous, "maybe we can work something out?"
"I think you should get lost before we put you boys in the hospital again or worse."
"Yeah. Yeah... No problem," Donovan started as he backed away, "You better watch it bitch. We'll get you." And with that, the Surfer Nazi's were gone and I could breathe again.
"Hey what's... happened?" Paul's eyebrows furrowed up as stray tears ran down my face.
"Surfer Nazi fucks," I sniffed, wiping my face.
"Come 'ere doll," David said as he kneeled in front of me as I plopped back into my seat at the wooden picnic table.
He wiped my face lightly in a delicate manner. While watching him something crossed his face for only a moment and yet felt so familiar. It was so many things at once for a moment of deja vu. It was relief, passion, love, and sadness. It was curious because as soon as it was there it was gone.
"Thanks blondie... Can we go do something to forget about that," I asked glumly, excitement ruined and slightly paranoid.
"Sure thing sweetheart," David replied, throwing an arm over my shoulder as he pulled me up.
xXx
"Ready to have some real fun," Paul asked from his bike.
Marko had invited me to the seat behind him, and I had gladly accepted. I wrapped my arms around his waist as a pretty brunette girl climbed on behind David and the little boy had gotten on behind Dwayne.
"Sure thing rockstar," I sighed as I laid my head on Marko's shoulder.
"Tired angel," the olive eyed blonde asked as he revved his bike.
"Not really. Kind of sad. Some fuck is threatening because I stabbed his friend under the boardwalk. It's just really intense. Knowing my luck, it'll be those fucks that end hunting me down and killing me. Maybe I'm just para-" you could almost feel their sadness for me, but it as wiped away immediately
"Hey, none of that will ever happen. Just stick with us princess," Dwayne winked from his bike.
"Don't make promises you can't keep," I muttered, taking in his words.
Then it hit me, it almost left me speechless as he hardly ever spoke. And a wink too, from Mr. Tall Dark & Mysterious? My heart fluttered at the thought and I smiled only slightly at the man. Paul burst with laughter and almost fell off his bike. I wrapped my arms around Marko, laying my head back down on his back again.
David had led us off the boardwalk, across the beach,under the boardwalk, and through the woods to some rocky cliff side. I could hear the water crashing against the bottom of the cliff. The wind was wild and the fog was thick but through it all, the lighthouse on an opposite cliff made it easier to see. I could vaguely make out an old wooden staircase that went over the cliff's edge.
"Party's this way doll," my head jerked towards the sound of David's voice.
With that I slung my bag over my shoulder and caught a glimpse of him standing on top of the stair case. I made my way carefully to the staircase and it dropped drastically. It curved around the side of cliff and to what looked like a rock island but was actually a big part of the cliff that had fallen into the ocean below.
I'd trip and stumble along the way; the waves lightly crashed against the bottom of the steps. The wood sounded like it was rotting which worried me but with the support of Marko's hand, I ran quickly across and to the rocky island. Vaguely I could make out signs, but Paul insisted they weren't important as he walked behind me.
"Watch your step,"
"Almost there,"
"Wrong way sweet cheeks, we're heading down, not up,"
"Not too much farther babe, and don't worry you're going to love it." Paul's hands were on my middle back so to make sure I wouldn't slip away.
We'd slipped into the rocky fortress; it was much warmer inside than it was in the cool Santa Carla night. The rock was cool on my hand, the other was still being held by Marko. Suddenly the way was lit and I cringed at the newly found light. David was leading the way down the stairs followed by the young boy and curly haired brunette, then by Dwayne who'd crafted a torch out of some dried up driftwood and old cloth he'd lit with a lighter. Marko was behind him and Paul behind me. The cave glowed with the torch and the air seemed to warm up as I got further down the stone steps. That's right, stone steps. Well some were stone steps, some others were big slabs of jagged, textured rock that were placed almost perfectly to replace the missing steps.
"Welcome to our humble abode," David echoed as he went farther into the darkness of this open room we'd emerged into.
Dwayne had stuck the torch in a barrel, lighting it before silently moving to multiple other burn barrels in the room. It felt like something wonderful, like I had just done some really good drugs maybe. The kind of warmness I felt inside was indescribable, it was euphoric; I felt like I was finally home.
Something was most definitely wrong. With me? How could I have those feelings about some place I've never been before, let alone with people I didn't know well. I'd never stayed in one place for too long. My whole life before Santa Carla can attest to that. Only reason I've stayed so long here is Max's convincingly me with good, home cooked food and a permanent job with support. He was great and there wasn't a clue between Maria and myself why he was so nice to us.
The light was dim but it was enough to fully light up the main room. And by the good name of Alice Cooper, it was beautiful.
In the very middle was a fountain or what used to be a fountain. It now had an antique chandelier sitting on a pile of rubble in the middle of it. Above that somehow was a mobile of starfish and junk like broken CDs that hung from some over hanging rock. On the wall behind it hung a beautiful portrait of Jim Morrison from The Doors. There were holes in the ceiling of the cave as some moonlight shone in like towards the far left where Marko sat holding a pigeon? In that corner there were some art supplies and loads of canvas', closer to the entrance were some surf boards, skateboards, and just about everywhere there was some kind of sheet or fabric that hung to make it darker. Some covered holes in the ceiling, restraining moonlight from entering, and others seemed to be there for decoration. There were some couches set up to the circle what was a raised stone part, it wasn't anything dramatic but on it was an old school wheel chair I think, I couldn't tell, it had a sheet covering it. Speaking of sheets covering things, there was another painting hiding in a far, dark corner. All that could be seen was the edge of a golden painted trim. There was a couple different bookshelves in a corner next to a loveseat which had a comic book covered coffee table in front of it.
On the other side of the room there were two beds pushed against the wall. They were huge and had sheets and drapes draped over the frame that looked like it was used to block sunlight. That sounded lovely, it was hard to sleep with sunlight in your eyes. It was especially shitty if it was a bad night and I hadn't slept much. Not too far away I spotted a red tool box, overflowing with different wrenches and other parts. There were various trunks and twisted metal tables that were covered in leftover boxes and multiple candles of different shades and scents.
The brunette and younger boy had made their way around the room lighting all the candles. Paul had lifted a big boom box out of the fountain along with a few different tapes. Dwayne seemed to have taken interest in one of the skateboards leaning against the wall. I was just spinning, trying to take it all in at once.
"This was the hottest resort in Santa Carla back about eighty years ago. Too bad they build it right on top of the San Andreas fault," David pulled me from my intense observing, "In 1906, when the big one hit San Francisco, the ground opened up and this place took a header right into the crack."
"You wouldn't believe the shit we found in here babe," Paul called, lighting his newfound joint that seemingly appeared out of no where, "want a hit?"
Marko gracefully tossed his pigeon into the air and it flew up into the ceiling, he however gracefully slid around me his hand lingering on my lower back, "Don't mind if I do."
xXx
It was later in the night, a couple hours had passed and most of us had taken a seat on the couch. The brunette girl was on a bed which I assumed was hers and the little boy was chasing Dwayne around the cave on a smaller skateboard trying to imitate the older boarder. It was so cute when he'd come to somewhere Dwayne would jump over a stack of books where as the little boy had to swerve around it. Paul and Marko had taken a seat on either side of me while David had taken a seat on the wheelchair that now seemed to be more like a throne than an actual wheelchair. We were passing around a joint and listening to that boombox that Paul had pulled from the fountain. Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water had been playing for a while before the radio went completely quiet.
"Damn rock box is broken again," Paul groaned as he pushed himself of the couch and stumbled towards the fountain.
"Maybe I can help," I called as I pulled, my body working against me to get up," I'm pretty decent at that fixing technology and mechanics shit."
"Take a swing at it princess, I'm sure you'll be able to fix it," Dwayne called as he skated against a cave wall, it was one of those jump kicks and it was cool as hell. He then turned to the little boy, "C'mon Laddie, I know you can do it!"
"You got this little man," I called as I stuck a cigarette in my mouth to replace the missing joint. I winked and the little boy gave me a toothy grin as he started speeding up on his little board towards Dwayne. He jumped but his board didn't follow and he landed hard on the ground. Dwayne scooped him up as he started to cry softly. He busted his cheek open on the floor.
"Don't worry buddy," Dwayne muttered as he used his bandana to wipe the blood off the little boy's face.
"Hold onto this," I said as I handed Paul a half fixed rock box; I quickly dug into my bag and grabbed my little first aid kit I'd put together the other night, " Come 'er kiddo. Dr. Feelgood will fix ya."
Slowly the boy approached me, wiping the tears from his eye and swiping the sandy blonde hair from his face. "Sit right here kiddo, I've got exactly what cha need!" With that, he turned as sat on the fountain, sniffing as he did so. "This might sting but don't worry buddy, I'm just cleaning your face." I pulled a disinfectant wipe and tried to wipe his face gently but he winced when I did so. "Sorry kid, I'm trying to be gentle. Mary Jane fucks up my motor skills," so this time I did it slower and it helped, he didn't wince as much and held still. "Lookin' better kiddo, let me put small band-aids on it and you'll be good as new. You don't even need stitches." He cracked a small toothy smile and nodded as I put two little butterfly band-aids on to pull the cut together. "You know, if you're lucky, you'll get a cool little scar. It'll make you look cool; ladies love scars," I winked and the boy giggled, before throwing his arms around my neck. I was crouched down so that defiantly knocked me on my ass. "Alright, you did good," I paused. "Laddie," he smiled, and let go of me. "Good job Laddie, next time try wearing a helmet. Doctor's orders, it'll stop you from hitting your face as hard next time." He nodded and ran over to the other bed next to the brunette.
I smiled as looked around, Dwayne had a kind, heart-melting smile. Marko had a small smile and Paul was neck deep in the stereo. "Alright 'Doctor Feelgood' if you're done playing mommy, maybe you could fix the stereo and we could keep this party going," I was pulled to David's smirking face as he lifted a bejeweled bottle from his side. "Nice try blondie but after I fix this, we can have a drink off. You can drink you're fancy looking wine and I'll stick to what I know," I winked pulling a bottle of Jack out of my bag.
Revised: 5/12/2020