Noise of the wild children yelling, singing and stumbling rumbled through the lone house in the Forest. Here, you didn't need to worry about adults running your life, you could be free. This is where all the coolest parties were held and just a quiet place to get away when there was nobody else there. But that's not the deal with tonight, Sky, one of the most popular guys of the group had brought a ton of friends and friends brought friends and before you knew it, the whole house was full of people and music. The lights were low, bringing out the glowing spray paint on the peeling floral wallpaper. It was a little run down but we kept it relatively clean. We couldn't have alcohol because we were all under aged, the average ages were 15 and 16. We didn't need to get drunk on some overpriced vodka shots anyways, we were all drunk on life. Sometimes somebody managed to sneak some from home but we all know how that would end so they would get banned from the property. We weren't the good kids, I mean we were the ones who got kicked out of our homes or lost most of our family or were just plain sick of life. But we didn't want no real trouble 'round here.
We already had some run-ins with the police, but since it met the standards and it was an unowned property, nothing was an issue. Plus, the police didn't want nothing to do with us kids, we kept everything pretty in shape though, and no drugs or beer ever entered the house. Honestly I don't know how, but it didn't smell all that bad neither. We all kept ourselves clean and healthy, keeping active wasn't all that hard with the basketball net on the concrete in the back. A lot of the time some of us all played together and we were pretty friendly with each other, only the occasional fight. In the end we were all made up, we had to be since most of the group actually lived here full-time. Not me. I had a family of 2 brothers and a home to go back to, but they hang out here sometimes too.
I didn't like being around here much when it was loud and rowdy with people I didn't know, but Sky wanted me to stick around just in case he needed help if something happened. So of course, I did but I just mostly sat on the stairs as the doorbell rang and the door opened for the people to crowd into the front room.
"Come on guys, keep it moving there's the whole house!" Rusty, one of us, yelled to the people motioning them to spread out through the house. His real name is Minter, but he hates it and Rusty stuck and fits him for his orange-red hair. He liked to keep it pretty short compared to the rest of us, and kept it messy. The rest of us had longer hair greased back with hair gel. People started walking up the stairs, pushing past me and it started to get pretty crammed. Pushing my way through the crowd I somehow managed to find Sky.
"Hey, I'm gonna take a break." I looked around at the people, making me nervous to be here. "You good here?" I looked at him pleadingly to let me get out of this place. He gave me a look, on eyebrow raised. His face just yelled 'you're going to owe me one.'
"Fine, but, don't get into any trouble." I smiled and headed towards the door trying to hurry to get out of here.
Right as I was about to leave, somebody yelled my name. I turned around just in time to see the open blade flying through the air right towards me. It's a good thing whoever threw it had a terrible aim, because it stuck in the wall right beside my head, sending splinters from the doorframe. I was more angry than scared, looking for the kid that threw it. Then I saw him.
"Richard Willings" I muttered under my breath. He stood pretending not to see anything that happened, but everybody else saw and was silent. All the gazes of the people were fixed on me but I didn't care. He saw me walking quickly towards him and put his hands up in front of him.
"Whoa, dude chill out. It was a joke" only half consciously, I gripped the collar of his plaid shirt. Between my gritted teeth I spoke lowly.
"Joke my ass." I swung my arm powerfully behind me, bringing it forward into his jaw as hard as I could. Blood splattered onto the floor and dripped out of his mouth, running down his neck. He breathed heavily like he was surprised that I had hit him. Pain was shooting up my arm in waves but I ignored it, showing weakness wasn't going to numb it anyways.
I dragged him out the door onto the front porch, slamming him onto the ground, pushing the air out of his lungs all at once. I held him against the wood one hand still on his collar, the other elbow pinned against his chest. The door slammed shut behind us and I leaned closer to his face hearing his break come in short jerks of his chest. My voice quivered with rage when I started to speak.
"You'd better get your ass out of here, and if we see you again... Let's just say you'd wish you didn't come back" I stood up and he just laid there like a beat puppy, not moving an inch. I threw my arm so it pointed towards the overgrown path leading off the property. Raising my voice one more time so he'd get the idea "GO!" He gripped onto the railing at the top of the stairs, dragging himself up onto his feet. Limping down the stairs he kept his head low in shame of not fighting back.
By this time, his face had started bruising around his eye and cheek and the blood had stained his shirt and neck. Slumping down against the house, I jumped at the voice beside me. But it wasn't rough or angry, it was rather soft.
"Hey, are you okay?" I looked up to notice it wasn't one of the guys, but instead a girl that I'd never seen before. Quite a gorgeous one for that matter. Flashing a fake smile, I looked back towards the peeling wood planks beneath me.
"Yeah, as okay as a guy that just had a knife thrown at him can be." Peeking at her from the corner of my eye, I watched as she sat down beside me and crossed her legs. Well why don't you just make yourself at home? Truly, I didn't mind that she was here. As long as it was just us. "Fair enough" her voice was even, now sounding less nervous.
I still wanted to get out of here, pushing myself up I turned towards her offering my hand. She grabbed onto it and pulled herself to her feet, much more gracefully than expected. I raised my eyebrows at her when she gave me a curious look on where we were going. "So, you wanna get out of here?"
She didn't give it a second thought. "Definitely." She started down the stairs as I stood in shock at how easily she found it to trust me. She didn't even know my name, nor did I know hers. Not until she was at the bottom did she notice I wasn't behind her. "You coming?" She asked me motioning her hand for me to follow. Making the best decision of my life, I followed her.
