Desperado: A Holes Fanfiction

Ty

I don't dislike the new kid, I guess. I can't read him, though. And I don't like that.

Poor kid. He has a kind heart and good intentions. But, my God, he is clumsy. Just yesterday, The Lump nearly crushed him like a bug. Thankfully, the D-Tent came to the rescue.

"Nobody messes with The Caveman," said X-Ray. Caveman. I like it. Curious, resourceful, innocent, socially inept.

That afternoon, Lou barged into the kitchen. Her boots clacked against the tile with each step, The staff parted ways at her trail as she approached me, like a queen. I was on salad duty and my eyes were suffering from chopping all of the onions. So, I was relieved to hear the good news.

She clapped, "Let's go, baby. I think we got something." I chased behind her as she bee-lined for the old convertible.  She looked at me from the driver's seat and took my chin in her hands. "Remember what we talked about," she said with hopeful smile and I nodded dutifully. I liked how she made me feel useful.

My heart fluttered with her excitement when she touched me. Her energy was overwhelming. A rush. She sped at top speed out to camp. I'd never been out that far in the day time before. When I first got here, Squid and I would meet up out there at night to hook up. I was surprised when she pulled up to the D-Tent's site. I immediately made eye contact with Hector. What is it? He shifted his eyes to Stanley and then X-Ray, then back to Stanley.

Mom handed Lou a small gold tube and told her X-Ray found it. I smelled bullshit. X-Ray can't see himself in a mirror. How did he manage to find that little thing? She held it up to the sun and handed it right over to me. "Take your time with this one," she muttered as she petted my head. I closed my fingers over the small tube. It all came to me right there. It was a lipstick tube, belonging to the legendary Kissin Kate Barlow. I suddenly felt dizzy, nauseous, as her life flashed before mine. I closed my eyes to regain my balance and tucked the tube into my back pocket. I couldn't focus here, not in this heat.

"Dr. Pendanski, take X-Ray and Ty back to camp. Give them double shower tokens and a snack. But first, fill everyone's canteen!"

When we got back to camp, I sat in the rec room with the lipstick tube in front of me, hesitant to touch it again. X scarfed down stale crackers on the other side of the room. He had a bad habit of smacking his lips when he ate.

"Do you have to eat like that?" I snapped.

He got up and sat across from me. He leaned forward and I could smell fresh scent of commissary soap off of his skin. The tube sat on the table between us. He eyed it, "You gonna tell me what it is?" he asked.

"You gonna tell me who really found it?"

"What makes you think I didn't find it?"He whined.

I narrowed my eyes and pursed my lips. "Wow X," I brought my hand to my chest in sarcastic sincerity, "I knew you were blind. I didn't know your memory sucked too."

He sucked his teeth and inspected his nails, "He owed me a favor."

"Mmmhmm," I hummed. He knew I wouldn't snitch. But it's always good to have leverage around here. I snatched the lipstick from the table and put it back into my pocket before taking off to my cabin.

"Awww come on T," he huffed, "You know how the game goes." I shook my head and waved him off. I won't participate in D-Tent politics.

It was a rainy day in Green Lake, Texas. Kate Barlow sat in her school house alone, crying and reading poetry. A young black man, Sam, approached her and took her hand. "I can fix that" he said. He took her chin in his hand and they shared a kiss. A white man on a horse, drenched in rain, watched from the window: Trout Walker. He's jealous. He rode off into the night in fury.

I ran out of the schoolhouse to find the rain had ceased. The ground, dry as bone. I felt heat generating behind me. I spun around to see the school house was up in flames. Men on horses threw Molotov cocktails one by one. Trout Walker sat off to the side on his horse, grinning. "There she is!" a man yelled, pointing a finger at me. I took off at full speed, running as fast as I could. Every detail was clear; the trees, the faces of onlookers, the heat from the torches that chased behind me, the sound of the horses hooves, the smell of the summer air. I'd reached the edge of the lake where a tugboat full of men approached a row boat. I heard a gunshot and yelled to warn him. But I was too late. He was dead. I looked down at the lake water to see a reflection that wasn't my own. It was Kate Barlow's. She was crying. She loved him. She loved him and they killed him.

I looked up and it was day. I was in the sheriff's office and holding a gun to his head. Without a second thought, I pulled the trigger -

"NO!" I screamed as a sat up in my bed, covered in sweat, catching my breath. My feet kicked under the sheets as if I was still running. I felt a hand on my forehead and violently swatted it away, still stuck on the line between nightmare and reality.

"It's me," a soft voice spoke out, "Ty it's me. What is it? What did you see?" When I came to, I saw Lou's eyes through my tears. She'd flicked on the lights. My face was in her hands, "What is it? What did you see?"

"They.... They..." I couldn't breathe. I looked up at her: Lou Walker "You," I said with disgust. Remembering the tube, I reached for it under my pillow and chucked it against the wall.

She tried to wrap her arms around me and I pushed her away. She shook her head as her eyes filled with tears, "What is it? Tell me and we can fix it."

I tasted bile and raced to the bathroom at the end of the hall. She followed and fell to her knees to hold back my wild curls as I hurled. I don't know why, but when she rubbed my back to comfort me, I grew angry "Leave me alone!" I cried.

"I'll give you your space. You know where to find me," she whispered.

I sat on the cold bathroom floor, alone, for a while, crying, processing what I had experienced. I hugged my knees tight to my chest and prayed to be anywhere but here. This dream wasn't like the others. I saw what she saw. I heard what she heard. I felt what she felt. She loved him and they killed him. Because he was black. Because he looked like me. When I caught my breath, I slipped on my shoes and took off to the laundry room. I needed air. I needed to get far away from that thing, from Lou, from everything.