Playing Criminal

20- Realities

Cold water pelted me, turning my clothes into a sopping wet mess.

 I groaned, burying my head into my mattress. Or wait…Not my mattress.

I opened my eyes, and as they cleared I noticed that the ground under me wasn’t fluffy and white padding, but rough, green grass.

“Fuck,” I moaned as the sprinklers swung their way over to me again, showering me with iciness.

A deep moan sounded in my ear, and my eyes widened as I saw that I was lying partly on Jack, my legs and arms intertwined with his. Blushing, I pushed him off roughly, making his moans increase in volume as he rolled over onto the wet grass.

“What time is it?” He muttered as he pushed himself off the ground and into a sitting position.

“No idea,” I murmured as I looked out to the horizon where a thin sliver of orange was turning the early morning sky into a collage of light purples and pinks.

I tried to push myself up off the ground before the sprinklers came around again and yelped as a sharp pain tore across my side.

Oh God…I think the Advil wore off…

“Are you okay?” Jack’s eyebrows creased in worry as he helped me the rest of the way up.

I sucked in a deep breath as more shots of pain wracked my side. “Yeah, just a little sore. I think all that running around yesterday took its toll on me.”

“Alright…” Jack frowned. He didn’t believe me for a second.

“Hey where’s Todd?” I looked around at the barren park as a way to distract Jack from the conversation at hand.

“Crap,” Jack muttered when he realized our mentally deranged friend was nowhere in sight.

“Yeah…” I sighed. Then I jumped, “Fuck!” A blast of cold water had caught me from behind. Quickly I sidled up to Jack who was laughing his head off as he walked out of the sprinkler’s range.

I groaned at the soreness consuming my body with every step I took.

However, as Jack wrapped his arm around me, pulling me close, I felt a bit better.

“You’re shivering,” he murmured as he rubbed my arm.

“Am I?” I widened my eyes; I hadn’t even noticed.

“Yeah,” he eyed me skeptically as he placed a hand across my forehead, “You’re a bit warm. I think you might be coming down with something.”

“Nonsense. I was just sick,” I denied, as I let my eyes wander about the park in their search of Todd.

“Well sometimes getting injured like you have can make you sick or give you fevers as your body tries to heal itself.”

I snorted, “It’s not that bad. Besides, what am I supposed to do? Walk into a hospital, give them my insurance and ask for treatment?”

“Well…” Jack gnawed on his lip, making his lip ring catch the light.

“What? There’s no way you could be considering that!”

“If you need help…” Jack eyed me seriously.

“No,” I jutted my chin out as I narrowed my eyes at him.

Jack shrugged his shoulders, “Let’s just focus on Todd.”

“Yes, let’s” I quipped as I tried to distract myself from my anger, crossing my arms over my chest. What was he thinking? If I went back to the hospital this entire thing would be for nothing, absolutely nothing. Couldn’t he see that that was crazy?

I frowned once again as I looked over the empty picnic tables, deserted benches, and skeleton of a play structure. Everything was absent of life. Todd was absolutely nowhere to be found.

“I think we have a problem...” I muttered, biting my lip.

“Where the hell is he?” Jack creased his brows as we exchanged a worried glance.

How could we have lost him?

“Let’s split up,” I sighed.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“Yes!” I threw my arms up in exasperation, though it caused another ripple of pain down my side.

Jack rolled his eyes, “Your choice.”

And then he left.

I spent a few minutes glaring at his back before I turned towards the path encircling the park and began my search.

To be honest, I didn’t really look as hard as I should have. I was far too distracted by the roller coaster of events that occurred over the last two days and the flashes of pain tormenting my nerves.

Yet even distracted, once I walked out a ways into the park, I could hear the distinct sound of snoring.

“Todd?” I called out softly.

The snoring continued so I walked forward, following the sound as it grew stronger. As I walked forward the sound grew until I could’ve sworn it was right in my ear.

“Todd?” I repeated.

Nothing.

I swung my head around wildly.

Where could he be?

I sighed, and sat down on a park bench, dejected.

Only I could lose a fully grown sixteen year old boy in a park.  

I wonder if this was how mothers felt when their toddlers ran off…

That was when I heard a thump above my head.

I looked up and…there was a squirrel looking inquisitively down at me.

“I give up!” I frowned in exasperation.

“On what?”

“What?” I half-yelled as I jumped up from the bench. “Fuck…” I groaned as I felt my injuries pulse in pain.

“You okay?”

I watched in awe as I saw Todd swing lithely down from a tree branch directly in front of me.

“Peachy,” I muttered through gritted teeth.

“What’s wrong?” He asked again, eyes wide, looking like a dog with its tail between its legs.

“Nothing,” I sighed; it was impossible to stay mad at him for long. “Let’s just go find Jack .”

 Ehh this isn't even a real chapter - it's waaaay too short and nothing much happens. But I feel really really bad about not updating for so long. I've been completely swamped and stresssing out majorly for the SAT on Oct 6th (wish me luck! *fingers crossed). Hopefully after I'm done with that and my college aps I'll be able to spend more time on here, but before then...I just don't know.

Still, I love you all and thank you loads for your support.
You guys are AMAZING! :D

_ BNW <3