If there are any mistakes, im sorry i wrote this in like an hour and rushed to put it up.
Enjoy =]
Chapter four
I woke to the sound of a gunshot. Cautiously, I looked Stacey over to make sure he wasn't shot. The sound of another bullet slicing through the air filled my head. A man shouted in a thick country accent. I rubbed my sleeve against the misted window and exposed the man. He looked about thirty, with brown hair, black overalls, and skin tanned from the sun. He hand a rifle in his left hand and his right balled into a fist up at the sky. "You damn birds!" He shouted. He bent and picked up his bag before turning towards the car. His eyebrows scrunched together into a curious look. I gasped before lying back down. What if he saw me? What if he caught us and was like 'Dad'? What if he hurt Stacey? The thought clung to the walls of my mind. What is we were kidnapped? What is Stacey got hurt? Would he treat us like humans or dogs? Could I protect Stacey from getting hurt? No, I couldn't, and that's what hurt most. "Stacey," I said shaking him awake. "Stacey, get up! Get up now! We have to leave." He moaned in disapproval, but slowly sat up. "Get out the car! Hurry!" He looked at me curiously then shot out of the car. I followed behind him being pulled by his chained arm. We now stood by the grille of the car watching and waiting silently for the man. At least I was. "What are we doing, Reese? What's wrong?" Stacey whispered. "Hush, Stacey," I said. He was nowhere to be seen. The man had gone away... I thought, anyways. A fat, sweaty, rough, carpenters hand fell on the back of my neck. "Whadduya' two munchins' doin' 'round her'?" I jumped as the low, improper voice whispered into my ear. Stacey turned when he heard him and ran. He didn't get far because I was frozen in fear and wouldn't budge. As I got a good look at the man I realized that he looked nothing as old as I thought. He was maybe 19 or so. Run, I thought. Just run and everything will be fine. Stacey pulled the chain roughly forcing me forward. He took advantage of the small steps I took to catch my balance, running further even more. And I followed, scared for my life.
We ran as fast as we could to get away from the boy.
"Ya'll jus' make sure ya' stays away from my daddy's huntin' land! Got that! This here food ain't fo' no rebels, ya' here?" I heard him loud and clear, and, I'm sure, Stacey heard him, too. We were rebels now, doing whatever we could to survive.
Stacey led me back into the woods, of course taking a different route, though. We ran, winding through trees, dodging branches and spider webs. Finally, we came to a main road. I could tell we where miles away from home; there was nothing, but lined, paved road, and we haven't had any food or water in almost two days.
I should have thought my actions over and pulled Stacey back into the forest, but I was delirious and dehydrated; I decided we hitch hiked. We did the best we could to hid the chains on our wrists to abolish any type of suspicion. Who would want to pick up two suspicious, rebel, hitch hikers anyway?
A car honked after thirty minutes of waiting and I sighed with relief. "Stacey, do not get in the car before I squeeze your hand twice. If I squeeze once, I want you to get ready to run, okay?" He nodded silently as the car came to a stop.
"Do you guys need a lift?" It was a female voice, I smiled.
"Yes please," I said cheerily, talking through the passenger's window. "We were hiking with our group and my brother, Ronnie had to use the bathroom, so I took him to a bush and waited for him. Unfortunately, he didn't hurry and we got separated from our group. We've been walking for hours. I was wondering of you could drop us off at our destination?"
She grimaced, "Sure, I'll take you, but aren't you two supposed to be in school?"
I almost panicked, but Stacey spoke up. "Kristen and I were with The Friendly Forest Gumps, a nature group that came to all schools for kids ten and over who like to hike and nature. Our father signed us up, and because they are associated with the school, this counts as a field trip for us." All of what he said was a lie, from my name, to his age, to the group name, but I was exceedingly proud of him.
The woman smiled again, "Hop in." She faced the road, letting the sun beat down on her hair, creating blond streaks in her brown hair. She was unbelievably gorgeous, and I was becoming somewhat jealous.
"Roll your names by me one more time, please?" She asked.
"I'm Kristen and this is my little brother, Ronnie," I stated essentially.
"What beautiful names you two have! Mine is Rebekha, by the way.
"It's nice to have met your acquaintance, Rebekha," I said like a good girl. She smiled and said, "So where are you two going?"
That was a good question; where ARE we going? The only family we've got is each other, the only home we have is outdoors, and we have no money.
"Well, our director didn't give us any specific details, he only said that we would stop at the first gas station to buy water and use the bathrooms, but he never said the name of it, sorry."
"Oh, that's fine," she exclaimed cheerily, "I have no where important to be."
So she drove, about 7 or eight miles to be exact, to the nearest station, and thankfully, it wasn't abandoned, but it wasn't busy. There was a store clerk inside reading a magazine.
"Reese," Stacey whispered to me, "I'm so hungry, can we eat now?"
I shouldn't have lied to him, but I couldn't stand to let him suffer anymore, "Of course, just hold on." Where could I get something for him to eat? We had no money to buy food. Rebekha caught my attention as she opened the car door. Could I do it? Adeline pumping, I snatched the car door open and ran to Rebekha before she could get the clerk attention. I found a piece of cardboard on the ground and picked it up before she saw me coming. Snatching both of her arms into a lock in one hand, I pulled her into me and ushered her behind the building, ignoring Stacey's screams.
I pulled the cardboard up to her neck, praying that it would give her the feel of a real knife. "Where's your money?" I asked shakily.
"Oh, God...left pocket," she said hoarsely. I stashed the board underneath my arm, then reached in her pocket. I felt something smooth, like leather, so I grabbed it out and opened it. A wallet full of twenties and tens. I gasped, even my eighteen year old self, have never seen so much money in my life. "You can take it all, just please don't hurt me," she said.
I swallowed the acid like bile in my mouth. I had heard that line so many times, but from my own mouth. Instead of backing off, I thought of Stacey almost starving to death and said, "Now, when I leave count to sixty then pretend this never happened. If you report this to the police, my brother and I might just have to go back to being slaves for our dad," I said using the guilt trick. "You wouldn't want that would you?" She shook her head. "Good, now, thank you and have a nice life," I said as casually as I could.
I bulleted out of the place throwing the card board, her credit cards, and anything else useless to me on the ground. I snatched up Reese who was full of questions, but eventually, I got him to quiet down. We ran into a nearby forest, following a river to the next city. Thankfully, we made it there before darkness fell. This is how we start our lives, I thought, running in the woods and stealing from the innocent. I laughed; we should be called the Furious Forest Freaks.
There was two hundred eighty-two dollars in Rebekha's wallet. We traveled to a local McDonald's and I bought twelve dollars worth of food. Talk about a feast! By the end of then night, I had bought us food, new clothes, since ours were pallid and tattered, and a cheap room in a roach motel. We had exactly two hundred fifty dollars left and I plan on using it as wisely as I could, considering the fact that we are now technically homeless children. From a Dollar Store, I bought a backpack, to carry our things in. I stuffed our clothes and left over food in it. Before stuffing my money in it, I checked my shoes for any holes. God, I'm even acting like a homeless person, this unsettled me. What are we going to do? We can't stay in this town forever, but we certainly can't go back to 'Dad'. I stared at Stacey as he fell asleep, his shaggy brown hair covering his face. We're going to have to go back, love, I thought. We wont go back to him, but we'll have to go back. I climbed in bed and kissed Stacey's forehead. He woke with a start, and then snuggled in to me as I wrapped the covers around us. We'll make it, love, we'll make it.
I fell asleep thinking about the promise. The one I had made to Jamie. I promised I would come back, and that's just what I was doing.
