Part 4-C: Oops, He Did It Again

Finally, his father came back from the store. It had been hours since he left. His father came up and said, "Craig, could you go out to the car and help me with this stuff?"

"Yeah," Craig said, rolling off the couch where he'd been watching TV. He put his shoes on and went out to the car, a black Mercedes-Benz with tinted windows. It was shiny and new. He was still amazed at the car, as it must have cost a ton.

He opened the door and took several large bags of stuff from the seats and carried them up to the apartment. Craig went back to the car a second time, and got the last few bags, lightly closing the door. He sighed when he finally got it all upstairs. Closing the door, he saw that there were at least twenty bags of miscellaneous items. "What is all this stuff?" Craig asked. He wondered how he could fit all of those bags into the car.

"It's clothes for you, blankets, pillows, food, DVDs, CDs, and… well, you can go through it," his father answered.

Craig shrugged and went through all of the bags. In one, he found a lot of shirts like the ones Jimmy wore. He also found about seven pairs of shoes, ten pairs of jeans, and two sweatshirts. One was black, and the other was gray.

In another bag, there was a bunch of CDs, like Jimi Hendrix and The Ramones. He didn't bother to look at the blankets and pillows, because he didn't really care what they looked like. He also left the food alone. He found a lot of DVDs, and then remembered that he had a DVD player in his room.

When he reached the last bag, he found a silvery digital camera and an MP3 player. He was almost afraid to look at a receipt if he found one. He stood up and carried it all to his room. "Thanks, Dad," he said. It felt awkward to call anyone "Dad" now. He hadn't said it in years.

"You're welcome, Craig," his father called from the kitchen.

Craig sat on the couch and tore all the tags off all his clothes. He took the blankets and pillows and arranged a small bed on the floor, as he didn't much find the couch comfortable to sleep on. Amongst the blankets and pillows, there were two large, black Adidas duffle bags. He tossed the camera, the DVDs, CDs half the jeans, shirts, and most of the shoes into them. He put the black sweatshirt on, and felt warm. "Aaah," he muttered, smiling to himself. He zipped it up and spent the next ten minutes moving the TV.

He moved it to a position in front of his makeshift bed. It was late, now, and he could see the moon outside the window. He opened the window and let some of the cold air through the small opening. Unfortunately, the window wouldn't open very much, only a few inches. He saw someone walking down the street, and knew in an instant who it was. He put his face close to the opening in the window, and said, "Ellie! Ellie!" until he saw her look up. She looked at him for a second and waved. Craig rushed downstairs and nearly ran into Ellie.

"Craig, what are you doing here?" asked Ellie, putting her hair behind her ear.

"Long story," Craig answered quickly. "What are you doing out so late?"

"Marco's mom is letting me and some of his friends over because she's feeling very… allowing right now. Do you want to come?" Ellie asked.

"I can't," said Craig. "My…no. I can't."

"You can't avoid him forever, Craig. It's just Marco."

"Ellie, I'd love to go. But I can't. I have to… go back upstairs. But it was really nice seeing you."

"Okay, Craig. Bye," Ellie said calmly, continuing on her way. Still, Craig wondered why Ellie was all the way over here when Marco lived at least another mile away.

Craig went back upstairs and continued making over the room. In one corner, the large TV; across from that, Craig's bed; next to the TV, the two duffle bags; on top of the TV, the DVD player, DVDs, and CDs; next to the bed, the MP3 player, and the clothes were all next to the couch.

He shut the light off and fell asleep.

When he woke up the next morning, he got up and had toast. There was a note on the fridge that said,

Craig-

Went to work. Call my cell if there's a problem

-Dad

And there was a number at the bottom that Craig didn't even take into consideration. He got bored, and decided to take a walk. He sent a text message to his dad, telling him that he was going to be going around and to call him for whatever reasons.

He walked around the area for about an hour, carefully observing his surroundings. When he got back to the apartment, his father was there. "Hey, Dad, what're you doing here so early?" asked Craig, taking his shoes off in his room.

"Where is it, Craig?" his father said angrily.

"What?" Craig asked expectantly, giving him a look of confusion.

"The money. Where is it?"

"What money? I don't have any money," Craig said seriously.

"GIVE ME THE MONEY, CRAIG!" Albert shouted, smacking Craig hard across the face.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Craig shouted back, punching his father and throwing him into a wall. Albert turned around and pushed Craig into a corner. He grabbed his shoulders and slammed his head against the wall several times. Then, he punched him in the eye, and kneed him in the stomach. As Craig sat in the corner holding his stomach, his father dragged him into his bedroom and locked the door from the outside. There was also a padlock on the door, and there was no reason for it. Craig figured that it was there from the last people that lived here, but didn't give it much thought as it was on the other side of the door. He crawled to his pile of blankets and pillows and curled up underneath them.

This was the moment that he wanted to call Joey, tell him he was right about everything, to come get him and take him home. But as he reached into his pocket for his cell phone, he sat still in shock. When he had been dragged into the room, he felt the cell phone fall out of his pocket, but had thought nothing of it. So, he lay amongst the pillows and blankets. When the feeling in his stomach went away, he reached over for the MP3 player. He listened to music for the rest of the day. Soon, he fell asleep again. He wanted to talk to Ashley instead of fall asleep, but he took option number two.

The Next Afternoon

Craig had been sitting in his room watching TV when he realized that he hadn't eaten since yesterday morning. He was thirsty, too. He leaned up against the door and moaned. "Dad, please… I have to eat… I need medications… I need water…" he said pleadingly. His father seemed to ignore him. Eventually, he opened the door and threw a water bottle in before slamming the door and locking it again. Craig lunged at the water, and drank it in about ten seconds. He gasped for breath and sighed; his thirst had been quenched. But he was still hungry. He leaned up against the door. "Dad! Can I have a pen?" he shouted.

"What for?" Albert asked.

"I wanna write something down," Craig answered. A minute later, Albert passed a pen underneath the door. Craig took the pen and went over to the wall next to his bed. On it, he put two marks, counting how many days he would be in the room.

He'd been stuck in the room for nine days now. He'd lost about eight pounds, as he had a fast metabolism. He'd gotten another water bottle two days earlier. Albert wasn't home now. He was at work. Craig was standing next to the window, longing for freedom...

It was around four in the afternoon, and that single moment when he was about to turn away from the window, he stopped. He'd never been happier to see him. "SPINNER!" Craig shouted through the opening in the window, trying his hardest to open it more. Spinner looked around. "UP HERE! SPINNER! IT'S CRAIG!" Spinner looked up at the apartment building and saw Craig. He ran across the street and looked up at him.

"Craig, dude, what are you doing up there?" asked Spinner, obviously confused.

"SPINNER! PLEASE! I NEED YOU TO GO GET HELP! GET SOMEONE!"

"Why?" Spinner shouted.

"MY DAD LOCKED ME IN THIS ROOM! I'VE BEEN IN HERE FOR NINE DAYS, SPIN! JUST GO AND GET SOMEONE!" Craig yelled through the window.

"Craig, there's no time! Hurry up and get all your stuff!" Then, Spinner disappeared.

Craig went and threw all of his clothes into the duffle bags, along with the MP3 player. He put on the two sweatshirts and left the other four pairs of shoes. He didn't need that many shoes, anyway. He heard someone come into the apartment, and feared that it was his father. The lock on the door opened and his worst fears were realized. His father stood in the doorway. He jumped on him, throwing him into the floor. He slammed his head into the floor several times, and then picked him up and threw him into the wall, where he slid down and lay still. Albert left the apartment and drove off.

Spinner found this as an opportunity to redeem himself with everyone at school and save Craig from starving to death in the room.

He went up to the fifth floor, where he was pretty sure Craig was because of how many windows he counted from the ground. The door was open, and he walked in. "Craig? Craig!" he shouted. He walked into the room that was facing where he was, and he found Craig lifeless against the wall. Spinner ran over and knelt down next to him. He shook him slightly, and he didn't move.

Spinner ran to the kitchen and got some water. He went back to Craig and poured it over him. Craig sat up straight. He looked over at Spinner. "Spinner, you've got to get me out of here. Please," he muttered. Spinner helped Craig stand up, and took one of the duffle bags, letting Craig take the other. He stood by the door, and waited for a minute; Craig said he had forgotten something. He came back, and they went downstairs. When they got onto the bus, there was a sense of freedom inside of Craig that he hadn't felt for over a week.

Craig sat in silence next to Spinner. Finally, Spinner said, "There's a dance tomorrow night."

"Cool," said Craig. "Too bad I can't go."

"Why not? It'd be fun."

"I can't go and see everyone yet. Not yet. Especially not her."

"Who?"

"Ashley," he whispered.

"Yeah," said Spinner. "I think you pissed her off. She won't talk to anyone and she gets mad when people ask her stupid questions."

"That's Ash for you," Craig muttered.

"Where are you gonna stay?" asked Spinner.

"I'll sleep…somewhere. I'll be fine," Craig answered, getting off the bus. "Just remember----don't tell anyone at school where I am, and don't tell Joey."

Then, they separated. Craig went one way, and Spinner went the other.

Craig went to a park and slept on the bench, uncomfortable as it was.

A/N: OKAY! THAT WAS THE SECOND-TO-LAST PART 4! HAHA! I'LL WRITE PART D TOMORROW!

Part 4D: Where the Heart Is COMING SOON TO A STORY NEAR YOU! READ, REVIEW, AND RATE FROM 1-10. Why did I wait so long to update, you may ask? BECAUSE I'M NOT GETTING ENOUGH REVIEWS, THAT'S WHY! If you'd put in more reviews, I'd update more often… hmm… I'll update when I get...13 more reviews,okay? ttyl.