The Valley

Chapter 2

"Stop!" Casey shrieked, getting the nearest pillow and swinging it helplessly around.

"M- My glasses! I'm not trying to hurt you. I just want-wanted to help." She froze, slowly putting the pillow on the floor. She left her hand close to the pillow, just in case she needed it to defend herself.

"Go. Explain." She said, nodding.

"I was walking all alone after dinner. Pft. I always do, ever since my parents started drinking. They drink so much I can smell the bitterness of the beer in their breath." He gave a small shudder.

"Tell me about it." Casey said, giving a sigh, looking at the ground.

"I saw you sleeping... and I didn't know if you were sleeping, or, you know, dead." He was now sitting against a tree trunk, right next to Casey. His hair was messy and black, his eyes were bright green, and he had black glasses. Freckles dotted his face, and his lips were thin.

"Well... thanks, I guess. Shouldn't you be getting to your house? It's morning."

"I don't wanna go back."

"Well I'm going somewhere. I don't need any help, either."
"I'm not much help anyway. Can I still tag along?"

"No."

"I can't go back home. I sure can't survive alone."

"What's your name."

"Jackson. My name is Jackson."

"How old are you?"

"Why?"

"Ugh."

"I'm fourteen. Now, can I go with you or not?"

"Fine," Casey said, giving a tired sigh, "Help me pack up all of this stuff." They packed up their stuff in around 10 minutes, then walked in silence.

Casey had a burning sensation in her cheeks, and she guessed it was from the bitter silence. It was still pretty dark, and few cars rushed down the roads. Jackson walked beside her, carrying the bag without a word. After a few minutes, he broke the silence.

"So. When is your birthday?"

"It's in a few weeks."
"When? Like month, day, year-"

"Why does that concern you? Just shut up and carry the bag." Casey wished she could take the harsh words back. He had a hard life, too. Even if he didn't, it gave her no right to be rude. He was helping her and having company made her feel better. "L- look. I'm sorry. I didn't mean t-"

"It's fine. Don't mention it." Casey glanced up from her shoes. His face was pink, lips pressed into a thin line, and his eyes looked like they were holding back tears.

"My birthday is in January, by the way. January 14th."

"Oh." Casey looked at him once more. He was almost angry, his face red and his lips still pressed together. She felt her cheeks get red. Of course she got angry. She was upset because she didn't know what to do. She felt he was mad at her, but they needed to stick together. They continued to walk in silence.

"So," he started, "what's your plan? How do you think you'll survive?" He pushed his glasses up.

"I-I don't know." Casey closed her eyes. "I don't."

"Then how do you expect us to survive?"

"I never expected to survive. But now that you're here, I guess we'll have to."

"You're an idiot." The words rung in Casey's head. The phrase was so familiar. It was the phrase she heard almost 24/7, from the person who could go live on his own and eat dirt until he choked to death on it one day and she wouldn't care. Max. And for some reason, the words got to her. The only reason she was here was to escape those words, so she would never have to hear them again. Casey couldn't get mad at him - he had a right to be mad, even call her names, because of what she said before. It wasn't a warm welcome.

She stopped. She stopped and sunk onto the tree stump. Her eyes burned and warm tears flowed down her frozen cheeks.

"I-I'm sorry. I don't know what to do anymore. I don't know what's wrong with me. Something in my mind had been telling me to go as far away as possible and never turn back. I'm so sorry I hurt you but I've never depended on anyone since I was little and I didn't know how to react. And sometimes my emotions stir in my stomach and escape out of my mouth and it's too late to take them back so all I can do is watch the hurt on their face and what sucks the most is that I didn't want the anger to go out on them because I know they're trying so hard to make things normal again but I know it never will be. And I don't even know if life's worth living anymore." She felt arms wrap around her.

She turned to her left and saw him, his eyes closed and his long arms wrapped around her back and legs, which were crouched up in her Cave-of-Despair. She let the tears fall silently, and she closed her eyes, too. She had never felt so comfortable in anyone's (especially a stranger's) arms ever since her father passed.

"I'm a jerk. A really-super-duper-mega-ultra-jerkface," Jackson mumbled to himself. Casey let the ends of her mouth curl.

"What?" Jackson asked, sitting up a bit more. "It's not funny." Now Casey was giggling, and Jackson smiled a little. Casey looked up and his cheeks were rosy and looked stone cold.

"Casey, you're so weird. It's not even that funny." She was now rolling around in the snow, holding her sides. She could barely breathe from laughing so much.

Jackson stood up, then picked up the bag and pulled out a blanket. He spread it in the snow and motioned for Casey to come over. She kept laughing. Rolling his eyes, he dragged her through the snow and laid her onto the cover. He laid next to her. He didn't wrap his arms around her again, but instead stared into her warm brown eyes often.

After calming down, Casey looked at the sky above them.

"Maybe we're both 'super-duper-mega-ultra-jerkfaces.'"

"Yeah, maybe we are."

***IMPORTANT (kinda) AUTHORS NOTE-

I know no one is actually gonna read this story, but I was wondering if I should add Alex's POV since he is her best friend. I meant to add him in as a major character, with actual apperances in the book, but I can't do that without giving his POV of the story. Any ideas? ***