FicWad

On our way out the orphanage door we stashed as much as possible into our backpacks. I even managed to stash a blanket in there, and that bar of chocolate that Kirsty, my roommate was hoarding. Kirsty was leaving the next week so I bet that she would get plenty more.
It didn’t make me sad at all, taking a final look at the orphanage. Not even a tear came out as I turned my back on the ivy-covered, looming building that we had once called home.
Although I did have to run to catch up to Pete who was walking very fast
“I know you don’t like it but we’re gonna need to jack some money for the bus.” he told me. I agreed with him instantaneously.
Stealing money for a bus ticket is essential. Duh.
The town square had become Pete’s sniper post for finding somebody he could pickpocket. He chose an innocent looking grandma, wrapped in a lavender silk dress. Generally silk like that equals wealth.
Stealing money from a GRANDMA for a bus ticket is essential. Duh.
“You’re gonna have to distract her for me.” Pete said, eyeing her up like how a lion watches its prey.
From somewhere deep inside me, I managed to pull a, “I’ve lost my puppy Mittens!” act out of the bag.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
So then we had enough money to get about halfway to our destination, with enough money for food afterwards. Maybe a really cheap motel for the night.
What kind of person withdraws over 500 dollars all in hundreds for no reason anyway?

As we got onto the 8 a.m bus heading towards Massacheuttus then Illinois, I’m pretty sure we must have looked like neon jellybeans in a pool of black liquorice because everybody just glared at us as we trudged down the aisle on the bus. So we just glared back as our worn out jeans trailed along on the ground.

After we had gotten to Massacheuttus, we faced a furthermore 6 hours to Illinois. A very long bus trip. No i-Pods, only the slowly changing scenery outside the bus window. It was getting dark and I had to admit I was a little scared. I never liked the dark.
A huge clock in the middle of a city we passed through told me that it was about 6 at night.
“Let’s get something to eat.” Pete said as soon as we got off the bus. We stopped in front of a diner, going in and receiving bad service from the wide-ish woman serving at the counter.
“You’ve been quiet for weeks, what’s up?” Pete said, taking a horsebite out of the burger he held in his right hand
“I don’t know.” I said, “I know that this is cool that we’re finally away and all but something just doesn’t seem right. As in, something’s going to happen.”
“I was thinking that too.” Pete said, rolling his eyes then taking another bite. I turned to watch the sky, going red.
When the sky goes red, I always remember that it’s called a Sheppard’s Delight. I think it was a teacher or somebody that said that. I never understood why, not even now do I understand why it’s called that.
A few guys from the local high school walking past the window, in uniform. Maybe there’s a private school around, I thought, trying to catch the logo on the closest boy’s blazer. I probably freaked the shit out of him because he ran when we made eye contact, catching up to his friends who had already crossed the road.
The dude almost got hit by two cars on the way over. From where we were sitting it looked like he vaulted the second. Maybe when there’s a Sheppard’s Delight, all the sheppard’s consider it an okay from God to all get stoned. Or something like that.
“God! Are you checking out the boys here?!” Pete said, grinning, a tiny bit of lettuce protruding from his mouth. I decided to not say anything in reply. I just smiled back. The alleged vaulter looked back in our direction then turned away quickly when he saw Pete glaring at them like those angry father’s do on sitcoms.
“You scared them off.” I said in mock anger.
“You are SUCH a creeper sometimes!” Pete said, absent-mindedly stuffing the remainders of his French fries into his burger.










A couple hours later, Pete and I were stumbling under the pale glow of the streetlights. We found we didn’t have a place to sleep.
“We can go to sleep in the park.” Pete said being weird. I tried to give him a look but it was dark as he led me to the huge park. I tried to make out what it said on the arch above. B something. The gates were closed so we just went over the hedges. I noticed all the traffic had died away. There was a large pothole on the road that sounded like it wrecked every car’s suspension as it went over. I estimated the hole to be about half a meter wide.
We stopped towards the back of the park, where it was leading off into a bush track. We stopped underneath a ginormous weeping willow with a wooden ring of seats surrounding it. I pulled the blanket out of my bag and offered half to Pete but he refused.
“Just go to sleep.” he said soothing, playing with my hair. I closed my eyes and fell asleep right there in the middle of Barrington Park. A place where too many disappearances occur reguarly.






Something woke me up in the middle of the night. My head was no longer on Pete’s lap and my hair was left half unknotted. I got up, looking around in the dark pointlessly. It was useless as I could barely see a thing. I looked for the moonbeams to guide me.
“PETE!” I called out to the darkness. I was becoming extremely terrified at that point. For starters, I was alone. Second, it was dark. Third, we were in an alien plac that I had never visited before
“CRYSTAL!” a voice called back, the ending getting muffled, “HELP!” was what came after, continued with laughing.
Standing out in the light of the moon were two men. They were holding Pete, one arm each. I recognised that they were authority figures.
I had major regret for letting Pete take the money of the lavender clothed lady.
“Little girl.” the one on the left said, grinning an ugly grin, loosening his death grip on Pete’s arm, still keeping it firm so he couldn’t escape. Both the men edged closer as I came closer, completely prepared to kick their asses if I had to.
“If you want this.” the other man said, thrusting my brother forward. I winced as I heard a crack of joints somewhere on Pete’s body.
“If you want this, you’re going to have to sacrifice yourself.”
The two men laughed hideously, showing the fangs for teeth that they had been previously concealing.
“What do you mean?” I said bravely, playing dumb a little. Who was I kidding? What do creepy guys with fangs running around in the middle of the night all usually have in common? This isn’t a hard question.
“Do you accept?” one of them said.
“DON’T DO IT!” Pete yelled out
“Silence boy!” one of the men yelled out, tracing a line up Pete’s arm with his fingernail that looked more like a claw, just like it was a razor. The blood started running and the mens eyes turned black. Not your everyday mysterious black. Just complete darkness.
“DO YOU ACCEPT?!” one of the men said, licking his lips.
“We’ll let go of this.” the other man said, shaking Pete again, making that same clicking sound that made me feel sick.
“Fine.” I said automatically.
“Let him go first!” I said, “Then you can take me.”
I wasn’t trying to play hero, I was just trying to keep the Wentz family alive.
“Fine.” the men said, dropping Pete’s arms and advancing toward me. Pete just stood there, mouth agape.
“RUN!” I said, looking through the gap in the men’s shoulders. Pete looked at me. Then turned around. Then looked at me one more time before waaving and taking off in the opposite direction. I felt relieved but then it became terrifying again. Two vampires had me pinned down on the ground. I had nothing to fend them off with.
Their teeth sunk into me like a white-hot knife into butter, I felt blood being sucked straight out of me but then other things being pumped in. It felt like they were taking all my memories out of me, all the happy times I had ever had.
Pete yelling out made me snap out of the sort of final moments type trance I was stuck in.
Before I knew it, I was being hauled over, like Jesus nailed to the cross over toward the source of the screaming.
A woman, dressed the same as the two guys that had me had Pete on the ground, held down by her forearm. She smiled the same smile that I wish that I could have never saw as she leant down on Pete, straight for the throat.
In under ten seconds I was out. The shock of the scene got a hold of me. Either the venom or the violence had me passed out.
The men let go of me and they and the woman laughed as I stumbled to Pete, who was coughing like a smoker.
I remember falling to my knees, tasting the defeat in my mouth. This time it tasted different. Normally it would have seemed sweeter but now it just felt sour, burning my mouth like acid. The one fight I didn’t want to lose in my life. I failed. The taste was mixing with my own blood. I was choking. Drowning in my own blood. I threw it all up but seconds later, my head was in the puddle. Usually I’m a lot more observant so I was in my most massive state of panic ever as each of my senses were slowly being taken away from me. Like a person hanging off the edge of a cliff and then the bad guy comes and steps on all their fingers. Or it felt as if my senses were just on a checklist, somebody was just ticking them off as they went along the page. When I fell onto the ground, I went blind. I could hear all of them laughing, Pete still coughing. I tried to put an arm around Pete but I was paralyzed. The smell of blood everywhere disappeared. As my sense of touch disappeared, I knew that I was still crying. Crying like the stupid little girl I always was.