And Then She is the Darkness chapter 5
Disclaimer I do not own anything Lost Boys related.
Yes, it's been a long time coming for this update. Other than the computer trouble I honestly just lost interest in writing for a while and all my stories went by the wayside. Now I'm back. I apologize if this chapter is long. I think I may actually split it into two parts.
Chapter 5: On a Stormy Sea of Moving Emotion.
A warm breeze blew through the window as Alan began to stretch out on the bed. He wondered why his arm was asleep when he felt something stir next to him. Looking over he saw Rhiannon flinch in her sleep as she rolled over in his direction and cuddle herself into the camo sheets. Reaching over, he tucked some stray hairs behind her ear while he began thinking back to when they were younger.
The cafeteria was packed as always. All around kids were talking, yelling, joking and waiting in line for their food. If you could call what they would slop onto the trays food. Over in one corner a big kid was harassing a skinny little nerd for his lunch money. Off in another one of the class clowns had milk squirting out some poor kid's nose from a joke he had told. The popular, older kids were making fun of the less popular ones. Typical day in Santa Carla schools, well schools everywhere actually.
Over in another corner sat a table full of fourth grade girls. The epitome of girldome, just your average group of chatty nine and ten year old girls. Several were chatting about the latest hair style or clothing. All but one girl, Rhiannon sat there too engrossed in her book to bother with their usual pratteling.
"Can you believe Bobby Smith has a thing for Amanda?" the girl to Rhiannon's left said.
"Which Amanda, tall skinny Amanda or weird, funny looking tiny Amanda?" One of the other girls asked.
"Funny looking Amanda."
"No, shut up!" the rest of the group replied like a bunch of clucking hens. Rhiannon just rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Personally I like Wayne Johnson."
"Dawn, you like a different guy every week." One of the other girls shouted.
The girl next to Rhiannon elbowed her. "Come on Rhiannon, get your nose out of that book. You never talk about boys."
"Cuz there aren't any worth talking about."
"Come on there must be some kind of guy you like."
Rhiannon dog-eared the page she had been reading and closed the book over. She rubbed her neck as she did the necklace she was wearing slipped out of her shirt. One of the girls grabbed at it and the inquisition began.
"Oh my God, that's beautiful where did you get it?"
Rhiannon grabbed the charm back from her friend and tucked it back into her shirt. She blushed a bit. "It's not important."
"You got it from a guy didn't you?" The girl asked a bit shocked. "Hey," She nudged the other girls. "Rhiannon got a necklace from a guy!"
All eyes at the table were now on poor Rhiannon who was now red as a tomato from blushing. "It's nothing really. I just got it on the boardwalk one night."
"Wow you were on the boardwalk, alone, at night?"
"Ugh, I wasn't alone. Besides the guys were older anyway!"
"Wait, guys? Older guys? There was more than one?" Dawn asked as the rest of the table erupted in a chorus of oohs.
"Look, it wasn't what you think, you jackals…" Rhiannon began telling them the story of how she and Xander had become separated on the boardwalk, of the guys chasing her, hiding behind the bikes and meeting David and Dwayne. Though she never did get their names that night. She told them that the blond all in black had given her the necklace and that she went home.
"See, so even though those guys were kind of cute, and the one gave me the necklace. There's no way either one of them would have liked me. I'm too young."
As the girls continued their chatter, Edgar and Alan walked into the cafeteria with trays in hand. Everyone in the school thought they were a little strange. Actually everyone thought they were a lot strange. As they went looking for a table they had no luck. One group of kids saw them coming and spread out so they had no room to sit. At another table they told them they were saving seats for their friends. Another table flat out told them to get lost. That's when Edgar spotted seats sitting empty at Rhiannon's table.
The boys made their way over and went to sit down when one of the girls turned and looked at them.
"You can't sit here."
"Why not?" Edgar asked.
"Because you're weird. We don't want to sit with you."
"Leave them alone." Rhiannon chided the girl.
"They can't sit here!"
"They can sit wherever they want!"
"Yeah!"
"Edgar, you're not helping." Rhiannon hissed.
"Well if THEY sit here, we're not! Come on." All the girls got up and began to walk away. One of them turned back to Rhiannon.
"You coming?"
"No, I'm staying here, and so are they." She said pointing at the two boys.
"Well, we're moving." Dawn said.
"Good, more room for us. Who needs you anyway?!" Edgar shouted after them.
"Sit Down!" Rhiannon hissed as she pulled him back down into his seat.
Alan sat down next to Rhiannon and Edgar across from her. "How can you be friends with them?" Edgar asked.
"Gee, I don't know. How can I be friends with your crazy behinds?"
"Thanks for sticking up for us." Alan said.
"No problem. You guys would do it if it were me. Besides, I don't think you guys are crazy like everyone else does. I like you two. Well I like you," She said pointing at Alan. "the jury is still out on what I think of him."
"Ha, ha, ha. Funny." Edgar replied.
"What are you reading?" Alan said noticing the book in front of her. She slid it over to him so he could look at it. It was a leather bound book of Edgar Alan Poe's stories and poems.
"You like this stuff?" Edgar asked, taking the book from Alan and flipping through it.
"Yeah, what's your point?"
Rhiannon had finally woken up to the sound of waves hitting the shore. Sitting up in the bed, she let up a groan and took a look around. After a few minutes she came to the realization that she wasn't in her room. Then the events of the previous night came back to her. Getting out of bed she stretched before quickly recoiling in pain. Walking around the room Rhiannon noticed some clothes on a chair in the corner with a piece of paper on top.
They may be a bit big. Sorry 'bout that. When you're ready we're in the living room. – Alan
Rhiannon changed from what she had been wearing to the clothing on the chair. She ran a hand through her unruly hair trying to fix it as best she could before going to the living room. As she opened the door she could smell pancakes and her stomach began to growl.
In the kitchen Alan and Edgar Sat at the table as their parents walked back and forth between the fridge and stove. Rhiannon walked in, as the boys turned around their mother spotted Rhiannon. "Morning Moonbeam."
"Morning Mrs. Frog."
"Mrs. Frog is so conformist, call me Willow."
"Okay."
"Have some food. You look like you haven't eaten in forever." Willow put a plate full of eggs and pancakes down in front of her.
"Thanks Mrs. … I mean, Willow." The boys' mother turned and walked back over to the stove as Rhiannon turned to Alan. "I'll never get used to that."
"What, the Moonbean or Willow?"
"Both."
They all ate in relative silence till Alan finally spoke up. "Did your father leave on a trip?"
At the mention of her father Rhiannon's fork dropped from her hand making a loud clink as it hit the plate. She looked up at him, her face white as a sheet. Edgar's head shot up from his plate to look at him too. He couldn't believe that he could bring up the topic so soon.
"Yeah." Rhiannon replied. "For about a week, why?"
Before Alan could answer, Edgar jumped in. " Fantastic, you can hang out with us. You can even stay here, with us, the fun won't end. Isn't that right mom?"
"Really would it be okay for me to stay here?" Rhiannon asked, looking at the boys' mother. Willow walked over to Rhiannon, throwing her arms around her in a tight hug.
"Of course, these walls aren't open to just the four of us," Willow said pointing at the boys and their father. "They are free and open to everyone. That includes you."
"Okay, I guess I'm staying. I'll have to go get some things though.
Rhiannon left after she helped clean up the breakfast dishes. After arriving at her house she could hear Janette and her newest boy toy getting it on in one of the rooms upstairs. She heard the annoying laughter of Jaxx coming from the basement, which meant her brother and his little lackeys were there too. She quickly bound up the stairs to her room.
After grabbing a bag from under her bed, she walked the room collecting some essentials. Rhiannon filled the bag to bursting. She shoved the things down into the bag to zip it. Walking over to her bed she snatched up the fish toy that Alan had won for her on the boardwalk. Bounding down the stairs, Rhiannon reached the bottom and was about to head out the door when she heard a voice behind her.
"Where are you going?"
Rhiannon turned to see Xander standing in the kitchen leaning against the fridge, staring at her. "What's it to you?"
"You running away?" He said with a snicker. "You wouldn't last a day on your own."
"What do you care? You don't give a damn what happens to me. Where were you two days ago when I came home with Paul and dad called me a slut, huh? I'll tell you! You saw that he had stopped yelling at you and that he was screaming at me. So you walked away like nothing was happening.
What about the other night? What did I do? All I did was clean up and work like a friggin' slave just like always, and do you know what happened? DO YOU?!" She lifted the hem of her shirt to show him. Her right side was bruised from just under her bust to her hip. It was a sickening shade of purple.
"This is where dad threw me onto the floor and stomped on me." She dropped her shirt and rolled up her sleeve. "See these. . . These are from where he grabbed me and twisted my arm so hard, it almost came out of the socket as he was busy shoving me into the counter. This one here. . ." She pulled up the back of her shirt and showed him matching bruises. "This is from him kicking me because of a broken glass. The bruise looks a bit like a footprint doesn't it? Speaking of broken glass,"
She dropped her shirt and began to unravel one of the bandages Edgar and Alan had wrapped her in. "These are from where my friends had to dig out the shards of broken glass because dad never gave me a decent chance to get up while he was using me like a divot on a golf course. If you'd like to see I have matching ones on my legs as well. Oh but wait, THERE'S MORE." She said in a mocking infomercial voice. "This one has to be the kicker." She pointed at her throat where there was a visible outline of a bruise in the shape of a hand print around her throat.
"So let me ask you. Where were you then? You said I wouldn't last a day on the streets. Well let me tell you, a day on the streets would be paradise compared to this!" Rhiannon walked out the back door slamming it as hard as she could behind her.
Rhiannon walked into the comic shop and tossed her bag behind the counter at Edgar. Pulling up a chair she plopped down and let out a frustrated sigh.
"What's wrong?" Edgar finally asked.
"OH I don't know, just everything. First I told Xander off. Then on the way these damn pants kept fallin, so I'm walking the boardwalk struggling with a bag, a stuffed fish, and these damn pants. People were staring, and for the freaks on the boardwalk to stare, that's saying something about how terrible I must have looked. If you don't mind, I'm going upstairs and change."
"While you're up there send Alan down. I'm almost afraid to think of what he's doing up there."
After Rhiannon changed she went to get Alan. He was in his room sitting on the bed. Rhiannon walked up and leaned on the door. She let out a small hiss of pain and Alan's head shot up from what he was doing to look at her.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah it's just my hand, I'll be fine. Edgar is looking for you. He says he needs help in the shop."
Alan walked up to her and took her hand from the door. HE turned it over and looked at it. "What happened to the bandage?"
He let go of her hand and walked away."I took it off to prove a point." Alan came back, bandage in hand and began to rewrap it.
"What point?"
"My brother thought it was all a big joke when I took my things and went to leave."
Hours later the sun was going down and Rhiannon was growing restless just sitting in the shop. She began pacing the floor.
"Keep that up and you'll be buying us a new floor when you wear a hole in this one."
"Oh, bite me Edgar." She retorted, sticking her tongue at him. "I gotta go out for a bit. I'm going stir crazy. What do you guys say to a movie night?"
"Oh here it comes. . . A night of endless romantic comedies, dramas, and chick flicks."
"Oh, sorry Edgar that would only be if you were the one picking the movies." Rhiannon said before heading out the door.
First thing was first. Rhiannon stopped at the quick mart and grabbed some essentials for the night's festivities and some makeup. Bags in hand she headed into the bathroom to cover up the most visible marks and bruises. When she felt she had finished doing a good job of concealing everything she let her hair down to further cover up any signs of the bruise on her neck and walked out of the Quick mart.
Several minutes later she arrived at Max's video store. Maria was standing behind the counter and waved to her. "Hey, what's up girl?"
"Not much, just getting some flicks for the night. Oh and to bring these back"
"Who you going to watch 'em with?" Maria asked with a wink.
Rhiannon just rolled her eyes and made her way over to one of the racks of VHS tapes and began looking through them. Several minutes and several movies later, she returned to the counter plopping several tapes down on the counter next to Maria. Rhiannon felt a thunk on her leg, loking down she saw Thorn sitting there looking up at her.
"Hey bud," She said getting down on one knee and began to pet him. "how you been?"
Once she had finished petting Thorn she went back to talking to Maria when Max came out from one of the back rooms. "I hope you're not distracting my employee too much, I may have to ban you." Max said trying terribly to hide a smile. "How are you Rhiannon?"
"I've been better." Well at least she wasn't lying. She turned back to Maria to continue their conversation as she played with one of the tapes she was going to rent that night. That's when Max noticed her arm. Apparently she hadn't covered the bruises as well as she though.
"How did you . . . Uh, how did you wind up with that, if you don't mind my asking?"
Rhiannon looked down at her arm, had she wore a long sleeve shirt she would have been tugging on the sleeve to cover up here bruise. There was no getting around it now. He had seen it so she had to say something. She just tried to play it off.
"Just an accident when I was working around the house is all."
Max just looked. He knew she was lying. Maria narrowed her eyes at the girl. Maria knew all too well what Rhiannon really meant to say. Before anyone could question her further, there was a knock on the store window.
"Rhi . . . Rhiannon . . . Rhiannon!"
"Someone's calling you." Maria Said.
"I know, I'm ignoring him. It's fun." Rhiannon handed Maria some money for the movies and stuffed them in her bag from the quick mart.
"Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabe!"
"Is he bothering you?" Max asked giving Paul a nasty look.
"No, but I do enjoy bugging him every now and then." Max smiled and turned to rearrange one of the racks of movies.
"Rhiannon, come out and play!"
"All right twisted sister, I'm coming, I'm coming."
"So's Christmas!" Paul said as she stepped out of the store.
She narrowed her eyes at him before playfully punching him in the arm. "Dip shit!" Paul reached out, grabbing her by the hip, he pulled her close. Rhiannon smiled.
"Come hang with us tonight." Suddenly her smile faded.
"Um, tonight? You'll have to take a rain check bud." Now it was Paul's turn to lose his smile.
"I promised a few friends a movie night." She said, holding up the bag to further illustrate her statement.
"Ditch 'em."
"I can't, but if you want I'll hang with you and the boys tomorrow night. You know how much I loooooooooooove you guys." She said exaggerating the love part.
"Aww she loves us! She really loves us!" Paul said as he picked her up in a bear hug and spun her around. While Rhiannon hissed from the pain in her back.
"I got to go, but I wouldn't mind if you gave me a ride."
"Oh I see how it is now. You're not in love with us. You're in love with the sweet ass bikes!"
"Actually I could walk, but catching a ride it gives me an excuse."
"For what babe?"
"Oh please, you know I can't keep my hands off of you." She said seductively rubbing her hands up and down Paul's chest. Finally she burst out laughing before she reached up ruffling his already wild hair. Then turning to walk in the other direction.
Paul stood there in shock for a moment taking in what just happened before taking off after her. "No fair babe!" Rhiannon turned to look over her shoulder at him and laugh. When he finally caught up with her he slung an arm around her shoulder and turned her in the opposite direction. "Besides the bike is this way."