Disclaimer: I still do not own One Tree Hill or any of its characters.
Sorry guys, this took a little more time than I imagined. I told you before that sometimes I am not happy with what I conceive, and the 'delete' button was hit a lot.
Anyway, here's chapter 5. Enjoy!
Chapter 5- Expect the unexpected
Present time - Dan's place
"That's everything 'til the point we escaped, sir" Peyton shifted uncomfortably on her chair.
"And how did you escape exactly?" Dan inquired.
"We look a leap of faith. When the opportunity arose we made our move" Brooke added, growing tired of all this. "Look, I want to see my sister". She demanded.
"I don't know if we can arrange that…"
"Why not? Have I not been cleared enough for that security level?"
"It's not that Brooke, it's just… I don't think she'll want to see you" Dan softly spoke and Brooke scoffed."By the way, she tried to run that day."
"What do you mean run? Where?" Brooke raised her eyebrow.
"We don't know where, but Luke was going to help them. Luckily we caught them just in time."
"I'm not surprised. Lucas has always been her lap dog, more than her best friend" Brooke angrily sighted. "Ever since Nathan…" She closed her eyes and clenched her fists.
"Don't go there, please" Dan begged "Not now."
Peyton sat quietly while the two finished their arguments. They haven't slept since that hotel room, and she desperately wanted to go home and crash for a month. Sweet dreams? Right... Tomorrow morning she will be ordered to report to the station. New Jersey was a crazy state. The state police was working like mad to maintain order. She never thought she will end up here, but life took her by the hand and pointed her in that direction. Well life and….Dan.
After he was asked to take a lead position there, he proposed to her to come with him. She was his best officer back in Tree Hill, and she deserved a fresh start, away from her glooming past.
"Look I know you're both tired so I'll drop you off at your apartment. You can hand in your statements at the station whenever you can, until then I'll give my preliminary report to my superiors. They'll understand."
"Thank you, sir. We appreciate this" She looked over at Brooke who nodded along.
"No problem. By the way, how are feeling?" he pointed to her bandaged area.
"I'm fine, sir" She strongly said.
"That's what I thought" He chuckled slightly and nodded disapprovingly. "Come on, let's go."
Peyton put the key into the lock and turned it, in front of her were the remains of a trashed apartment. She drew her gun and motioned to Brooke to stay behind her. She quietly made her way into the bedroom, searching for any signs that the invaders might still be in there. She checked every corner of the place, but she couldn't find anyone.
"Shit, shit, shit" Brooke cursed "They found your apartment. That's just freaking great!" She threw her hands in the air and went for the half bottle of Jack Daniels laying on the kitchen floor. She gulped a few large drinks, while Peyton chuckled. "What's so funny? In case you haven't noticed we are the living commercial for life threatening situations and near death misses."
"You said it, sister" Peyton spoke while turning a fallen chair and plumping into it "Can I have some of that?" She eyed the bottle.
Brooke looked at her with a 'what the fuck' expression on her face "Are you crazy?"
"Nope, just thirsty and I heard that water rusts the body" She grinned. "Give it."
Brooke shook her head and gave the bottle to her best friend, who didn't spare any time engulfing it. "Slow down there, sailor."
"Now, this is what I call the drink of the Gods" She put the bottle away and placed her feet on the turned table in front of her.
"Listen, your "hakuna matata" attitude is starting to scare me. What the hell are we supposed to do now?"
"I'm kinda' sleepy, so if you don't mind I think I'll get some shut eye. You should do the same." Brooke looked around, the couch was turned on the side, while the rest of the little furniture Peyton had was broken into pieces. Peyton got up and pushed the sofa back in her original position. "You can sleep here, and I'll crash on my chair" She said grudgingly while taking two blankets, one giving it to Brooke and one for herself. She sank into the chair and closed her eyes.
Brooke looked at Peyton and didn't know what to think. Maybe the stress was at fault, or maybe her friend went completely kookoo. "How can you be so sure they won't come back?"
"They won't" She said casually.
"Again, how can you be so sure? We're sitting ducks out here" Brooke raised her voice in frustration.
"Brooke, just go to sleep, please. Nobody is gonna come back, they did what they came here to do, and that was sending a message. We got the message and we are going to return it, but right now I just need some rest, ok? Is that too much to ask?" Peyton was growing impatient with Brooke's insecurities. "If it makes you feel any better, come on let's put some stuff against the door, since the lock is broken" She got up with some difficulty and made her way to a fallen closet and pushed it against the door. Brooke sighted and followed her into her actions.
"We shouldn't at least report it?" Brooke asked while picking a broken chair.
"We'll do that….tomorrow, ok? Do you really want to go through another round of questions and wasted time at the station right now?" Peyton reasoned. Brooke was tired and she didn't wasn't to return to giving statements and waiting until the police assured them they'll be fine.
"If something happens this night, I will kick your ass to Lapland and back, is that clear?
"Yes ma'am, and if I were to go there you should give me your list for Christmas. I will make sure Santa gets it personally." Peyton shook her head and smiled while getting a hit in the arm by a scolding Brooke.
"You should sleep on the couch, you're still hurting, P." She said worried.
"Nope, I like my chair, and you are a guest in my house so you get the ripped and smelly couch" She laughed slightly. "Dow you have to question everything I say, now Brooke? Just go with it" Peyton covered herself with the blanket and made herself as comfortable as she could get in the chair. Brooke knew she couldn't win this so she plunged onto the couch and in 10 minutes she was asleep. Peyton still couldn't shut her eyes. She looked at the figure sleeping soundly on her couch and smiled. They've been through so much ever since they were kids, and they grew even more closer with each experience
Flashback:
"What are you doing there?" A 9 year old Brooke looked up at the top of a large tree that was sitting in the backyard of the orphanage. She eyed a skinny blonde figure observing the whole yard and the road that could be spotted behind the fence.
"Just looking…" Peyton didn't made eye contact with the girl and continued to squint her eyes as if she was thinking hard at something.
"For birds?" Brooke asked innocently.
"No, not for birds" Peyton smiled happily "For something else."
"I'm Brooke" She shouted all of a sudden from the ground. Peyton stopped her inquiry and looked down. She had seen this girl before. She knew she had a sister, and they were both brought here a little over 3 months now, by her calculations. They've never spoken before, mostly because, normally Peyton was a loner, she wasn't shy, just not interested in making friends. She figured it was better by herself, that it was easier not to care or to drag anyone else into her pathetic existence…But then again they were all pathetic in here so she decided it would be rude to ignore the bubbly brunette.
"Peyton…" She dragged, still not looking at the ground.
"You don't speak much, do you?"Brooke twitched her nose, she was rather intrigued by this new person she found at the top of the tree.
"Why bother? You shouldn't speak if you don't have anything interesting to say, right?"
"And what if you do?"
"Well, then I guess it's my loss" Peyton said unfazed.
"You don't seem too disturbed about it." Brooke squinted because the sun was bothering her eyes. Peyton finally looked at her, wondering why she was still there dragging information. She turned her look away again. "You still haven't told me what you are looking for."
"Why would I?"
"I don't know…the need of sharing a secret, maybe?" Brooke grinned mischievously.
"I don't want to share my secrets."
"I won't tell, I promise" Brooke crossed her fingers in front of her in a futile gesture to find out what was the blonde planning. Just then Peyton started climbing down. When she reached the ground she eyed the brunette from head to toe.
"I'm going to get out of here" She stated bluntly.
"What?" Brooke said surprised "How? Or better, can you take us with you?" She smiled hopefully.
"We, as in you and your sister." Peyton stated deadpanned
"I knew you knew us."
"Yeah well, I know every newbie that comes around here, I watch every one that goes away. You get used to it." Peyton shrugged. Just then a small voice was reasoning through the yard.
"Get off me!" Brooke could hear her sister and instantly started sprinting towards the noise. Peyton hesitated for a second, but followed her. At the playground Brooke could see two boys pinning her sister down, yelling at her for something.
"Leave her alone, now" Brooke shouted at the guys. They turned to look at a raging Brooke coming at full speed towards them. One of them grabbed her by her hands before she could make any damage. Haley was still crying on the ground, when Peyton came and kicked one of them in the back of his knee. He released the grip he had on Brooke and yelled in pain. The other one lunched for Peyton but she ducked and pushed him into the swing, falling over them.
"I swear to God, Mike if you're going to touch any of them again I will make your life here a living hell. It would seem strange for these words to come out of a 10 year old's mouth but this wasn't ordinary life. This wasn't a family feud or a fight between friends. They were all kids, but they were all unwanted kids, put into orphanages because nobody cared for them, because didn't have a mother to calm them and tell them that everything will be alright or a father who teach them what is right or wrong and who would protect them.
They were angry kids, and they didn't care about anything anymore, they just needed to install fear between others, because only like that they could feel respected, if not by love, than by fright, as the only solution.
Mike scoffed, got up and picked his friend from the swings "This is not over, you will learn who is in charge here" He said pointing at Haley, who was clutching her hand protectively, a few tears escaping down her cheek.
Brooke watched as the scene played in front of her and rushed to her sister's side, taking her into her arms. When Peyton saw the boys disappear around the corner, she left out a shaky breath. She didn't want do that again, now it will only put here on the radar again, she couldn't be the loner, an image she was desperately trying to build. "Is she alright?" She asked Brooke who was still hugging Haley tightly.
"Brooke you're hurting me" Haley chocked out a painful sob.
"I'm so sorry, baby, I'm so sorry. Where is it hurting?" Brooke asked carefully.
"My arm…it hurts, sis" Haley let out a few tears of pain as she dug her head into Brooke's chest once again.
"Come on, we'll take her to the nurse" Peyton reached out her hand for Haley to grab it, but she flinched and covered behind Brooke. Peyton withdrew her hand, and close her eyes, not saying anything.
"It's okay, honey. She won't hurt you, she's a….." Brooke searched Peyton's sorrowed face painfully, then added "…friend".
"But Brooke, did you see how she beat up those guys?" Haley asked tentatively.
"She won't hurt you, I promise." Brooke looked up and mouthed an 'I'm sorry' to Peyton who understood and walked away. Brooke picked her little sister of the ground and took her to the nurse to get checked. She was feeling guilty that she was leaving Peyton behind after chasing her sister's attackers away, but right now she needed to assure Haley that she was safe, and only a drop of doubt was enough to send her over the edge again.
After she was checked, the doctor decided that her left wrist was broken, she put a cast on it and allowed her to sleep the night in the room. After Haley fell asleep, Brooke got up and started looking for Peyton, she asked around the remaining kids who weren't asleep but nobody saw her. She then made her way into the back yard, it was dark but the light of the moon made it easier to navigate outside.
"You know, if you keep staying there, people are gonna talk" Brooke smiled as she was standing in the same position as earlier today, looking up that tree.
"Let them say what they want to say…I was terrified of heights you know, but one day I just looked at this tree and said to myself it was the only way to see more, and I wanted to find what was outside all of….this" She pointed with her hand at the building and it surroundings. "So, I guess my want for freedom was more than my fear, and ultimately conquered it."
"Why did you say all that to me?"Brooke sat on the ground and hung her head.
"Because you were the only person who wasn't afraid to talk to me. Everybody else thinks I'm a lunatic, a crazy kid hell bent on hitting droving everyone away." Brooke raised her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows. "Don't look at me like that, I'm sure you heard all the marvelous rumors about me. How I am so bad that I even hit teachers and my favourite one, biting a dog " Peyton laughed nervously "I'm 10. How can I do all that?" The laughed subsided and she closed her eyes.
"How can you be bad, when you saved my little sister? Brooke whispered and allowed a few tears to form in her eyes. "Since our parents died, I took it upon myself to protect her until we are old, and now I failed her completely. She got hurt because I wasn't there for her" Brooke buried her head in her hands. After a few seconds she felt a hand on her back. When she raised her eyes she spotted Peyton who was properly arranging herself in a comfortable position on the ground.
"She got hurt, because there are people on this world who want nothing more than to cause pain….people led by a false sense of authority. Don't blame yourself for somebody else's wrong doings, it will eat you alive." Peyton sighted and looked Brooke in the eyes.
"Thank you…for what you did today" Brooke smiled gratefully "I could never make it up to you"
"You already did…" Peyton looked away. Brooke was at a loss for a moment. "You made me your ….friend, remember?" Brooke thought at the previous moment when she said that to Haley. Peyton was a friend. Brooke chuckled.
"You sure don't need much, do you?"
"Nope, I'm keeping it simple" Peyton laughed along with her. "Is Haley going to be alright?"
"Yeah, I think so, her wrist was broken, but she'll be fine."
"That's good. Come on, let's go inside before somebody catches us here" Brooke furrowed her brows, it wasn't that late. "Believe me, you don't want to know" Peyton grabbed her hand and they went in the building. It was the day a new friendship was born, one that was about to be put to test more than once, but one that never crumbled down.
Present day
It was 6:02 a.m. 'How can I be awake at this ungodly hour?' Brooke thought. She rubbed her eyes and tiredly made her way into the bathroom, careful not to hit any pieces of furniture on the way. She let the water running for a while, because of its brown color, and waited until it cleared. She looked at herself in the mirror. The dark circles under her eyes continued to remain there, so she applied some light make-up and went to see it there was anything to make coffee from.
She found the pot behind the sink, and the coffee somewhere near turned trash can. Luckily it was a new package so she prepared a large pot of the black potion.
"Now this is what I call the perfect odor" Peyton said while groaning and smelling her way into the kitchen, half asleep.
"You look like a bear, who found chocolate" Brooke smiled
"If bears eat chocolate they die, genius" Peyton dragged herself to the cup Brooke poured for her and instantly gulped the liquid.
"What are you now, a bear expert?" Brooke teased playfully.
"I say what I hear, my dear friend".
"Aha…right" Brooke rolled her eyes. "How did you sleep?".
"Well, I closed my eyes and fell into a naturally recurring state which was characterized by reduced or absent consciousness." Peyton grinned sarcastically and went to the kitchen window, on the way she kicked involuntarily a frying pan with her bare foot, causing a surge of pain to climb up her leg. "Son of a bitch! Stupid, idiotic thing!" She grabbed the pan and threw it in the other room with all her force.
"That's a lot better, I might say" Brooke approved trying to be serious, but a few giggles escaped.
"How is this funny?" Peyton threw her an angry glare.
"I bet ten bucks that you'll hit it again in the other room. This is what you get for being so sarcastic this early in the morning. The Gods have turned on you, my friend" She grinned triumphantly. Peyton squinted her eyes and threw a spatula at Brooke, but she ducked in the last moment. "Hey, no throwing off stuff at your best friend" She warned.
"Oh yeah?" Peyton grinned and opened the door to her fridge taking the ketchup out of it "How about this?" She opened the cap and squeezed the bottle until the red pasta landed on Brooke.
"I can't believe you just did that" She warned and turned on the water, putting her hand under the stream and redirecting it to Peyton. Just then the water stopped running "Uh oh" She ran towards the bathroom and took a bottle of shampoo from the floor and immediately the war began both of them ducking and shooting at each other with ketchup and shampoo.
"Ok, ok…I give up. I'm out of ammo" Peyton raised one hand from behind the couch.
"Ha, you surrendered . I made the all mighty Peyton Sawyer surrender…I'm good at this" Brooke emerged from behind the closet, smiling from ear to ear.
"Shut up, will ya'" Peyton rolled her eyes and sat on the couch. Brooke immediately followed. They were both catching their breaths
"Your place is a mess" Brooke stated all of a sudden.
"Really? I think it looks exactly the same as it did a week ago" She laughed.
"No honey, last week was worse, now it's better, a little more color I might say". They both erupted in a fit of laughter, disturbed only by the buzzing of a phone. Peyton grabbed it and made her way to the window. It was still dark and it started to pour lightly. New Jersey was without a doubt a big and crowded state, but if you looked closely you could definitely be amazed by its grandeur. A grandeur that held a certain beauty closely enhanced in it.
The phone continued buzzing, and Peyton knew their little escape from the real world was over. Just like the multicolor rain drops that were falling from the sky and seemed peaceful, calming, glorious…
"Sawyer" She introduced herself as always.
"Lt. we have an emergency, I'm sorry if I woke you up, but you are needed at the station right away. I'll arrange for a car to come pick you." Dan ranted on the phone, his voice filled with worry.
"Yes sir, we'll be right there" She closed her phone and closed her eyes.
…despite its beauty, in the end… it was still rain…and it was cold.
That was for now. I hope you liked it and leave some words, tell me what you think.
Have a great week, guys. Take care;)