For some reason, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Probably because I've never written very many sad stories, so this was a fun new experience for me, though I'll have to make it up to Amelia later. <.< >.>
Main Rain Thread: topic13668.html
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Chapter 10: Movement
Craig and Amelia:
Amelia and Craig walked down the rainy streets of the city, side by side. She was still wearing his trench coat around her shoulders, and repeatedly asked Craig if he wanted it back. He derailed her attempts by pushing it back to her and saying that she needed it more at the moment. Craig insisted that she needed a place to sit down, so they started on their way to Jay’s.
“So what the hell happened?” Craig said on the way there.
Amelia wiped her eyes again and said with her head hung low, “My dad and I got into a huge fight. When I got back to the student parking lot at school, my car was completely trashed. He blamed me for it, argued with me, hit me…” She trailed off without finishing the story.
Craig shook his head, “Why would he say that it’s your fault? You weren’t the one trashing it. And you weren’t there to stop anything that happened to it. It‘s not like you wanted it to happen. Some people are just assholes.”
“Stop being so nice about it. I should never have gone to Friday Night Music with you. If I didn’t, my dad wouldn’t have had to hit me.”
“He didn’t have to do anything! Nobody ever has to do anything, really, in this stupid world of ours. The only reason we’re here is to live and let live.”
Amelia looked up at him with the same sad expression as before, and said, “He said that we’ll move before the end of this month.”
Craig’s eyes went into a sad look not dissimilar to Amelia’s. He then thought his way through several thoughts and said, “Things like that can always be fixed. If you want to stay here, then you can stay.”
“It’s not like I can just go up to a friends house and say, ’Hey! My dad is a psychotic jackass! Can I stay with you for a few years?’ It doesn’t work like that!” Her voice showed how stressed she was, as well as how close she was to crying again.
He laughed at the psychotic jackass comment, and said, “Think about where you are. Look around for a minute.”
Amelia did as she was told, and sluggishly gazed up at the dark skyscrapers and abandoned apartment buildings. The rain was streaming off of rooftops that had inefficient drainage systems, and storm drains remained in their nearly-flooded state. Her eyes hovered around lazily until they settle back down towards the street.
“Just think about it. What is it that people in this city like the most?”
She looked back up at him and said after a pause, “The rain…?”
“No, we get to live for free. Nobody cares when or where anyone lives around here. The only thing that we really have to worry about is getting caught by the police or some such nonsense. Even someone of your upper-middle class greatness would be welcome. Here, living is free.”
Before Amelia could reply, they were out in front of Jay’s. Just as they stepped up on the curb and onto the sidewalk, one of the cars that were seen every now and then in the city came careening by. It ripped through a puddle, and splashed it onto the two of them on the sidewalk. Craig got hit with the filthy water around his chest and shoulders, and Amelia got splashed right in her face.
“Oh, come on!” Craig yelled in the driver’s general direction, shaking his fist, “Learn to drive, jackass!” He whipped his arms towards the ground in an attempt to get the dirty water off, but to no avail. Not even the rain seemed to help clean it off. “You okay, Amelia?”
She simply stood where she was, her hair soaked and sticking to her face as she once again began to shed tears. “Damn it!” She yelled as she put her hands over her eyes.
Craig went straight to her side, “Hey, hey, don’t you go crying on me again. Let’s get inside.” He guided her into the diner with his hands on her shoulders.
The door creaked as they entered, the tiny bell rang, and a man from behind the counter yelled out, “Welcome!” as he came out of the kitchen. The man was well-built, and wore a tight gray shirt underneath a dirty smock. He was Hispanic, and had black hair along with a black moustache.
“Hey, Jay,” Craig said as he guided Amelia to a seat up near the front of the diner.
“Craig! What happened to her?” Jay said as he climbed over the counter to get to them.
Craig managed to set her down in a chair, though she still had her hands on her face. “She’ll be fine. She just needs something to drink. Something strong.” He tilted his head so that she could possibly see him between her fingers. “Hey, do you drink coffee?” She nodded her head slightly. “Yeah, get her some strong coffee, will ya, Jay?”
“Okay,” Jay went through a door that led back into the kitchen, and the sounds of him sifting around could be heard. The ceiling of the kitchen had numerous burnt spots, and there were even holes in some parts. “I can’t find any…” He said to himself, then called up through a hole in the ceiling to the second floor. “¡Jose! ¿Dónde está el café?”
“¡Ah! ¡Espere un minuto!” Called a familiar voice from the small storeroom above the kitchen. Stomps of big feet walking around the upper level could be heard until a hand holding a bag of coffee beans extended down from one of the holes.
“¡Ah, si!” Jay said as he took them from the hand.
Amelia had no idea what they were saying, and she decided not to listen to them until they started speaking a language that he could understand.
“¿padre, que está aquí?”
“Es Craig y un amigo.”
“¿qué?” The stomps were once again heard from the second floor, and it wasn’t long before Jose came out of the door that led to the stairs. “Craig!”
“Hey, Jose,” Craig said, somewhat feebly.
Jose saw Amelia sitting silently at the end of the table and said, “Isn’t that the chick you brought to Music last night?”
Craig stood up and led Jose away by the shoulder, and spoke in Spanish, “<Yeah, listen. She’s had a really, really, really rough day, so I don’t wanna hear any wise cracks outta you as long as she’s here. Got it? The only jokes she can take are mine, apparently.>”
“<Okay, man, but what the hell happened to her?>”
“<It’s apparently such a long story that is has to be said in one word. ‘Dad.’>”
“Damn…”
“<Anyway, she could probably use something hot to eat, too. She just needs to calm down and everything’ll be fine for the time being.>”
“<I’ll go and get something.>” Jose walked off and jumped over the counter in the same way that his father did. He opened the door to the kitchen and disappeared inside. In the meantime, Craig walked back over to Amelia, who had finally taken her hands from over her eyes, though she still wore a solemn expression and faced straight down at the tabletop before her.
“Hey, you need to calm down, okay?” He tried to put a hand on he shoulder, but it was slapped away before he could touch her.
“I am calm,” She said so unconvincingly that Craig showed a sympathetic smile.
“Just so you know, you’re shaking. Take a deep breath and drink some coffee when it comes.” He glanced up at the clock on the wall, and saw that it was almost six o’clock. The clock’s ticks were the only noises in the diner, aside from Jay and Jose working in the kitchen. Only a few of the dozen ceiling fans managed to whirl around at a decent enough speed to make a wind that slowly dried their clothes and hair.
After a few minutes of silence, Amelia took a deep breath, sat up straight, and for the first time in awhile, looked Craig in the eyes. “There, I’m calm. Happy?”
“Not entirely. Is there anything else you really need right now?”
She paused as Jay came and set a coffee mug on their table in front of Amelia. She picked it up with both hands, the warmth of the mug helped her hands get their feeling back, and heated up her insides as she took the first sip.
“No, this is fine. I just need to take a nap or something.” She slid her hand down her face with tired eyes.
“You slept until late in the afternoon. If that’s not enough sleep, then I don’t know what is.”
Instead of retaliating like she usually did, Amelia simply set her mug down and said, “I just don‘t want to make my dad angry anymore, you know?”
“He’s just the kind of guy who doesn’t listen. It’s not your fault.” Craig took a sugar packet from the little basket of sugars and creams that came with the coffee and emptied it into his mouth. Amelia let out a little laugh, and finally smiled for the first time that day. “There, that’s a better look for you. You should wear it more often.” He poured some more sugar on his tongue.
Amelia paused with an almost-content smile on her face, looked at the mug of coffee in her hands and said, “Shut up, you idiot…”
Even though the two of them managed to carry on a small conversation, it did little to drive away the heavy feeling in Amelia’s chest. It was the kind of feeling one gets when the rent is due and there’s not a cent to your name. She was no longer welcome in her home the way she used to. She was now only welcome home to meet up with another long argument, and to do her schoolwork before going to bed.
As the night began to edge towards eight o’clock, the fact that they had been in the diner for two hours became noticed. It had gotten even darker outside, and the rain hadn’t let up at all, to Craig’s pleasant surprise. Amelia’s mood remained unchanged, even then. They thanked Jose and Jay for the food and coffee, and went about their less-than-merry way.
“So, want to go back to my place, or to one of your friends’ houses?” Craig asked her.
After a pause for thought, Amelia said feebly, “I’ll call Jacky and go to her house. I was pretty much supposed to go to her house, anyway.” She forced a half-hearted smile.
“What about your school stuff? I never saw you get it from your car or bring it to my place.”
“I left it all in my locker. I expected to get everything after the football game last night, but we went to Friday Night Music and got me a concussion instead.” Despite the sarcasm, her tone remained near-monotone whenever she spoke.
“Then you should call her and ask her to drive you over there.” They stopped at the corner of an intersection to let some cars pass by. The two of them had walked into the more heavily-populated outer edge of the city, where the more lower middle-class families lived.
Amelia shook her head. “Her family doesn’t use cars. They all have Vespas.”
“Really? Well, that’s less than convenient. Does she live closer to here than the school?”
“Yeah, she lives about a mile closer.”
“How many Vespas do they have?”
“I think that they have around six or seven.”
“Really, now? Then we should go over to her place and ask her to get your stuff at the school. Sound good?”
“I can get them myself. She’s taught me how to drive a Vespa.”
“I won’t let you drive anything as long as you’re like this.”
She wasn’t thrilled, and let out a small growl. “Okay, then what’ll you do after you drop me off?”
That had never occurred to Craig until just then. “I’ll stick around before I go ahead and head on home. But I’ll be checking on you from now on. You still don’t look too good from your little skirmish with your dad.”
Jacky:
“Do you think that we left a little too soon?” Jacky said through her cell phone’s wireless head set. She laid down on her bed wearing a tank top and jeans, fiddling with her phone’s functions as she spoke with it. Her room consisted of her bed, her desk, her dresser, and a small TV. It was so messy with clothes, magazines, old textbooks, and trash that there was no evidence that there was ever a carpet.
Sean answered back from the other side. “Probably. You’ve seen Bernard mad. It’s a bit scary, and that’s not an exaggerated claim.”
“Didn’t he chase you and Richard around the house with a roller because he suspected that at least one of you guys of going out with her?”
He paused, “I’ve tried to block that out.”
“Heheh. Sorry. Either way, he’s probably gone berserk by now. I’m a bit worried.”
“Then you should call her. Her number’s not on my cell, so I can’t do it myself.”
Jacky let out a sigh. “It’s late, but I’ll try her cell.” There was a static sound on the other end. Sean’s words were broken and she could hardly hear him at all over the noise. “Sean? Hey, you’re breaking up, pal.” She sat up in her bed and looked out the window at a streetlamp to see a torrent of rain lit up as if they were moving neon lights. On the headset was a kind of muffled clicking sound, followed by three beeps and the phone voice lady telling her to dial again.
Jacky took the ear bud out of her ear and said, “Piece of crap,” As she threw the cell phone into the bowels of her room. Just as it hit the opposite wall and landed on a pile of dirty socks, as if on cue, there was a knock at the door downstairs.
“Jacky! Could you get that?” Her mother called from another room on that floor.
Jacky grudgingly heaved herself out of her room and started downstairs. Her house was generally comprised of warm-colored walls and a lot of clutter. Within the tight loop of the hardwood spiral staircase laid an impressive collection of old furniture and unlabeled boxes, along with a coat hanger that had a thin white shawl draped over it like a bad Halloween costume.
The door was knocked on several more times, though slightly harder and more frantic than before.
“I’m coming!” She yelled as she jogged the rest of the way over to it. She opened the door and was immediately met with two familiar faces, drenched in the downpour.
“Mind if we come in?” Craig asked with a somewhat forced smile. Amelia stood next to him with her head hung low and one hand holding onto the bottom of Craig’s shirt like a child.
“Wh-what the hell are you guys doing out this late? Get in!” Jacky led them in and helped Amelia out of Craig’s trench coat.
“She tried to call you, but the line was busy or something, so we just kinda showed up.”
Jacky hit herself in the forehead with the palm of her hand, “Damn. Sorry about that. I was talking to Sean. Anyway, what happened?”
Due to Amelia’s apparent inability to tell the tale, Craig explained to Jacky what Amelia explained to him. In the meantime, Amelia was sent to take a shower and get out of her dirty clothes. Jacky brought Craig into the downstairs bathroom, sat him on a stool, and commenced blow-drying him, since there was only one shower.
“To tell you the truth, I’m not as surprised as I thought I’d be in this situation,” Jacky said as she tossed a towel in Craig’s direction once she finished drying him.
“Yeah, I’m not too surprised, either, since this kind of stuff goes on all the time in the city,” Craig said rather matter-of-factly. The two of them sat down at opposite sides of a coffee table that was placed between two couches in the living room. The brightly-painted walls, family portraits, and working indoor plumbing all made Craig feel uncomfortable, thought the messiness made him feel a bit better.
“So,” Jacky said, leaning forward and resting her head on her hands, “Are you gonna spend the night, too?”
Craig sat in his seat with a slouch. “No, I’ll be going home after you come back with Amelia’s stuff.”
Jacky’s mind instantly mixed several different possibilities and burst out, “Is she moving out of her house or something?”
Craig covered his ears until she was done. “No, I mean her stuff from the school. She left it there after the football game.”
“Oh, and her spending the night at your place is what messed everything up, huh?”
“Just a bit. You could even blame me for her fight with her dad.”
Jacky shook her head. “No, when she’s grounded, she can’t go anywhere but school and home. She would’ve gotten in trouble just for going to the game.”
“But I doubt that it would’ve been as bad if it was just about the game.”
She shook her head once again, “You really don’t know her dad, do you?”
Amelia:
She stepped out of the shower and grabbed a white towel from the rack that hung from the wall. Her hair was plastered to her scalp from the water, as if she had just gotten back from a rainstorm, and small trickles of water dripped off of her naked body as she dried herself off. Her hand made quick work wiping clean the foggy mirror so that she could observe herself. Her hair was stringy, she didn’t have the prettiest face, and she wasn’t particularly skinny. For an instant, she was back at the hotel room, wondering what to do about the situation she was in. Run and hide? Stand and fight?
Just as she was about to cry again, there was a knock at the door.
“Amelia,” Jacky’s mom said from the other side of the door, “I brought you some of Jacky’s clothes.”
“Oh, thanks, Tasha,” Amelia said with an almost sad tone as she wrapped the towel around herself and opened the door. On the other side of the door, she was met with a tall woman with long wavy gray hair. She had many age marks on her face and wore a cross necklace around her neck. Her general dress demeanor made her look almost like a hippy.
“Here you go. Go ahead and get dressed,” Tasha said as she handed some folded clothes to her.
Amelia silently took them and closed the door to the bathroom.
Tasha stood outside in the hall and said, “So will you be spending the night or the rest of the weekend?”
“Probably for the rest of my life as a minor,” Amelia said, which made Tasha laugh.
“Well, you only have about another year to go, so I wouldn’t really mind.”
“Thanks.”
Tasha leaned against the wall across from the bathroom. “So, watch any good movies lately?”
Amelia paused before answering, “Not really, but I did watch ‘Hook’ with everyone a couple weeks ago.”
“The one with Robin Williams? I love that movie!”
“Yeah, it’s pretty good…”
Despite Tasha’s attempts at starting a friendly conversation, Amelia remained silent. In the hallway, Tasha could only stare at the light underneath the bathroom door before Amelia finally opened it and stepped out. She wore one of Jacky’s favorite shirts, which had a big blue star on the chest, and some jeans with the knees torn out.
Tasha smiled and said, “So, do you feel any better?”
Amelia let out a long sigh, eyes closed, and her shoulders slacked lazily, “No…”
Tasha walked up in front of Amelia and examined the girl’s beaten cheek. “Oh, Amelia, he really hit you hard this time, didn’t he?”
Back in the living room, Craig and Jacky sat in silence, awaiting Amelia’s return. The silence felt almost like a musk that surrounded them like a smog. It was so unbearable that Craig felt the need to crack his knuckles to break the silence, though it was too short lived to have any effect.
It wasn’t long before they heard light footsteps coming down the stairs. Craig stood up from the couch when he saw Amelia lazily walking downstairs and walked over to her. He seemed to tower over her tiny frame even more than he usually did.
“So… you okay?” He asked, a hopeful tone in his voice.
She closed her eyes as she approached him, and rested her forehead on his chest. That sympathetic look from before appeared on his face, and he looked over in Jacky’s direction as if asking for help. Taking a hit, Jacky went up to Amelia and hugged her friend, allowing Amelia’s head to rest on her shoulder.
“It’ll all work out, Amelia,” She said reassuringly, “It’s okay.”
Amelia let out a soft sob into Jacky’s shoulder and said, “No, it’s not.”
“Come on, I know that things look bad right now, but--”
Amelia lifted her head from Jacky’s shoulder and said, “No, just shut up and listen!” She got free of her friend’s embrace, and continued. “You remember when I moved her a couple years ago, right?” Jacky nodded, while it was all news to Craig. “Me and my dad moved that time because of the same reasons. At one point, I practiced driving without him, and got hit by another car. A few weeks after that, my grades started to drop and we got into more and more arguments. Then he said that we were moving. He literally had to drag me away from my friends and into the car…”
Craig put his hands in his pockets and wore an annoyed look, “So what? I’ll bet that he can’t do that a second time. If anything, we should be taking you away from him.”
“But what about his custody of her? There’s still all of the technical stuff to deal with,” Jacky pointed out, clearly wanting to build on the idea and help to make it work.
“Fuck all that! You have evidence that could pin his ass in jail if you took him to court or whatever!”
Jacky shook her head in disdain, “No, that’s what all of his bribing money is for. How the hell d’you think he was the one who got custody of her when her parents divorced?”
Craig gritted his teeth.
“Sadly, it might be hopeless at this point. Her dad’s too pissed off to change his mind.”
Another thick silence descended upon the house, with only the wound of the rain on the rooftop making any sound. Craig’s fingers twitched and snapped in indignation as he vigorously brainstormed on what could be done to remedy the situation, if at all.
Amelia looked up at them with a small smile and said, “Really, guys, thanks for your help tonight. I feel better now… but it looks like I’ll just have to move again, by the looks of it, so--”
“Oh, for god’s sake, quit that already!” Craig shouted, causing Amelia to cringe. “You manage to throw something back at your dad for once, but now you’re just gonna give up? Are you really going to say, ‘it was nice knowing you!” and leave? That’s bull! He’s the one that’s the problem, not you! So stop acting like everything’s your fault!”
“Then… then what do you expect me to do?” Amelia shot back.
“Fight back! Fight back and tell him that you’re staying here! He thinks that as long as you follow whatever he says, everything’s fine and dandy! But it’s not! Are you really gonna do whatever the hell he says just because he’s your dad? Just because a few greedy pricks in a courtroom say that he has authority over you, you’ll just go along with it? That’s not the Amelia I know, or were you just putting on a strong front all this time? In reality, are you really this spineless?”
A sudden sting was felt hard on his cheek, which was immediately followed by Amelia shouting out, “You think it’s that easy? I can’t just kick him out and call it a day!”
Craig rubbed his cheek before saying, “Right there, Amelia… that is how you fight back.”
“Shut up! It’s your fault that all of this happened in the first place!”
“Why do you think I’m trying to help?”
Before she could say anything more, she stopped herself. He didn’t deserve to be yelled at for wanting to help. Craig headed for the front door, massaging his cheek. He snatched his trench coat from the coat rack and slipped his arms through the sleeves in one smooth, routine motion.
He opened the door to the downpour of rain and said, “I may know someone who can help you out. I’ll see if I can find her. I’ll let you know by Monday.” He stepped outside and shut the door without another word.
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A/N: Okay, that is officially one of the most depressing (and longest) chapters I've ever written. When I began this story, I never really aimed for it to me this angsty on Amelia's part. Luckily, there are happier times to come, so look forward to it!
Remember to give a good critique on what I may be doing wrong! I'm always open to a good critique by a good critiquer!
Your one major problem that I could see is dialogue punctuation.
