𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖙 𝖍𝖊𝖗, ponyboy curtis

° chapter three.

          Vernita took her time as she walked past different buildings and little shops, that she took note of so she could go back later when she had a little more money in her pockets. She also passed by the DX where she had initially gotten directions from the kind register worker. She considered going in there, just to say hi and grab a Coke or something, but she decided against it, thinking that going there two times in one day would be weird.

    It took her about 15 minutes of just wandering around town, to find a small park. It wasn't much, and looked pretty run down, but she still took her favorite spot to go on, and sat on top of the monkey bars.

She sat up there for a good amount of time, watching the sun set as she swung her feet back and forth in the air, softly humming a familiar tune that she remembered from her childhood; one of the only constant memories in her mind from so early on, but the funny thing was, that she had no idea what it was from. She just knew it by heart, and singing it to herself was very soothing.

Vernita stayed there, suspended up on top of the monkey bars for a decent amount of time, probably less than an hour. She watched a few kids come and go, sliding down the slides and some of their parents giving her a weird look before eventually walking their kids away from the park.

This made her wonder why adults disliked her—they always looked at her weird, as if she were some type of dirty criminal. She'd never done anything wrong in her entire life, except for maybe have a few beers from time to time, and smoke sometimes as well.

Oh, and maybe that one time she stole a candy bar from the convenience store. But even then, later on when she'd gotten the right money for it, Vernita had gone back to the convenience store and given the poor old lady at the register the money she owed for the candy bar, and profusely apologized.

Thinking about all of this and getting lost in her own mind, Vernita barely noticed that the sun was the sky, which showed that the sun had quickly descended, causing navy blue darkness to flood into the sky, overtaking the previous orange and pink colors.

Shit, Vernita cursed herself in her mind. It's already sundown. I've got to get back to Buck's.

So, she carefully jumped off of the monkey bars and started on her way back to the bar and her temporary home for the time being, very conscious and mindful of the pocket knife that Buck had given her, which laid idly in her back pocket.

Vernita was already a very paranoid person, always keeping her guard up and her head on a swivel no matter what, but she was extra on edge, as she walked down the lone, hot sidewalks of Tulsa, Oklahoma. This was unfamiliar territory, with even more unfamiliar people; she needed to be extra cautious.

And then, as if on some kind of a cue, a car rumbled loudly down the street behind her, the vibrations from the loud car making the concrete beneath her feet vibrate. Vernita barely spared a look over her shoulder, but from the quick glance, she could tell what kind of car it was.