I went to sleep that night happy. But then a dream took over. I was getting flashes of images. Chris was crying. Vern was crying. Gordie was mad. Teddy was dying. The images kept coming up. Teddy was laying on something that looked like a tarp. The images started moving. I could tell Chris was crying because I kissed Gordie. Vern was crying because Teddy was dying. Gordie was mad because I told Chris that I kissed him. "I hate you, Emily!" Gordie yelled. "How could you do this to me?" Chris cried. "Teddy, no!" Vern yelled. The image of Teddy became clearer. He was laying in a tent. His eyes started to close. "NOOOO!" I yelled and jolted awake.
It was a sign. What if Teddy was in one of the tents that Gordie and I saw at the park? I had to go check. I climbed out the window and used the fire escape. The park was a little further away than I thought. It felt like I had been running forever. I finally got there and ran into the woods. "Teddy!" I yelled. I stood perfectly still to see if I could hear anything. "Teddy, where are you!?" I walked deeper into the woods. I couldn't see then tents anywhere. It didn't help that I couldn't hear anything.
I decided I'd just take a little walk on the trails. I lost hope that he'd be in there. I lost hope that we were ever gonna find him. I lost hope in thinking he was alive. It hurt too much to lie to myself anymore. It hurt too much to keep my head up and smile. This entire thing was my fault and I knew it. I just didn't understand why Ace and Eyeball would have to take my brother away from me. It hurt too much.
I was almost at the end of the trail. I knew I was gonna have to turn around soon.
I heard something. I didn't know what it was, but it was... something. I stood still and waited to see if I could hear it again.
"Emily." I heard a weak voice say. "Hello?" I asked quietly. "Emily." They said again. They said it every 2 or 3 seconds. "Emily... Emily... Emily." "Where are you?" I asked out. "Emily... Emily." I started to get scared. But then a full moon came out of the clouds, and light shined on a blue tent. I walked over slowly. "Emily." They said again. "I'm coming." I answered. "Emily." I made it to the zipper. I took a deep breath, and opened the tent. "Emily." Laying in front of me was an extremely skinny and pale boy. I could tell it was Teddy from his clothes.
"Emily." "Teddy." I climbed into the tent and crawled up to his head. "Emily." He slowly reached his arms up to hug me. "You're here." He whispered. "I'm here, Teddy." I cried and hugged him.
"You're so skinny." I sat up. "Yeah, I-I ran out of money last week to sneak to the shop near the junk yard." He coughed. "You've had to sneak all the way to the junk yard shop to get food?" "Yeah, but I'm okay." He said. "You're not okay, Teddy. Jesus, you're dying. I've gotta get you something to eat." I said. "Can you sit up?" "No. I'm too weak." He said. "Okay. Well I'll be back. I'm getting you some food and clothes." "O-Okay. Thank you." "Of course, Teddy." I said and started running to the apartment.
I cried tears of joy all the way there. I couldn't believe that he was there. My dream was right.
I climbed up the fire escape and in through the window. I grabbed a couple of granola bars that were under Teddy's bed, a water bottle, and some new clothes for him to put on. I climbed out the way I came in and ran all the way back to the park. I made my way back to the tent and climbed back inside. "Here's some food. I would've gotten more but I didn't want mom to hear me." I said. "How is mom?" Teddy asked. "She's good. we had a heart to heart and she's completely different. She's been trying to find you. Everyone has." I said.
"How is everyone? Chris, Gordie, Vern." He asked. I took a deep breath. "Chris stabbed Ace... and Ace is dead." "When the hell did that happen?" He sat up a tiny little bit. "A couple weeks ago." "Wow. So now we just gotta deal with Eyeball." He laughed a little bit. "Teddy. Chris... Chris is in jail because of it." I said. "Oh my God. How long?" He asked. "5 years." "Oh shit." He said. "It's not something you need to worry about though, okay? We just need to worry about getting you back home." "I can't." "Why not?" I asked.
"Ace- well, Eyeball's gonna kill me." "I'll talk to him." "How?" "I'll handle it, Teddy. What did they do to you, anyway?" I asked. "They said if they ever saw me again they'd kill me. Because of all the stuff that happened with you. They said 'You have one more day with your family. If we ever see you again, we'll fucking kill you, understand?' and it seemed real. I didn't wanna chance it, ya know?"
"We're gonna get you out of here, okay? By tomorrow or the next day." I said. "Okay." He smiled. "Here, eat. You need to build your strength up so you can stand by tomorrow." "Okay, mom." We laughed. We sat and talked all night, until the sun started to come up. "I gotta get going. I'll be back this afternoon, okay? Maybe we can have you home by tonight." I said and hugged him. "Okay. Bye Em." He said.
I ran home and got into bed. I slept for a couple hours before waking up to go find Eyeball. "Bye mom, I'm heading out." "Okay. Be back for supper!" She yelled down the hall from her room.
I checked at the blue point diner, and Eyeball was sitting at the counter having a burger. "I need to talk to you. Not as enemies, not has friends. I just need to talk to you like a human being." He looked up at me. "Okay, have a seat." He said. "I know where Teddy is. I found him early this morning. He needs to be home. You did enough to him, and it's time for him to come home. I don't want you messing with him anymore. He's been through enough, and you've put us all through hell. You put Chris into jail, for fuck's sake." "He deserved it! He killed my best friend." "Bullshit, he wouldn't have needed to if you 2 would've just told me where Teddy was in the first place when I asked. You did this to yourself."
Ace looked down. "Yeah, yeah. Okay. Go get Teddy and tell him I won't be a bother no more." He said. "Also, Go visit Chris. Tell him I'll have him out by the end of the week." "Thanks Eyeball." I said. I ordered a burger and left.
It was the happiest I had been in weeks, and it was about to get a whole lot better.
A/N:
FINALLY.😂😂
*Skin It and Stay Gold*
