Young Writers Society

Chapter 1

"Ay, Rose. Got a smoke?" I ask my partner, shaded in the shadow made by the buzzing sign at the old gas station. The only noises are the buzz and flicker of the old sign, the highway, and the sound of our own breathing.

"Sure," She says and holds out the box.

"Nice night, better than we been havin' lately," I said, lighting the cigarette. Rose nods, watching the cars whiz by.

"Gets pretty damn cold out here. We aught'a get some otha' place," I say. She nods again slowly.

Her head tilts slightly in the way of the oncoming cars. Her eyes go wide with urgency. I know what this means and I jump up. A car turns into the gas station. Lucky us. I smile at Rose and walk in front of the car. Luckily the guy driving was a slight speeder. At the last second, as he slammed on the brakes, I jumped back and fell on the ground. I smile to myself, my limp arm concealing my face. My other hand is under my body on the cold ground, feeling in my pocket for my switchblade.The man turns on his headlights brighter and jumps out.

Stupid man. I think. Quit freaking out. It's not like you killed me. I chuckle silently to myself. They always fall for it.

"Ma'am! I'm so sorry, how careless of me! Can you get up? Are you hurt? I really am very sorry," The man says while helping me up.

I fake a grunt of pain and touch my left shoulder. "I think I broke somethin'..." I say, keeping my head low so my long hair shields my face. I reach in my pocket casually and ease out my blade. Suddenly, I whip my head sideways, to catch a glance of my target. His arm is right in front of me. I slash his arm and slap my hand on his mouth. I give Rose the signal and she comes to take over my knife. She had her hair barretted across her face, to hide her own features. I ran over to his car and Rose dragged him along.

The sirine is close now, but we are already slamming our doors shut. I hit the gas and we lurch around the corner and onto the speeding highway. "Looks like we be in another chase, ay' Rose?" I say cutting people off in the lanes, horns honking and fading as we whiz past. Rose finally manages to duck tape his mouth securely and situate him in the back seat with her, holding his arms behind his back.

His eyes are wild with fear. How interesting. I never have been put in a spot like that. I think. "Ay man, how is it, gettin' your car jacked? AY! I been talkin' to you! Don't you look away, I'll knife ya' again!"

He looked into my eyes for a millisecond, and I saw defeat and sadness. So sad the way these inferior's brains take a car jack. Soon they gonna make me cry. I think.

"Rose hand me the bag," I say.

"Well, don't be lookin' back here! You gonna make us crash!" Rose hissed and handed me the bag we shared. Since we move around so much, we have to keep our few possessions ready to go.

"Fine, jus' don't be gettin' in one of your moods. S'not what we be needin' right about now." I say, not looking back this time. "You check behind, you be seein' the Popo?"

She turned her head to look back through the trunk window. "Nope, they be goin' slow today. Not complainin' though."

"Not even lights? God, what be holdin' dem' up!? I thought we was actually in a chase here! Not follow the lead'a!" I shout behind me. Twenty over the speed limit. The sirine begins to fade away.

"Didn't think we be gettin' way 'dat easy," Rose commented. "Still not complainin'."

"Well then, I suggest you stop sayin' dat'. Is gettin' on my nerves. I think we all thanks-ful, least not complainin'," I say after struggling to get my gun out of the bag and into my belt with still a hand on the wheel. "I be takin' the next exit. Looks like it be goin' to... New Jersey."

"We goin' to Jersey? Ha! It's been months since we been to no city, let be a HUGE one likes New York?!" Rose says, slightly excited. "We's belong in the city. the big city."

"I's not so sure. Don't you thinks' Jersey and New York will be's in contacts wit' each 'others? At least wif the criminal records? We be on dat' list," I say and stretch one hand to the top of the car. "Dis' high of individual crimes on the list! We can't go there!" I say.

"... I get your logic here, but I jus' wanna see it. Could we at least jus' drive on through? To the closest air port in New york? Please I be beggin' ya' Lilly! I got to see it!" She begs.

"Actually, that air port idea be a good one," I say thoughtfully. "Why don't we do dat. It'd be a good time for us to get some good dough. We not talkin' thirty bucks, we talkin' thousands a day! We'll be rich in no time."

"How is we supposed to contact Chris, then? I wasn' thinkin' bout' that... He won't be knowin' where we is," Rose says.

"Oh shut up. We jus' use one o' those pay phones. It anint to prob," I ignore her. "Chris aint no idiot, he be having his land line wif him. S'not like he can pick it up n' walk wif it."

"Are you sure you want to go back to the city?" Rose asks. "After what happened..."

"I know what happened," I say, turning on the exit to New Jersey. "Charlie taught me enough for me to know not to hold back from instincts because of feelings. Feelings are a weakness, Rose, you know that."

"Yeah, he did."

I remember while I drive. The pain it all caused me. Because of feelings I almost died! What have I learned about love and loyalty, All nothing but lies! I remember perfectly, that rainy day at the tiny park in New York. Far away from our apartment in the big city my mother left me.

"I have to leave you here, Lilly. It will all be okay in the end." Mother said.

"But mommy, will you come back for me? Should I wait here, mommy?" I said in my little voice.

"Yes, stay here. You'll be safe enough. I have to go now, I love you, Lilly." Mother said, and turned away.

"Mommy!" I cried and tried to grab for her sleave, but she had already walked out of range. Tears started running down my face along with the soaking rain. "Where are you going, Mommy!?"

"Lilly! Stay here!" She said firmly, not turning to look back. Her head hung slightly in the rain pouring down, clutching her bag.

I toddled after her a few steps, but slipped and fell in the mud. "Mommy!" I cried.

"Get up, you're a strong girl." She said getting farther away. "You can survive, my Tiger Lilly."

She was gone. I sat crying in a puddle, the rain pouring down on me. I fell asleep curled up in a ball, in the rain. I woke up the next morning, almost dry, in the mud. I collected the backpack mother left with me and set off across the street in the direction I thought I saw my mother go the night before. I found a big box outside the bakery and set it up across the street from the park, but hidden from view by the garbage can and parking meters. I could see the park so that if my mother returned, I could see and go with her. She didn't come for almost a week and I was very hungry, having only eaten scraps of bread, dumped in the dumpster in the back of the bakery.

It was another rainy day. A middle-aged man came up beside my box and peaked inside. I gritted my teeth, angry at the man for being nosey. My anger seeps away, back into my heart, and sadness replaces it. I turn away and grit my teeth, trying to look strong, but tears escape my eyes, despite my volition.

"Go ahead," I said, still acting out the strong player. "Do what you want to me. I have to stay here. I want to see you TRY!"

"No, no, little child," He said to me as he pulled out a small parcel from his trench coat. "I've come to help you. Whether you choose to take my hand is entirely up to you, my dear."

I wiped my tears away quickly and turned my head slightly so I could see his face. It was the look of a father trying to tempt a child away from the playground. The child does not want to leave, but the parent eventually gets what they wish.

"Poor girl, I have a gift for you," He said holding out the parcel.

I cautiously reached out and took it. I opened it up and looked inside. Two slices of moist bread were inside. I looked up at the man, wondering why he was giving me food.

He chuckled. "Now, what might your name be?"

I looked up into his gray eyes. "Lilly."

"What a beautiful name. Suited for a young, pretty lady like yourself," He said, straightening his back. "Do you have a mother?"

I nodded.

"Well, where is she? I havn't seen her come by for a few days now? Could you be lost?" He asked me.

"No, mister. My mother left me here," I said and pointed across the street at the park. "There, she left me right over there, on the sidewalk.."

"Well why on earth did she do that?" He asked.

"I... don't know." I said and turned my head away, afraid I would cry again.

"Now, now. Your mother had to have had a very good reason for leaving you here in the rain. Maybe she didn't want to put you in an orphanage. I hear those things are rough. Either way, if you decide not to come with me I'll have to drop you off at the orphanage closest to here." He said and patted my back.

I smiled a little, but erased it again, remembering why I was still waiting there and starving. "Mister, I have to wait and see if my mommy will come back. I need to be here if she does."

"If you really want that, I'll let you stay here, it isn't my choice. Keep the bread, though, young one." He turned away.

".....Wait! Mister! ...Please... I don't want to be left alone again. I.... maybe I could go with you? To where ever you're going?" I called after him.

He turned back and smiled. "That's fine with me, but you'll have to try and forget about your mom. It'll only make you feel sad. My name's Charlie."

I took his hand and walked away with him. I didn't look back.

It was as if nobody knew I was gone. I roamed with him, around the city, for exactly two years. It was on that exact day, two years later, that Charlie found Rose. We were walking along the sidewalk, far off from the place we met.

"Charlie? Where are we going now? I still don't understand why we got to move round so much," I said, having adopted a bit of slang.

"I told you, it's because the police don't like people hanging round the city. Even if they don't have nowhere else to go," He said and stopped. "Wait... Do you hear that?"

"What?"I asked, looking around.

"It sounds like crying..." He said, also looking around. It was the loudest down the stairs to a small apartment. "Stay here," He casually walked down the metal stairs and looked under them. I was too curious so I watched from above.

Charlie crouched down and looked under the stairs. "Hello, little one," He started to reach his hand out a little.

A small, scratchy voice spoke up from underneath. "Don't TOUCH me," I saw fire mixing with the tears in her eyes. I saw her head in the shadows. She had shoulder-length dark hair with gorgeous curls. Her eyes were dark brown, the fiercest eyes I had ever seen. She looked the same age as me, six.

"I'm sorry..." Charlie said slowly, pondering what to do next.

"Hey there!" I called down from the banister above smiling wide. "What's up!?"

She looked up at me with a blank expression. "What?"

"I said hi! What? You've never heard anyone say hi to you before?" I laughed.

Her expression mixed with confusion. "Oh..."

"What are you crying about? Is something wrong?" Charlie chipped in.

The girl's gaze didn't move from me, but she answered. "Well, I just got popped, that's all."

"Huh?" I asked. "What's that?"

"Oh, that's too bad. Do you want me to help you?" Charlie asked the girl.

The girl looked at him again. "What do you mean? Mama will come out for me in a little while."

"Is this the first time she hit you?" Charlie asked her. The girl shook her head.

"I don't get it, what's getting popped mean?" I ask, still confused.

"You never gotten hit before?" The little girl asked, looking back up.

"Hit! No, by who!?" I asked.

"Your Mama, or maybe your Papa," She said.

"No way..... my mommy would never have done that." I replied and decided to be quiet from then on in the conversation.

I hadn't had to think much about my mother since the day charlie picked me up. It was too sad for me to think about. I really missed my mom.

"Well then, do you want to come with us? I would never hit you, or give you horrible work." He said and looked up at me. "And you would have a buddy, just your age. Her name is Lilly."

The girl smiled happily. "No chores or nothing? I'm in."

Charlie offered his hand, like he had to me, but the girl didn't like being the soft type. She ran right up the loud, metal stairs to me.

"Hi, what's your name?" I asked her, feeling shy now that she was up close to me.

"My name's Rose! Rose Jones!" She said and did a little twirl.

It was really perfect for a while. Rose and me had our birthdays together, we played together, and we played all kinds of games to pass the time away. We killed people when we needed to, like when they saw us and were about to start screaming and sheilding their child. Big wupp. It couldn't have lasted forever, though. Since Rose hadn't been abandoned, her mother sent the police looking for her, That made Charlie a bad guy. He was being accused of kidnapping a child. We managed to avoid the cops for a really long time, by fleeing just across the border of the big city.

Years passed. Eventually they gave up, but they still had the name Charlie Wilson on their list. It was my sixteenth birthday and Charlie wanted to get something special for me, like he had gotten Rose a cupcake for her sixteenth birthday, three months before, May sixth. My birthday is August twenty-third.

Charlie knew it was risky to go out in public like that, but he did it for Rose, and he was determined to do it for me. He put on an old hat I found on the ground from years before. He told me to stay at our hideout, an old storage shed in the country, but I was too curious and anxious, as usual. Now that I know what would happen to Charlie I really wish I hadn't followed him.

It was a sunny day outside, warm in the Summer, starting to turn to Fall. A slight breeze wisked the falling, yellow leaves around. Charlie walked along the street leading to the city. He arrived in almost twenty minutes. He pulled the hat down a little so that people couldn't see his eyes clearly.

He was then a murderer and a kidnapper, after all. He taught us what to do in certain situations, yet I wasn't ready for what was coming. Nothing could have prepaired me for what I was about to see.

Charlie soon arrived at a shopping plaza where he hoped to find a bakery or grocery store of some kind. I peaked my head around the corner of the two store walls I was hiding in between, the space between the walls making an alleyway. He saw a big grocery store across the plaza so he stepped out in the open, in the middle of the square. He hurried in the store's direction, when a strong gust of wind blew his hat off. A women shreiked when she saw her face and ran away with her stroller, attracting the rest of the shoppers' attentions, including the police on duty in the plaza. They were calling for back-up as soon as they saw him.

They all pointed their guns down at him and I heard the safety locks click off. Charlie was never all that good when it came to on-the-spot smart thinking, so he did what he warned Rose and me NEVER to do. He took out his gun and aimed it at one of the several police.

A dozen bullets pierced his body and he was dead before he hit the ground. A shreiked and ran out to try and save him.

I reached him and fell on my knees. I shreiked "Charlie! Charlie! Wake up! No Charlie, you can't be dead! CHARLIE!"Angry tears streamed down my face and fell on Charlie's dead body.

Blood trickled down the side of his mouth. I quickly tried to wipe it away, hoping that would somehow make him better. The police didn't know what to do so some of them started to come a little closer, most of them left. I didn't want those monsters near me. They KILLED Charlie!

"GO TO HELL!" I whipped the gun up and shot all three of the remaining police, my aim was good from practice with Charlie. I was out of there before anyone could come back, hearing the gun fire.

I ran, not paying attention to where I was going. I let my feat take me where ever they felt like. I ended up in a dark, abandoned shop, somewhere far away from the cursed plaza. I sobbed there until sunset. Then, I realized I didn't know how to get back to Rose. How was I going to tell Rose what happened once I got there? I sat down in my puddle of tears, and fell asleep.

The next morning I had a terrible headache, but I knew I had to get going. The gun from Charlie was still on the ground. I stood up and grabbed the gun. My memory of Charlie. The man who was my father. The man who was my guardian. The man who I would do anything for. The man who was killed right in front of my eyes.

I snuck outside and wandered around the mostly abandoned streets of that particular tiny section of the city. It just so happened that the ghost town wasn't too far from the edge of town. I followed the street out of town and wandered around the countryside. It was almost dark again when I finally found our little shack.

I flung open the shack door. "We've got to get out of here."

"What you thinking about?" Rose asks me.

My knuckles are white, gripping the wheel so tight, remembering Charlie's death. "Remembering Charlie." I said.

Rose didn't answer. The man made some muffled noises, trying to talk.

"SPARE ME, SPARE ME! Shut the hell up, little wimp! You call yourself a man? Act it or you're DEAD!" I say coldly.

Rose gives him a little shake and he shuts up.