Stay, beautiful baby
I hope you
Stay, American baby
American baby
-Dave Matthews Band (Stand Up) “American Baby”
When her eyes opened slightly that morning, sharp rays of sunlight began to leak into the room slowly and she sighed. Her eye was still slightly bruised but at least it wasn’t still swollen shut. She heard the room door open and then close. A week had passed from when she’d been at the hospital. No word from Thoman, no word yet from Detective Williams. She’d have her father call him. After he did tell her not to do anything and that if she needed anything to wait till he arrive. She was curious on if they had any leads on him yet.
She felt the bed go down as she smiled absently. A hand touched her cheek gently then she heard a soft sigh.
“Why?” he asked. His voice, so soft and so…so…she didn’t know. Something was in it. Something she hadn’t heard in a long time. Her mother almost never had it in her beautiful voice. Was it disappointment? Disappointment.
“Why do beautiful woman like you don’t tell anyone? You continue to stay and act as if it isn’t real. As if the abuse isn’t real. Anna…what did you see in him?”
“The reason we stay is when we say, when we admit the situation is real, then it’s real. But when we don’t’, it’s only pretend. It’s almost as if it’s a dream that you’ll never have again unless you think about it.” She said starring at the window as sunlight streamed through the cracked blinds. Kevin reached over and opened the blinds. The light blinded her and she shielded away. Sitting up she sighed.
“Man that was bright.” She mumbled. He looked at her and she could only face him for a second. Starring at her in a hard way, she felt herself lower her gaze.
“Anna, do you love yourself? Did you love yourself?”
“No.” she said softly as she began to play with the covers.
“Why?”
“Because I thought you didn’t love me.”
“Oh God…” he whispered and he embraced her into his arms. Tears pinched at the corners of his eyes and he suddenly felt old. He felt weird. He felt wrong. He’d never forget her words. He wanted another chance. Just another chance. One more chance to make things right.
“I’m sorry Anna.” He said into the cloth of her pajamas. Breaking the hug he starred at her, “But after I came…”
“It was a way of life dad. I was used to it.” She said and she sighed slouching. She hugged her arms around herself.
“I know Thoman will come back for me. He won’t be in jail for long if they ever find him.”
“Fuck Thoman.” He said through clenched teeth and she looked at him surprised. Giggling she looked away. He sighed and chuckled a little.
“I’m sorry for my language.” She smiled. That was the goal. A smile. Well, at least he wasn’t bad at everything.
“Anna,” he said pulling her close with sincere eyes, “I want you to forever know, “No matter what happens. No what ever happens. I love you. I’ll love you forever. I’ll love Brian forever. I’ll love you forever and I’ll try my hardest to be there for you and Brian.” He whispered to her and pressed his lips against her cheek with a soft expression, “And don’t you ever forget that.”
Bluefire Productions
Copyrighted 2005©
All Rights Reserved
Title: California
She sucked on the cigarette as the air whipped her fiery red hair around in the sharp winds that coursed through the alleys between tall buildings. She heard soft clicks of nearing footfalls coming down the dark, trashy alley toward them. The foot steps stopped in front of her and a tall man dressed in a trench coat stood starring at her. It did not see the dark silhouette of another person sitting against the ground with his back against the old, cracked red brick building.
“You want something?” she asked as she chucked the small burning cigarette to the ground. She smothered the butt underneath her shoe and she pulled another from her pants pocket. He heard something move and his gaze quickly snapped to the ground. A book bag was pushed from on someone’s lap to the ground. He assumed it was a boy.
“How old are you kids?” he asked and she inhaled sharply and let the smoke dance from her nostrils.
“And why the hell does that matter?” she asked with a small, sly smile. She quickly batted her eyes at him. When he kept glaring she straightened up.
“You like it up the ass. He’s right there.” She said pointing at him sitting on the ground. He saw the boy take a swig of something in a brown bag. The boy stood up.
“I charge seventy.” She said, “He charges one hundred.”
“I’m not looking for sex.” He said and he reached in his pocket and pulled out something that was hard to see at first but he saw it and he knew what it was and what it meant.
“Pia,” he said softly, “run.” The man snatched her arm. She kicked his knee and he nearly buckled. His hands released her arm and the boy threw the brown bag with the bottle at him. It was blocked by an arm. He knew he’d need stitches for that.
“Damn it you kids stop! Police!” he yelled as he ran after them. He dragged her from the alley and she followed his lead into the streets where they were oblivious to the sharp horns and abrupt brakes. The both heard the yells for them to stop and they ran faster.
“Stop!”
“Come on Pia!” he yelled and he yanked her so hard that she had to jump to keep balance. He led her across another busy intersection as the two cut through the bitter cold night. He pulled her into a path in Central Park and he jumped pulling them both into a bush in the forested area of the large park. Several seconds later, above their quiet panting, they could hear the slowing steps of the familiar shoes that had walked down the alley earlier. They both heard him mutter a cure and then the quick foot steps disappeared.
She let a rush of air refill her burning lungs. She panted hard as she leaned against his chest. He hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her red head. He could still smell the cigarette smoke freshly radiating off of her as she buried her head in his chest.
“God, Alex.” She whispered and he kissed her head, “I was so fucking scared I couldn’t move until like a second later.” She said, “You think he recognized us?”
“I don’t know.” He said stroking her hair and she eased on him sighing.
“I can’t believe we were that close to the police.” She whispered. He pulled her off the ground.
“What are we doing?” she questioned sharply.
“We’ve got to leave Pia.”
“Why AJ?”
“They’re gonna come back Pia. We’ve got to go.” He said and he pulled her from the forested area.
“What about our stuff?” she asked and he shook his head.
“We can’t go back. We gotta leave.” He said and she pulled her arm from him.
“I want his blanket Alex.” She said and he groaned.
“Pia.” He sighed.
“I need it AJ please.” She begged.
“Fine. We grab the bags, we can’t Pia. He’s probably called his little friends by now and they’re all over our stuff.” He said and he looked at her, “Look Pia, they’re not going to throw his blanket away. We gotta leave now and I swear to God we will come back.” He said and she nodded.
Alexander James McLean was thirteen when he ran away. His mom couldn’t keep enough money from drugs to support the family. She died in an alley and AJ as they called him in the streets decided what he’d do. He’d seen the foster kids get picked on by his friends and he didn’t want to be next. So that night as he watched his mother die, he left running on the first
Title: In The Rough
He came home that night and checked his answering machine for the first time in two weeks. Seven calls were from his mom, two from his dad about not returning his mom's, three from brother John about not returning his first call and mom and dads and then there was a blank one. Soft sobbing
