We Couldn't Get Along Without Ya

14

"What's going on, Katie-girl? I heard all ya Curtis kids hooting and hollering this morning. What changed in your head between then and now?"

It was Two-Bit. I looked away and shrugged, staring out my window and watching two squirrels in a tree. I wished I was a squirrel; I wouldn't have any of the problems I had in this moment.

"Katie." He said again softly, sitting down beside me. "Let me see your arm." 

My entire body tensed and my anxiety shot up in an instant. "No, Two-Bit, I'm not doing that." I said emotionlessly.

"Katie, I need to see."

"No you fucking don't! Stop and leave me alone!" I shouted before running out my door and managing to run outside without being stopped.

I ran as fast as I could, hearing the boys behind me. I was the fastest, aside from Pony on most days. But today, as angry and frustrated as I was, I felt like I could sprint for hours.

I ran for about 20 minutes before I turned a quick corner into an alley and stopped. I quickly stuck my head back out to see if any of the guys were still chasing me. The only ones I saw were Darry and Pony.

I knew they wouldn't expect me to have stopped running, so I ducked behind a trash can and watched them run right past the alley.

Once they were gone and I believed myself to be in the clear, I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I sat for a few minutes and panted, all the running finally taking its toll on me.

Then I realized I had two options: I could hang my head, go back home, and let the guys find out what I did that morning. Or, I could find a train station and get the hell away from everything.

And of course, with my mind not being able to think rationally in the least, I went with option two.

I checked to make sure the guys were still nowhere in sight, then I left the alley and went into a nearby store.

"Excuse me," I asked the first employee I found. He appeared to be a middle-class teenager, the type of kid who works not because his family depends on it, but because his parents want him to have the 'experience.'

"Yes?" He asked, pausing from stocking the shelves.

"Uh, do you know where the closest train station is?"

"Yeah, there's one about 3 miles down the road off of Jefferson Street. But don't mix it up with the train station a mile up the road off of Grant Avenue; that one's for freight only. Well, unless you were just looking to jump aboard." He smiled. I know he was joking, but that's exactly what I wanted to do.

"Great, thanks." I smiled before turning to leave. And off I went to Grant Avenue for the freight train station.

I got there in about ten minutes and saw a train leaving the station at that exact moment. I ran and jumped into one of the cargo cars, sitting across from the door and watching everything go by.

In that moment, I knew I made the wrong decision. But I refused to turn back now. This was the plan I chose and this was what I was doing.