Redivivus
Disclaimer – I do not own 'Holes', it belongs to Louis Sachar.
Summary – Seventeen year old Squid makes a transition from juvenile delinquent into murderer, and only the sister of the victim can give him the chance of redemption.
Warning! – Mild swearing.
Author's Note – I am so sorry for the long wait for this chapter, but I've had heavy writer's block hanging over me. So I must say I am not entirely satisfied with this chapter but I couldn't stand to leave you guys any longer.
JainaZekk621 – April is about fifteen, which makes this infatuation that Squid has with her all the more creepy. Thank you so much for the review!
sc12321 – Thank you so much for reviewing. I'm glad to hear that you enjoy the story so far, so sorry for the long wait, but I've already started on the next chapter so hopefully I will have that out quicker.
HunkyChunkyMonkey97030 – I'm glad you like it so far, and I'm trying to put in some more interaction between April and Squid for you. Thank you for reviewing!
Cityofevil – I'm so glad that you decided to read all the chapters in a row, I think that way you might pick up some clues and such. As for the abuse, I will say that there is going to be a definite revelation on the subject of abuse surrounding Squid and his mother, I don't want to ruin the surprise, but well spotted by the way! To be honest I think you have a tighter grasp with what is going on with the characters than I do, you have thought it through and stripped it wonderfully and found the key factors. And I agree that I don't think Squid 'loves' April, but there is a definite tone of desire. Thanks so much for the review.
Chapter Eleven
"Proximity"
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Even though day had returned, the light was unable to spill through the dense tops of the trees and so it was only the tiny sparks of light that managed the light the small forest dimly with an almost eerie effect. Birds twittered and sung as the new day was still fresh and the winter's frost had begun to melt away in the Sun's warm breath. It was an unusual occurrence for the slightest sign of warmer weather in Winter, the Sun was usually shunned behind the thick clod of grey clouds leaving the world in hibernation, waiting and holding their breath for the return of the warmth. The warm weather seemed to act as a warning; a warning showing something was wrong – out of place.
April watched curiously as Squid began to move about the car, throwing useless trash out of the car and rearranging the stuff he had in the trunk of the car.
"What are you doing?" she asked. Squid's head, which was burrowed in the trunk as he moved things about, didn't even bother to look at her.
"We're gonna' go get some supplies," he mumbled the reply.
"Of course." She didn't challenge him; she didn't think there was much point putting up a fight. She didn't mention the fact that an escaped murderer and a person who was probably filed missing could just walk into a store without gaining attention and being recognised. It didn't matter. It wouldn't matter whether she stayed with him, or if she was taken back home – it was all the same, she was still the same. The trunk door slammed shut, pulling her from her thoughts and Squid returned to her side at the wheel of the car, his brow furrowed in contempt. His hands grasped the wheel, but it didn't seem like he was going to make any attempt at starting the car as he sat gazing outside the front screen.
"I don't think I could trust you to go into a store by yourself and not snitch on me, so I guess I'm going to make you a deal," Squid said, in his low, gruff Southern drawl. April turned to look at him, but his eyes were still focused in front of him – gazing blankly. "If you just do as I say – no more dead family members." She saw him face her from the corner of her eye. She knew he would have that repulsive smirk on his face, with that sick amusement twinkling in his eyes, so she didn't even want to look at him. She should have known not to believe him, she should have just made a run for it; but she didn't. That's the strange thing with some people; when you're so desperate to believe that something is true, you really do start to convince yourself.
"Deal." His rough hand grasped hers and he shook it almost gently, as if trying to gain her trust.
"We leave at dusk."
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The store was near empty with only a teen at the cashier's counter, his eyes only briefly passing over April before looking back down at the floor. She looked down at the inside of her pale forearm and re-read over the list of things Squid had written down, in his messy scrawl that she was to buy – the horrid blank ink slightly smudged across her arm due to the slight drizzle of rain. April looked down at the large shoes covering her feet and momentarily wished she would have grabbed a pair from home rather than having to wear a pair of Squid's, as they flopped at every step she took even though the laces had been tied as tightly as the shoes would allow.
"Juice," she read quietly aloud, her eyes glancing around the store and she followed her eyes' path towards the large cartons of juice packaged in packs of six. Her hand gripped tightly at the plastic handle and her meek arm tried to hold up the weight of the cartons, and as pathetic as it was, she found it a struggle to hold the cartons up. Pausing to build up some strength she lifted the cartons and let it hang in her hand by her side.
"Need any help?" April whipped around and saw the cashier standing in front of her, causing her to jump and the juice fall from her hand, hitting the floor and the juice began to ooze from its cardboard container, only the plastic covering keeping it in.
"I'm so sorry," April hurriedly apologised and dropped onto her knees, trying her best to stop the juice from spilling onto the floor. "I can pay for it, and clean it up – I'm so s…" April's sentence paused, as she felt the cashier's hand briefly land on her shoulder – it may have only been a touch to console her, but she could feel her self holding her breath and flinching.
"It's alright. But maybe this time you should use a trolley." The cashier's voice was friendly and his smile was genuine. April nodded and smiled meekly, before hurriedly grabbing a trolley from the front of the store and quickly grabbing all the supplies on the list. April brought the trolley to the counter and one by one she placed each item on the desk, as the cashier swiped them and put them in a bag.
"That'll be $75.23, please." April momentarily locked eyes with him as she handed him the money, her eyes silently pleading that he would notice something was wrong. Her eyes were wide and pleading, staring at the cashier. She kept a tight grip on the notes and the cashier held on just the same, his eyes still caught with hers. She thought she saw a flicker of concern in his eyes for a moment. Help me, help me she repeated it over and over in her head but the cashier had already broken the stare, a small smile now formed across his lips - all concern lost within his cashier routine. "Here's your change, have a nice day," he said, a jolly tone attached to his words. Fool. She gathered the bags, turned and left.
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Only the quiet roar of the engine sounded throughout the car journey, as both Squid and April sat in silence, the dark night wrapping itself around them, the scene dark with only the glow of the moon placing a strip of light across their faces, enlightening them in the dark.
"You haven't even asked where we're goin'," Squid remarked, his eyes still set on the near empty road.
"Like it matters," she replied in monotone. Squid slammed his hand on the wheel in frustration and swore profusely.
"You should be fucking thanking me, April!" he exclaimed, hid voice ringing out throughout the car, the innocent silence broken by his gruff voice. "I saved you from that abandoning bitch of a mum, and that phoney fuck of a brother." His hand reached out for her, and grasped her disgustingly thin arm – she didn't attempt to move away from him. The rough pad of his thumb stroked the skin of her arm and he found himself feeling disgusted by his own action so he ripped his hand away from her and focused on the road once more. "Here we are," Squid grumbled. April's eyes met with what looked like a beaten down motel, the clichéd flickering neon sign was unreadable due to the brightness playing tricks on her eyes, so April turned her attention on the rather heavy-weight man who sat staring at the car from the small building departed from the rest of the motel, a pane of glass with speaker holes allowing him to speak to the entrants. The man's eyes were half-closed with a certain air of perhaps drunkenness surrounding him, down from his slanting posture as she lazed in a chair, to the dumb slopes of his features. Squid roughly pushed a cap atop April's head, her face now heavily shadowed and hard to make out, then placing a cap on his own head, halting the car next to the pane of glass which behind the man sat. The man attempted to straighten up as the car's window rolled down, but it only caused him to wobble in his seat, so he remained slump as Squid turned slightly towards him, head bowed and face shadowed.
"Jus' fer' tonigh', please," Squid's southern drawl had become much thicker as he spoke to the man behind the glass, and it seemed his voice had the shadow of one much older than he. The man grumbled and reached behind him, clutched a hanging key on the wall and slipped it under the semi-circle cut in the glass, resting on the wooden ledge. Squid's rough hand grabbed the key and nodded his head in thanks.
"$45," grunted the man. Squid burrowed into his pocket and pulled out the money then placing it n the wooden ledge, which led the man to greedily snatch it up, in his chubby hand. April gazed out of the rolled down window, and could feel the cool air play upon her face, her eyes capturing the browning leaves dancing as they scattered across the concrete. She could understand the rustling language of the leaves, forever being pushed around by the forceful wind, being scraped and battered along the concrete before they are finally torn apart and only the remains which go unseen eventually settle on the earth and die without movement. The window was then abruptly shut and so were her eyes.
The motel room was small, with a strange musky smell that clung to their noses as they stepped inside, Squid slamming the door hard behind him. The walls were off-white with multiple stains and marks, which they decided to ignore. The bed sheets were chintz with a matching armchair placed in the corner of the cramped room, next to a door leading into bathroom, tiled awkwardly with yellowing white slabs, which looked like they we meant for a pavement.
"Come here." April abruptly turned away from the disgusting little room and followed Squid's gruff call into the bathroom where he stood running the sink; his hand checking the temperature. April stood next to him but didn't say a word, her eyes now focused on her reflection in the large mirror behind the sink. She hadn't looked at her reflection in long time, and she wondered when she had become so gaunt and ghostly pale. Her hair had grown longer so it would hang in straggly tresses to her elbows, it was disgustingly greasy and lank; she didn't see the point of washing when you would never feel clean anyway. Her skin had paled to a point that her blue veins were perfectly clear and her large watery eyes were marred with dark circles around them. She didn't think it had made her look older; she thought it made her look ill. "Kneel in front of me," Squid grunted, pulling her away from her train of thought. Her face contorted in fear, but nonetheless she knelt in front of him, her back now to the mirror and sink. Squid's gruff hands pulled back the hair from her face and allowed it to plop into the sink filled with reasonably hot water. "You need to learn how to fucking look after yourself," he grumbled. His hands ran through the tangled mess and he pulled her hair so she would bow her head backwards to get her roots in the sink. The shampoo smelt fresh of perhaps some sort of flower and was cold as he poured a large amount into his hand, before scrubbing it harshly on her hair.
"Please," April squeaked. Squid stopped scrubbing and momentarily looked at himself in the mirror. He looked older than he last remembered; he looked crueller than he last remembered. Shaking away the thought he began to scrub her hair harder than before.
"Please what?" he asked gruffly. April sighed and winced as a hard tug on her had caused her neck to hit the sink bowl.
"Please tell me why him, Squid."His heart pounded uncomfortably and dropped into his stomach as the thought flickered in his mind, closing his eyes he scrubbed harsher, not caring how he was hurting her, not caring about anything – he may have been the one washing her hair, but he was trying washing away - something slightly deeper.
"Fuck!" He swore opening his eyes and looking at his now sore, red hands shaking. Gripping the side of the sink bowel, he breathed deeply and pulled April up by her soapy hair. He looked at her and tried not to see his face, not to see that phoney's grin penetrating his mind on the front page of that newspaper. Though Squid would never admit it, he had cried when his mother had died, looking for comfort and closure, he had looked in the local newspaper only to be greeted with that bastard's stupid smirk, then flicking furiously through the paper, he found a small column on his mother's murder, right next to an advert for kitchen cleaner – it wasn't fair.
"Please."Squid's eyes finally focused on the real person standing in front of him and then a cruel snarl plastered across his features.
"Oh please, pleeease,"Squid mimicked a girlish tone clinging to the words. His rough hand grabbed her am and pushed her through the bathroom door back into the main room. "Don't you get it yet, April?" he smirked cruelly. "Don't you understand what I am capable of? You should be scared shitless, April."She could see his eyes gleaming callously as he pushed her once again, her back hitting the wall. Coming close to her, he grabbed her by her shoulders and crushed her into the wall. "Don't you see? Can't you see?" he words were manic and her heart was pulsating harshly against her protruding ribs. The wet tresses slapped against the wall as she whipped her face side to side, trying to wriggle free, until finally hanging like a rag doll; his arms giving her support. His eyes were wide, frantic and frightening; she wished to see the flicker of human, but only this robot remained; unable to feel human affection, pity or any emotions. "You want this, April." She thought he was more trying to convince himself rather than her.
"Go ahead, I don't care. You can't do anymore to me," her tone was bold and forceful, her eyes connecting with his - blue clashing with brown. "Do it." Squid's face turned hard before crushing himself into her, clutching onto her so tightly she couldn't breathe.
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Author's Note – I am once again so sorry for the large pause before this update. Anyways, please review! Thank you.