A time to remember

Miguel Fachez

              "We need to go. Like, right now." Damon had said to me in a worried tone. I raise an eyebrow and give him a confused look as I chew my sandwich. "Brooke is in trouble and we need to get to her as soon as possible." Damon grabs my shirt collar and is practically pulling me to the direction of Brooke as I struggle to keep up with him.
           Damon quickly turns around and grabs both of my arms, and I see the worried look in his eyes that he's frantically trying to hide. "Where's the produce section of this damn place?" I gather my thought for a moment and finally remember where it is. "Follow me." I gesture to him as I lead him to the produce section. Damon begins calling out Brooke's name as I'm asking random shop clerks if they've seen white a girl with long brown hair, and a cropped tshirt. Damon stops in his tracks in front of me and I accidentally bump into him. "What's the matter?" I ask him as I rub my forehead. "She's over there!" Damon responds as he points to a corner near a fruit shop. Damon and I begin to run over to Brooke who had her knees to her chest and was silently crying into her hands.
           "Brooke what happened to you?" Damon says kneeling down beside her rubbing her back. I walk over to the other side of her and she falls into my arms, letting out all of her tears. I quickly look up at Damon whose getting up off the ground and pacing back and forth as Brooke hysterically cries into my shoulder. "Th-they held a gun to my head a-and a knife to my throat. I stole his pocket knife and slit his throat open though. The blood... There was so much. All over my hands." Brooke begins. Damon snaps his head in our direction and pulls Brooke to her feet and is staring her in the eyes. "Why can't we go to the shack?" He asked her. I sit on the ground on my knees and look at Brooke as we both wait for her answer. "One of them is still there." Brooke silently says. Damon instantly lets go of her and starts running to my shack, and I get up and run with him. "Stop! Please don't go!" I hear Brooke's faint voice call after us.
            Damon and I arrive at the shack, and there's a beat up white truck pulled up beside it with a man whose lifeless sitting in the passenger seat of the truck. I walk up to the door and quietly push it open and see a big man dressed in black, with short brown hair going through Damon's bag and stealing the food and all of the other supplies. I nod my head to Damon and his eyes widen. Before I can stop him, he barges in the door and throws himself on top of the man who falls to the wooden floor with a big thud. "Nobody hurts my girl!" Damon screams at the man while punching his face. I'm frozen in place in the doorway and I see the man struggle to reach into his pocket with his left hand as he throws punches at Damon's face with his right one. My eyes go wide as I realize what he's going for. "Damon he's got a gun!" I shout to him. My feet unfreeze and I run towards the man, trying to stop him. He strikes the side of my face with the front of his gun and I fall on my side, feeling dizzy. I lay on the floor, as I watch Damon struggle to fight off the man without getting shot.
         Then there's a gun shot heard from the middle of the room and I instantly close my eyes as I don't want to know who got shot; and if it was Damon, I don't want the man to know I'm alive. A heavy body gets up off the ground and starts dragging me out of the shack; I keep my eyes closed until I feel the sand on my face and I quickly jump to my feet and throw my fist at the person who was dragging me out. "Ouch! You fucking idiot!" I see Damon standing there holding his chin and looking at me with furious eyes and I look back at him with an apologetic look. "Who shot the man?" I ask Damon, who is still holding his chin.
There comes a faint voice from the left side of me, and it's Brooke, who is standing with a small gun in her right hand and a pocket knife in her left. "Where did you get a gun?!" I yell to her. She points the pocket knife at the man in the white truck, whose neck is cut open with dried blood everywhere. "Him. He had one in his pocket. When I saw Damon loosing to the dude in there, I checked this dude for a gun, and it was connected to his belt holster." Me and Damon stare at her not saying a word. "What?" She asks us. Both me and Damon shake our head and we all go into the shack. I see the lifeless man on the floor and I quickly bend down and start checking his pockets for money or other treasures he might have while Brooke and Damon pack their stuff back up.
         The man had $120, a pack of cigars, a gun, and matches. I take the stuff from him and put them in my own pockets as Damon and Brooke give me a weird look. "What? This happens all the time when people die randomly on the streets. We check their pockets and take whatever they have for ourselves." They shake their heads and I continue my business. I finally get up and follow them outside, and I see Damon taking the body out of the truck and laying him under a nearby tree. "What are we doing?" I ask them. Brooke turns to me and replies, "we are stealing the truck so we won't have to walk the long distance to a new place. Hop in the back." I nod my head and get in the back seat while Brooke gets in the passenger seat on the left and Damon gets in the drivers seat, turning the key to start the truck.

**

         It took us 8 hours, but we finally all arrive in a new town that I've never been to before. I look out the window as we drive slowly down the gravel road, and I see many medium sized houses with different types of cars in the driveways. There's many little kids running outside and playing with eachother, and a few adults who must be the parents to some of the kids. Damon slowly pulls into an empty driveway and we all get out. "Where are we?" I whisper to Brooke. She shrugs her shoulders and walks up to a nearby lady who looked about 35 with her black hair in a bun, purple jeans and a white tshirt. Brooke taps the lady on the shoulder and she turns around greeting Brooke with a smile.
           "Hi, my names Brooke and these are my friends Damon and Miguel," I smile at the woman while Damon waves at her. "And we were just wondering where we are." The lady gives Brooke a confused look and says, "well, your in ParkensonVille. Why do you ask?" Brooke nods her head in understandment and replies, "Well, it's kind of hard to explain. But we have no parents and we've been on the road living together for about 3 years and we ended up here after leaving Magwes Ville." I look over to Damon who is staring at Brooke with his mouth slightly open, with an arched eyebrow. I didn't know she could lie like that either. The woman standing in front of us crosses her arms and squints her eyes at Brooke. "3 years, huh?" We all nod at the question, and the lady gestures for us to come inside one of the houses, which must belong to her.
          "Come inside. I'll make some tea while you guys take a break." She says gently to us. We all go inside and sit on her big light brown colored couch. "So where did you guys say you came from again?" Damon answers this time, "Magwes Ville. About 8 hours away from here." The lady nods her head as she's setting up the tea. "How old are all of you?" Brooke is the first to speak. "I'm 15, my friend Damon here is 17, and Miguel is......" She looks over to me, and I realized I never told them my age. I speak up to tell the lady my age. "16." The lady looks at all of us and shakes her head. "You guys are so young and living on your own like that?" Damon nods his head and the lady turns back around to finish making the tea. "Yeah. We don't have a home either. We live in the white truck that we drove here with." Brooke had said to the lady.
            She stops making her tea and walks over to us, sitting on a nearby chair just to the left of the couch. "Well... If you want, you can stay here for a few days, get a job, and I can keep you here with me and my daughter Alice until you get back on your feet." The woman had said shakily. "Oh yes, thank you so much. We would love to." Brooke said excitedly. Me and Damon exchanged a confused look, and continued on with the two females speaking.
        "My daughter is only 15 years old, I bet you all will get along great with her. Now... Brooke, was it?" Brooke nods her head and continues listening. "You can stay with my daughter in her room, and you two boys can stay in the guest room I have. It's not big, but it'll do." Damon thanks the lady and I simply smile at her.

**

Later on In the night, me and Damon head to the room we will be staying in and Brooke heads to the daughters room, setting her stuff in the corner of the room. "Mother, why must she stay in my room?" Comes a girls voice.
"Because, they are our guests and you are a girl, so I'm putting her with you because, news flash, your also a girl. Now go up there and make all of them feel welcome." There's silence before silent footsteps are headed to mine and Damon's room. Suddenly a tall girl with long wavy dark red hair that stopped just above her but, light-tan skin and beautiful blue eyes comes around the hall and into our room, dressed in nothing but a loose grey t-shirt and and some black sweatpants. She looked the same age as Brooke, but much more beautiful. At some point in me checking her out, my mouth had dropped open and she was looking at me. "Hello? I asked you a question." Alice is leaning on the wall with her arms crossed over her chest with an irritated look on her face. "What? Sorry." I snap back to reality and she rolls her eyes. "Whats your name?" She asks me. I respond to her, and she walks out of our room, headed to hers.
         "Dang. I didn't know she would be that damn hot." Damon said, lying back on the bed staring at the ceiling. I nod my head and run my fingers through my hair as I think about the girl over and over in my mind. "I wonder what she tastes like." My head snaps towards Damon and I give him a surprised look. "What?" I ask him. He nods and smiles at me. "But you have Brooke, and after all the trouble I went through not to kiss her, your suddenly thinking about what another girl tastes like?" Damon laughs at me and says, "Dude, I love Brooke. She's amazing and beautiful. But that girl Alice you just saw? She's a babe. Her and I can be fuck buddy's." I shake my head. "No no no. Don't ruin our chances of staying here with this nice lady." Damon rolls his eyes at me and smiles up at the ceiling. "Whatever dude. Fine, I get Brooke and you get Alice." I nod my head and fall back onto the bed drifting off into a deep sleep.