Chapter 16

Jodi: I opened my eyes. It took me a second or two to realise where we were. Andy had managed to swerve off the road so we were in a little ditch. Oh thank God. I looked around, we were all fine.

John: I couldn't help but laugh at how crazy that was. "Good job Sporto. You saved us from that fucking idiot." I patted Andy on the back.

"Oh John I thought we were going to die!" Claire hugged me.

"I literally thought we were going to be crushed. Fuck." Andy said.

"I need a cigarette." Jodi said before she got out of the car.

I did too so I got out of the car with her, followed by Andy and Claire.

Andy: I checked my pick up for any damage. It was fine. And with a little bit of help we should be able to get it out of this ditch. "Car's fine" I told the guys, as Jodi and John each had a cigarette.

Claire: When Andy said his car was fine I remembered I heard a crash. We couldn't see the road from where we were so I walked up a bit. I called the guys over. The two huge trucks and crashed head on into each other. Two men ran towards us.

"We saw the crash!" They shouted, "Is everyone here okay?"

"We're all fine thank you." Andy reassured them.

"Okay good. Looks like you guys had a lucky escape. Both the truck drivers are unconscious, paramedics are there now. Police will be here soon too so you may wanna come up here. They'll wanna talk to you."

Jodi: We followed the men out of the ditch and up to the road. By the time we got there, the police were turning up. The paramedics got the guy out of the truck that was behind us and put him into the ambulance, the other truck driver was conscious and being checked over on the side of the road. The paramedics wanted to check us over too but we refused. The police spoke to us and took our names and addresses. Then, they towed Andy's car out of the ditch and back onto the road. Finally, we were able to go.

Andy: We got back to our camp to find Brian and Allison making out under the cliff. I coughed to get their attention and they jumped. We all laughed and told them it was fine. Then, we explained about the crash. They were shocked to hear it.

We made some food and then all splashed around in the river. It was so fun. The sun was blaring so it was nice to be able to cool off. Suddenly, we heard a dog barking and whining. It wasn't very loud and didn't sound as if it was very old either. We walked up the river, towards the sound. Jodi and I were in front of the others. We walked for about 10 minutes or maybe less, when Jodi spotted something to the side of the river. We all tried to run over to it. Jodi got there first and then I did. There was a tiny puppy wrapped up in a black garbage bag. Jodi unwrapped it and picked it up. She turned to me, "It's a little boy puppy, can we keep him?" She looked so hopeful, like a young child. I looked at the others and shrugged their shoulders.

"Well I guess we can keep him while we're here, and if no one comes to find him you can take him home?" I looked at the others again and they nodded in agreement.

Jodi: This puppy was so cute. I think he's a boxer dog. He only looks about 8 maybe 10 weeks old. I decided to name him Bear. I don't really know why, it's just the name that seemed right for him. We all played with him for most of the evening. At around midnight, when we decided to go to bed, Andy handed me a piece of rope and helped me to make some kind of collar and lead for him. We tied him up by a rock and made sure it was secure. Then, we went to bed.

"You really like Bear don't you?" Andy asked me.

"I used to have a dog when I was little." I replied.

"Oh yeah? What happened?"

"Dad sold him."

"Why?"

"John got a bad report card."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's no ones fault except for dad's."

"Hey, you know I'm here right, if you ever want to talk about it. It might help?"

"When he sold the dog, that's when I really started to hate him. Every time he had beaten me before that, I had an excuse to leave. I would just walk the dog. The dog stopped him hitting us sometimes too, he'd growl or bark at him. It was a Friday. John handed dad his report card. John was happy with it, he's never been good at school. I think he had mainly Cs and two D+s this time. Dad wasn't happy. He beat John first. Then he sold the dog. John was thrown and locked into his room for the weekend. I hid in bed but dad called me out. He made me stand in the lounge while he sat there watching some film on TV. He forced me to watch the film, it was horrible and gruesome, especially for a child. I was crying but he wouldn't let me leave. He was smoking a cigarette and didn't have an ashtray close enough. He gave me two new scars that night. I was forced to sit there in the lounge for the whole next day. Mom was passed out in bed. Saturday night was the same. He made me drink a bottle of beer. A whole bottle, I was a kid for fuck sake! I was sick straight after finishing it even though I hadn't eaten for nearly two days straight. He laughed and burnt me on my back again. I screamed. John broke his bedroom door and came running out. He helped me up and put me to bed. I can remember laying there, listening to them shouting at each other. I was petrified."

I broke down. This was one of my worst memories. I started crying and couldn't stop. Andy didn't say anything. He pulled me into his arms and held me tightly. He was almost cradling me, like you do with a baby. I held onto him and cried and cried until I fell asleep, still in his arms.