The Broken Chronicles

Chapter 6

Carter's POV

I woke up to the sun beating down on me through the blinds, and I groaned as my head throbbed at the light. I buried my face in a pillow and thought about trying to go back to sleep. Instead, I decided to get up, so I looked at the glowing red alarm clock that read 9:06 am. I rolled out of bed and trudged into the bathroom. I brushed my teeth, then pulled my hair into a high ponytail, and straightened my clothes. When I walked downstairs I found Elliot in the kitchen, cooking eggs and bacon.
"Oh, hey, good morning." He smiled as I sat down on a barstool.
"Good morning." I smiled in return.
"You, uh... You like eggs right?" He asked awkwardly.
"Yes" I laughed. "And I'm starving!" I joked. He handed me a plate of scramble eggs and three strips of bacon.
"Here you go." He grinned. "I know it's not much, but we haven't exactly bought groceries for this place."
"Thanks. Wait, did you just buy this stuff?" I asked, swallowing a bite of eggs.
"Uh, yeah. There's a little convenience store down the street." He said, nonchalantly.
"Oh, you didn't have to do that." I said, feeling bad that he had done that for me. I noticed he wasn't eating. "You're not eating?" I asked, a mouth full of food.
"Hmm?" He said looking up at me from the floor.
"You're not eating?" I repeated myself, after swallowing the mouthful of food.
"Oh uh... Yeah." He said standing up from leaning on the counter an turning towards the stove again. He was out of it and I could tell. He poured the rest of the eggs in the pan onto a plate and took three strips of bacon for himself. He sat down next to me and began eating. I found myself staring at him. Surveying his features. His deep blue/grey eyes, his dark hair that goes up and down and kind of everywhere all at the same time. His lips that are somehow perfectly proportioned and his strong jawline that moved as he chewed. He looked at me and caught me staring. I quickly looked down and heat rose to my cheeks, reddening my face. When I glanced back up at him he was smiling and shaking his head, before looking back down at his food and slightly laughing at me. I diverted my attention from his face to my food and continued eating.
"Can I ask you something?" I asked, breaking the silence.
"Sure."
"Why'd you save me? I mean what if I really wanted to die?" He looked up from his food, and took a deep breath before turning his body towards me.
"Carter. I've been where you were yesterday. I thought it was the right thing to do. I thought that everything would be okay if I didn't exist anymore. But in the moment I've never been more afraid in my life. I regretted it. No matter how much I wanted it before. When you're hanging by your neck and can't breath and can't move, it's the most hopeless feeling. I couldn't help but see the fear in your eyes, and it made me think of how I felt that day. That's why I saved you."
"Oh... H-how old were you?"
"13." He said, not looking up from his lap.
"Wow. What stopped you?"
"Xander."
"He saved you? Like- like how you saved me?"
"Not exactly." He laughed. "He didn't even mean to really. He was drunk and threw an axe at the board I was hanging from. It snapped in half and I was thrown to the ground. But regardless he saved my life."
"Is that what he was talking about last night?"
"Huh? Oh, that. I don't know... It's kind of a long story with him."
"Oh." Was all I could think to say. I took the last bite of food off my plate, before hopping down from the stool and placing my plate I the sink.
"I'll do dishes." I said before walking back upstairs. I looked at my phone and had 14 missed calls from my mom, and 2 from Chloe. Chloe's were just a couple minutes ago, so I clicked on her name, calling her back.
"Hey." She answered.
"Hey."
"How'd it go with your mom?"
"Let's just say.... Not good."
"Oh no. What happened?"
"Well she walked in to me untying the rope, and completely flipped. She started going off about how I was selfish and I would just have ruined everyone else's lives.... Then she said I'm not her daughter anymore and I packed my shit and left."
"Holy crap! Wait where are you?" She asked alarmed.
"I'm with that guy. Don't worry we're still in town, but I don't know how much longer that will last."
"What do you mean? Carter, first of all, are you even sure if you can trust this guy?"
"Chloe he saved my life. And totally stood up for me against my mom. I honestly trust him. And he's super sweet. He drove to a convenience store just to get stuff to make me breakfast. I mean I can fight back if he tried anything, but Chloe I really don't think he will."
"Mhmm." She said in a suspicious tone.
"What?"
"You like him."
"What? No! I just met him!"
"You like him." She taunted from the other end of the line.
"I'm gonna hang up on you know."
"Okay love you! Bye!" She yelled out before I hit the end call button. She's annoying in a best friend kinda way. She can't be right. Can she?
I'm snapped out of my thoughts when I hear a knocking at my door.
"Yeah?" A say loud enough for him to hear. He slowly opens the door, and looks at me with slight fear in his expression.
"What's up?" I asked.
"Um. I was just wondering what you wanted to do now. I mean we can try to stay here, or you could stay with somebody else, or we could leave. I don't know, just whatever you want."
He said nervously, staring at the floor, glancing up at me occasionally.
"You trying to get rid of me?" I asked jokingly. He didn't find it funny.
"What? No- no I was just-"
"I was joking. Well I think it's safe to say I can't go home. Chloe's parents would most likely try and go to the police, and I just don't want to have to deal with that. I mean I turn 18 in a couple months, anyway. I mean I hate to burden you, but I kinda have nowhere else. But I mean if you don't want me around, I understand. I'll leave. I'm sure I can make it on my own." I get up and start to gather my things, but he stops me by placing his hand on top of mine as I go to grab a bag.
"That won't be necessary. I mean you're kind of the only friend I have now. I mean we're friends, right?" He offered a smile, and I just laughed an shook my head.
"Sure. Friends." He smiled as the words left my mouth.
"So what now? I mean we can stay here, or hit the road. Or whatever." He said, the nervousness in his voice apparent.
"Well I've always wanted to go on a road trip, but I think we should wait a little while. Let me say a proper goodbye to some people. A week?"
"Okay. Here, make a list of all the people you want to say goodbye to, and I'll help you get to these people, then we can leave. I'll try to talk to Xander and Ryder, see if we can get some extra cash. Then we can leave, okay?"
"Okay." I said. He went to leave, but I stopped him. I grabbed his hand, an when he turned around I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tight. "Thank you." I said.
He cautiously hugged me back, and when I didn't move he rested his head on the top of mine.
"You know you don't have to keep thanking me." He whispered.
"But I will."
He didn't say anything, just hugged me tighter. Everything was perfect, until my phone started buzzing on the night stand and I released myself from our hug. I picked up my phone and saw that it was my mom calling. Again. I turned off the screen, ignoring the call.
"Leave me the hell alone!" I muttered under my breath.
"Your mom?" Elliot asked from behind me.
"Yeah." I sighed, sitting on the edge of my bed. "She can't just fucking push me out, and tell me I'm not her daughter anymore, then come crying for me to come back. It doesn't work like that." I breathed.
"I know. I'm sorry you have to deal with her." He said, sitting down beside me.
"Yeah, it's whatever. She's not my problem anymore."
"Well now you've got me. Don't worry though, I consider myself the fun parent." He smiled.
"Uh-huh." I laughed, shaking my head at him.
He looked at me a hopeful smile on his face as his eyes surveyed mine.
"What?" I smiled.
He just shook his head and looked down, his cheeks turning slightly pink.
"No, tell me." I smiled.
"It's just- you look really pretty when you smile." The pinkness on his face turned red and he fidgeted his hands in lap. "It's a shame I don't get to see it that often."
"Uh... Thanks. And- yeah... I don't know I just-"
"I get it." He sad placing his hand on top of mine. "I just hope I don't make you miserable."
"I'm sure you won't." I shot him a hopeful smile. "And I just want to apologize in advance. I know I can be really hard to deal with sometimes. That's why most everybody has given up on me. I'm just more trouble than I'm worth."
"Don't say that. I don't care who's given up on you, they were just too weak to handle your strength. But I promise I will never give up on you. That much I know. I know we just met, but for some reason I feel like I've known you forever, like you already mean a lot to me and I honestly don't know why. Sorry I'm blabbing now." He awkwardly spewed, then quickly shut himself up.
"It's okay. And I really wish you didn't feel that way."
"What? Why?"
"Because. Like I said before, you feel responsible for me, so now every stupid thing I do and every mistake I make, you're going to blame yourself. Just like..." I stopped myself, that was a story I wasn't ready to dive into.
"Just like what?" He prompted.
"Nothing. Just, I don't want you to feel like you have to save me. It's kind of impossible and useless to save me really. I always manage to fuck things up."
"Look, I know things haven't been great for you in the past, but I believe that you can start over. And I think getting out if here is just the way to do that. Please don't give up before even giving it a shot."
"Fine. But I'm not promising anything. But I won't say I told you so when I hurt you. It's bound to happen."
He didn't say anything, just looked at me with a knowing smile on his face, before standing up and walking towards my door.
"Look- uh... I'm gonna call Ryder. Um, if you want you can write up a list of people to say goodbye to. I'll just- yeah, I'll be right back." He stood a my doorway, scratching the back of his neck.
"Alright." I almost laughed at him, but I controlled myself as he left the room.
I laid back on the bed, the names of all the people, some of which I haven't seen in years, flooded my brain, and I closed my eyes, remembering what each of them meant to me. What each of them still mean to me.

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Hello! If you're reading this, thank you sososososo much! It really means a lot to me! Please, let me know what you think about this book so far, if you think I should keep writing, if you're interested in it at all... Yeah. Well thank loves! Til next time!
-J

P.S. sorry for errors. I'll probably go back and properly edit everything once the book is finished.