Wild Child

2

"So what's your name, girl?" The guy in the passenger seat turned around to face me, turning on the light inside of the SUV so we could see each other. "I'm uh... Asting," I stuttered, still catching my breath from running so far. The boy opened his mouth to reply, but the one driving chimed in first. "That's a cool name," he mumbled, almost inaudibly. I bit the inside of my cheek, a smile playing on my lips. "Well I'm Tyler," the passenger introduced himself. "And this is--" "Joey. My name is Joey Rickard." The driver stared straight ahead, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. He didn't say any more.

"Do you live around here, Asting?" Tyler asked me. I looked out the window, only to find that we were in the heart of Vegas, driving on the strip. "I... um, yeah I do. You can just let me out here I live down on Palmetto." I manually pushed the lock on the car door, letting myself out. The dry desert air hit me as I stepped out into the gravel, wrapping my jacket tighter around myself. "You sure you're okay?" Tyler asked, his eyes looking concerned. I nodded, convincing myself that I would be fine when in fact I had no idea where I was planning on staying the night. "Okay..." Tyler slowly rolled the window back up. I watched the SUV stall for a second before it continued down the road.

I shivered, walking against the breeze that was threatening to blow me over. My eyes scanned the downtown scene, looking for a tree or a bench or something that I could sleep against. I finally found an empty bench in between a couple run-down casinos and I settled on it, laying down. My arm hit the wood and pain shot through it, another unfriendly reminder of the things Kevin had done to me. I zipped my jacket up, resting my head on the metal armrest, trying to let the dull noise of the city lull me to sleep.

joey

I couldn't stop thinking about Asting for the rest of the night and it nagged at me, keeping me awake. I rolled over in bed for what felt like the 1000th time, glancing at the clock. 4:45AM. Before I could have any second thoughts, I got dressed and walked down to the parking garage. I slid into the driver's seat of my SUV, turning around and peering at the backseat, where she had been sitting just a few hours earlier. I was going to find her.

I pulled out of my apartment complex and onto the strip, trying to remember where we had foolishly let her off. I came to the base of the bridge that went out of the city and turned, looking out all the windows in hopes that I would find her. Something didn't seem right about the fact that she wanted to be dropped off before her own street. My car slowed to a stop as I reached the slums. The casinos in this part of town were run down and beat up, their neon signs just barely flickering. I was beginning to have my doubts, telling myself that it was gonna be impossible to find her now. She could've run over the border by this point. But something caught my eye as I rolled by some of the old businesses.

There was a bench between two rotting buildings. And there was a girl, sleeping on the bench, her head resting on the metal siding of it, her feet hanging off the edge. I left the car in the middle of the street, hopping out and running over to where she was. "Asting? Asting!" I called, but the girl didn't respond. I crouched down by the bench, gently brushing the girl's hair out of her face. It was definitely her. I shook her gently. "Asting!" I whispered. Her eyes fluttered open and she sat up. "Kevin?" Asting's eyebrows furrowed and she put her hands over her face. "Kevin don't hurt me again please I'm sorry I'm sorry it'll never happen again!" She exclaimed in a raspy voice.

My stomach dropped. "Huh?" I watched her cower on the bench for a second before carefully trying to pry her arms off her face. "Asting it's me. Joey?" I put my hands on either side of her face, forcing her to look me in the eyes. "It's okay, I promise you it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." Her eyes seemed lifeless as they stared at me. "Joey? Joey Rickard?" I nodded. Tears began to spill down her cheeks and she reached her arms out towards me, hugging me. I pulled her close to my chest, my head spinning at all that I had just witnessed.