Stay...Alive

Chapter 22

 When Victorine saw four or so boys sneaking out of the house, she followed right after them. When she saw one of them was Horace, she yanked him by the arm and grabbed it tightly.

"Hey! Watch it-" Horace started to yell, before looking up and flinching. If looks could kill, he'd be ten feet under by the time this story gets told. "Quit lookin' at me like that."

She didn't. She kept glaring at him as he tried to pull away.

"We're just getting out for a little," he grunted as he finally yanked his arm free. "We were in there all last night!"

"No," Victorine grumbled. Not after last time. He continued to walk out, followed by Jay, and Oliver, and Oh god. Primus.

Rolling her eyes, Victorine followed after them. She clung to Primus' arm, protectively. Keeping an eye on all of her surroundings. The coast seemed as clear as it could get, but you never know...

At every sound she heard, she flinched a little. She kept her eyes curved in a permanent glare. She was never more than a few inches apart from Primus as they walked. She kept a close eye on all the others, as well, keeping track of every move. Particularly Horace. If anything happened to that boy, she wouldn't hesitate to snap into attack mode.

They didn't have to walk too far until the thing Horace could have hoped for most: a liquor store. It, like a lot of other places in the town, was a little bit old-west themed, with swinging doors and big wooden letters making up the sign. Horace kicked the door open, took a look at all the shelves of dusty, black and clear bottles and sighed contently.

"Beautiful," he breathed, sliding to the set of shelves to his right and browsing the assortment of whiskey and brandy. "No...no...no...perfect!"

He pulled out a bottle of Italian red wine and started rummaging through the counter, looking for a bottle opener. "This stuff would be so expensive if this place wasn't abandoned!"

She opened the bottle and chugged it, cringing and gagging until he looked like a raisin. But he kept drinking it until it was halfway gone. He could barely breathe when he set the bottle back down on the counter, his hand out to catch the wine that dripped from his chin.

"...SO GOOD!" he exclaimed, his eyes squeezed shut.

"Can I have some?" Oliver asked, a little excited.

"No," Victorine grumbled, grabbing his wrist.

"Ow! Hey...you have really...tight...grip!" Oliver grunted, pulling his hand free. Jay tried to sneakily grab a bottle from the shelves, but she shot him a glare as well. He flinched as her head whipped towards him. She turned around in time to catch Jay hastily grab the bottle and take a swing of it. It took everything in his power not to spit it out.

"O-oh yeah!" he mumbled. Victorine rolled her eyes. With that, Oliver dashed away, grabbed the bottle and took a sip, only to cringe up like a lemon and spit it all out.

"Ugh, it tastes terrib...ly good!" Oliver shouted, barely able to open his eyes.

Victorine groaned as Primus laced his fingers with hers. She squeezed his hand back, trying to feel a little better. And something told her he could tell since he put a hand on the side of her head and pulled it against his shoulder. God, how she wanted to fall asleep right there instead of babysitting these twats.

"This stuff blows!" Jay called out. "Dad's beer tasted so much better!"

"Aw, I'd sneak into my Aunt's wine closet all the time and sneak those," Horace told him.

"Your aunt had a wine closest?"

"Yep. It was big. And far, far away from where everyone slept. The only bitch whoever caught me was Vicks over there."

Victorine cringed just at the thought of that beer on her tongue.

"Dang, I wish I was twenty-one so I could get as much of this as I want!" Oliver whined.

"How old are you?" Horace questioned

"Ten."

"Oh my God, what a coincidence! I was exactly that many inches in ya father last night!"

"My dad's dead."

Horace paused and raised an eyebrow. "And?"

A little grossed out, Oliver stepped back and shook his head.

"You're sick, bruh," Oliver muttered. Jay elbowed him in the side. "Oh, he's your dad, too!"

"You gotta stop taking things seriously," Jay said, annoyed. "It's just a joke how bad-"

A bang was heard, followed by a scream and a surplus of stomping. The five of them all stared at each other for a second, shocked. As the banging and shouting got so loud that hurt their ears, they dashed for the counter, climbing over and hiding underneath. Victorine swung over it, while sadly it took the others a lot longer. The only one not behind the counter when the door flew open was Jay.

Click.

Jay stood still in the middle of the liquor store, despondent. He looked straight at Primus and Oliver with a type of sadness in his eyes Victorine had only ever seen in Timothy's eyes.

"I love you," Jay breathed.

Bang!

Without a second to process, Victorine grabbed Primus' hand and yanked him towards the side door behind the counter. They slid right out, barely caring about the noise they were making. They ran as fast as they could, behind the alleyways behind buildings as the shouting and the banging and the clicking got louder. Victorine led the way, sprinting as fast as she can as she navigated out of the alleyways and into the home stretch of the train station.

They ran right towards the front door, Primus trying not to lose his footing as Victorine picked up speed. She threw open the door as the four ran inside, and she slammed and locked it behind them. The four stood panting by the doorway, Victorine keeling over. The woman put a hand on her shoulder and ushered them all behind the ticket window and into a moderately sized ticket office. It was there that the rest of the crowd as standing or sitting on pins and needles.

"Oh, thank God!" Yolanda exclaimed, as she rushed towards Victorine and wrapped her in her arms. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? You gotta stop scaring me like-"

Primus sniffled. Victorine turned around to see tears streaming from his eyes. Victorine hugged him around the waist, and he cried harder. He hugged her back, his head hanging low and tears falling on her shoulders.

The others in the room watched the two, crying in the middle of the floor. They held each other in complete silence (save for Primus' crying). Victorine felt tears drip down her shoulder, and she hugged him even tighter. Soon enough, some people began murmuring, but Victorine didn't care. She couldn't care. Not when Primus was in such a state. It was like nothing else mattered...

At least until she heard two loud voices clashing, and everyone retreated to a corner. They sat, huddled among other terrified people. Primus covered his mouth to muffle his own sobs as Victorine desperately tried to calm him. She squeezed her heads shut and rested her forehead on his, but it didn't help at all. As the yelling got louder and the people got more anxious, it got harder and harder for everyone to stay still.

The shouting crescendoed, the words almost loud enough to understand. Victorine held Primus tighter, half-comforting herself. She grabbed Primus' hand and squeezed it. Primus squeezed it back so hard it hurt. The screams got louder and louder until finally

Bang

There was a thump, followed by bare, dead silence. After a minute of the only sound being everyone's heavy, nervous breathing, there were a few heavy stomps that only got quieter and quieter. Slowly but surely, everyone started to move again, standing out and peeking out the window. As soon as they could, Primus and Oliver bust out into sobs.