Hmm ... Only one person reviewed last chapter. I sure hope more of you guys do this chapter.
Chapter Sixteen
"River!"
I groaned.
"Come on, River!"
Grudgingly, I opened my eyes and tried to move but I was in the same position as when I fell asleep and was unbelievably stiff. Johnny grabbed my arm, pulled me to my feet painfully, and yanked me out of the moving cart.
"Ugh!" I moaned as I hit the hard ground.
I laid there for a little bit while Ponyboy and Johnny climbed to their feet. I gripped a handful of grass and sighed into the ground as all the memories of the night before came flooding back into my head.
"You okay, River?" Johnny asked calmly, kneeling beside me.
"Mm hmm."
I slowly got up and followed behind them closely. It was early morning and the sun was too bright for my eyes. I'd never been in the country before and it was amazingly beautiful and peaceful. I never wanted to go back home.
"Where do we go?" I asked quietly, looking around.
Johnny shrugged and we all stopped walking. Some farmers were resting by a tractor in the middle of a field.
"Well?" Johnny asked Ponyboy.
"Well what?"
"Go 'n' ask 'em! Ask 'em where we are. The story won't be in the paper yet."
"Why don't you ask them?"
"My ankle's hurting' and I don't wanna walk on it."
"What am I gonna say?"
"Just act like a farm-boy taking a walk or somethin'. They'll never know."
"Do I look like a farm-boy to you?" Pony spat, turning to glance at me. "Why doesn't River go?"
Johnny looked at me too. "Does she look even a little farm-ish to you?! Just ask 'em …" He rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper with Dally's instructions. "Ask 'em where uh … where Jay Mountain is. Don't worry about it."
"They're gonna know who I am as soon as they look at me!"
"They're not gonna know! C'mon."
Pony rolled his eyes but gave up and started towards the guys. Johnny and I watched from afar as Ponyboy walked over to them, trying to get rid of his slouchy greaser walk and look shy and innocent. As Pony looked like he got the answer, Johnny and I joined him.
"Taking a walk?" the old guy asked, still chewing on some sandwich in his mouth.
"Yeah … We're playing army and we're supposed to report to headquarters."
"Boys will be boys!"
I stifled an eruption of laughter until we were out of earshot, then I burst out laughing hysterically. "Army?!" I exclaimed, having to bend over for air.
Pony shrugged and Johnny grinned.
"Check it out, man!" Johnny stated when we'd reached the church.
It was old and falling apart and completely boarded up but it looked really cool. We walked up to it and started ripping boards off the boarded up windows. Then we climbed through. The inside had clearly been vandalised before: everything was kicked over or smashed or graffitied. An owl hooted somewhere in the rafters.
"What was that?" Johnny asked nervously.
"Just an owl," Pony reassured him.
Johnny sat on one of the benches and took off his jacket and gun before lying down, Pony lay down right beside him on the floor, and I lay down on an another bench. I sighed and closed my eyes. I wasn't tired but I wanted to ignore reality at the moment and live in my dream world.
"Johnny?" Pony asked quietly.
"Huh?"
"You alright?"
Johnny didn't answer. The only sound was his slow breathing and I wished I could fall asleep that fast.
"Man, this floor sure is hard," Pony muttered as he shifted around, trying to find a comfortable position.
I groaned and turned onto my side, hugging myself, wide awake.
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I leave the school slowly, all alone, and just like every day, I walk over to Jen and Sam's school and pick them up. Jen gripping my left hand and Sam my right, we head down the quiet dirt road, Jen and Sam telling me the stories of their day. Cautiously, we creep up the front steps of our house. Releasing their hands, I reach out and silently twist the doorknob. Nudging the door open an inch at a time, we step in as quiet as we can.
"Get me my booze, you lazy cow!!" mother snaps from the couch.
I sigh. Mission failed! I push Jen and Sam up the stairs and go to the cupboard, open it, and discover only empty bottles.
"There is none," I mumble.
"Then go GET SOME!!"
"I can't. I'm too young."
"GET OVER HERE!!" she shrieks, standing up and glaring at me with her loathing eyes.
My stomach burns with fear as I step over to her and flinch. I was right! She reaches out her thin bony hand and slaps me as hard as she can across my face.
"DON'T GET SNIPPY WITH ME, YOU SLUT!!!"
I grab my face and back away from her, anger, self-pity, and fear boiling up inside of me.
"GO GET IT!!" she screams in my face.
I glare at her with all the hatred my whole heart knows and basically run out the door … but I had no impulse of going to the liquor store. I go around back, climb up the tree, and crawl through my window to find Jen and Sam huddled together on the floor. I join them and just hug them. That's all I ever want to do. I always long for comfort and that's the only comfort I know. I know it will take a few hours but mom will eventually forget what she'd asked me to do and by then Cal and Mary will be home and will sneak up food for us.
"River?" Sam asks innocently, staring up at me with her big black eyes. "Are all mommies and daddies like mommy and daddy?"
I frown at her. "What do you mean?"
"Do they always smell funny and fall asleep on the ground and yell and hit their kids?"
I squint, feeling horrible. I tried to hide all that stuff from her. She's only five – she doesn't need to see her parents doing acid and weed, passing out, yelling, and hitting us. No child needs to see that. No child deserves to see that!
"No, Sammy. In two years it'll be totally different. There won't be anymore mommy and daddy. There won't be anymore funny smells and getting hit. It'll just be us and we'll be happy," I said softly, squeezing her tighter.
She blinked at me sweetly, then nodded.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!! Listening to Evanescence right now. I want pumpkin pie and cheese popcorn. If you want to read an amazing story, read Transient Shadow's Iwagakure's Unexpected. Especially if you like Deidara from Naruto. Or anything to do with Akatsuki. Written insanely well!!!
