Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Holes characters or plots, Louis Sachar does. I do own the character Elizabeth Azalea.
Co-writer and Top reviewer: LeMoNsOuR!
A/N: I want to thank all you reviewers so much. You have all really inspired me to keep going with this story. Thank you so much LeMoNsOuR for your great ideas. You rock! And not that oldies kind of rock, but the head banging, speaker thumping, guitar smashing kind of rock we all love, right? Thank you!
Chapter 2:
"Zack!" she cried out to the sky, wondering where he'd gone. The cold air burned against her face like toxic as she ran the streets, searching for him.
She turned this corner and ran down this alley, but she still could not find the one she needed. Her eyes squinted with much difficulty through the fog; she gagged against the smell of garbage and sewage that reached her nose. She wanted to turn back, but she forced herself to keep going. He had to be out there, and she had to find him.
Another alley, another vacant street, until finally, she found him. His back was all she could see, and she could see others with him. She wanted to scream to him, she wanted to embrace him, but thought better of it.
She crept slyly over to an opening between some big tin trashcans. That's all that was there, but what could you expect from the city dump. Even though she was close, the words that were spoken were still muffled. She didn't know what to think of this whole awkward situation, until it happened.
In the blink of an eye, it rang out through the night. BANG! The gunshot was so powerful it knocked her back. She quickly rolled away from the tumbling cans and stood up, looking everywhere.
BANG! Another gunshot. Time was running out. She had to find Zack so they could run, so they could run from everything that had tormented and mocked them in this city.
She dodged another garbage can, and found him once more.
"Zack!" she cried, tears of joy gathering at her eyes. He turned his head to see her, and she froze. The whole moment seemed still. He looked at her, with this face, a face of guilt, sorrow, and pain. He mouthed the words so clearly.
"I'm sorry."
BANG!
Eliza awoke, panting for air, cold sweat dripping down her forehead. She wasn't sure how long she had slept or what time it was, but that didn't matter. Her bones were shaking uncontrollably as she sat up on her cot, still in the same clothes she'd worn here. The tears ran down her face without any thought or fight.
" It wasn't my fault." She whispered the words carefully to herself, but they did not convince her. They were mere words, no comfort to her shattered soul. She had screamed, she had made him turn, but he apologized. She couldn't understand why, but it didn't matter.
Her eyes stare blankly out the "door" at the front of the tent. She was cold, shivering freezing cold, yet she was in the desert. Her thoughts wandered once more to Zack, and the tears came down harder.
"Excuse, Miss Azalea?" came that nasally voice. She seen the man standing there, in all his funny looking, too much sun screen glory, but she paid him no mind. That is, until he didn't give up.
"Miss Azalea? Its alright to cry." He went on, like he was some whacked out shrink getting paid big bucks to tell her she's okay.
"You may have done some bad things, but that does not make you a bad kid."
Those words hit her like stone.
"It wasn't my fault." She muttered to herself.
"That's right, your getting the hang of it!" Mom said, then he stood up straight again. "How would you like to see the camp, hmm?"
She knew he would not leave until she obeyed, so she rose from her cot and followed him out of the tent.
From as far as she could tell, that was nothing that exciting about this camp. It was desert, more and more desert. Even the sand seemed too bored to live. The other tents A,B,C, and E, were identical clones of D-tent. Off in the distance, Eliza could just barely see figures moving in an awkward dance.
" This is the Mess Hall." Mom was saying lots of stuff, but Eliza could not take her eyes off of the strange dancers. They were almost mesmerizing.
Mom led her around the whole camp, and showed her the shower behind the warden's house that she would use. He also issued to her an orange jump suit, a plastic bottle canteen, and some tall worn almost army boots (a/n I wish I had those wicked sweet boots). She change behind the warden's house, then surrendered her old clothes to Mom.
"Ah, looks as if some of the boys are coming back." Mom said, smiling at the large dark blob that was coming over the horizon. "Now, they might be here for a number of reasons, theft, burning, trespassing, shooting,"
It wasn't my fault.
"But that doesn't mean they ain't great boys."
"It wasn't my fault." She muttered, feeling the blood pumping fast again through her veins.
"Did you say something?" mom asked. He placed a hand on her shoulder as she started to sway.
"It wasn't my fault." She said a little louder than before.
"Yes, we all know you're a great k-"
"IT WASN'T MY FAULT!" she screamed and ran from Mom. The wind and sand whipped her face as she ran toward the blob of figures. She ran as fast as she could, trying to run away from everything, this stupid camp, New York, Mom, and the dreams. She ran and ran until she felt herself stop abruptly.
She had hit something with such a force that it made her head spin. After a few seconds, she regained feeling, and realized there was something, or someone, holding her. She looked up, tears blurring her vision, to see him.
She knew it was he. He had the same dirty blonde hair, the same dark green eyes, and the same soft face. He wasn't gone, he was back.
"I'm sorry!" she cried and hugged him tight. She never wanted to let him go, not again. "I'm sorry!" she sobbed into his chest, shaking all over again. She heard his heartbeat, she felt him breathing, and still she embraced him.
Then she heard Mom's voice, panting and out of breath, calling to her.
"Miss Azalea? Miss Azalea?" he was trying to pull her away, but she didn't want to depart with him again. He wasn't dead. He was alive.
Finally Mom succeeded in pulling her away. Time seem to freeze again as she stumbled backwards, only to look up and see she had not been hugging Zack. He wasn't there, he couldn't forgive her, and he was gone.
She fell to the hot, dry ground, the world spinning around her, wishing so much she could just die right there.
A/N: so, how was this chapter? If you liked it, thank LeMoNsOuR for all her help in the completion of this chapter. You can probably guess whom she thought was Zack, and I don't know about any romances yet, but right now, Eliza isn't exactly mentally stable enough to be in a relationship. If any of you are wondering, Eliza is not a character designed after me, I have not suffered that tragic of a loss, or been involved in a New York shooting, since I don't live in New York anyway. Please read and review and there should be more chapters coming. Toodles!