like real people do./ arvin russell

0.6

when arvin eugene russell was taken from my house that morning, i not only had to wait for harry to go to sleep to call his teacher and principle, but i also had to call mrs. russell and lenora to tell them what had happened.

i didn't believe arvin russell was a murderer.

but what i believed wasn't going to help him and i assumed praying wouldn't either. arvin was one of the only kids i knew in this dammed town that didn't pray his way through life, he hated praying, he never told me why but i never pushed it because i knew i wasn't much of a prayer either.

arvin didn't stay in that jail for too long, it was only a week he had been in before they let him out, there wasn't enough evidence to show arvin had killed our old preacher but he was only allowed to go straight home and stay there for a week, and if they couldn't find evidence, he'd be free of all charges.

i didn't show up the day they let arvin out but of course harry wanted to see him, so i called up lenora to come by and get him before she'd go and get arvin. since arvin was one of the only male figures left in harry's life that he knew and trusted, i let him go instead of keeping him cooped up at home.

when lenora came by to pick up harry she gave me a letter that arvin had sent to their house, it was for me but of course, arvin hadn't memorized my address so he couldn't send it to me. i didn't want to read the letter, in fact, i almost threw it away because i didn't want to accept everything that was happening, i wanted to go back to walking into my small house with arvins arms wrapped around harry protectively, i wanted to go back to the idea of having arvin around in any way, shape or form, but now i know i can never look into arvins eyes again, not like i use to.

the letter sat on my kitchen counter for about five minutes before i had actually opened it, inside was indeed a letter, with arvins crooked handwriting all over it.

dear natalia,

i know you probably hate me more now than you did when i was a stupid kid, i mean hell, i'm still a stupid kid, but i want you to know i didn't kill that damn pastor, i hated him, but i promised i wasn't goin be like my daddy. remember when we first met and you asked me where my momma and daddy were and i told you they were dead, people in the town i grew up knew my momma died from cancer and daddy from suicide but i had forgotten that people in coal creek didn't know who my parents were and what had happened that night.

that pastor did bad things, he hurt lenora and i promised to protect her and all the other girls who were wronged by him. all of them girls got to live normal lives again but i swear i didn't kill him and i need you to trust me. he's still alive, when i went to go confront him about what he did to those girls, i let him run free, with no bullets in his head if he promised he wouldn't come back, he wasn't killed by no gun or human natalia, those pictures i saw, looked like something else and something i wouldn't do.

i promised to myself and my daddy that i would protect the ones i loved but i wasn't gonna go and kill for em, i know i wouldn't, couldn't even if i tried too. i'm not a killer natalia and neither was my daddy. there's a lot of no good son's of bitches out there and we just happen to be some of the worst.

i promised i was coming back and i don't break promises.

hope to see you soon,

with love, arvin russell.

arvin wasn't one for writing, in fact, when we were grade school, he always made me help him with english homework. i knew arvin would wonder why i didn't show up even though harry did, but i'm sure he'd understand me being a little uneasy around him. arvin would be on house arrest for a week, meaning i would have to do my best to not think about him and continue on with my life, i had just gotten a raise at the diner and my life was moving forward, i wasn't goin to let nobody stop me from moving forward, not even arvin.

arvin and me had been enemies for the longest time but before that we were almost friends for longer, i knew everything there was to know about arvin russell. arvin liked sunsets and he liked the smell of rain, arvin hated violence, he was against it so much to the point where he'd run away from anyone who tried to fight him, even if the second someone tried to hurt lenora he'd go off on them. arvin hated his daddy as much as he loved him, which didn't make sense to me until mine died too. arvin liked when we'd play together as kids because i would play football with him and i protected him like he was harry, but he wasn't and he was always more than that.

"sissy i'm home!"

"i'm in the kitchen!"

i heard footsteps coming to the kitchen but they were too loud to be harry's and the small noise of harry's footsteps were running away towards the back of the house. i tried to ignore the fact that someone was in the kitchen because i knew harry wouldn't come home with a stranger.

"natalia.."

arvin.

i didn't turn around, i couldn't face him, not yet at least. i wanted to keep the happiest image of arvin in my head that i possibly could, i didn't want to think about anything else, i couldn't think about anything else really, my mind was on that night so much that i could act it out without missing a beat, i knew and saw everything. i heard everything and everything was put into my hands. the screaming, the crying, all of it.

"you got time for a sinner?"

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a/n:

ah yes- the iconic arvin russell line ;)