Cricket

cricket: chapter 3

9 years

"LEMME GO!!" I shriek. Ricky and Sean grab me, push me around. I try to run away, but Ricky grabs my hood and hauls me back.

I don't know what happened to him. Ricky used to be the one who would stand up for me when I got picked on. But now its not like that. Sean made him mean. i hate them both.

I shut my eyes and wait for it to end. i know its going to be soon. Ricky always backs down right before Sean is going to deliver the last blow. I know that somewhere in there, Ricky knows that what hes doing is wrong.

I hear footsteps coming towards us all of a sudden. Ricky's sticky hands are pried off of me, and I hear a boy yelling.

I open my eyes just in time to see Ricky and Sean running away. I push my hair back from my face. A boy about 11 or 12 is standing in front of me.

I glare at him. "What do you want??"

He raises a eyebrow. "What?  No thank you?"

"No."

He laughs. "Kid, you got spunk."

I scowl. "No I don't"

He smiles warmly at me. "Spunk isn't such a bad thing."

I perk up. "It's not?"

"Of course not!"

I can't help it; i smile. I realize that i have just smiled, something I haven't done in more than a year, and immediately clamp my hand over my mouth.

The boy looks at me oddly. "What's wrong with smiling? Im not gonna hurt you. I promise."

I slowly drop my hand. "I don't smile."

"Awwww.... why not?"

I shake my head a little. "Smiling is for pricks."

He reels back. "Woah. How old r u?"

"Im 9. How old are you?"

"Older than you. Probably not as spunky though,"

I try to glare but a smile creeps up. I hold it back and end up laughing.The more I try to hold it back, the harder I laugh.

Soon the boy is laughing along with me and I'm doubled over.

I am able to calm myself after a long time. Tears are streaming down my face. I touch one. It's been so long since I cried. This has been a weird day.

I try to think back to the last time I cried. It takes me a while, but it was the night that Daddy shot Momma. I didn't know it then that she was dead.

Thinking about it causes more tears to come into my eyes. Like the laughter, i try to hold it back, but it erupts. Soon I am on the ground sobbing.

I wish Momma was here.

I wish Daddy was here.

They would tell me not to cry.

Momma would wipe the tears off my eyes.

Daddy would tell me he loved me.

Jeremy would come home.

He would laugh at me for crying.

I would start laughing.

I would stop crying.

Daddy, Momma, Me and Jeremy would all go out for ice cream.

We would all be happy.

That's over though. Daddy killed Momma. Jeremy hardly ever comes home. I live with Grammy. When Jeremy comes home, he lives with Grammy to. But that's not a lot. He stays at his friends houses  a lot.

I come to realize that the boy is wiping my tears off of my face. "Are you ok?" he seems genuinely concerned.

This is a first. I wish everyone could be so concerned about me. But that's not happening. I would need a new family for that to happen.

End of Chapter 3