The Lost Boys Daughter ✓ [COMPLETED]

CHAPTER 11

CERISE

Well...it's been five days since I ran off. Five days of sleeping under bridges, and searching for food in trash cans.

Yesterday I had to ditch my bike. It ran out of gas, and the little money I had I spent it on crappy food from a gas station.

I wake up groggily, lifting my head off the hard, cold concrete.
"Ugh," I hold a hand on my head. "This sucks."
My plan was to get out of Santa Carla, go to a city, find a job, and make it from there.

But plans never go the way you want them. Especially in this situation.

I get up, dusting my pants off before I grab my bag and begin my walk.
I follow this little stream of water. I don't know where it'll take me, but by now, I'm just wandering, hoping I'll find some help along the way.

I walk in silence for a while, before I start humming a rock song.
But then I stop.
It's Paul's favorite song I'm singing.

I shake my head. I can't help this, but everywhere I look, I'm reminded of them.
Yesterday I found a flock of pigeons, and instantly Marko came to mind. Me and him would always feed the pigeons in the cave. I remember how he'd hand me a piece of bread, and point where to throw it.

Then, I found a comic book left on the pavement, and I thought of Dwayne, how he'd always read to me when I asked.
And I then I saw a father, giving his little girl a piggyback ride while she ate an ice cream.

He held onto her legs protectively, and he would smile up at her like she's the most important thing in the world.

It reminded me of David.

He used to do that, before I got too big. We'd walk the boardwalk, and he'd always get me an ice cream.

I felt like the queen of the world as he held me up on his back. Like I was the luckiest kid alive.
Where did that feeling go?

I sigh, stopping my walk.
I miss them...so, so much...

★★★

DAVID

We're sitting at home, after we spent all night searching.
We're exhausted. Ours eyes have bags under them, and we barely have any energy left. But we keep pushing...
She has to be here somewhere. We have to find her.

Paul is sitting cross legged on the floor, looking at a CD. He puts in the disc and a song plays.
It's Aerosmith, "Walk This Way."

The same song that Cerise would dance to as a little girl.

Paul lowers his head in his hands.
Marko keeps touching one of his patches on his jacket. The number 13 patch...and Dwayne is holding a stuffed animal.

"Do you remember," Dwayne starts, before he takes a shaky breath in, "when Cerise was three, and we took her to the petting Zoo?"

Paul laughs a little, but it's a pained laugh. "Yeah...she was so excited that night."

I remember that night, very well.

We wanted to do something fun for Cerise, and we were able to find a petting zoo that showed it's animals until 11:00 at night.

We arrived at 8:00, right when the sun went down, and we walked around.
Marko held Cerise's hand.
"Look!" He had said. "Look at the piggies!"
She especially loved the pigs. They were little pigs, with black spots all over there bodies.
She was so excited to see them.