Circumstantial Formation

Chris

Things on 'er mind... I was righ', she 'ad a lot goin' on in 'er purdy 'ead. But me? I dint kno' 'ow to talk to 'er, ne'er been too good at talkin' and answerin' questions about mysen was 'ard. People dint ask me questions like tha' but she did. She was a real nice girl an' it made me sad to think what we done to 'er.

"I jus' followin' orders," I said with a shrug. I don' think it was the righ' answer. I never know the righ' answer.

"You wasn't told to untie me," she said back an' she looked right at me an' I felt almost like she looked through me, into... into somewhere else. It was real strange. I shrugged an' let the quiet take me. I like quiet, it's real calming like. Then I said:

"I gots a mind too yeh know."

Oisin

I left the alley and headed back out onto the dark streets. It started to rain so I pulled the hood of my sweatshirt up. I swiped some food on the way back towards the forest.

I found the storm cellar that we would be staying in for the night. The other two girls weren't back yet, but I wasn't worried, they could handle themselves. I opened the creaky wooden doors and jumped in making a soft landing. Chris and one of the captives ere still awake.

I tossed the food to Chris then walked to the back of the storm cellar. I found a couch and layed on it closing my eyes for what felt like seconds but must have been hours. Becfa was shaking my awake and sunlight was streaming in through the cracks in the doors.

I sat up swiftly and headed up to the cars. I was a little out of it still but we needed to move again to make it to our final destination by nght fall.

Martha-

"I gots a mind too, yeh know," Chris said, looking at me hopefully.

I smiled at him. Past his dialect- which I could never trace- he was smart enough, and I always liked to think there was more than met the eye.

"I'm sure you do," I replied softly, and the silence lapped around us again. It wasn't awkward, more companionable. Chris seemed reluctant to break it. I inspected my nails as my thoughts whirred to themselves. I knew our captors backgrounds well enough, but I always wanted to know why he got caught up in all this, why he wasn't somewhere doing good. He maybe wasn't the brightest, but he was still smart, and kind. He wasn't a killer...

"Wha' you thinkin' now?" he asked. It was his perpetual curiosity. It wasn't just tonight he had asked me, but often over the past two years. He asked everybody sometimes, and maybe it was vanity, but it seemed like he asked me the most. This hadn't been the first time we had sat up awake.

"Tables," I replied, which was partly true. "I miss tables. Eating at them, I mean. Now we just seem to sit on the floor."

He grinned. "Tha's a funny thing for a gurl to be thinkin' no mistake," he said.

I laughed, hearing how absurd it must have seemed. "I guess it is," I said, and he laughed too.

The door opened and Oísín came tramping in, apparently in a bad mood. He flung a package at Chris.

"Is that..."

"Chinese," he finished, opening it. "You want a bit?"

I nodded happily. He opened the bag and found a carton of noodles. "I ain' too fon' of fancy food," he said.

"This isn't fancy, far from it," I said. "Try a bit..."

The meal finally made me sleepy, and warm. Comfort food, Jen would call it. "Christopher, I think I'm going to sleep," I told him. "Goodnight."

"Goodnigh'," he replied. I settled down. Jen was still snoring and I snuggled against her, hiding a little smile on my lips, and comforted by the fact that I was certain his gaze was still on me as I drifted.

I keep trying to post, but I just can't think of anything. Suggestions?

Hmm. Maybe we think of a side plot? Like, have a rescue team help the girls escape and then it's a hunt to get them back? Or one could fall badly ill and there's the whole seek/ bnot seek medical help?

I feel like I should post on this...

Becca--

She woke Oisin with a slender hand shaking him ever so slightly. She could be a jerk when she wanted to be, but she was often softer with him than the others. More respective, she assumed, as he had helped her out often in the past.

He headed up to the cars and she followed him silently. Oisin opened the door and reached in for something as Becca leaned against the back of the car, "We can't just hold them forever, you know."

Oisin pulled out of the car slowly and looked at Becca, saying nothing and showing no emotion on his face.

Becca wasn't really sure if she should continue or not. She didn't want him to think she was disloyal, because she wasn't, or that she was questioning this. But, it was taking a toll.

"It's getting too expensive, Oisin. And they are going to start thinking we're bluffing soon, anyway. You saw in the woods yesterday...they are testing their boundaries."

More silence, but Becca found herself unable to shut up.

"We had this plan, remember? Switch places. It was going to be so easy--like taking candy from a baby. It's going nowhere, Oisin. We have to make a move one way or the other."

Oisin looked off into the distance, leaning over the roof of the car. Becca could tell he was contemplating something, but what...she had no idea. Becca sighed and crossed one leg over the other, brown curls falling around her face as she focused on the ground below her: broken concrete.

Chris

It was gettin' teh be late an' there'd been no word yet. The girls were still sleepin', e'en Alicia hadn't woken yet an' I liked the quiet so I let 'er be. I woulda been feelin' drowsy myself except it war a cold night an' I could feel the wind comin' in through the 'oles in ma clothes. The food didn't sit well with me, I don't like no fancy food 'cos it always gives me an upseh stomach.

I looked the other way when Alicia opened 'er eyes, lookin' pretty mad that she'd falled asleep and I'd done nothin'. But if I'd woke 'er, she'd of been madder so it was best all round. I watched Martha breathing - real gentle like - while 'licia fixed her 'air. The tramp of boots said someone was comin' our way. It turned out teh be Oisin and Becca.

"Wake them up and get them in the car," Oisin ordered. It seemed a shame teh do that bu' I dint have a choice so I shook the girl's shoulders. Martha's skin felt sort of nice undeh my big, stupid 'and. It was soft and squishy, like my old bear's use teh be. Warm too. Sort o' nice teh touch. I wondered if she minded me touchin' 'er. I wondered if we really 'ad to kill 'em. It had made sense at the time but now it dint seem like a good idea. Mebbe it was wrong.