Triggering: Grave Isolation (Story)

[Boxy]

This is a story I've been writing since I was 15. I Used to have it posted on here before the site went down forever ago. Well, I recently started writing more of it again, edited and revised, and hopefully filled in the plot holes and spelling errors. A lot of people who read it last time kept wanting more. So I'm Just guna start posting this all over and post chapter by chapter as long as people actually want to read it (cuz I don't wanna do it for nothing lol). Please give me some feed back.

Not all chapters are triggering, but there are several triggering topics throughout the story.

Chapter 1:

It is happening again, the walls are closing in. There is a faint glow of a nightlight on the other side of the room. The ceiling is cracked and there is flecks of color on the floor from where the paint has chipped away from the walls. I can hear screams from a girl down the hall. I wonder what she ever did to wind up in a place like this. Did she run away, get into drugs, a gang? Maybe she cut class one too many times. I guess I will probably never know. I am starting to feel dizzy. Why is the room spinning? And what is that tall ghostly figure coming out of the shadows?

I squirm and try to get up. It is then that I realize my hands and feet are strapped down. A cold hand appears on my shoulder. I groan. I want to ask why I am in here this time, but I cannot find the strength. I keep squirming, hoping that by some miracle, I will break free.

"Stop fighting, you will be allowed back to your room when you've learned your lesson" Learned my lesson ... what lesson? I do not even know why I am in here, how could I possibly learn any lesson?

I let out another groan. My chest is killing me and my head is pounding. What is going on? Why does everything hurt? My eyes clear a little as a big over head light is turned on. The figure slowly comes into focus, it's Miss Nepker, she is the one who runs the place around here. She is pale and always wears her hair in a loose bun at the nape of her neck. She is wearing khaki's and a white T-shirt neatly tucked in. She is thin, around five foot seven, tough as nails and built like a brick wall. I am pretty sure a puppy would pee in two seconds flat just looking at her; rigid, scary and in authority.

"Wha... why am I in here?" I manage to gasp out as she grabs my arm to insert the needle that is in her hand.

"Because Allison," I hate being called Allison, I prefer Alli. I think she calls me Allison just because she knows I hate it, "you have broken the rules." Which rule was she talking about? God knows there only about a zillion in this place. "And you know what happens when you break the rules. Don't you Allison?" Her voice is stiff. I want to ask what rule she is talking about, but I think it’s better to keep my mouth shut and take it. After all, the less time I take asking questions, and fighting “the process,” the sooner it's all over. That is a lesson I had to learn the hard way the first time.
"Yes, ma'am" I cough out. I strain my neck to watch her as she presses the little plunger on the syringe. Everything starts to blur and fade away until it's all black again.

I am startled awake when the heavy, steel door swings open with a big bang. This time it's Mr. Drey. He is about six foot, two inches tall and let me tell you, he is massive! Mr. Drey is like nothing I've ever seen before. His head is shaved, with bushy eyebrows resting above his dark eyes that appear to have power to see straight through me. His muscles practically rip through his shirt. His scary appearance lets you know you he could snap your neck with a snap of his fingers. He walks over to me with his back perfectly straight. How he has such great posture for such a big guy I will never know. He takes his set of keys out of his pocket; there are at least ten different keys all going to different locks. He grasps a long silver one, which looks tiny compared to his large hands. He unlocks my feet and then my wrists setting me free from the rock hard table the staff here call a bed. I expect him to say something, but he never does. He never says much of anything to anyone, not that I've heard anyway. He may be quiet, but he is definitely intimidating, and not one to mess with.

There is a long silence and then he turns to leave the room, motioning for me to follow him. We arrive at the door to my room. I can hear my two room mates, Shelly and Lea, snoring softy through the door. He gets out his keys again and unlocks the door with a key labeled “D BLOCK”. I walk in and lay on my bed making a useless attempt to fall asleep in my new home known as D block. In this place there are sections: A block is where cafeteria and showers are, B block is where the laundry machines and spare rooms for storage are at, C block has bedrooms for the younger girls. And then, D block. That is where I live. D block is for the older girls, 15 and up. I just got to this section last week.

I've been in this dirty place ever since August twenty-third, that was three months ago. You sort of lose track of the time here. There are no clocks hanging up anywhere, much less a calendar. I am still not completely sure what day it is. I figure it must be November 8, I was 14 when I came in here. And since I am now in D block I must now be 15. I was moved in here four days ago, the day I am guessing was my birthday.

I turn to lay on my side and stare at the wall across the room. I hear Shelly cry a little in her sleep. Shelly is a sensitive girl with brown hair and brown eyes. She’s here because her mother is a struggling-to-recover alcoholic and thought it would be best to send her daughter away. Little did she know sleeping under a bridge in the middle of a city was less nerve wracking than being here. Shelly has no other family. It was just her and her mom. She had an older brother, but he died two years ago in a drive-by shooting in her neighborhood. She lived in a dangerous town full of drugs and gangs. Although she never got mixed up in all that shit, she wound up here anyway. She got here the same day I was moved to this section, we became friends fast. I had been here almost three months in C block and had not made any friends, now I could have a friend who didn’t think I was stupid when I asked a question.

Lea on the other hand was sent here by the courts six months ago. She ran away from home repeatedly to get away from her mothers new boyfriend, Rick. Her father was sent prison after killing a kid who keyed his car. From what she tells me, Rick is not a pleasant man. At first, everything was fine. Rick was everything you would want in a possible, future, step dad. But when he moved in, well, that is when everything changed. He started coming into Lea's room late at night while she was asleep to 'check up' on her. But one night Lea just could not and would not take it anymore. That was the night of the first time she ran away to a friends' house. But of course she always had to come back home when parents got suspicious. When no one would take her in anymore she just prayed with everything that she had that she could go to sleep, and simply never wake up. Lea’s mother soon told her that she was engaged to marry Rick.

When her prayers of death weren't answered, she left and hit the streets with a small bag of whatever she could fit into it. Her mother cried and couldn’t fathom why her precious daughter would ever run away. Rick, of course, said he “would take care of everything.” He called the police and reported that Lea was a problem child and had repeatedly run away from home for no reason other than to party, drink, do drugs, and have meaningless sex with older boys. Nothing he said was true but why would they doubt him over some teenage, problem child? She was said to be unstable and unpredictable and was, in consequence, sent here to "Brekenstone".

[Total Light Storm]

Wow Liz, this is amazing!!! I love the description in this and the development of the characters. I can't wait for you to post more!
Will you be putting all of the story in one large thread, or will you be posting it in separate threads across the forum?

[Boxy]

I'm going to put it all in this thread.
Thank you

[Boxy]

Chapter 2:
A loud bell sounds, and everyone is ordered to wake up and get ready to go to breakfast. All the bedroom doors simultaneously unlock. I sit up on my bed and ask Shelly and Lea how they slept.

"Fine," replied Shelly.

"Look around you Alli, we're in a fucking stone cold prison. How the hell do you think I slept?!" Lea is not really much of a morning person, and has been here so long there is not much for her to be happy about anymore. "Your freak-o, peppy attitude is starting to get on my fucking nerves!"

Shelly rubs her eyes and stretches as Lea grabs her hair tie and pulls her long blonde hair back into a ponytail, leaving some strands out in front of her soft, pale-pink face. They both start getting dressed for the boring day which awaits us. I however, am already dressed from the night before. I just lay in bed staring at the wall again wondering what happened last night.
"All right lets go" Shelly says.

"Hello? ... Alli? ... Anybody home?" Asks Lea

"Huh? Oh. Yeah. Sorry," I say, leaping out of bed.

"Are you okay Alli?"

"Yea, what's wrong?" Chimes in Lea.

"It's nothing," I say, heading out the door waiting for Lea and Shelly to follow. "So, what do you think we're getting for breakfast today?" I ask, trying to change the subject.

"Are you kidding me? It's the same thing we get everyday for breakfast!" giggles Shelly.

"Yeah, shit on a shingle," jokes Lea.

"Yeah right," I say sarcastically. "I think even the food here tastes better than that."

"Who knows," adds Lea as we continue walking down the long, musty hallway amongst dozens of other girls.

All the halls look the same. Tiny tiles line the floors, the walls all cracking from age and dripping with water in various places and big, dim lights dangle from the ceilings on chains. Lea jumps up and hits one of the lights with her hand making it swing. I see my shadow grow and shrink from the swaying light as we approach the cafeteria.

I pull open the heavy door and we all walk inside. I pick up one of the many assorted plastic trays and get in line with my room mates just behind me. Lea grabs a partially rotted banana, and a hard, overcooked hunny-bunn. Shelly gets a stale-looking biscuit and a big red apple and gently sets them on her cracked multicolored tray. I go for a corn-dog and a really soft kiwi. We all grab a milk that is dated for yesterday and I see Lea lift an extra one and put it down her pants. I wonder why we always get this old, crappy food. You would think things like this would be mandated, then again, maybe this is what we are supposed to get. Who knows? After going through the line we all file out and head for an empty table to sit down.

Shelly and Lea are talking. About what, I do not know. I look around the cafeteria at all the other girls, and wonder which girl is the one I heard screaming, down the hall last night before everything went quiet and dark. I don’t remember much from last night. Just the screaming and the cold, bitterness of that dark awful room. I shake the thought from my mind and zone back into the ongoing conversation.

"I heard if you go in there it traumatizes you for life," warns Lea. "It's supposed to be pure torture. If you get locked in there you're not inside for just 5-10 hours like the other rooms when you simply break a rule. You're in there for a few days, maybe more depending on what you've done. You don't get food and you have to beg to use a bathroom. It's cold and damp and they give you all these medications. They beat you if you don't cooperate and get real rough if you don't do exactly what they say. And it only gets worse if you scream." There is a short pause, Shelly's jaw is wide open as we both listen in shock. "She told me it felt like her soul was being taken away. She said she'd rather slit her throat and bleed to death than ever go back in that room again."

"Wh....wh... what happened to her? Where is she now?" asks Shelly looking terrified.

"Hell if I know," states Lea nonchalantly. "She was probably let out. She probably made that whole story up anyhow, just to try to scare the shit out of people." Lea takes a bite of her hunny-bunn and starts talking with her mouth full. "Dude, she's most likely knocked up and poor and livin' in some run down neighborhood with gangs of druggies. In fact," she pauses to swallow, "I bet she was kicked out for being too crazy"

"Too crazy?" I ask. "For this place? Is that even possible?"

"Sure, why not?" offers Lea, as she finishes her breakfast.

Shelly and I finish our breakfast as well and wait to be dismissed back to our room before we go outside for our 'active training' better known as AT around here. It's like gym class at my high school but we don’t do anything fun, we just run the whole time. It gets rather boring, but after a while the time just passes by and before you know it, you've finished the course. The head lady in the cafeteria, Miss Grunberg, walks out into the middle of the room and tells us, the bell rang a few minutes ago and we need to go back to our room. There is no room to dilly dally, as she puts it. So we to go back to our bunks until our next scheduled activity, which for Lea, Shelly, myself and all the other girls on D block, is AT. We get up and head back to our rooms. Shelly shuts the door and jumps when it slams and automatically locks behind her. I guess it takes awhile to get used to a door slamming and quickly locking every time it closes.

We have been done with breakfast for a while now. Oh how I really wish we had a clock. Never knowing the time can make a girl go crazy. Lea pulls a deck of cards out from under her mattress. Not that it really qualifies as a mattress in my opinion. It's more like a half inch thick foam pad you give your dog to sleep on. She pulls the rubber-band, that was holding the deck together, off and places it on the floor beside her. She shuffles the cards and I get lost in my mind listening to the dull noise over and over as she shuffles and reshuffles the deck. I keep searching my mind for the events of last night. I cannot find them. I hate that fucking needle! I can’t remember anything! I pull my knees to my chest as tears slowly roll down my cheeks.

"Alli? Are you okay, what's wrong?" questions Shelly.

"What do you mean?" I ask in a hush voice, hoping she will not hear the rift in my voice that I always get when I start to cry.

"You're crying," she replies. "Why are you crying?"

I sit up straight and quickly rub the tears from my eyes. "It's just," another tear rolls down my face and I whisk it away again. "It's nothing," I lie. "I just miss my family that's all. Wanna see them again, you know?" Why can I never say what is really on my mind? I can never talk about anything, even the slightest bit emotional from my life or I break down crying. I try not to, I really do, I just cannot help it. I am such a wimp, I cry at chick flicks for Christ's sake!

"Oh, yeah, I understand how you feel. I miss my mom too," Shelly says comfortingly. "But you'll see your parents again. Don't worry."

I want to just let everything out and tell the her the truth about how I got here, like she and Lea had told me their stories. But I can’t bring myself to do it, I can’t tell her what I was really crying about, or that I really wont see my parents ever again. The only thing I have left is three crumbly pictures from the last vacation before they died three years ago. I've never felt more secluded and alone than I do right now.

I look at Lea just as she starts dealing the cards. "If you two are done with your sickening, love fest now," she declares, "the game is Crazy Eights."

Lea goes first just as always. Which I guess is fair, since it is her deck of cards and we are not even supposed to have it. She places a four of clubs in the discard pile and I already cannot do anything. I draw my first card off the deck and still cannot make a move. "I swear this game just hates me," I joke. "Your turn Shelly." She pulls a four of diamonds out of her hand and slaps it down.

We each get several more turns and I notice Shelly, all of a sudden, has a grin on her face. She whips her last card from her hand and proudly exclaims, "Crazy Eights!" We play a few more rounds, and I lose every one.

The bell sounds again and the doors of D block unlock. Lea stacks the deck together and winds the rubber-band back around it, then quickly stuffs it under her mattress. We get up off the dusty floor and head for the door. We walk out into the hallway and let the door lock behind us. We stand there outside our door, like all the other girls, and wait for Mr. Pearson, one of our AT instructors to come to collect us, to go out to the course and run. He is a tall, sturdy man with a neatly trimmed goatee, and a pair of black-lens, sunglasses across the wide bridge of his nose. He has brown hair in a military cut and wears black shorts and a gray T-shirt. It gets rather hot and sweaty outside, running down here in Montgomery, Alabama. We all file into a line in front of him, he turns around and leads us out of the building.

[Boxy]

Chapter 3:
We all get outside and line up for roll call. "Viktorya Anderson," calls out Mr. Pearson. Viktorya is a pleasant girl, with long curly black hair in a loose pony tail flowing down her back. She is tall and quite thin, rumor has it she doesn't eat much of anything anymore. Lea told me she supposedly had a this grand boyfriend back home, he was sweet, kind, and loving. He loved her and she loved him. That is, until she got pregnant. He loved her but not the baby. It was keep the baby or his life, and he wanted his life. When she refused to abort the baby he beat her up really bad and the baby died. She couldn’t handle herself anymore and she had a break down. Stopped eating, taking showers, cleaning, and eventually dropped out of school. Her parents didn’t know what to do or how to help her. They sent her to a therapist, but she wouldn’t talk to him. And I can understand that. How could she talk to a complete stranger about how she felt? How could someone she had never met before possibly understand what she was going through and find a way to 'fix' it? When he finally concluded that he could not help her, he referred her to Brekenstone. Bad idea. A place like this is not going to help anyone get better. In fact, she has only gotten worse since she has been here. No one forces her to eat, and she can run as much as she wants during AT. Or simply exercise in her room. She is deathly skinny, I think if someone were to give her a hug, she would just snap in half. Viktorya raises her hand and Mr. Pearson continues down the list.

"Shelly Boxly," She raises her hand, and he nods in her direction, signally to put her hand back down. "Patricia Boysleh," she raises her hand and slowly puts it back down. No one really knows much about Patricia. She is quiet and mostly keeps to herself. I do not know how she could wind up in like this. She just looks, I don't know, too nice. Too nice a person, from too nice a family, out of too nice a neighborhood. But there must be some reason she is here, right? I guess looks can be deceiving. "Tequila Doughton," he continues down the list. Finally he reaches my name. "Allison Graves," he looks right at me before I even raise my hand. I wonder how he knows who I am when this is my first class with him as the instructor. When I was in C block I had Mrs. Kean, but I haven’t seen her once since I moved to D block. He looks back to his clipboard and calls out some more names. There is a short pause before he calls Lea, like there is something he is supposed to remember about her. He blinks his eyes several times, getting out whatever thought has entered his head. "Lea Vough." Silence. I nudge her, thinking, maybe she didn't hear her name being called. Now I realize she is purposely ignoring him just to be the smart ass that she is. "Lea Vough... Is there a Miss Vough present?" He questions in his stern voice. She makes a face of shock as if she hadn't heard him the first time, and raises her hand. "When I call you, you answer. This is not a game. I am not to be ignored. You will treat me with respect and we will all get along just fine." Lea smirked and simply nodded. He called the last name on the list, "Brianna Wallace?" she raises her hand.

"Ok, for those of you who haven't been told by now, I'm Mr. Pearson." He states. "I started working here at Brekenstone just yesterday afternoon. I am the permanent replacement of Mr. Michaels, who was your previous AT instructor. I have been told quite a bit about a select few of you. I consider myself strict but fair." Strict but fair? He has got to be kidding me. Anyone who says that is obviously just strict and certainly not fair. "You will be running the course today. Most of you should know the course by now. If you are new here and have not run the course before, stick with someone who has. You'll get the hang of it." He blows the whistle hanging around his neck and we all flee to the course.

Shelly and I have never been on the course before, so we are relying on Lea to lead the way. There is a dark forest surrounding the whole outside of Brekenstone, not to mention a huge fence topped with barbed wire. No one could escape this place. It's said that outside the fence the forest goes on forever, there is no clean water sources and the heat would kill you long before you made it to the highway which was a good 15 mile radius from Brekenstone. The path starts out easy enough, straight and level. But then, it turns into hills, slightly muddy terrain, and a rocky pathway up to and around a water tower. Why they did not fence the water tower outside instead of leaving it inside the fence is beyond me. The trail is long and tiring. Shelly and I are nearly breathless as we strain to keep up with Lea who is not so much as breaking a sweat. She has been here six months, it's just routine for her now. The course we had in C block was so incredibly easy compared to this. C block has a level, paved surface. An actual track. Now it's like we are just running in the middle of no where.

"So Lea," I start off. "What's with this new guy, Mr. Pearson? He seems somewhat weird don't you think?"

"To be honest I don't have a clue. Mr. Michaels has been the instructor ever since I got here. He's young and healthy, I don't know why he'd leave now," She says. "But did you notice how Mr. Pearson looked at you before you even raised your hand? Now that was weird. The guy hasn't been here for a whole two days, you've never met him before, and you only got to D block like four days ago. How could he know who to look for?" she questions. "It all seems so strange."

"Maybe it's just coincidence?" I offer.

"Alli, nothing in this place is coincidence, even you should know that by now. You may be new to D block, but you should have learned something while you were in C block. Or are you just really that stupid?"

We come up over the last hill, Shelly is struggling to breathe. "For ... the record..." she gasps out, "I officially ... hate ... AT."

We slow down and decide to walk the last stretch. "Actually," I say turning to Lea. "I didn't really talk to much to the girls in C block. I may have been here for three months, but I know about as much as she does." I add looking over at Shelly.

We finally reach the end of the course and Mr. Pearson is there waiting to check us off. "Good job girls, hit the showers." We walk around to the back of the main building to a separate building that looks like it is going to cave in any second. That is were the AT showers are. We go inside, take our showers in the mildew covered stalls, and get some clean clothes out of the laundry bin in a smelly, large closet. There are no towels anywhere in Brekenstone. Or if there are, I've never seen one.

Shelly, Lea and I walk around the corner to head back out so we can return to the main building and back to our room. We walk right by two girls sucking face like there’s no tomorrow. It's Gina King, and Erica Lemons. Gina's backed into the corner with her hands all over Erica's ass. Gina is an attractive girl of five foot six. Lea says she can convert even a devout Catholic to a lesbian if she tried to. Erica is a pretty-faced girl with huge boobs. I don't know how she manages not to tip over when she walks. They made Brekenstone an all girls facility to “avoid personal relationships among the residents,” I guess they didn’t count on the fact that not every girl is straight. Gina looks at us out of the corner of her eye as we open the door and leave them to their business.

[Total Light Storm]

Wow Liz!! This story is epic!! You're really good at description and introduce characters at exactly the right places. The plot is awesome and I can't wait to see what happens from here! How many chapters do you have done on this?

[Boxy]

Um.. I'm in the middle of writing the 21st chapter right now... but the chapters obviously aren't very long (compared to most books). Out of all that I've written, I think I'm probably about half done with the story.


Chapter 4:
We head up the hill to the doors to be let in. We stand here a minute. Nothing happens. Lea impatiently taps her foot on dry cracked ground. When the door doesn't unlock she wails her fists on the door as loud and hard as she can. "You know," she starts. "They have cameras out here, they're supposed to open the freaking doors as soon as we get up here." The buzzer sounds and we start down the hall to the cafeteria. We get our lunch and sit at our usual table
.
Viktorya comes up to our table, "Mind if I join you guys?"

I look up, "Not at all, have a seat Viktorya."

"Oh, it's Vikky," she says, "call me Vikky."

"You don't like your full name either, huh?" I ask.

"Not particularly," she laughs, "So you're Allison, right?" she asks looking at me.

"Call me Alli. And this is Shelly," I add turning toward Shelly. "And I believe you know Lea" Vikky and Lea both nod.

"Yeah," interjects Shelly, "I'm kinda new here. It's good to meet you."

"Likewise."

"So what brings you over here?" I question curiously.

"Actually, I wanted to ask you something Alli," she says hesitantly. "If you don't wanna say just say, 'Vikky it's none of your business,' okay?"

I laugh, "Just tell me. What is it?"

"Well ... The word going around is that you were in lock down last night," she starts off, "So ... I was just wondering. What did you do to get in there? I've been here for four and a half months, that's longer than you I believe, and haven't managed to get myself in there yet." She takes a bite of her food and swallows. "What rule did you break?" There is a short pause, then she whispers, "What did they do to you in there?"

Shelly and Lea widen their eyes. I guess they didn't know I went into lock down. Then again they are fairly sound sleepers, and I had already been in bed when someone came into our room and told me to come quietly. Then I returned before the bell rang dismissing us to breakfast. They must have thought I was there the whole time.

"The truth is," I start, "I don't really know what I did wrong. I was in bed sound asleep and some big dude told me to get out of bed and follow him. It was dark and cold and I don't remember much," I pause, "I kinda thought the whole thing was a bad dream ... until now that you’re bringing it up." I swallow hard choking back any tears that are on their way. "They uh ... they strapped me down to this bed, or table or something. It was hard and the air was real cold in there. Like they cranked the A/C up or something. It smelled funny in there too ... then I passed out." There is a long pause as all three of them listen in awe. "I 'woke up' and the room was dark, there was a light over in the corner, but I couldn't see much. I felt like I was going insane, the walls were moving and edging closer with every breathe. It was awful..." I pause again. "Miss Nepker came in and she injected me with something. My head spun for a second or two, and everything faded away again." I take a deep breath and continue. "Then the big guy, Mr. Drey, comes in takes off the restraints and silently leads me back to my room. No one ever said why I was there, just that I 'broke the rules.' I really wish I knew more, but I just can't remember." I lower my eyes to the table and strain not to cry.

"Oh, wow," Vikky gives me a light hug, "I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

"I guess so.." My voice trails off.

"I am so, so, sooooo sorry, I shouldn't have asked," She apologizes.

"No, it's okay. I'm just scared. Anything could have happened in there - anything! I hope I remember soon." The bell rings again, dismissing us to our rooms. Shelly, Lea, and I get up and head out. Vikky goes in the other direction and meets up with a couple other girls before leaving to her room as well.

The door slams and Shelly, again, slightly jumps at the sound of the locking door. There is a bed in here for each myself, Shelly, and Lea. A bunk bed, where I sleep on the top and Shelly on the bottom. And a regular twin bed where Lea sleeps. It used to be a bunk bed as well but Lea claimed to be claustrophobic so the bed was dismantled and the other girl was sent to another room. Lea is pretty smart, she knows how to get what she wants around here. I climb up to my bed and pass out.

"So Allison do you know why you're here?" Miss Nepker asks.

"Because 'I am a danger to myself, and need to be watched'" I quote from my foster mother.

"That's exactly right." What the hell? She is talking to me like I am three years old. "What do you want to accomplish by being here?"

Like I have any clue! I don't know what this place is about, what they do here, how long I will be here, or what this woman wants me to say. "I'm not sure," I reply.

"Well, then," she pauses, "I guess we'll just have to figure that out, now wont we?"

Shelly shakes me awake. "Alli?"

"Hmm?" I moan as I slowly wake up.

"You were tossing and turning a lot in your sleep. You keep saying you're fine but I'm worried about you," she pauses, "you seem out of it. Are you getting sick or something?"

"Nah, I'm fine. Just tired. Didn't get much sleep last night." I leap down from the bed and stumble almost smashing right into Lea.

"Whoa!" She yells, "Watch what you're doing, you could've killed me!"

"Sorry, I just lost balance for a second."

"Excuses, excuses. That's all I ever get from you people." She complains while shaking her head.

"She said she was sorry Lea!" Shelly retorts in a huff of anger. "Sheesh! My god! Stop being such a bitch would ya?!"

For once Lea is actually speechless. She simply plops down on her bed and stares at the ceiling, seemingly unaffected.

I sit against the wall and think about the reasons my foster mom sent me here. You see, after my parents died I was placed in foster care with a Miss Tabatha Renolds and her husband Gary Renolds. They were good people. Lived in an upper class neighborhood and had no kids of their own. They were probably around 50 years old. Gary worked in an auto body shop and Tabatha was a stay at home wife. She cooked dinner, cleaned the house, did everything the perfect wife would do.

After I was there for month or so we celebrated my birthday. One of the many gifts I got was a leather bound diary. I loved it. I started writing all of my thoughts and feelings down in it.

The closer Tabatha tried to get to me, the more I pulled away. I felt that by getting close to her I was abandoning the love of my mother. I became very depressed, and after two years of living with the Renolds I tried to commit suicide. I chased a whole bottle of Aspirin with a bottle of cough syrup. Tabatha found me passed out on the floor in my room with the empty bottles on my nightstand. She immediately called 911. They rushed me to the hospital and I awoke having had my stomach pumped just two hours earlier. I was soon released and I went home with the Renolds. Surprisingly, we didn’t talk about it. Did not mention it once. They’re fragile, old-timey people, I guess they thought if they ignored it, it would go away.

Time passes and I fail at taking my life two more times. One day I come home from school to find Tabatha in my room reading from my precious diary. I yell and scream and throw a total fit not understanding why she would invade my privacy in such a way. She sits down with Gary and tells him what she read in my diary. In MY diary! She goes and first off reads it then she SHARES it with her husband! I broke down and went for a long walk.

I circled all around town. Went into my old neighborhood. I had not been there since I lost my family. Everything was so different. The neighbors had moved away. Trees had been planted. My old house was now a pale blue instead of the happy yellow that used to bring a smile to my mother’s face. Yellow was, after all, her favorite color. I started heading back to the Renolds’ I took the long route. As I walked onto the bridge I was suddenly overwhelmed with self-hatred. I should have been able to save my parents. I was not there. I should have been. I should have helped them! I looked over the side of the bridge, imagining myself falling over the edge to the highway below. I brought my leg up and started to hoist myself up onto the ledge. A police car pulled up behind me. Just my luck. He got out of his car as fast as he could and calmly said, "It's not worth it." I stared at him for a second and watched as he edged closer to me. "Come down from there," He held out his hand. "Everything is going to be all right. I promise you." I reluctantly took his hand and started to cry. He led me to his car. We sat for a few minutes and he offered me some tissue. He took down some general information, like my address, name and age. He called in a specialist who met us at my house when we pulled up. We all sat at the kitchen table discussing my 'problems' as if I’m the only one in the room with issues. It was then decided that I go to Brekenstone, 'It's for my own protection.' Whatever. I don’t think I will ever forgive that cop for lying to me. He promised! He said everything was going to be fine! He lied...

I shake the thoughts from my head and focus on Shelly who is across the room looking out the window. There’s not much to look at but it is a window, and it's probably more interesting than staring at the wall the way I usually do.

[Total Light Storm]

Nice! Oooo, the suspense at the end of chapters...the questions...
I think the chapters are a pretty good length, I've seen quite a few books with many chapters that aren't long. I find that to be kind of nice that way if someone wants to read one chapter of a book they can and it won't take them a very long time.

[sassygurlone]

Ok, there are so many things I have to say.
First, Liz, you are an excellent writer. I cannot wait to read more of this story.
Second, I'm good a writing poetry, stories, not so much...I wish I could be as good of a story writer as you.
Third, I have been in many mental hospitals before and one of them was actually almost as horrible as the one in this story. It was AWEFUL, so I can actually really relate to this story.
You seriously have me wanting more of this story. So far it is AMAZING!

[Boxy]

Chapter 5:
"I'm going to ask you a few questions, to get some back ground information," says Miss Nepker, "Parents’ names?"

"Um ... which ones?" I question.

"BOTH of them, Mother AND father."

"Well, my foster parents are Tabatha and Gary Renolds. And.."

"Is that R-E-Y-N-O-L-D-S?" She interrupts.

"There's no 'Y'" I answer, "my birth parents were Lacy and Adam Graves."

"WERE, Lacey and Adam Graves?"

"Yes, Ma'am. They died a few years back."

"Okay, I'm sorry for your loss." She says in the least sympathetic voice I've ever heard. "Cause of death?"

I pause. "Double homicide."

"Did they catch the killer?"

"No ... they didn't."

"Did they leave you anything in their will?"

"No, they didn't have a will, they were young, and they had some debts, almost everything we owned was taken for collateral," I say blankly, "I was able to keep a couple of pictures. But the Renolds thought it would be best to separate myself from the past and move on. So the few things that were left got sold."

"Do you think it was selfish of your parents to not leave you something you could use in life?" What kind of question is that?! I love my parents, they didn't know they were going to die. They weren't bad people. And why does she need to know if they left me anything in their will?

"I'm sorry but I don't see what this has to do with anything. Can we please move on?"

She kind of glares in my direction. "Fine. Date of birth?"

"Who?"

"Don't be stupid. You, of course."

"Oh. November fourth 1992."

"How was your life at the Renolds?"

"I don't know, it was okay I guess," I reply. "They were nice and all, but they didn't really understand me. I guess I..."

"You what?"

"I guess I just couldn't get attached to them."

"Why not?" Why not? Because they are NOT my parents! That is why not!

I lie. "I don't know. Just the way it is."

"Don't smart mouth me young lady."

"I'm not. I'm answering you honestly."

"Then answer me without the attitude."

"I just told you, I'm not giving you any attitude."

"We have rules here. Just as any other place of dignity." Place of dignity? Oh please. "There will not be disrespect to either myself or any of the other staff members. Do you understand me?"

"But I didn't disrespect you!"

"Allison, do you understand me?" She repeats.

"Yes, Ma'am," I say in an angry tone. "Can you please call me Alli?"

"No." She says flatly.

"What? Why not?" I ask confused.

"Is that attitude I hear?"

"I'm just asking a question."

"That's it. I've had enough of your disrespect. We will continue this conversation at a later date when you can control that mouth of yours."

"But I didn't do anything!" I shout defensively.

She reaches for the walkie talkie clipped on her pants. "Mr. Drey?" She asks speaking into the device."

"Yes?" says the voice coming from the speaker.

"Please escort Miss Graves to Block E."

"Understood." Understood? Huh? What is going on now? What is this 'Block E?'

The bell sounds and I am jolted awake. There is a blanket over top of me. "Shelly?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"For what?"

I hold up the blanket.

"How did you know it was me?"

I look over at Lea who is still on her bed with plugs stuffed in her ears. I raise an eyebrow.

"Good point," Shelly replies. We both start laughing. "Anyways, it's time for dinner." She walks over and taps Lea on the shoulder signaling it's time to go.

I climb onto the top bunk as Lea pulls out her ear plugs. "What are you doing?" Lea questions, "It's time to go."

"I'm too tired, I think I'll skip dinner tonight."

"That's not a good idea," Lea warns.

"Why not?" Shelly takes the words right out of my mouth.

Lea shoots a look at me that says I know exactly why not. "Oh," I say, "I guess I'm going to dinner then." If I don’t go, I will be breaking the rules. You have to go to all scheduled activities even if it is just dinner. The only exception is to be in the infirmary, but I do not think I want to go in there.

Shelly looks at me puzzled. "Lock down." I say flatly.

"Oh."

We walk to the cafeteria and get our food. Vikky comes and sits with us again. But this time she doesn't ask me any questions. Just picks at her food again. "You not hungry?" I ask.

"Not really," she answers, "but who would be with this kind of food?"

"I see your point," I laugh, "but you've gotta eat something, you know?"

"Yeah I know. I had a big lunch. I'll be fine." That was a lie right there. We ate lunch together, and she barely at a thing at all.

"But, all you had was half an apple," interjects Shelly.

"Oh, yeah ..." she pauses, "I'm just not real hungry that's all."

"Oh, give it up Vikky!" Lea says in a whinny voice. "We all know you're just starving yourself. And it's really stupid of you to do that. You're anorexic. Just say it. Everyone else knows it. It's time you figure it out too."

"I uh ..." Vikky stutters.

"Lea!" I scold. "What is wrong with you?!" I grab Vikky by her hand and pull her up. We take our trays and move to another table.

"What's her problem?" I hear Lea ask Shelly as we walk away. Shelly doesn't answer.

"Are you ok Vikky?" I ask worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she starts, "But ... she's right you know. I'm anorexic, I know I am. I just don't know how to fight it. Ever since I was pregnant and I got a little bigger ... my boy friend beat me up... and the baby died.... I guess deep down ... as long as I don't get bigger. I'll never get hurt like that again." She pauses. "I must sound crazy. Tell me I'm crazy."

"You're not crazy." I pause. "Just ... sick. You'll be better one day and I'll help you get there." I say with a smile. The bell rings dismissing us to our rooms for sleep. I walk Vikky to her room first, then go to my own with Lea and Shelly. The lights turn off and we all stumble around trying to find our beds in the dark. Shelly falls asleep right away. I wish I could sleep so easily. I hear a voice from across the room.

"Alli?" I hear Lea.

"Yeah?"

"I wasn't trying to upset anyone at dinner, you now?" She says softly. "I really wasn't. I was trying to help her. I grew up around a lot of tough love. Made me stronger. I thought a bit of a reality check would help her. Maybe I was wrong." She sighs, "I just want you to know... I'm really not that bad a person. I have good intentions, really, I do." She sounds tired.

"I know," I say. "It's ok, just try not to be too harsh on her. Knowing the truth is a good thing. But sometimes you over do it."

"Yeah. I'm working on that."

"Good." I smile as Lea and I both fall asleep.

[Boxy]

Chapter 6:
Mr. Drey walks into the office. "Miss Graves," he says motioning toward the door. We walk by the cafeteria, passed B block, passed my room in C block, around the corner of D block and into a long hallway with rusted metal walls. It's cold in here, It probably has no insulation, and therefore needs to be constantly air-conditioned so it doesn't get too hot. It's just a tunnel connecting the two buildings. We walk through a huge steel door and we enter the building. Inside there are five doors on either side of the hall. Chills run up my spine as I worry about what is about to happen to me on my second day here at Brekenstone. Mr. Drey places a key into the lock of the third door on the right, I steal a glance through the window in the door across from Mr. Drey. Someone is in there, I can hear them crying. I panic, and just as Mr. Drey unlocks the door, I run in the direction from which we came. "Hey!" He hollers, as he starts to chase me. "Come back here!" I slam into the door, bang on it with all the effort I have, praying it will open. It never does. Mr. Drey runs up behind me, grabs me by my wrists and starts to drag me back toward the room.

"No!" I scream as loud as I can, "No!" He lifts me off the floor with his arm across my chest and forces me onto the table/bed inside. He doesn't need any help getting me strapped in. He holds me down with his arm as he uses his hands to tighten the restraints around my limbs. I continue screaming. "Let me outta here! I'll have you all arrested! I'm not meant to be here..!" I yell, starting to cry. "Why am I in here ... what did I ever do..?" I sob. Mr. Drey does not answer. He leaves the room and the door shuts with a deep thud. It locks. "Help!" I plead, "Help!" No one comes. I continue to cry.

I lay still for a long time on the verge of hyperventilating. Miss Nepker walks into the room with a wide grin across her face. "How are you Allison?" She asks in a cheery tone. I do not answer her. "Still being stubborn I see." She turns and starts to walk away.

"I'm fine." I reply in a slightly pissed tone.

She turns back around. "Good to hear it."

"When can I get out here?"

"When you learn your lesson."

"Which lesson is that?"

"You broke the rules. Here at Brekenstone we demand respect from our residents. You failed to comply despite several warnings. This is your punishment."

"Exactly where am I?" I question.

"This is E block, commonly known as lock down."

"How much longer will I be in here?"

"That's up to you."

"What do you mean?"

"The more questions you ask, the longer you'll be in here. Questioning everything, is questioning our ethics and methods. Which is, in turn, disrespect."

"Yes ma'am." Miss Nepker turns and leaves. When I hear the door lock, I become infuriated. I start to cuss and scream again at the top of my lungs. "Let me out of here now!" I shout. "I demand a lawyer!" My throat is raw now so I stop screaming. I guess I've just got to wait it out. But my mouth is so dry ... what do I do? I try something new... "Hello? Is anyone there? Can anyone hear me?" I beg, "can I please have some water? Please? I need some water?! Hello?!" Someone approaches the door and unlocks it. Mr. Drey walks in with a paper cup in his hands. He holds it to my mouth and tips it back slowly. It looks a little frothy and tastes weird. I drink it anyway. Mr. Drey leaves and the door locks behind him. A few minutes pass by and I am suddenly very tired. I strain to stay awake but I just cannot help myself. My eyes close.

I wake up sweating bullets in my bed. Shelly is below me still sound asleep. Lea is across the room, sitting up on her bed, looking at me. "What?" I whisper.

"You were talking in your sleep. It woke me up. What were you dreaming about? You kept saying stuff like, 'no, no, I don't belong here, no.' It was weird."

"Nightmare."

"Lock down?" She asks.

I nod. "It terrifies me. I got through the first time, and that was enough. Now I have to keep dreaming about it. Then I get in there again. And now I'm dreaming about it even more. Everything seems so real, I've never had dreams like this before. I used to be tough, nothing would give me nightmares. Hell I was the nightmare. I was the criminal in my dreams," I laugh. "I got what I wanted when I wanted, it was so cool. Kind of like you do now."

"You think I get everything I want?" Lea whispers.

"Well, not literally. But you know how to get the little things when you want them. You're good at it. Powerful."

"Yeah I guess I can get some of the little things. Like my deck of cards, and my own bed." She pauses, "but what I really want is to get out of here. Everyone does. But I have never seen anyone escape. Most people that come in are here for a long time. At least a year in most cases."

"That long?" I ask afraid.

"Yeah. Scary huh? And I'm pretty sure even then no one is released. I've heard a lot of people just crack and are moved to a mental institution across state. Brekenstone doesn't really do anything to 'treat' anyone. It's more of a behavioral center. You're sent here, and you're supposed to learn discipline. But some people, like Shelly, are sent here as last resort when there is just no where else to go. Just to keep the streets clean, I guess."

"Wow, it's strange the way some people get here." I say, "Some people come in here with so many problems and they aren't' getting the help they need." I pause in thought. "Oh my God, Lea."

"What?" She asks worried.

"How many people have died here because they didn't get the help they needed?" I am now terrified.

"I don't know. A lot I'm sure. Some people kill themselves, others die from who knows what. But a lot of people are sent away when they get real bad and probably die soon after, somewhere else." She says in a shaky voice.

"How do they get away with this?"

"I don't know, Alli. I don't know. They're real smart. They're good at what they do. Cover their tracks. They don't really care about us." Lea pauses. "Holy shit! That's it!"

"Huh? What are you talking about Lea? What's it?"

"I just realized what happened to Mr. Micheals."

"What?"

"He's the only one on staff here who actually cared about anyone. He helped us, tried to understand us. He treated us like people not like animals in a cage. He talked to us and really tried to communicate. They must have fired him, there's no way he would just leave. They must have done something. He wouldn't just quit, leaving us here. He was too nice, he cared to much to leave us alone with a bunch of sadistic whackos like the staff here."

"Maybe..." I say considering the idea.

Lea lays down on her pillow. "Let's not talk about this," she suggests. "We should sleep." She closes her eyes and slowly drifts into unconsciousness. I lay back, and think about what Lea had just said. I can't fall back asleep. I wont allow myself; I can't take these nightmares anymore.

[Total Light Storm]

Wow! Nice! I love your ability to describe things. I can't wait for the next chapter! You have a talent. Have you ever thought of publishing a short story or novel?

[Boxy]

Well, this is the only story I've ever written lol and I would like to get it publish some day when I actually finish it.. I don't have much time to write since I'm in school and everything..


Chapter 7:
It is now the morning of November eleventh. I am once again the first one in the room awake. I look around the room, the ugly, puke-green walls stare back at me. The sun is shining through the small window, on the far wall, casting a long trapezoid of light across the center of the floor. The walls are bare and there are cobwebs in the corners. There is a radiator at the foot of Lea's bed. Even though it's hot during the day and it never snows out here, it gets cold at night because of the poor insulation. I quietly climb out of bed and walk over to the radiator to try to get warm. I hold my hands over it and feel the heat flow through my body. It feels so good; I touch it to make sure it's not too hot and I sit on it. The radiator makes a clicking noise and turns off for the day.

Shelly sits up in her bed and looks over at me with a smile. "How are you?"

"I'm all right," I whisper, "how 'bout you?"

"I'm fine." I get up to go sit next to Shelly on the bottom bunk. "Have any nightmares last night?"

My eyes widen, "no," I say shocked, "I don't think I did." Shelly just smiles tiredly

Instead of the bell ringing and the doors unlocking, a voice comes on over a loud speaker. I didn't even know there was a speaker in here. Lea wakes up and listens to what is going on. "Today we are repainting the cafeteria," says the voice. "Meals will be brought to your rooms, and any outdoor activities have been cancelled for the day. Today we are following 'schedule number three.' That is all." The speaker clicks and turns off.

"What's schedule three, Lea?" I ask.

Lea gets up and walks to the door. She runs her fingers down a list on a sheet of paper that has been taped up. "Schedule three, D block:" she starts, "shower, breakfast, trash collection, free time, lunch, AT, dinner, free time, lights out." She smiles really wide.

"What are you so happy about?" Shelly asks.

"Finally," she exclaims, "we get free time!"

"What does that mean?" I question.

"It means," she begins, "after dinner we don't have to stumble around in the dark. We get time to just stay up and talk or whatever. We don't have to go straight to bed. It also means," she continues. "That tomorrow we don't have to get up as early as usual."

"Oh, cool," says Shelly.

"Cool? Is that all you have to say? 'Cool'? Do you have any idea how big this is? This never happens!"

"Chill," I say.

"Ugh, you just don't get it. You'll see what I'm talking about." Shelly and I shrug in confusion.

The bell sounds and the doors of D block unlock. We all head down the hall toward the showers. I get undressed, step into one of the stalls, pull the curtain closed and turn on the hot water. I love to shower in hot water; all the steam helps clear my mind and I just feel so much better. I wet my hair and press the valve for shampoo. I rub it in my hands and massage it into my hair. I get some regular soap and wash up. I get lost in the steam as my mind floats away. I just stand still and let the hot water flow all over me, drenching my very soul. Time flies when I feel like this.

"Alli?" A voice calls.

"You almost done in there?" asks Lea impatiently.

"Yeah, just finished," I answer as I turn off the water. Shelly puts some clean clothes on the hook out side my stall, I grab them and put them on. We always wear the same things; gray, white or black t-shirts along with black or blue bottoms. I can't complain, they are comfortable, but I still think I would be more comfortable in my own clothes. "All right," I say stepping out to meet Lea and Shelly.

We walk back to our room and close the door. Several minutes later Miss Grunberg wheels a dull metal cart into our room with several Styrofoam trays of food on it. We each take one and she wheels the cart away to go on to the next room. The door shuts and locks behind her. We eat our burnt toast, and watered down oatmeal, then throw the trays into the trash can at the end of the bunk bed.

About a half hour after we finish breakfast Miss Grunberg comes back to the room and collects the bag from the trash can, bringing it into the hall and adding it to the pile already started from the other rooms. She leaves and we all sit on the floor talking about random things.

"Hey, do you guys know how to play 'Never Have I Ever?' "

"I do," I say.

"Um, I don't think so," replies Shelly.

"Well, it goes like this," starts Lea, "we hold up one hand; that's five fingers; every finger is a life. One person starts off by saying 'never have I ever' and then says something they've never done. If any other person has done it, then they lose a life. When you put all five fingers down you lose. The last one with fingers left wins."

"Oh, okay, sounds cool."

"I'll go first," I say. "Never have I ever been drunk."

Lea puts a finger down. It's her turn, "Never have I ever told a guy 'I love you.'"

Shelly and I both put a finger down. "Never have I ever," Shelly pauses to think, "smoked weed."

Lea and I both lose another life. "Never have I ever," I continue, "made out with another girl." I say.

Lea puts a finger down. I laugh, "what?" she exclaims. "I was drunk, haha." The game continues, "Never have I ever puked in public."

"Well, only at the carnival," Shelly says as she puts a finger down. "Never have I ever played this game before."

Lea now has one life left and I have two. "You better make this one good Alli," say's Lea, "you might just lose."

"Um, okay. Never have I ever been arrested." I am shocked to see both Lea and Shelly lose a life. "Shelly!" I exclaim, "what were you arrested for?!"

"Dealing,” Shelly replies shamefully. “I never did any of that stuff, but we really needed the money. After my brother died there wasn’t enough money coming into the house and it’s not like I was old enough to get a real job. It was last resort, you know?"

"Wow, just wow," says Lea.

The loud speaker comes on over head. "Free time is now in session," announces the voice. The doors unlock.

"Wait a minute," says Shelly. "What's the difference between 'free time' and what we were just doing?"

"See I told you, you didn't understand. Free time is more than it sounds like. We can go hang out in other rooms now."

"Oh!" I practically scream, "that's awesome!"

"I know, right?" says Lea.

We open the door and Lea walks up to a door across the hall as it closes behind three girls leaving to another room. Lea knocks and Gina opens the door. "Hey girl!" shouts Gina. "I can't believe they're giving us free time just because they're painting the cafe'."

"I know. I'm so glad. Oh by the way," she says turning around, "this is Shelly and Alli."

"Hiya."

"Hey," Shelly and I say in unison.

"Oh, sorry. Come on in, guys," Gina laughs.

"So what're you up to?" asks Lea.

"Waiting for Erica to get her shiny, white ass down here."

"Oh, so you two are like, official now, huh?" Shelly and I just sit back and listen, not saying anything.

"Yeah."

There is a knock at the door and in walks Erica. "Hey, Babe!"

Gina hops over to Erica and gives her a big hug accompanied with a sloppy kiss. "I been waitin' for ya."

"Haha, I bet you have," replies Erica.

Gina whispers in Erica's ear and walks over to Lea as Erica sits on a beds. "So Lea, I guess I'll talk to you later?" Gina obviously wants to be alone with Erica.

Lea stands up. "All right," she says, "come on guys, lets go." The three of us head out the door.

We stand in the hall for a minute. "Now what?" Shelly asks.

"Wanna see Vikky?" I suggest as I walk down the hall and into her room. "Hi Vikky, how're you doin'?"

"Hey Alli!" she jumps up and gives me a hug. "I'm good. What's up with you guys?"

"Not much," replies Lea casually.

We carry on for a long time, talking, laughing, and having fun. Time goes by fast. Miss Grunberg comes by with lunch trays and we don't have to go back to our room. A short while later the speakers come alive again to dismiss D block to AT. Shelly and I head out of the room, Lea closely behind us. Shelly and I go around the corner to head outside for class. "Where are you going?" asks Lea confused.

"Um, out?" I say, cringing my face in confusion.

"Did you not listen?" she starts, "The announcement said no outdoor activities today."

"Oh... Okay.... Right. Wait, what's that mean?"

"Ugh, it means, we have an indoor gym. It's just rarely used. Come this way." Lea starts off in the other direction, opens a door and walks inside. Shelly and I follow. "See?," she asks, "this is the gym." It's not a very big place. The walls are padded with dark green mats and the floor is kind of spongy, I think it makes it more comfortable to run on or something. We line up against the wall with the other girls of D block as they file in.

Mr. Pearson starts role call. "Hey, where's Gina and Erica?" I whisper to Lea, "Shouldn't they be here?"

"I don't know. They should be here by now, but I don't see either of them anywhere."

"Where do you think they are?" asks Shelly.

"Still back in Gina’s room fucking around," says Lea with a laugh.

"Since we are not going outside to the course today. I've decided you can either run around the walls of the gym; 20 laps, or walk for two hours. Which ever you choose is fine," states Mr. Pearson. "Oh, or you can do 50 sit-ups, 25 push-ups, and run for ten minutes after that. That's probably the shortest time if you want to get out of here fast." He pauses, "Well? What are you waiting for? Get going!" He yells, blowing his whistle loudly. Several girls have cover their ears from the echo.

Most girls decide to do the less time-consuming routine. A few girls do decide to walk for two hours, though. I guess it doesn't really matter to them, as long as they get to talk to whom they want to talk to. Lea has already finished 30 sit-ups. I, however, am just starting. We finish our sit-ups and push-ups and Lea, Vikky, and I wait for Shelly to finish. "22... 23.... 24.... 25," she huffs out as she counts. We start running. We chit chat a little as we go but otherwise do not do much; just focus on finishing AT.

The ten minutes of running are now over. We head back to the rooms and wait for dinner and then more free time. The announcement comes on that free time is now in session. Lea, Shelly and I walk to Gina's room and knock on the door. Someone I don’t know answers it. "Is Gina in there?" Lea asks.

"No, I haven't seen her."

"Oh, okay. Thanks," Lea sputters out. The door is closed in her face. "Let's check Erica's room." She's not there either. "What the fuck? I don't get it. Where could they be?"

"I don't know. But they'll turn up eventually," Shelly says.

"You know," I say, "I'm real tired. I'm skipping free time. I need all the sleep I can get."

"Well, without Gina, I got nothing better to do either," says Lea.

"Ok, I guess I'll go too."

[Boxy]

Chapter 8:
I arrive at the police station with Erin, a neighbor I’ve been staying with for the past few days.

"Detective Riggs please," Erin tells the lady at the window inside.
"Yes ma'am, Mr. Riggs will be with you shortly. Please have a seat on the bench against the wall."

We sit down and wait for about 15 minutes. "Hello, Miss Graves," says the officer as he greets me.

"Hi," I say shyly.

"Let's go back to my office. Erin can come with you if you wish."

"No," I say quickly, "that's ok."

"All right then," I follow him back to his office. "I am here to release some information to you about your parents," He says as we both sit down. "They were both shot several times during the robbery. Your parents came home and the robbers were already there. We expect the robbers panicked and shot out of reflex."

"I already know this much. What I don't know, is if they are ok or not. Are they? They're going to be fine, right?"

"Listen to me Allison,” the rigid detective takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry, I truly am. The wounds were fatal. The doctors did all that they could. I'm sorry, your parents didn't make it."

"Oh my God!" I scream and stand up, "this can't be happening. It can't be! This isn't fair, it wasn't their time." I walk over to the corner of the room and start sobbing, " Why wasn't I there? I should have helped them. This is all my fault! I should have been there!" I pound the wall over and over as hard as I can as detective Riggs pushes his chair back and starts over toward me. He reaches for my arms to contain me, and I whip my head forward, into the wall.

Detective Riggs wraps his arms around me and pulls me away from the wall as I wail. His buff arms stay wrapped around me and I cry on his shoulder. "I know this is hard," he says, "but you'll get through this. You're stronger than you know."

He leads me back to the chair at the table and I sit down slowly, in a state of shock. “Who would do such a thing?” I ask quietly through my tears.

That’s another problem; we have not found the killers. We have no finger prints or descriptions of any kind. They got away. We have nothing to go on. All we can do is wait and see if any of the things that were stollen turn up. But it’s been a few days, it’s likely that we will never find anything.

“My parents killers are just going to get away?!” I yell furiously.

“I’m afraid so, unless we get some new information. I’m sorry Miss Graves. I am truly sorry for your loss.” He stands up and reaches into his pocket, “Here, I want you to take my card. If you need anything, day or night, don’t hesitate to call. I’ll help you in any way that I can.”

I take the card from his hand and start to cry again. He gently pulls a tissue from the box at the far end of the table and passes it to me. He motions toward the door and I stand up to follow him back to Erin, who is still patiently waiting. “Oh, my dear Alli, what’s wrong?” she asks in a soft voice.

“They got away…” my voice trails off. “I’ll never see than again. Can’t even go to a funeral, both of their bodies were donated to a medical college. It’s not fair!”

She embraces me tightly, “come Alli,” she starts, “let’s go home.” I want to tell her that I have no home, but I cannot reach the words; they are buried in my sobs. We walk to the car and go on our way; ‘home’.

We are dismissed to breakfast. We all take a seat at the table. I do not eat much; I am not feeling very well. We head out to AT. I walk around like a mindless zombie; emotionless, not caring, just going through the day, waiting for it to end. Mr. Pearson calls my name; I don’t answer he looks at me, right into my eyes, while standing six inches from my face. He repeats my name, I just stare blankly at him. He leans forward and I strain to focus on what he’s saying. “Concentrate,” I hear him say, “don’t let this place break you down, be aware of everything around you. Don’t give up, don’t stop thinking. Never lose the will to go on. Whatever is bothering you, suck it up; you’re not going to like the consequences if you keep spacing out around some of the other staff.” He straightens up. I realize that everyone has already gone out to the course; I was so focused on what Mr. Pearson was saying I didn’t see everyone leave. “Never let your guard down,” he says. He starts to walk away but stops and turn back around toward me, “oh, don’t worry about class today. Wait for some girls to finish, then go inside. Don’t want it to look like I’m not doing my job, now do we?

“No sir,” I say in full attention, “thank you sir.” I hide behind an old metal shed for a couple of hours. It’s probably not necessary, but just in case some other staff member does come outside, I am taking caution. I really don’t want Mr. Pearson to get in trouble and lose his job. I mean he is trying to help me; right?

I see Lea and Shelly coming over the hill, they walk by the shed and I come out of hiding to join them. “Where did you come from?” asks Shelly.

“Yeah, where in hell were you?!” demands Lea like this is an interrogation.

“Talking with Mr. Pearson,” I reply innocently.

“What ever,” says Lea as she and Shelly walk into the showers. I flip my hair over my head, leaning over a sink; I wet my hair and squeeze out the excess water. Shelly and Lea finish their showers shortly after and we walk back to the main building.

We stand in front of the camera at the door to get inside and the guy operating the sounds a little buzzer and we push the door open. We go into the cafeteria for lunch, "Where's Gina?" Lea wonders out loud.

"No idea." I say flatly.

A few days go by and there is still no sign of Gina nor Erica. Where could they be? Did they escape? If they did, how did they do it? I don't know what to think; but whatever they did I don’t think it is working out very well. I have this feeling in the pit of my stomach that something is just not right somehow. No one has said anything about their disappearance, the staff do not seem worried about anything. Maybe they were discharged; but at the same time? That seems so unlikely. I let these thoughts bounce around in my head for a while; It doesn't help anything, I still don’t know what has happened.

Patricia Boysleh walks up to Lea, "hey, you heard from Gina?"

"No, I haven't. Why, have you?" asks Lea, "I mean you're her room mate, you should know something; right?"

"Everyone seems to think that, but I don't know anything. There's a couple rumors going around: They are both in lock down for whom knows what, they ran away and didn't tell anyone they were planning it, or they were transferred. But it's really impossible to know, I mean there's only so many things that could have happened to both of them at the same time you know?"

"Yeah," Lea starts, "I-"

"Oh my God!" Yells Vikky, running up to our table. "I just heard something about Erica and Gina! I think they're in the isolation rooms!"

"Oh no ... " Lea says in a terrified tone. "Not good, not good at all. How did they get in there?!"

"You've gotta do something pretty bad to wind up in there." Shelly and I just sit there listening as Lea, Vikky and Patricia talk.

"Who knows, it could have been anything," says Vikky.

Several more days pass by seemingly quick, I've lost track of the days. We, Patricia, Vikky, Lea, Shelly, and I, are all sitting around our table eating lunch. "Oh. My. Fucking. God," states Lea shocked, starring at someone in the distance.

"What?" I ask curious.

"What do you mean what?" She holds out her hand pointing at a girl walking this way, "that's Gina."

"What? No way," I say in disbelief.

"Wow, it is her," says Vikky.

"But, she looks," there’s a pause. "Dead, almost," says Patricia.

We all stare with wide eyes as she walks up to our table. "Hi guys," Gina says in a weak voice, "what's going on?"

"Oh my God, oh my God," stammers Shelly.

"Oh my God, what?" Gina asks.

"What happened to you?" asks Lea, "what the fuck did those bastards do to you?"

She goes silent, then, "don't worry about it Lea," she says in a blank tone, "I'm fine, you're fine, we're all just fine."

"You know as well as I do, everyone is far from fine," she answers. "What about Erica?" Lea gasps out, "where is she?"

"I don't know, Lea. I don't know. I don't know anything. Nothing at all. I'm just... I'm just..."

"You're just what?" I ask.

"I'm just ... going to go..." Gina silently and slowly walks away.

"Gina! Wait, come back!" Lea leaps after her and gives her a hug. Gina is life-less and just stands there. I watch as Lea sits her down at a table and talks to her for a minute. I can see their lips moving but I cannot make it out. I will just see what I can get out of Lea later.

We leave the cafeteria and Lea has requested special permission to stay with Gina in her room and talk for a little while. She is, of course, denied the privilege. We go back to the room. "Lea?" I say softly after the door locks.

"Yeah?"

"What did she say?"

"She didn't really say much, actually. She was put in the isolation room, just like Vikky had said. Gina and Erica ... they were uh, caught."

"Caught what?" Shelly asks.

"Caught," Lea says, using air quotes with her fingers.

"Oh. I see," I say understanding what Lea had meant. Shelly still looks a bit puzzled. "They were caught 'together' in Gina's room." I say to Shelly.

"Oh gosh, how did they get caught?"

"They didn't go to AT, Miss Nepker went in with her big old master key and walked right in on them," says Lea, "she was furious, and had them both put into isolation to 'learn their lesson.' " Lea quotes from Miss Nepker, herself.

"What happened?" I ask.

"I don't know. She wouldn't say. But it was bad, I know it, it's obvious." Lea replies, "Gina is a tough cookie, she doesn't crack easy, but she's worn out now. She's beyond cracked, her spirit is shattered. I don't know if she'll ever recover from what went on in there. According to what I've heard, no one does. I've never actually seen it first hand. But I think what I've heard is true. It seems to have taken Gina's soul away."

"What about Erica?" I ask concerned. “What do you think happened to her? Is she still in isolation, I still haven’t seen her.”

"I asked Gina, she went blank. Didn't say a thing. Probably too soon to talk about. Either that or she just doesn't know."

We drop the subject and I pass out on my bed. I'm awakened by the bell for dinner and this time just decide to skip it. I don't think anyone will notice anyway. Shelly and Lea leave and I fall back asleep.

[Total Light Storm]

Amaaaaazzinng!!!!! I love your way with words!!! Just one question though: How did Erin and Allison get to the police? Is this some sort of flashback or dream? or lol am I just missing something?
I can't wait for chapter 9!

[Boxy]

Yeah, it's like a flashback I guess. It may be hard to tell because of TH's font styles.. but that part is Italicized. There's quite a few parts like that. Some of them are dreams/nightmares and some are just what has happened in the past, to add some more background information.

[Total Light Storm]

Oh, nice and creative!!! I can't see the writing anyways, so thanks for letting me know they're italicized.

[Boxy]

This chapter may be a little triggering particularly to the subject of death and suicide.

Chapter 9:
"Hi mom," I say sweetly.

"Hey Honey, how are you feeling?" she asks looking down at me while I lay on my bed.

"Not so good mom; I'm in this awful place."

"I know baby, hold on, you're gonna get outta here."

"How can you be so sure?" I question.

"Because Alli, you're strong, you've come so far. You can keep going. You'll make it, I promise."

"It's just so unfair. Why did you have to go?"

"I didn't go anywhere, I'm always with you Alli, never forget that."

"I'm sorry," I say softly.

"For what?"

"I failed you, I tried to be with you and dad again, I wanted so bad to see you again, I-"

"It's ok," she stops me from finishing, "you're still alive and that is what's important."

"Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"I feel dizzy."

I hear noises, the sound like feet skittering across the floor in a hurry. "Allison... Allison?" I hear.

"Mom! No don't leave me! Come back!" I cry out as she fades away.

"Allison," I hear again, "Al-"

My eyes open and there is a lady standing over me. "There you are."

"Where is there?" I ask a little disoriented.

"You're in the infirmary Allison."

"Why?" I demand.

She places a cold washcloth on my forehead, "your room mates brought you in," she replies, "you're running a very high fever."

"Oh," I say in a less than concerned voice, sitting up.

"You're very lucky, Allison. You could have been in a lot of danger, you could have died, if you had not been brought in."

"So you're saying I should be glad I have such good friends?" I ask sarcastically.

"Well yes. Don't you understand? You could be dead right now if it wasn't for them."

"I know, I wish they would have left me there."

"Why on earth would you say a thing like that?"

"Because I'm tired."

"You can sleep here," she suggests. “Here now, just lay back down.”

"No, I'm tired!" I yell, "tired of being here, tired of doing all this, and for what? Nothing! I am sick and tired and living with nothing to live for. Just leave me alone." I turn away to face the wall.

"Oh dear," she says. I suddenly feel dizzy again and I pass out.

I toss and turn, get shivers and hot flashes. I’m completely oblivious to whether it’s night or day, hot or cold, rain or shine. Thoughts race through my head. Questions, that I’ll never know the answer to, pop up from nowhere and disappear just as quickly as they came. The nurse gives me some medicine; she says It’s to take down the fever; but who really knows? I still don’t know her name and I still do not ask.

Shelly and Lea come to see me. They ask how I am doing and if I will be better soon. I tell them I don’t know what is wrong or when I will be better. The nurse pops her head in and keeps an eye on us. I don’t know what she is watching for; maybe she’s listening. But what is she listening for? The nurse pops into the room again, “okay ladies, time for you to leave. Miss Graves needs her rest.”

Lea gives me a tight hug. “You’ll be okay Alli; you’ll get outta here. Don’t forget where you are;” she whispers, “trust no one.”

“Get well soon,” says Shelly.

“I’ll try,” I answer, still thinking about what Lea has said. What does she think will happen to me? Who can I trust? At this point I am not sure I can ever trust myself.

Shelly and Lea leave me with the nurse. “Are you feeling any better?” she asks.

“Better compared to when? I don’t know,” I lie. “I’m ok I guess. I just want to get out of this place.”

“You should be able to leave soon.”

“How soon?”

“That’s up to you. When you’re better you can go,” she says as if I have a choice, like I just decided to be sick.

“I want to get out of here,” I say again. “But not just after being sick; I want to get out of Brekenstone all together.”

“Most people do, darling,” she replies.

“I don’t know if I can take it here much longer. I’m going insane. I hate it here; I didn’t ask for this.” I pause, “okay, so I’m not the only one, I know. I’m sure no one asks to be put in here. But all the same, I just want to leave.”

“I understand how you feel. Brekenstone is no picnic, but it’s for your protection.”

“Protection from what? Last time I checked we weren’t under attack by aliens from outer space.”

“From yourself; you have a whole file Allison; all about you and your life with your foster parents. You have signs of depression and from what I can tell you have anxiety attacks, nightmares, and suicidal, possibly even homicidal thoughts.”

“You read my file?” I ask.

“Yes, I did. It’s my job to learn as much as I can about my patients; that includes mental and emotional state.”

“Oh,” I say blankly. “If I’m so ‘emo’ or whatever you called it, how come I’m not being forced into therapy or something?”

“The plain and simple truth is: Brekenstone doesn’t have the resources, money, for psychiatric care. We pretty much watch you and keep you from hurting yourself and others. You could say we’re like a strict baby sitter of sorts. If you become a serious danger, you can be transported to a more suitable facility for psychological problems.”

“You mean even if I wanted to, I couldn’t see a therapist?” I ask shocked.

“Unfortunately, yes,” she answers clearly upset. “You can always talk to the other girls who reside here, or talk to a staff member of you wish; but no one here is a professional.”

“What about you?” I ask, wondering if I could maybe talk to her.

“What do you mean?”

“Could I-,” I stop. Trust no one; Lea’s words repeat in my head: trust no one. I really want to talk to her, she seems nice enough. I need someone to talk to. I guess I don’t know her well enough; if she can be trusted or not. “How long have you worked here?” I ask, changing the question.

“About two and a half years.”

“Oh,” so she’s been around for a while now. But what’s different about her? Something is different; she’s not like other staff here; she’s nice and actually cares, just like Mr. Pearson. But why? What makes them different? “You have any kids?” I ask continuing the conversation.

“No, and I’m not in any hurry either, I’ve still got plenty of time.” She’s right, she only looks about 30 years old, max.

“How did you end up working here? Why would you even want to?” I ask in all seriousness.

“I think places like this are good for troubled teens, Brekenstone is here to help teach you kids discipline, routine, and order. Get your life on track, make sure you have the ability to be a successful and competent adult. You don’t come here for pain and agony. Our soul purpose really is to help you stay safe and lead a productive life in the future.” She really believes what she is saying. How could she think Brekenstone helps anyone? From everything Lea has told me, it seems like people just end up worse; having psychotic break downs, or just never really being able to live. Our lives are big messes here; probably just as mixed up or worse than they were before we got in here. Our schooling is completely reversed. They don’t ‘attempt’ to teach us anything at all until February then It’s all we do straight through the day until June. We do not get weekends free and it’s apparently very strict, with tests everyday; or so lea has told me.

I continue asking questions about her life and about Brekenstone. She never gets frustrated or bored; just keeps on answering. I learn that her name is Susan, she has four brothers, no sisters, and that her parents separated when she was real young. She got a scholarship to a university in Virginia and then went to nursing school before coming back here. She actually grew up not far from Brekenstone.

Talking with her seems to have taken my mind off everything I have been feeling. Even though I am not talking about myself and ‘letting my feelings out’; she distracts me from the other things which are usually pounding inside my mind. She is really comforting and I am beginning to wonder if she is someone I can trust. I always have this constant paranoia that people are trying to gain my trust just to break it and utterly humiliate or destroy my in the end. Lea has only helped to confirm that fear.

[sassygurlone]

Like I said before, this story is great and you are a talanted writer.

[Total Light Storm]

Wow, yet again, another superb chapter!
I can't wait to see if Alli begins to trust the nurse.

[Boxy]

Chapter 10:
I wake up to find Susan standing over me, watching; It's a little creepy but comforting all at the same time.

"Congratulations," she says.

"Huh?"

"Your fever has been down for 24 hours. You can leave the infirmary and go back with your room mates later today."

"Oh, okay. Great!" I exclaim.

I get breakfast and lunch; the time passes by. Shelly and Lea stop by after AT; I tell them the good news. I'm so glad you're better Alli!" cheers Shelly.

"Yeah me too," says Lea, "some pretty weird stuff has happened today."

"Weird how?" I ask. "What happened?"

Lea looks over at Susan; who is in the corner doing something with her filing cabinet. "I'll tell you back in the room." She turns back to me; "Where it's more private."

We talk for a little while longer, about nothing in particular. Susan lets them stay and eat dinner with me. After we finish, we go back to our room in D-block.

"Ok," starts Lea. "So today Mr. Pearson, like, 'interviewed' everybody; asked us all these weird questions."

"Like what?" I ask.

"Stupid things like 'how do you like the food here?'" says Shelly.

"And do you think the staff are doing their job well?' he also asked if we think we're getting help here for anything."

"Or," Shelly states, "If we would be better off some place else."

"It was strange is all. I've never been asked questions like that before. It seems like it was all a trick or something; like he was tryin' to get us to say something bad about Brekenstone."

"Why would he do that?" I ask.

"I don't know; to turn us in? That's my guess; to get us punished. I really don't know," says Lea.

"But the weirdest part was when he asked 'what do you think happens to you girls when you leave Brekenstone? Do you have a happy life? A bad life? Or do you think you'll never leave?' It was really creepy Alli; I mean just the thought of never gettin' out of Brekenstone." Shelly shudders.

"Wow," I say. "No wonder he was being so nice; the man is a psycho, whack job!"

"All I know is," Lea starts, "if all of this really was a trick to get us to say something and get us in trouble; then I feel sorry for anyone who told him what they really think."

" 'Cause they'll get it bad," adds Shelly.

"I guess we'll know if anyone disappears, right?

"I guess so," I add, worried about what could happen.

"You guys wanna play five card draw?" asks Lea changing the subject.

"Poker? But we don't have anything to bet, not even chips," says Shelly.

Lea holds up some paper and a pencil. "I swiped it from the nurses desk when she wasn't lookin'," she says cleverly. "We can rip it up and write amounts on it. We wont use real money, but it'll still be fun."

"How do you do it Lea?" I ask in admiration. "How do you do it?" I say again, laughing.

"I'm just that brilliant," she jokes.

We play poker for a while, Shelly wins nearly every game. Apparently she used to watch her mom and her friends play a lot. She knows all the rules, and how to bluff, she's a poker machine! When we run out of time and it's 'lights out', we go to bed and sleep through the night.

We wake and go to the cafeteria. I see Gina; she still looks ill, but she's a lot better than before. Vikky, out of no where, appears in front of my face. "Did you hear about Patricia?" she asks. "She's not here any more."

"She was let out?" I question.

"I don't know. Maybe. Either that, or a transfer."

"I hope she was let go," I say, pleading inside.

"Me too." Vikky sits down and eats breakfast and lunch with Shelly, Lea and me.

"Hey Lea," I say in the middle of lunch; "do you know whatever happened to Erika? Did Gina ever say or what? I'm really worried; no one has said a thing about it."

"I know," Lea's voice trails off for a second. "I haven't heard anything. I don't think Gina will ever talk about it. Erika and Gina loved each other. What happened was obviously bad for both of them. The question is; who's the lucky one?"

"Yeah I know; maybe Erica's the one who got the easy way out. Maybe, whatever happened was for the best," I say sadly.

"Not the best," Lea replies; "but better then what could have happened. You know?"

"I know. Believe me," I say, "I know."

"No!!!" I hear someone scream. "Stop! No! Don't! Please?!" the familiar voice cries out. I run over to the other side of the cafeteria to see Gina being dragged away, in dirt covered clothed, by Mr. Drey and some other very large man. "You can't do this!" she sobs out as the door closes and she continues to be dragged down the hall.

"What the hell?!" I ask Gina's room mates, Tequila and Corinna.

"She tried to escape last night," replies Corinna with terror in her voice.

"Escape? What the fuck?" I say.

"Gina climbed out the window in our room, after tying her sheets together, to the bed post, and then hanging them out the window. She tried to climb the fence, but she couldn't. So she started digging, trying to get under it. But, the fence is, like, in cement; if a fence is that tall it's gonna need support."

"Ass holes caught her?" I ask.

"Someone must have seen her climbing back up to the window. They had to have turned her in. Those guys just came in here all casual, grabbed her, and dragged her off," says Tequila.

"So which fuckin' bitch turned her in?"

"We don't know," Corinna quickly sputters out.

"Damn, girl," I hear from behind me.

"What?!" I snap.

"I see I'm rubbin' off on you," says Lea, proudly. "You run up all high and mighty, demand answers to your questions; and cuss every other damn word."

"Shut up," I say jokingly.

"Didn't know you were so impressionable. What the hell was all that yelling about anyway?"

"You didn't see?" I ask shocked. "Gina was just dragged off."

"Holly shit; you mean she actually did it; she tried to get out?"

"Yeah. What; she told you about it?" I ask.

"Hell yeah, she told me about it. I just didn't think she'd actually have the guts to even try."

"She's gonna die, Lea!" I pause. "There's no way she can take it, what ever they do, again,” my voice trembles.

"I've got an idea," says Lea slowly.

"What?" I ask curiously.

Lea pulls my arm and she whispers in my ear as we walk away, leaving Tequila and Corinna at their table. "Okay; so here's what we do," she starts.

[Total Light Storm]

Oh, wow, awesomeness!!!
Just so you know, reading this story is something I look forward to every week.

[Boxy]

This chapter may be triggering, particularly to the subject of suicide.
Chapter 11:

"That sounds a bit risky Lea; I don't want anyone else to get hurt," I say worried.

"You're not going to hurt me too bad, Alli, don't worry. And I'll get you out before anything happens to you, too."

"All right," I say. "But do you really think we can get away with it? I mean, taking the keys from a staff member; I know you’re good, but are you that good?

"Of course I am," she says in a serious tone. "Trust me, Alli."

"Okay, okay," I say, trusting Lea's plan to all work out.

"So we'll do it tonight then?" she asks me.

"I guess so," I reply.

We go back to our room, and act casual around Shelly. We do not tell her about the plan; it's not that we don’t trust her to keep a secret - she would never just rat us out or anything. We just cannot risk someone over hearing or Shelly slipping under pressure; she seems like the kind of fragile girl who would crack in the spot light.

For whatever reason, we are never called to AT. Finally, the doors unlock, and as everyone goes down the hall for dinner in the cafeteria, Lea and I hang back for a minute; we tell Shelly to go ahead without us.

"Come on, Alli!" Lea says in a strong but quiet voice that no one else hears. "What are you waiting for? Hit me!" she pressures impatiently.

I hesitate. Lea lunges at me and shoves me back. We start yelling. Pretend to fight. Going along with the plan. I shove my hand forward and smash Lea's nose; blood starts flowing out.

"Fuck!" Lea yells. I freak for a second, thinking I've seriously hurt her. She sees the panic on my face. "Don't worry," she whispers. She lunges into me again and I fall backwards, hard, onto the floor. She puts a firm grip around my neck, but doesn't actually hurt me or choke me. She forces me on top of her as we hear someone running up. I grab Lea's arms and hold her down. Mr. Drey appears right behind me and yanks me off Lea. He doesn't yell or ask what is going on; "go to see the nurse," is all he says while looking at Lea.

He drags me down the hall; I put up a little bit of a fight for show, but I know I couldn't really get away from his strong grip, even if I tried.

I turn my head back as I am forced around a corner, to a part of the building I've never been in before. I see Lea watching; we did not quite know where I would be taken; Lea has to watch in order to find me later. We turn down another hall and pass through a narrow door at the end of it. I am starting to feel really scared. What if Lea cannot get back to me and I am stuck here forever? Bad thoughts continuously wrack my brain. I panic and try to get away for real this time. While I am trying to squirm away I see Lea looking though the window in the door Mr. Drey and I had just passed through. I see her eyes; they seem to say 'everything will be ok.'

A door about half way down the hall opens. My eyes go wide. Oh shit! I think to myself, the door opened automatically! How will Lea break me out of here if she can't use a key?

I am pushed, quite violently, into a completely cement room, scraping my knee on the floor. The room is all gray, no color what so ever. Mr. Drey leaves the room. The door shuts, and I hear the heavy, hunk of steel lock. It's pitch black in here. I do not think there are any lights in here. Before, the light from the hall was spilling into the room; now there is nothing. I get to my feet and hold my hands out in front of me, trying to find the wall - I do. I feel around, sweeping my hands up and down the wall, searching for something I know isn’t there: a light switch.

The only good part, as far as I can tell, is that there are no restraints; but then again, there is nothing at all. I cannot hear a thing, I think I would rather hear screams than this deafening silence. I’m getting an awful ringing in my ears, it’s making my eyes water, it hurts to bad. I sit down against the wall in this musty, dusty cell. I am going insane and I've only been in here like ten minutes. I start to sing to myself; a lul-a-bye that my parents used to sing to me when I was a little girl. It doesn't calm me the same way it used to when I had nightmares. I slowly, gently rock back and forth, with my knees to my chest.

What if I am stuck in here forever? Maybe Lea will be put in here too; what then? I am gonna die in here. I am gonna fucking die. "Just kill me!" I yell as loud as I can. No, I think to myself, why would they want to kill me? That would be what I want. They want me to suffer. I scream just to know I am alive. I scream as loud as I can. The time drags on and on. How long have I been in here? It feels like I've been sitting in this damn concrete box for a week. I continue to rock back and forth. Lea wont let me down. She will pull through; she would not just leave me down here. She will be here any second. Any minute now, and she will open that door; I try to reassure myself.

I can no longer tell if I am asleep or awake. I think my eye's are open; but how could I know in pitch black? I cannot see, taste, smell, or hear anything but the sounds of my own breathing and the incessant ringing that is trying it’s best to overtake me. I can barely even feel my own presence. All of a sudden, I hear a clicking noise and I hug my knees tighter to my chest. The door opens and an intense, bright light shoves its way into the room and nearly blinds me. There is a tall thin figure in the doorway; but I can't make it out.

"Let's go, Alli. Hurry up." The figure is Lea. Finally! I stand up and blindly stumble my way to the door. I get several feet away; my knees give way and I stumble almost crashing to the floor. "You ok?" she asks, concerned.

"Yeah, I guess. Let's just find-" I stop mid-sentence. "Wait, how did you open the door? It's automatic." I ask confused.

"All doors are automatic," she replies. "All doors are automatic and have locks on them," she says, with a you-should-know-this-don’t-be-stupid look on her face. And I really should have known this. I guess I’m just not one to notice things like that. After all, I had never before thought that I would be breaking out Brekenstone, I never thought I would need information like this.

"Oh, right," I say realizing I had panicked all for nothing. "Let's go find Gina, then."

We walk out into the hallway. "What took you so long, anyway?"

"What do you mean? You were only in there for like five hours. And besides, I had to wait for the nurse to leave, then search for an extra set of keys.”

"Wait a minute," I start. "How do you know it was five hours?"

Lea pulls a small plastic clock out of her pocket. It's about the size of a tennis ball. "I took this off her desk."

"Oh," I say slowly; grateful to see a clock. I close the door to the cell with a soft but echoing thud. I see a dry-erase board with my name on it; I quickly wipe it away with my hand. We walk down the hall; I spot the door with Gina's name on it. "Lea, over here," I say in a hush voice. The keys are tossed through the air and I catch them. I open the door. The room lights up a bit, but not enough to actually see anything.

"What's this do?" I hear Lea say while pointing at a switch on the wall out side of the door; she flips it up. The lights inside the room turn on. There are lights after all, it's just only operated from outside the room.

"Holy. Fuckin’. Shit." My eyes couldn’t be wider.

"What?"

"Look," my voice trails off.

Tears well up in my eyes as Lea looks at Gina's body; dead in the far corner. "Why would they do this to her?" she sobs out quietly.

"Lea, they didn't do this. She did. She killed herself."

"But they drove her to it," she cries. "This is my fault. I should have believed her when she said she was going to get out of Brekenstone one way or another. I could have stopped her Alli. I could have saved her.”

We walk over towards Gina's limp, blood soaked body. Lea kneels on the floor and stares at her as if she could concentrate really hard and miraculously bring her back to the light. Out of the corner of my eye I spot something gleaming on the floor: a piece of sharp, red-stained metal. I slid over to it and pick it up to examine it. I’m holding a piece of chain-link fence; Gina torn herself up with this simple broken piece.

"We have to get out of here," I say, knowing there'll be hell to pay if we are caught.

Lea gets up off the floor; we walk out and I turn the switch off. We go silently back to our room and go to bed. Shelly either doesn't hear us come in or pretends not to.

[sassygurlone]

I can't wait to read more, this is getting intense.

[Boxy]

Chapter 12:
Morning comes and we all wake up before the bell goes off. "What happened to you two last night?" asks Shelly.

"It's a long story," I reply.

"So tell me, it's not like we don't have the time."

"I," I stop.

"We just can't talk about it right now," Lea says with her eyes still bloodshot from last night. "But I can say two things: one, Erica left Brekenstone and was transferred to a hospital somewhere; and two," she lowers her voice, "we are all getting out of here. Soon, very soon."

"How?" I ask.

"I made a phone call last night."

"Who'd you call?" asks Shelly.

"An old friend. Someone who was always there for me when I needed him. He'll help us."

"But how's he gonna do that? He can't just drive up and check us out of here, ya know?" I say.

"He'll find a way, don't worry. He'll find a way. He always pulls through when I need him, this time is no different."

We go to breakfast and walk into Tequila and Corinna. "Hey guys," says Tequila. "You hear anythin’ from Gina?"

"No, and we never will," answers Lea. "She’s dead. Gina's dead." Her eyes go cold.

"What? How do you know that?" Shelly demands. "Stop it with the sick jokes, it's not funny anymore." You can almost see steam coming out of her ears, like in the cartoons I used to watch as a kid.

"I just know, okay?!" she defends herself. "I'm not lying, it's the truth. I wouldn't make up something like that."

Corinna gets a sly look on her face, "I'll catch you all later." She runs off in the other direction.

Lunch comes and goes, then it's time for AT. We go outside and just as we start to run to the course Miss Nepker comes outside and pulls Mr. Pearson aside.

"Lea! Allison! Come back here," he calls, pointing in front of his feet, like we’re children in trouble.

"Yeah?" we ask at the same time, jogging over.

"Miss Nepker would like a word with you two."

"Follow me, ladies," she says. We follow her into the main building and we find ourselves in this tiny, gray office. It looks like an interrogation room that you see in those cop shows on television. "Have a seat," she barks. We do as she says. "Let me just get to the point," she starts in her all familiar, domineering voice. "Allison, were you or were you not taken back into confinement last night?"

"Um...” I don’t know what to say. Lea softly nudges my foot with her own.

“Answer the question,” she demands, with an evil look plastered on her face.

“Uh, yea. Yes, I was,” I stammer.

"When were you released?" she asks suspiciously.

"I don't know," I pause. "I don't remember, all I know is I woke up in my room this morning. Clearly someone had to have brought me back,” I say with a hint of fake confusion in my voice.

"I am aware of that. But no one on my staff had taken you off the charts.”

“Everyone makes mistakes,” I shrug.

“Why you little...” she points her finger at me.

I take a step back. "All I am saying is I don't know what to tell you, I have given you all the information I have. I mean no disrespect ma'am, I just honestly do not know what happened," I lie completely.

"Fine," she says in an angry tone, knowing she has no proof of anything because this place is so cheap there are hardly any camera's anywhere; they are just mainly at entrances. "What about you Lea? Where were you last night?"

"At first I was in the nurses office, but later, the lady used the bathroom, and when she came back and said she was about to leave, I asked if I had to spend the night, or if I could go back into my room. She said it was fine, so I went." Miss. Nepker gives us a look that says she doesn't believe us one bit. "Why are you asking all these questions anyway? What does it really matter?”

"You two are both suspected of breaking into the confinement hall and poking your noses in places they do not belong. You, Lea are also suspected theft. If we find anything to confirm these accusations you will both be," she stops. "You will both be in a large amount of trouble and will have to face the consequences.”

“How did I break into confinement? I was dragged there against my will,” I retort.

She glares at me like she’s trying to see into my soul. “You may leave now.”

We get up to go; Lea turns around and faces Miss Nepker, "I'm sorry ma'am, but you've got the wrong girls. We haven't done anything wrong," she says, innocently shrugging.

We leave and let the door shut. We are met by Mr. Drey outside the office door, he escorts us back to our room, I guess they don't trust us. How could they even suspect us? No one saw us. There is no camera, and neither of us have done anything really bad here. I just don’t see the reason. The only people who know we were there are Shelly, Tequila, and Corinna. But they are our friends, they wouldn’t rat us out... Right?

[Autumnwind]

Usually, I'm not into stories. I'll be honest. I don't like the length and how long it takes to unravel some things here and there. BUT, this is one acception. This is pretty amazing, fantastic writing and great visuals. I'm keeping this story on my list of "re-checkers"

[Boxy]

When I started writing this almost 5 years ago it was intended to be a short story... But I obviously got really into it.. Now It's more going to be a book. Or a Novella,or something since it's not like 300 pages lol

Chapter 13:
Finally Shelly gets back from AT. She barges into the room, "okay, so tell me: how do you know that Gina's dead? Seriously, just tell me," she firmly states.

I look over at Lea, she nods, signaling to me that I can tell her. "Promise not to tell anyone?" I ask. "We don't need to get in any more trouble."

"What? Of course I wont tell anyone, you can trust me. I'm not a squealer, okay? I wont tell anyone, I promise."

"Ok, well, you see Lea's nose?"

"Yeah," she answers, confused by the question.

"I did that. Lea and I had a fake fight in the hall way, so that I would be put in whatever section of the building that Gina was. After that, Lea would go to the nurse, and take her keys after she left. Lea then came to get me."

"Ok, so what about Gina?"

"After I came out, we found the room Gina was being held in. We walked in, and Gina was dead."

"Dead? Just like that? It doesn't make any sense," Shelly interrupts.

"She didn't just die of heart attack, she killed herself with a piece of metal from the fence outside."

"Oh, why'd she do it?"

"Couldn't take the stress? Thought she'd never see Erica again? She couldn't stand it here anymore? Maybe a combination of all three of those. There's a million reasons she could have done it, but we'll never really know exactly why."

A little while later the bell goes off and we are dismissed to dinner. I reach for the door knob and find Tequila standing right in front of me. "Um, hey what's up?" I ask.

"I have to talk to you guys," she says in a worried voice. "I don't know what it was all about but, I was just in my room with Corinna, and she was writing in a diary."

"What's so weird about that? A couple girls here keep diaries," says Lea.

"No, it's not that she was writing in a diary, it's what she was writing. It was written in french, I know more German than French, but it looked like it said something along the lines of, 'I can't believe these stupid people are paying me for this.' But I don't know what she's being paid for. She was just transferred to my room after Patricia left, she said she came from C block, but I've never seen her before."

"I guess it's possible, but I knew all the girls from C block," I start. "Unless she's really new here, she's a liar."

"What are you trying to say?" Lea asks.

"I'm not really sure, it's just all fishy, you know?"

"Just don't say anything to her. Something is up, we gotta find out what. Lea, do you think maybe she turned us in?"

"It's possible, but I don't know. Most girls here try to protect each other. We'll just have to watch our backs and be careful around her until we figure something out."

We all nod and go to the cafeteria. We get inside and I see Corinna handing a small book to Mr. Drey. "Look," I say pointing at them.

"Hey, that's Gina's diary," says Tequila.

"We have to get that," adds Lea.

"Ok, so what's the plan?" I ask looking at Lea.

"Plan? Why do I always have to have the plan?”

I am shocked. When does Lea not have a plan? "I've got an idea then," I state proudly. "Tequila, you and Shelly go over there and start yelling at each other; but nothing physical." Mr. Drey sits down. "Lea you break them up." They all look at me in confusion. "Just do it," I say. "Hurry up!"

Tequila and Shelly start yelling and I run over to Mr. Drey. "It looks like there's gonna be a fight," I say in a fake, concerned voice.

Mr. Drey gets up and walks slowly over to the 'fight,' leaving the book behind. I pick it up and hide it under my shirt when I am sure no one is watching. Tequila and Shelly tone it down and walk away just as Mr. Drey gets there. He turns around and goes back to an empty table, not realizing anything is missing. I walk away, and head to the far end of the cafeteria; as far away from Mr. Drey as possible.

I look around. Corinna is nowhere to be found; just the way I want it. Tequila, Lea and Shelly are gathered in the corner. I walk up, swivel my head side to side, glancing around for spies. I pull the diary out. I open it to the last page filled with Gina's writing. "What's this?" I whisper.

"Let me see," says Tequila, plucking the cream colored pages from my hands. "It's German."

"Yeah, but what's it say?" asks Lea.

Tequila runs her finger down the page, focusing on what she is reading. She holds her hand at the bottom of the page, pointing at the last words Gina wrote. "Brekenstone kills," she translates aloud from the page; eyes wide.

[Total Light Storm]

Oooo, wow!!!
The plot gains more twists!!
I will be back again!!!

[Boxy]

Chapter 14 is triggering mainly to the topic of Self Harm
Chapter 14:
I wake up in a cold sweat, and wipe my palms on my pants. There's something in my pocket; I reach in and pull it out. I'm holding the piece of metal I found with Gina; I had forgotten I took it. I am laying in the dark, with cold death in my hands. I could go right now. I could die right this second. All I have to do is start with one small cut. Ouch. I take a breath. My forearm is red. There's no blood, but the friction has caused warmth. I press down harder and drag the metal across my hot flesh. Jade anxiety becomes red release. Life. Sweet life. Energy races through my body. I swore I would never go back. I promised myself I would never go back to these ways. These cruel ways. It's torture. It's wonderful. Confusion; pain and pleasure come from one. Good, bad. Love, hate. Life and death.

My head pounds. No more thinking. Contradictions are for the weak minded. For those not smart enough to realize that everything has an opposite. Loving hate, heavy lightness, cold fire, sweet sorrow. Romeo didn't make it out alive. How can I expect to turn out any different? I can't.

My mind wanders the globe. Just because I can't go to Italy, Paris, or Rome doesn't mean I can't picture the beautiful scenes just like those on the fronts of postcards. My finger tips brush my cheek. Soft. Warm. Wet. Tears are slowly falling from my hot eyes. I roll over. Crimson sin is still trickling from my arm. I sit up and grab a sock from the foot of my bed. I wrap it around my throbbing limb to stop the bleeding. I lay back down and cradle my arm as I drift back to a state of living death: sleep.

I wake again. Sleep is no longer a place of comfort for me. Drama, drama. So much drama. Brekenstone is worse than high school in that department. This is non-stop abusers, heroin addicts, pot heads, alcoholics, bulimics, cutters; self mutilators in every sense. And I am one of them. I am one of those sick people. Those people who gain pleasure from pain; pain from pleasure. Cycles of masochism. I've never liked that word. Masochist. It sounds so sick. Like I am deranged, mental, insane, psychotic being. And you know what? I am. I am all of those things. And all of those things are me. We are one. We have shared a special bond over the years. I thought I'd lost it. But here it is again. It's back. And it wants me. I want it too. We want each other. It's a sort of mutualistic bond; the emotions I share with my blood. My mind connects in so many ways. The adrenaline rushes are unbelievable.

No. Not again. I wont allow myself to be this way. I can't go through it again. But I want it. Oh how I crave the sight of my blood. It's like riding a bike. You never really forget. It's always in your mind somewhere. But who is going to stop me? No one. No one can stop me. No one but myself. Do I have the strength to trash this reborn infatuation? I do not know. But I guess I am going to find out.

I try to sleep. My mind never stops. Sleep cannot come. I get out of bed, slowly, quietly, trying not to wake anyone. I pick up a hollow trunk, there is supposed to be clothes in it, but we all keep them on the ends of our beds instead. Easier access. I place it on the floor in front of the window. I climb on top of it and have a seat. Staring out the window, I see the moon, the stars, the sky. They all give a twinkle to my eye. The moon gleams with such brightness. The stars glitter in the sky, enveloping my entire soul. My heart burns with a sort of longing passion I haven’t felt in a long time. I want to go for a walk. I used to go for late night strolls all the time. I'd sneak out at night, wearing big comfy sweats and large fluffy slippers. I would walk around the neighborhood. A couple minutes. A couple hours. It seemed like days to me. Fresh air blowing through my hair. Feeling the breeze between my fingers as I walked. Catching the path of a stray cat in the corner of my eye. Stress free. No drama. No nothing. Me, myself, and Alli.

I am staring, glaring. Daring the world to swallow me whole. Waiting for the sky to fall and take us all down. One by one by one.

Screaming tears, frowning fears, the things that compose my mind, my thoughts, the fiber of my very being. These things frighten me. They steal words from my mouth. Leave me speechless and dazed in confusion. There's so many things I don't understand. I don't pretend to know everything nor do I ever intend to. I have never been the smartest. I have never been the brightest. I have certainly never been the prettiest. And never the most creative. I've never been the best anything; the most anything but crazy. I am of the norm. Nothing is special about me. I am Allison, just Alli, Alli Graves.

I can see the sun spewing light over the tree tops as it rises to bring another day. My head is resting on my arm which is propped up in the window sill. The colors of a new dawn are beautiful. It's a creative, yet simplistically twisted tye-dye of pastels existing in perfect harmony.

Time flies by and I continue looking out the window. I get up and search for the small clock Lea lifted from the nurse’s office. It's almost time to start the day. I pick up the trunk and move it back against the other wall. I carefully, silently, climb back up to my bunk. I lay down, and wait for someone else to wake up.

Shelly and Lea both wake up when the bell rings and put on some fresh clothes. Lea stands up and stares at me. "What?" I ask, not knowing why she is looking at me this way.

"What. The. Fuck. Did. You. Do?" She says slow and angry. I raise my eyebrows and look at her, puzzled. I still don't know what she’s talking about. She walks over and yanks my arm. "What is this?" she demands, harshly.

I yank my arm away, and frown. "It's nothing."

"Bull shit."

"It's nothing Lea. Really."

"Stop lying. You're no good at it," she replies. I sigh. "Never again," she says flatly. I stare into her blazing eyes. "Promise. Right now.”

My gaze falls to the floor, “I promise." Shelly is just sitting there watching us. She is fully aware of what is going on. But looks as if she just doesn't know what to say.

"Good," she says with a slight smile. "Oh, by the way. I'm calling David tonight."

"David? Who's David?" asks Shelly.

"He's gonna be your best friend," Lea laughs. "He's getting us outta here. All three of us. I'm calling him tonight so we can arrange it all. Hopefully it'll happen tomorrow night." All of our faces light up. Hope fills the room. Desire bursts out the window. Despair is no longer.

Chapter 15:
Today seems much longer than any other day I have spent here. Breakfast is boring, lunch is bland, dinner is blah. Today is not only painfully slow, it’s incredibly dull. I find myself back in my room, ill entertained. The houses tick by and by. I hear movement; Lea is getting out of her bed.

“Where’re you going?” I hoarsely whisper.

She looks back at me but says nothing. She doesn’t think my question is worth answering. She reaches under her bed; something rips and I hear metal fall to the floor. She stands up holding, in her hands, the source of the noise: keys. She peels a clear piece of tape off of them, and lets it fall to the floor. I can’t help admire Lea’s brain power. It was pretty smart of her to tape the keys under her bed. No one would ever think to look in a place like that.

The key is carefully slipped into the lock inside the doorknob. The parts flip around and click subtly. She silently opens the door as little as possible and slides out into the hall, the door clinking shut behind her.

I climb from my bunk down to Shelly’s and sit across from her.

“So,” I utter, not quite knowing what else to say.

“So,” Shelly mimics.

“We’re getting out of here,” I say flatly.

“I guess so. If everything goes the way Lea wants it to, at least.”

“The way Lea wants it to?”

“Yeah,” she replies with a quiver in her voice. “I mean, I do want to get out of here, don’t get me wrong. I’m just scared, I guess. What are we gonna do? We’ve got no money, no place to go, someone’s going to find out we’re missing, and then what/ I’ll tell you what: we get dragged back here and it’s even worse than before, all because we tried to escape. We cold end up worse than Gina. And what about Lea’s friend? He’s gonna get in trouble too, if we’re caught. It’s just really risky, too risky if you ask me. Maybe it’s just not worth it.” She sighs and leans against the wall.

“I know what you mean. But come on - everything has worked out okay so far.”

“Worked out okay? Yeah, everything is just dandy. We’re in an institution where they practically kill people. Out parents don’t give a fuck. We were all shipped off here, and for what? Nothing. And no one can help us here. No one will help us here. It’s all so pointless. Why bother with any of this anymore? It’s not like we have anything to gain.”

“Well that’s exactly what I’m saying. We don’t have anything to gain by staying, and we aren’t losing anything good by leaving. Why not just try? There may not be a lot of point in escaping but there’s certainly no reason to stay. Am I right?”

She sighs again. “I guess so,” she says tiredly. “I don’t know. If we get caught though...” Her voice moves to a whisper, “I just don’t want to suffer. Not like Gina did. Not like so many other people have. I don’t want to end up that way.”

“I know it’s a risk. Let’s make a pact right now,” I say. “Let’s promise each other that if one of us gets caught, the other will come back and fight with them. Deal?”

She pauses for a second, thinking about what she is about to say. “Deal,” she murmurs, half smiling.

Someone is walking about outside the door. Shelly and I both jump as the door knob rattles. Did someone hear us talking? Are they here to take us back to lock down? To kill us? Do they know we know? The door opens slowly.

“It’s all set,” Lea chimes as the door eases shut behind her.

The next day we are all tired and more anxious than before. Night comes and we are all back in our room. Lea is sitting on her bed bouncing her leg rapidly up and down.

“Excited are we?” I ask.

“Just a little,” she answers laughing. “But more than anything, I’m nervous.”

“How do we know when to go?” I ask.

“We wait for the signal, of course.”

“And the signal is?” Shelly asks, sounding annoyed.

“That’s for me to know,” Lea says selfishly, with a grin on her face. She pulls out a plastic trash bag and stuffs some things into it before tossing it over to me. “Put whatever you want to bring in that bag.”

I crawl up to my bed and reach into my pillow case. I pull out my family photo. It’s a little bit crumpled, but it’s all I got. I place it neatly in the bag, knowing it’ll be even more crumpled by the end of the night. I pull it back out. I pull the side of my sweats away from my hip, press the picture to my skin, and let the elastic hold it in place. Now it’s safe. I drop the bag down to Shelly. “Did you even put anything in here, Alli? It’s kinda light.”

“Nah. I don’t have anything to take. All I need is my family and I think maybe I have that.” She gives me a confused look before nodding and putting a few trinkets in the bag. We sit around silently, watching out the window for any sign of David. Lea looks stern, serious, almost like she’s trying to summon him right here now to get us out of this dump.

“Let’s go,” says Lea quietly.

“Huh?” Shelly and I ask in unison.

“That was the signal,” she says grabbing the garbage bag and swinging it over her right shoulder.

“What signal?” I question.

Lea lets out an annoyed sigh. “He’s on the water tower with a flashlight. Look, right over there,” she says, pointing out the window. She ties some bed sheets together and secures it on the rusty bed frame. “Who wants to climb out the window to freedom first?” giggles Lea. Shelly takes a step forward. I grab the trunk and drag it over to the window. She climbs on top of it, messes with the broken window lock, slides the glass up, and hoists herself into the frame. Still silent, she straddles the window, putting one foot out, and dangling it in the open air. She grabs the makeshift rope and struggles down, scrapping her feet against the wall. “Hey,” Lea whispers out to Shelly. “There’s a window down there. Don’t freak out though; it’s covered with curtains - no one will see you. Just don’t kick it in!” Shelly nods and slowly approaches the bottom. Her toes reach the ground and she lets go of the sheets.

“Want me to go?” I ask Lea, not wanting to go last.

“What ever floats your boat.” She motions to the window. I grasp the sheets and slowly guide myself down the side of the building. There’s a fast blur. OUCH. I’m on the ground, still clutching the sheets which are now pilled on top of me. I stare up to see Lea peering out of the window. “Fuck,” I hear her say. “They came untied; I never was good at knots.”

“What now?” asks Shelly from behind me.

“Now? Alli, more over, and throw the sheets in a pile on the ground, where you landed.” Lea looks worried. “Hey, is there anything breakable in this?” she asks, holding up the bag. Shelly and I shake our heads no. “Good,” she says throwing the bag down on top of the sheet. “Step back.” Lea is now sitting in the window with her legs dangling in front of her. She’s going to jump. We watch as she propel herself slightly forward and twists in the air. She lands hard on her back. She doesn’t move.

[Total Light Storm]

Oooo, wow!!
I love "I swore I would never go back. I promised myself I would never go back to these ways. These cruel ways. It's torture. It's wonderful. Confusion; pain and pleasure come from one. Good, bad. Love, hate. Life and death.

Ammmaaazing!!!

[Bubbles37]

That story is amazing!!! I just sat down and read all you have so far. I want more!

[Boxy]

Thanks for all of the positive feed back so far, guys .
P.S. If you notice any typo's or anything that doesn't make sense, please let me know, so I can fix it. Even though several people have proof read this, mistakes are still there, I know because I just found a couple in this chapter, that I had to fix.

Chapter 16:
Shelly and I rush over to Lea. I kneel down and look at her face. “Ow...” I hear Lea groan while slightly laughing.

“You had me scared half to death. What the hell’d you jump for? Are you insane?” I scold.

“Now that you mention it, yes. But we don’t have time for this, we’ve gotta go.” Lea stands up slowly and rubs her back. She balls up the sheets and puts them in the trash bag. “I guess we’re taking this now, too.”

“Who knows? It might even come in handy,” adds Shelly.

We start walking to the water tower. My legs hurt from the fall, so I’m limping a bit, but I can’t let a sore leg hold me back from an opportunity like this. We reach the tower and I circle around it to the ladder on the far side. I grasp the rung and begin to climb, Lea and Shelly close behind. I reach the top.

A strange man pops out in front of me, my heart jumps into my throat, my hands slip from the bar, and my sore leg gives out. I start to fall backwards. Everything stops. I open my eyes and here are hands closed around wrists. The man pulls me up to stand beside him with no effort at all. Lea and Shelly reach the top as I regain my composure and try to get my breathing under control.

“Hey David,” yelps Lea while wrapping her arms around him. he gently returns the embrace. They release and casually step back from each other, eyeing one another from head to toe.

“As you probably guessed,” he starts. “I’m David. He walks to the side of the platform and leans on the rails. “Sorry if I scared you,” He says look in my direction and laughing a bit.

“Oh, not at all,” I say sarcastically.

“Okay.” He puts his hands on the rails. “Step right here, grab the fence and climb down.” He steps back as Lea steps forward. “Be careful, only touch the fence where I removed the barbed wire. Oh, and try not to fall this time,” he adds, winking at me.

Lea steps on the railing and throws the bag over the fence. She places her hands on the cold metal fence and carefully swings her legs over. She makes it without touching any of the razor sharp wire, and reaches the ground below. Freedom is so close. I struggle to stand on the railing but I brace myself with the fence. Slowly but surely I reach the ground and stand by Lea. Shelly climbs over next and is followed by David.

Paranoia strikes as we follow David into the woods. Every branch that breaks, every leaf that crunches beneath my feet, every nocturnal critter that scrapes it’s sharp claws against the rough bark of a tree - it all makes my heart plummet. This walk seems like it’s taking a lifetime. David, still leading the way, looks behind himself, past Shelly and Lea, and directly into my eyes. “Don’t worry, we’re almost there.”

“Almost where, exactly?” asks Shelly, breaking his gaze.

“My car, of course. Didn’t Lea tell you the plan?” He asks dumbfounded, looking at Lea.

“Need to know, David,” Lea blurts.

“You don’t think they need to know?” David asks, seems a bit shocked. Lea shakes her head no. “Really now?” he says stopping to turn around and face us. “And if they don’t like what’s going to happen?” Lea shrugs. “You don’t care?” He demands. Lea just looks at her feet. We all just stare at each other for a moment. David pushes past Lea and looks at my and Shelly. Breaking the silence, he says, “After we get to my car, I’m driving you down to the police station. You are going to basically turn yourselves in as runaways from a nut house and tell them all the shit about how screwed up that place really is. Then If they believe what you tell them they may be able to start an investigation. Who knows where you’ll wind up.”

“And if they don’t believe us?” I sputter out.

“If they don’t you may end up right back there with a needle stuck un your arm.” He turns around and looks at Lea. “No one knows what’s going to happen when you get there.” He starts walking again and we follow him, not want to look at each other.

Davids car is an old, rusty-looking, red-brown toyota with new tires and shiny rims that don’t quite match the rest of the vehicle, and it’s hippie bumper stickers that say things like: “Tree hugger,” “Love is love,” and “4:20 is party time.” We all pile in and he starts the car. “It doesn’t look like much, but good ol‘ Cindy here runs smooth as butter.” We start riding down a rocky road and it seems like forever before it turns into tar. We reach what looks to be the center of town. Stores line the sides of the street. Clothing stores, grocery shops, antiques, fast food, mom-n-pop stores, and a little bagel shop on a corner. This ride is so peaceful, and it brings back to many memories.

“Alli! Are you ready yet?”

“Yeah, I’m comin’, Mom!” I call from my upstairs bedroom. I’ve got pink walls, and pink bedding to match. My walls are lined with furniture: a matching desk and chair that my grandma gave me when I was little, a dresser that belonged to my mom when she was a teenager, a book case, lined with the works of everything from Dr. Sues’ “Are You My Mother” to Steven King’s “Misery.” I walk across the soft white carpet and put on a pair of my favorite shoes: black and purple Vans. I head out my door, turning the light off as I go. I get downstairs and grab a sweater off the coat rack. “Ready, Mom.”

We head out the door and I climb into the passenger seat of out blue pick-up truck. My mom starts the engine and I turn the radio dial to my favorite country station. The song “All right” by Darius Rucker is on. I sing along to the chorus with my mom: “I got a roof over my head, the woman I love layin‘ in my bed, and it’s all right, all right. I got shoes under my feet, forever in her eyes starin‘ back at me, and it’s all right, all right, yeah. I got all I need and it’s all right by me.”

We pull into the parking lot of “Gail’s Coffee Shop.” We go inside and sit at out usual Sunday morning table. We come here every single Sunday for breakfast. It’s become a tradition between us. The waitress scurries over to the table and greets us with her usual cheery disposition. I order 2 blueberry bagels and an orange juice. Mom gets Lemon Poppyseed bagels, which taste better than they sound, and a cup of coffee.

“So, what do you wanna do today, sweetie?” My mom asks in a pleasant voice.

The car stops. The police station entrance is right in front of us. We swing open the car doors, simultaneously. “Here goes nothing,” says David.

“Here goes everything,” corrects Shelly.

The four of us take a deep breath and slowly walk inside.

“Is that,” I pause. “Who I think it is?” I say pointing at a man across the room. I’m suddenly scared out of my mind. They’ve found us.

[Total Light Storm]

Oh, wow, amazing!! So glad Lea is still alive, she freaked me out too, I thought she was so hurt she couldn't move, that or dead...

[Boxy]

Chapter 17:
“Mr. Michaels? Mr. Pearson?” Lea blurts out. “Y- you’re cops?”

Two tall men in uniform rush past us nearly knocking Shelly off her feet. Mr. Michaels and Mr. Pearson glance over at us, jaws dropped. “Maybe we should continue this in a conference room,” suggests Mr. Pearson. “Hey, Barney. Hold my calls. If anyone needs me I’ll be in the conference room with Anthony,” He informs a chubby, balding man behind a desk.

“Sure thing, man,” he calls back across the room.

Lea, Shelly, David, and I are ushered to a small room down a brightly lit hallway. “What’s the meaning of this?” asks Mr. Pearson.

“You tell us,” I reply, quickly. “What’s going on? Are you some sort of detective or something?”

He lets out a long sigh. “Everyone take a seat.” We all pull up a chai around a giant, green, circular table. “Detective Michaels and I have been investigating Brekenstone for some time now. There’s been many suspicious disappearances, deaths, and just off-the-wall, strange circumstances, all together.”

“But,” Detective Michaels picks up where Pearson left off, “we have to investigate legally. We can’t just steal files. There’s so many laws protecting privacy. And we certainly can’t just blow our cover. Incriminating evidence has a way of disappearing when people smell trouble. Getting a court order wouldn’t do much if files are destroyed.” he rests his hands on the table and looks around at all of our faces. “Now, the question is: why are you here?”

“We know about the disappearances and the deaths,” I say. “Gina died, Erika was transferred or something, and who knows what the hell happened to Patricia.”

“We had to get out of there,” adds Lea from beside me. “We couldn’t help thinking we’d be next. We haven’t exactly follows all the rules.” Her voice goes quiet.

“Wait a minute. Gina’s dead? No deaths were reported,” states Detective Pearson. “According to public records, all spots in Brekenstone are currently filled and with no new residents.”

“Well, public record is a piece of shit!” yells Lea. “She’s dead, Alli and I saw her! Looked like she killed herself; bled to death in lockdown.”

“Restraints are used in lockdown. How is that possible?” questions Detective Michaels.

Lea chimes in again, “There’s more than one lockdown. One has restraints, the other is a dark, cement room, empty room.” The detectives eyes grow curious. They seem as if they aren’t sure whether or not what we are saying is true or even possible. “You worked there! How could you not know?!”

“Calm down Lea. Just listen. We only have access to so much of the building. This is a tough case and if we don’t crack it soon we’re going to have to quit. We don’t have the resources to stay there forever on a lost cause,” interrupts Pearson.

“How are kids in need a lost cause?” Shelly asks shyly, speaking for the first time since we entered the room.

“They’re not. But we have nearly no evidence to prove out suspicions. They’re good at covering tracks. Like I said before: we can’t break the law.”

“What exactly do you need? We wanna help,” says Lea.

“Proof,” says Michaels.

“Files. Documented information concerning the whereabouts of those who has disappeared,” states Pearson.

Lea gets that look in her eye - the one that says she has to answers to everything. She lifts the trash bag off the floor. I didn’t even notice, until now, that she had even brought it inside. She pulls out a small pile of papers and folders, clipped together. “Maybe this can help?” she says in a hopeful tone.

“What’s this?” the detectives ask at the same time.

“Your proof,” says Lea, “I hope.” She pauses for a second and looks at me before continuing, “Documents, files, pieces of information. ALl the files include name, date of arrival, birth date, age, home address, phone numbers, listings of where they are supposed to be at this moment, and strangely enough,” she lets out a sigh, “blood type.”

“How did you get all of this?” asks Detective Michaels as he shuffles through some of the papers with Pearson.

“That doesn’t matter!” She shouts, angrily. “You have it! Now use it!” She sounds desperate.

“We’ll try,” they say, looking sorry for us.

“Where are you guys staying? Are you on leave?” asks Pearson.

“Not exactly,” I say. “No one knows we’re gone... Yet.”

Suddenly a low tone comes from the ceiling followed by, “Anthony Michaels, you have a call on line two. Detective Anthony Michaels, line two.” My eyes follow him as he stands up and hurries out of the room.

Detective Pearson gets us back on track, “That complicates things a bit. We’ll put together some forms and contact your parents. From there we’ll formally check you out of Brekenstone. You won’t have to go back.” There’s a collective sigh of relief. “You’re all in the system so it shouldn’t be too hard to put together. Except,” he pauses and directs his words at me, “for you, Alli. You were in foster care, right? It’s going to be a bit more complicated to place you back with the Renolds if they already have another child in your place.”

I open my mouth to say something but Lea takes my place. “She doesn’t need them. She’s going to stay with me.”

“I see. Well, I’ll let you know what I can do,” he answers. “Do you have a place to stay for the night?

David stands up. “I’ve set something up for them. We really should be going.”

“I completely agree,” states the detective. Come back in say... two days and we’ll figure some more out.” We all stand up and shake hands. We get back on the road in David’s beat up car. We’re going to his place.

[Gymnophoria]

I was so upset to see that was the end of the thread. Hurry up and post more, I'm LOVING this!!!

[Boxy]

Im so glad I re-read this before I posted it.. I found a ton of typos xD

This chapter may be triggering in the topic of abuse.

Chapter 18:
“I know it’s something most people would have had a double take on. But I know what it’s like. How much it hurt to never have someone who cares. The thing you pray for most is for someone to just open their eyes. To have someone take care of you, even if they don’t have to. Most people take a caring soul for granted. They think it’s just something you get; something everyone has. At times you feel like smacking someone across the face just to say, ‘Hey, listen,’ but you never do. It’s like something deep inside is always pulling you away from the outside world; something is always saying they wont understand or even if they do understand, they won’t care.” David looks around the tidy room for a few seconds before continuing, “while you always fear someone just reading your mind one day, someone knowing whats inside your head - at the same time you wish someone - anyone, would take the time to notice. Take some time to let you know they care.”

David’s speaking with such emotion. I can’t help but wonder why he’s letting me inside. Of all the people he’s ever met, why open his heart and mind to me? He’s only known for mere hours. I asked why he was so willing to help us get out of that dark hole. I had expected him to say something about being Lea’s friend or owing her a favor. I was wrong.

“Most people look at me and they see an average guy; someone with a good life, nothing majorly wrong; an average Joe. But it hasn’t always been that way. I was never the spoiled child; the kid who had everything. As a matter of fact, when I was little I had just about nothing. Well, not nothing,” he corrects himself, “but nothing I really wanted. Sure, I had shelter, food, water, and money for the basics. But I never got that love everyone searches for in the eyes of their parents.” He pauses, as if picturing his childhood. I nod to let him know I’m still listening. “My dad drank all the time,” he starts again. “No matter how hard I tried to avoid him when he was drunk, he’d always find me. I’d like to say I love my mother, ‘cause she never laid a hand on me, but she always knew what Dad was like. She knew about him beating me; about what he did to my sister when I failed to protect her. She knew it all and never lifted a finger. I guess I don’t really blame her for being afraid of him. It’s just...” another pause. “My sister and I... We were just kids. And everything was taken away whenever Dad was drunk. I just feel like she should have done something to protect us. Sometimes I wonder if I’m too hard on her by feeling that way. Then I think of how much different everything could have ... would have been; I think maybe she was worse than he was.”

David looks at me from the other end of the sofa. It sits against a long wall in his modest apartment. I continue to nod, not knowing what I could possibly say to let him know I understand. “What about you?” he finally asks, taking the topic away from himself. “How’d you end up in that shit hole with Lea?”

“I don’t even know anymore. Everything’s just been happening so fast. I don’t even know what day it is anymore. My parents died what seems like forever ago, now. I was with the Renolds for a while, my foster parents, and I don’t know what happened. It’s like no matter how much they tried; no matter how much they gave to me, they weren’t my parents.”

“Foster home are never what you expect they’ll be. No matter what your parents have done, you always know that no one else can be what they were or were supposed to be. It’s just not the same, some how.” I hang onto David’s every word, knowing he’s right. “You hear about these people on talk shows who were adopted and didn’t know until their adulthood. They say for some reason they always felt something was missing, even before they knew they were adopted.”

“I guess it’s just something most people feel deep inside. Even if they can’t explain it; they know,” I say with a rift in my voice. I’ve never spoken from my heart like this before; there’s always been a barrier. Where is it now?

David gets up and goes into the tiny kitchen, to the fridge. He pulls out two beers and comes back to the sofa. He tosses me one of the cold cans. “Oh, sorry, did you want a soda or something? I didn’t really ask.”

“No, this is fine,” I answer with a tired smile.

We pop open the cans in unison and I wonder if the noise could have woken Shelly or Lea who are asleep in Davids bed in another room down the hall. We sip out beers and chit chat a little more before exhaustion takes over and we both pass out for the night.

I open my eyes and squint at the sun spilling through the green, dust-covered blinds. I soften my gaze as David strokes my hair; a strand or two getting tugged as they get caught between his fingers. “Lea and Shelly up yet?” I ask, straining my eyes up to look at David’s face.

“Yup, they’re takin’ showers or something.” I wonder how my head ended up on David’s lap, but somehow, I still don’t care. “Want breakfast?”

Shelly pops out of the hallway and into the living room, water dripping off her soaked hair and onto the shiny, old, hardwood floor. She lets out a sigh. “What’re we gonna do?”

I’ve been wondering that myself. “I don’t know. I mean... I don’t think we’re getting in trouble. They said they’re gonna work something out,” I say, still a little unsure.

“Yeah,” She says back, still seeming tired. “But what does that something include?”

“Whatcha mean?” I ask, still wanting to sleep.

“Like... Are we still gonna be in the system? Will we go back to our families or whatever, or end up in another place like Brekenstone?”

I hadn’t thought about what would happen to us if we’re not at Brekenstone and if the police decide to interfere. Honestly, hadn’t thought about it passed getting off the property. “I don’t know, Shelly. I don’t have a family. Lea probably wouldn’t go back with her mom if you paid her. If your mom can take you back... I think she would... But from what I know, it doesn’t seem very...”

“Safe?” she finishes my sentence and I nod. “What’re we gonna do?” Shelly pleads.

“It’s all just one step at a time,” says David. “One. Step. At. A. Time.”

David grabs the television remote off the coffee table and surfs T.V. Guide. I snatch the remote from him and flip it to channel 10 just in time to hear Forest Gump say “life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get.” It’s amazing how much truth a work of fiction can hold. You do what you can and try to predict where your life is going to lead you. Too bad there’s always something that doesn’t happen the way you think it will.

I hear Davids Toyota come to a screeching halt outside the apartment door. He looks at Shelly, then me, then the door. “Bitch stole my car? I thought she was in the shower,” he says shaking his head. “Take it easy on her!” he yells through the door.

Lea bursts through the door, laughing. She holds up a bag of food from McDonald’s. “Hot, sausage and egg biscuits all around!”

“Do your neighbors ever get angry at all the noise?” I ask.

“Nah, they’re retired and in Vegas at the moment,” David Laughs. “And they’re pretty chill, anyway. Where’d you get the money for this?”

Lea pulls a pack of cigarettes out of her back pocket and goes into the kitchen. She pulls open a drawer and moves around some junk before pulling out a lighter. She tosses the pack at me before lighting up. She puts the lighter in her pocket then carries herself to the couch, sitting between David and me. I pick up the pack of Newbies and use the end of Lea’s to lights my own. “I can’t believe you kept that old lighter after all this time,” says Lea.

“Can’t believe you remember where I keep it,” David counters. “But that doesn’t answer the question, where’d you get the money?”

“Hey, I used to live here, remember? My home away from home? Besides, I did pick it out. It’s a pretty sweet lighter. And don’t worry about the money, pretty boy - it’s from that can I buried in your backyard when we were in middle school.”

“Seriously?” he asks in disbelief. “I thought for sure you’d spent that years ago. Or at least forgotten where it was.”

“No way, I don’t forget where I hide large sums of money.”

“Large? What’s so large about twenty-five dollars?”

“Hey now, that was just the beginning, I added to it over the years. And that’s not the only thing I got buried out there.”

“Right, what else you got?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she teases.

I offer the pack to Shelly who takes a cancer stick of her own. Lea pulls the lighter out of her pocket and hands it to me to pass to Shelly. It is a sweet lighter. It’s black with dice and poker cards on it and the safety has been taken off. I pass it to Shelly and she lights up.

“Thought you would have quit that habit by now, Lea.”

“You thought wrong, buddy,” she says with a giggle.

Shelly and I take long drags off our bummed cigs and exhale simultaneously, with a sigh. “Almost forgot how good a fresh cig makes you feel” says Shelly.

“Almost,” I say, looking at her, with a wink.

“You guys are going to kill your lungs before you’re thirty if you keep this up.”

“So what? My life’ll be over by then anyway. Might as well live while I can. Besides, you know me; I can’t pass up an opportunity to party,” admits Lea.

“Yeah I know,” David solemnly replies. His expression says he knows all too well.

“Speaking of party,” I interject, “I wanna get drunk tonight.”

Lea’s eyes get so huge I think they might pop out of their sockets. “Oh. My. God!” she practically screams.

“What?” I ask, apologetically.

“Why didn’t I think of that?” She passes me her cig to hold for a moment and she gets down on her hands and knees crawling toward David. She makes a big show of bowing down and then puts her palms together like she’s praying, “pleeeease, Davi-kins? Can we, can we, can we? I wuv you,” she exclaims, laughing.

I ash my cig in my empty beer can from last night and set Lea’s on top where she promptly snags it up and takes another hit. “Oh fine,” he answers, rolling his eyes. “But I get to pick,” he says sticking his tongue out at her.

“Psh, you’ve never had good taste in alcohol, bro. No offense though.”

“I’ve had my share of parties, little lady. Just leave it to me.”

“So when’re we going back to see Mr. Pearson?” questions Shelly.

“I don’t know. As soon as our hangovers are gone, tomorrow?” I reply, smirking.

“Where’s my keys at? The liquor store opens in like ten mins,” says David.

Lea pulls the keys out of her pocket and dangles them in front of his face. “How much you want ‘em?”

“How much you want to get drunk?”

“Right,” she hands them over and sits back down on the sofa.

I finish my cig and hear the cherry sizzle out when it hits the bottom of the can. I reach for the bag of fast-food and take out a biscuit. “It tastes like heaven.” Suddenly everyone is looking at me. “Did I say that out loud?”

“Uh, yeah,” says David while the girls burst out in laughter.

I set down the rest of the biscuit and head to the fridge in search of something to drink. I find some apple juice and pour into an empty glass sitting by the sink. For a guy, he’s got a pretty clean place. “Anyone else?” I ask, holding up the jug of juice. They all want some. I grab some more clean glasses and fill them to their rims. I place the left over juice back in the fridge and carefully carry all four glasses back to the table. Out of the corner of my eye I see Lea stick her foot out in front of me, trying to trip me. I stop right before her foot, kick it aside, and keep going, making my way back to my place on the couch.

Her jaw drops, “was just a joke.”

[sassygurlone]

I completely agree with Louise, I'm loving this!

[Total Light Storm]

This is amazing!!! I love this so much! You are soooo talented... I can't wait for the next chapter!

[Boxy]

Chapter 19:
“She’s not as rock hard as you think she is,” says David, as he steers from one winding road to another.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Lea. Everyone thinks she’s got a bad attitude. Thinks she’s only out for herself. Or think she’s just a bitch. She’s not.”

“I don’t think she’s a bitch.” David raises an eyebrow at me. “Okay, maybe just a little. But I don’t hold it against her. Life’s hard. It changes people, for better or worse.” There’s a long silence.

“She used to be an alcoholic, you know. Her dad used to beat the shit out of her. Not Rick, her real dad. The night her dad went to jail he blacked both her eyes, broke her wrist, and almost strangled her. It was one in the morning, and I called her to wish her a happy thirteenth birthday. She answered the phone crying so hard I couldn’t understand a word she was saying. I hung up on her and ran as fast as I could; 4 miles from my house to hers. No one answered the front door so I climbed in through her window. She looked like death, and smelled like whiskey. Drunk out her mind. I carried her through the house, right past her mom who was passed out on the sofa bed. I carried her all the way back to my house, praying to God she’d be okay.”

“I thought her dad went to jail for killing some kid who keyed his car.” I say, kind of confused.

“That’s how she tells it. Someone did key his car. But it was Lea’s mom who did it, not some kid. She found out he was cheating on her with an old girlfriend. He also didn’t kill anyone, not that I know of, anyway. Though he almost killed Lea.”

“Wow.” It’s all I can say.

“I woke up in the morning to her puking over the side of my bed, right smack-dab in my face. Talk about gross. I helped her to the bathroom, and she hurled for hours. Later that night, she disappeared. She came back at three in the morning, drunk as piss.”

“What did you do?”

“What could I do? I took care of her. She’s like a sister to me, we’ve known each other since grade school. She jumped a boy twice her size who tried to steal my brand new Batman jacket.” We both laugh at the thought of a little Lea beating someone up. “Anyway, she started drinking every single day. Stayed drunk, twenty-four hours a day, every day. Didn’t go to school, failed for the year. It got so bad, she would shake and puke and become this very angry person when ever she didn’t have a drink in her hand. I was so scared for her. It took me a year to get brave enough to tell her she had to stop. She had to no matter what. I couldn’t see her be the one to destroy herself, when everyone one else in the world was doing it enough for her.”

“Did she stop?”

“Eventually. It took her some time. She didn’t have many friends, and the ones she did have, other than me, were six years or more older than her, and drank just as much as she did. You can’t hang out with drunks and be the only sober one in the room. No one likes a buzz kill,” he says matter-of-factly. “It took some time, but she gave them up. Gave up the drunken life. I couldn’t have been any more proud. She chose my friendship over everyone else. She chose me over her addiction. She chose life. I couldn’t be happier for her.” We pull up outside the ABC store and he puts the car in park.

“You think it’s a good idea to be buying alcohol?” I say, concerned.

“She’ll be ok. Contrary to popular belief, she does have self-control. She’s just a smart ass. We’ve been drunk a few times together since she gave it up. I have faith in her - she’ll never get like that again. And don’t worry, she’s a very friendly drunk now,” he replies with a slight laugh. “Jose Cuervo sound good to you?”

“It’s my favorite. Peach Schnapps too. Mmm, that’s good stuff.”

“I’ll get right on it.” He exits the car while I stay seated and play with the radio dial.

I stop on a station playing Edwin McCain’s “I’ll Be” and sing along, “I’ll be captivated, I’ll hang from your lips instead of the gallows of heartache that hang from above.” I feel something poking at my hip. I adjust my seatbelt and find the corner of my picture sticking up. I pull it up and stare at it. I stare into the faces of my mom and dad, into my own face, into a time when life was perfect. When I had a family.

The car door opens and David returns to his seat passing a black plastic bag over to me. I put it on the floorboard, between my feet, and peer into the bag. Familiar bottles lay inside. He moves the gearshift and we are on our way back. The ride is mostly silent other than the few times David points out a window at something he finds interesting: a punch-buggy, a cute puppy tied up outside on a chain, and an amusing anti-drug billboard. We finally roll up to the apartment. Lea and Shelly are sitting on the stoop awaiting our arrival - or the arrival of alcohol.

“What took you so long?” asks Lea, her eyes darting around, looking for any sign of booze.

“Chill out, yo. It was only like 20 minutes.” David goes inside and puts the bag in the freezer. I walk up to Shelly who has a vacant expression on her face and I hug her tight, wishing I could make her feel better. I hear David, still inside, rustling through some junk, obviously searching for something. He emerges from the doorway with a shoe box in one hand, and a lighter in the other.

“What’re you doin’ Davi? Lightin’ your shoes on fire?” jokes Lea.

“Better,” he replies, opening the box to reveal assorted pyrotechnics. “I’ve been savin’ ‘em for a special occasion and I think this is as good as any. We should probably wait until it’s darker though. Then you’ll be able to see the ones that shoot up into the sky.” He puts the cover back on and scoots it just inside the doorway.

I walk up behind Lea and poke the box of cigarettes in her back pocket. She whirls around and I duck just before she swings her fist where the side of my head had been. “What the fuck Alli, you can’t just be sneakin’ up on people like that.”

“I’ll make a note of that.”

“Here Alli,” a pack of cigarettes flies my way and I snatch them out of the air. “You can have your own pack. You too,” David declares, tossing another box in the air. I flip my pack, top down, and smack it against my palm a few times before tearing the seal. I pull out the foil, and flip over the first cigarette in the box - the lucky. I pull out number two, catch a lighter flying through the air from David, and light up. Feels good.

“Let me go!” I can hear a girl screaming. Shoes pound on the floor as they wiz by the table I’m sitting at. I want to look up, see who it is, see what’s going on, what’s happening around me. I can’t. I won’t. The voice fades as it’s owner rushes out of the cafeteria.

Two older girls walk up behind me. I can feel their presence, their eyes drilling into the back of my skull. “She ain’t the first, and she sure as hell won’t be the last,” one of them whispers into my ear. I remain motionless, staring at my full tray. A single tear rolls from my eye and down my slightly bruised cheekbone. “You fuckin’ cry baby,” she hisses.

The other girl shoves my head forward from behind, “That little Lea bitch deserves everything she gets.” I bite my lip and whisk away the tear. The girls start walking away and I hear them making bets on how long it’ll take me to start crying hysterically, “the little ones always do.”

“Hello...?” I hear from beside me. Shelly. I focus my eyes. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing, just zoned out for a minute.”

“I’d say,” says Lea, pointing to the cigarette in my hand. Most of it burned away while I wasn’t paying attention.

We hang outside for the rest of the day, throwing frisbees, kicking around an old soccer ball, and spraying each other with cold water from the hose. The sun starts to set and David strolls around to the front of the apartment pulling a grill behind him. Shelly is inside spicing some chicken legs and peeling potatoes; she loves to cook and claims to do it well. David sends Lea inside to find lighter fluid, charcoal, and a grill lighter. I stand up and leave the porch, walking into the yard, and picking up all the things we left laying around. I bring everything inside as Lea emerges with the things David asked for. He lines charcoal in the bottom of the grill, douses the briquettes in fluid, and lights it. The flames shoot up with a loud whoosh. The fire dances and swirls around, each flame trying to fight back all the others. Shelly returns with a plate of raw chicken in her hands just as the flames start to die down.

[Boxy]

Just so everyone is aware. I'm not at school right now, and don't have internet access like I normally do. If this thread closes before I can add more to it, I will start a new thread and put the link to this one in it.
So keep your eyes pealed, this story is not over!

Thank you all for the positive feed back so far.

I would also like to ask, if there's any suggestions you have for the story. Anything you want to see happen with certain characters, something you want to know about or know more about.
Any and all ideas are welcome!

<3 Boxy