Well, I have split the paragraphs up in this chapter. Some of you have asked that I do that to make it easier to read on your phones. Let me know what you think.
A BIG thank you to Missylovesandysixx. She didn't want me to hold my breath too long, so she hurried to make a comment. I LOVE COMMENTS. I do have to recommend her poem- 'R.I.P Stephanie', it's beautiful.
OK, hope you like it- If you do you can always vote or comment, you know you want to!
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I was sitting in the back seat rolling my eyes at my mom’s attempts at covert flirting with Chris who was in the front seat with her. We had left Dad back at the house. He had brought the van back and was now organizing his fishing gear.
Chris and Russ had agreed to go out on the boat with him when we got back. Georgia and I would find something to do, we always did.
I saw a movement from the front seat and looked to find my mother rubbing Chris’ leg with one hand as she drove towards town using the other. My eyes were wide and I dropped my jaw in disbelief.
I couldn’t believe that she would do this in front of me. Did she not think I could see? Chris leaned his head back as my mother’s hand got further up his leg. They both had smiles on their faces.
Mom glanced back at me and saw that I was watching what she was doing. She immediately pulled her hand away and put it back on the steering wheel. Her jaw was tight and she had a frustrated look on her face.
Chris straightened up and gave my mom a puzzled look. She smiled at him sweetly and nodded her head towards me. I couldn’t help but to feel in the way and not wanted at that moment. I felt tears build up in my eyes, but I fought them back.
Chris just nodded his head in understanding. He looked back at me with a sly smile and winked. He knew that I already knew what they had been up to. Knowing didn’t make it any easier to see. Right in front of me. And I knew that Georgia had already told him to knock it off while the family was at the lake.
This place was supposed to be happy for us. Georgia had always managed to keep Mom from drinking and Dad from fighting while we were here. I didn’t want that to change.
“You’re not going to say anything, are you?” He asked me while looking straight into my eyes.
I shook my head and looked out the window. I was just trying to get him to stop looking at me. Tears threatened to escape the rims of my eyes so I looked up to the top of the window, holding my head up. Hoping that gravity would help the fight.
I felt that he had turned around so I looked towards the front again. When I looked, Chris had my mom’s hand and put it back on his leg. She shook her head and took her hand back.
“Hey, Savannah,” mom’s voice broke as Chris began to rub her leg, “we’re going to stop at this café for lunch.”
I didn’t respond and she pulled the van into a spot and parked. Chris’ hand was grabbing at her now. Could they not control themselves?
Mom handed me a twenty that she had pulled from her purse and told me to go into the café and order whatever I wanted. She told me that they would be in soon. Her voice was tense and lower than usual. I knew not to argue with her.
I got out of the van and walked up to the door. I turned back before I went in to see Chris pull my mom into his lap. He was kissing her neck and shoulders. Her head tilted back and to the side. I saw Chris look my way right before he pulled her shirt up.
I couldn’t believe that he would continue knowing I was standing right there. He looked up at me again then he smiled. He smiled…at me. He knew exactly what he was doing. He knew that I was still standing there.
I turned away from him and began to run. Tears stung my eyes. I gave up fighting against them and they began to fall freely. I just couldn’t believe what I had seen. But, I had seen it. I believe if I hadn’t run I would have seen all of IT.
I almost expected that one of them would call out for me or that they would run after me. That didn’t happen and I continued to run.
I ran,
And ran,
Faster,
And harder until I couldn’t run any more. I had no idea where I was. I sat down to catch my breath. I thought to myself, ‘man, I gotta lose some weight’ but I was unable to chuckle.
I was shaking and I was still unable to control my tears. I looked around, but I didn’t recognize anything. I sat for a while, then I began to walk. I knew I had to figure out where I was and get home before my mom got there.
I briefly wondered if she was worried about me, or if she would make up a story so that Dad would be mad at me by the time I got back to the house.
I thought back at what I had seen. Why would they be so open with what they were doing? I felt that my whole world was falling apart. I didn’t know what to do next.
Should I tell Georgia…or my dad? Questions floated around in my head as I wondered aimlessly down the road that I had never been on before. Should I even feel safe around Chris now?
Maybe I should just stay away from him from now on.
That was the answer.
I’d just stay away from Chris and my mom. I would just ignore the problem. That always seemed to work. Right?
That helped me to calm down. My tears slowed and then faded all together. I had made up my mind and it would be okay now. I just had to figure out where I was and how to get home.
I heard a motor coming up behind me, but it didn’t sound like a car. I turned around to see a small dirt bike type bike coming up. I began to walk faster.
What was I thinking! I should not be out here all by myself. My tears began to fall again and my hands began to shake. The bike passed me and I saw the boy look at me as he passed.
The bike stopped just ahead of me. The boy sat straight up, but didn’t turn around. My legs threatened to give out. I stopped and contemplated running in the other direction.
Quickly, I wondered why I should bother. If the boy wanted to hurt me all he would have to do is chase me. I’m not sure, at this point, that I would even run away.
The boy, who was wearing a black and green helmet and black leather jacket, got off his bike. He turned to face me.
“Hey,” I said bravely.
“Hey,” he replied as he reached to take off his helmet.
“Oh my goodness, Johnny, you scared me to death. I had no idea who you were,” I said all in one breath as I began to breathe again.
“Are you okay? You look like you’ve been crying. Where’s Georgia?”
I was unable to answer before I started crying again. Why did people do that; cry after they were out of a dangerous situation? All danger had passed because Johnny’s parents owned the house beside ours at the lake. He was perfectly safe to be around, but I start crying.
Johnny moved closer to me and hugged me to his chest. I was so in love with this guy. We met up every spring when we opened our lake houses and spent all the time we could together. I didn’t even know he was at the lake this weekend.
I stopped crying after a few minutes and stepped away from Johnny. How embarrassing. I wiped the tears from my face with the bottom of my shirt.
“Now are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m just lost. I got scared,” I only half lied to Johnny. “When did you get this bike?” I asked so as to change the subject.
“I got it last week for my birthday. I’m not supposed to ride it on the road, but no one ever comes out here so my dad said it would be ok.”
I nodded my head in response. Let’s see, his birthday was last week. So, that would make him 13. I’m almost 11, so he’s still too old for me.
He looked at me like I was strange for a minute before asking, “You want me to take you home?”
I paused, thinking.
“I’ll let you off up the road from your house so your dad won’t get mad. He still doesn’t like me for kissing you a couple of years ago,” he blushed.
“Yeah, OK,” I said as we walked to his bike.
He got on and motioned for me to get on the back. I do so, awkwardly. I had never been on a dirt bike before.
He handed me the helmet. When I just looked at it instead of taking it, he smiled. “You wear it. It’s not far and if I get you hurt the helmet won’t protect me from your dad,” he smiled as he pushed the helmet into my hands.
I put the helmet on and grabbed onto the back of the seat. Johnny started the bike with a jolt. He reached his arms behind him and, without looking back, grabbed mine. He wrapped my arms around his waist for me to hold on. I smiled and nodded as if he could see me.
Johnny was right, it wasn’t far. He drove at break neck speeds around the back road to my house. It was fun and exciting. The wind tangled my hair behind me, but I didn’t care. Next time, and there would be a next time, I will tuck my hair into the helmet.
Johnny stopped the bike two houses down from mine to let me off. I climbed off the back still shaking from the vibration of the bike.
I gave him his helmet back and thanked him for the ride. Before I left him, he told me he’d be over at ours in a while to maybe sit on the pier for a while.
I walked back to my house grinning the whole way. I had forgotten about my worries with Mom and Chris. The world seemed like a happy place for a while.
That thought shattered as I walked into the driveway to see our van parked and Chris standing in front of it watching me walk. I hurried past him and into the house.
Mom was in the kitchen and called for me to come in. I kept walking faster into my room. I hoped Georgia was in there.
No such luck. She must not be back from the store yet. I locked the door and sat on my bed. I fidgeted for a few minutes. But, when no one came to my door, I calmed myself down. I decided not to wait for Georgia to come home. I’d meet her at the store.
I just had to get out of the house without being stopped by Mom or Chris. I gathered up all my courage before quietly opening my door.
I peeked out to see that no one was in the hallway. I stepped out tip toeing towards the living room and kitchen to see which door would be best to sneak out. I came up on the kitchen first.
The door from the kitchen would not be the best to use because Mom may be working in the flowers again and they were right outside the door.
I peeked into the kitchen and found that it was empty. Good. I tip toed into the kitchen and looked out the window to see if Mom was out there.
She was. And, so was Chris. I guess that means he’s not standing by the front door waiting for me. Mom was laughing like a teenager and Chris smacked her bottom.
Well, that may have been gross to see, but that meant that I could walk right out the front door. I made a mad dash and ran out the door and down the steps as fast as I could. I was running so fast that I couldn’t stop before I ran straight into Georgia knocking us both down with a whack to my head.
Georgia got up from the ground, but I laid there for a minute waiting for my vision to clear. Georgia helped me to sit up, but told me not to stand yet. She instructed Russ to get some ice for my head.
Russ ran into the house and came back with some ice wrapped in a towel. He handed it to Georgia as they both sat beside me, Georgia pressing the ice to my head.
“I think I know why she was running so fast,” Russ said in a low tone.
“Why?”
“Well, your mom and Chris are making out in the back yard pretty heavy. They didn’t even notice I was in the kitchen, and I tried to make a lot of noise,” was Russ’ response.
“What? Uh, how am I supposed to believe it will all be fine when I have to leave if we can’t even be fine for one weekend at the lake?” Georgia began to rant to herself. She was cut short when Dad’s old truck that he uses for the boat pulled into the driveway.
Dad stepped out and ran over to me. Russ told him what had happened and I assured him that I was fine. Georgia was too busy with her own thoughts to join in the conversation. Dad helped me into the house and sat me on the couch in the living room.
He took the melting ice from my scraped forehead and announced that I had a ‘huge’ bump, but that I’d be alright. He leaned down and kissed me gently near the bump on my head and kissed the top of my head. It did actually make it feel better.
Dad then started to the kitchen to get me some more ice.
Russ tried to take the towel from Dad and get the ice himself. Georgia and I both looked at each other knowing what he would see just outside the kitchen window.
Dad told Russ that he’d do it and continued on into the kitchen.
My already queasy stomach threatened to empty and my hands began to sweat. Who knew what Dad would do if he caught Mom with Chris.
I closed my eyes and prayed that he didn’t see them. Georgia held my hand tight as Russ cupped her shoulder comfortingly.