Ah-keen-ah! (A Tom and Huck Fanfic)

A Greedy Tragedy

It was bedtime for me, I laid down on my cot, Pa was putting his jacket on.

"Aquene, I'm going out, you better be asleep when I get back."

"You gotta job?"

"A big job."

He put his hat on proudly, he was looking forward to that job.

"Enough money to get out of here and buy us some land, a farm, some animals: chickens, pigs, even a couple dogs for you to run around with."

"That would be nice Pa."

He gave me a kiss on the head.

"Now go to sleep."

He walked out of the door.

I was half asleep when I heard small pebbles being thrown at the window.

"Huck...of course," I whispered smiling.

I opened the window to see both boys looking up at me.

"Huck!" I said.

Huckleberry Finn, the boy who was much older than me but was very cute, returned to town.

(A/N: RIP Brad Renfro, gone too soon.)

"We gotta bring the little girl with us!" Huck said.

"Hey Aquene, jump!"

My eyes widened.

"Jump!? Do I look like a circus performer?"

"Just jump, we'll catch you, trust me."

I jumped, I was scared, but I did it. Huck caught me.

"See, you can trust us."

We smiled and walked off.

"I need to be home in an hour or Pa will beat my ass."

"You got it Queenie," Huck said.

"My na-"

"I know, but I'm calling you that because you're my pal, you're our queen."

I'll forgive him for that and that only. Tom was playing with a marble by tossing it and catching it.

"I saw your pa, Mr. Potter, and Doc Robinson leaving together, they're heading towards the graveyard."

"What?"

"That's right."

"He said he was doing a big job."

"Let's take a peek."

We arrived in the graveyard, Pa, Doc Robinson, and Muff Potter digged up a grave.

"Is that One-Eyed Murrell's grave?" Huck asked.

They found a treasure map, that went downhill quickly, they were getting greedy about the possible treasure hidden around here. The boys shielded my eyes as Pa killed the doc.

"Shhh," Tom quietly shushed me.

I cried as quietly as I could. I expected Pa to rob or beat people up but not murder.

"Take me home please."

We snuck away, I was crying from what we witnessed. We got far enough to talk about it.

"We'll forget we ever saw it, that's the best thing to do."

"But Doc Rob-"

Huck covered my mouth.

"Trust me Aquene, it's the right thing. We'll make it an oath, we'll sign our names in blood."

I was starting to calm down, they put their hand on my shoulders.

"It's gonna be ok Aquene, you're not gonna tell your pa you were there."

Huck found a spare piece of paper in his pocket, and his pocket knife.

"If any of us tells, you'll drop dead and rot."

We signed our names, it hurt but I got through it.

I was sent home, I managed to sneak back in bed in time for Pa to return. I then realized I forgot to close the window. He knudged my cot with his boot.

"Get up."

"Pa?" I asked pretending to be half asleep.

"I said. Get. Up. Before. I. Haul. You. Up!"

I slowly stood up.

"What is this?"

He pointed at the window. I groaned.

"Pa, you woke me up for this?"

He grabbed me by the arm and spanked me on the butt hard, I started crying again.

"Answer me little girl, I had a rough night, I'm not messing around!" He yelled.

"It was burning in here, I didn't wanna die of hyperthermia."

"Close it."

I did so as he put his hat and jacket away.

"You're out of your mind girl."

I sat back down on my cot. I wiped my tears.

"I'm sorry Pa, I thought I was doing a good thing."

"Why are you crying for huh, cause I whooped you?"

"No."

"Then what?"

"I thought I was doing a good thing for us."

"By being stupid, hyperthermia means freezing."

"That's hypothermia, hyper and hypo are hot and cold."

"Where did you learn that? Of course, school."

He laid on his bed.

"I'm not stupid Pa, I can read, write, tell time, and count money. We talked about that the other day."

"Hmmhmm," he hummed.

"Let's see what tomorrow brings. Good night Pa."

"Good night Aquene."

We went to sleep.