I know this doesnt count towards the contest but...06:50 Feb 07 2008
Times Read: 484
Sarah sat up, she was startled by shattering glass. Her grandmother must be drinking again, Sarah thought. She pulled the covers down and tiptoed into the living room to make sure that she was okay. There she was, Grandma Titan, drunk as a skunk and passed out on the old blue couch, watching "Murder She Wrote". This was a common occurance around these parts, ever since Sarah's brother disappeared.
Now Grandma Titan wasn't really Sarah's grandmother. Both of her parents had been long since dead, and their parents as well. She had been adopted by Julie Anne Titan when she was sixteen, following the death of her younger sister, and her mother. Julie was a little old to call Mom, and instead had insisted on being called Grandma.
When she had first moved in with Julie she had a bad rash of nightmares in which she would wake up screaming her brother's name. She dreamt of horrible things happening to her brother, and since she never saw him again after that day in November 1970, she could only assume that her dreams were true.
Sarah shut off the tv. She reached for the blanket on the rocking chair and laid it over Grandma Titan, who snored deeply and turned around seemingly saying,"Thank you." as she trailed deeper and deeper into sleep. Sarah picked up the glass and all of the shattered pieces and threw them in the trash barrel in the kitchen. She glanced at the digital clock on the microwave oven. It was just after midnight and she could hear the crickets rubbing their legs together. For a moment, she was lost in their songs.
All of a sudden the phone rang. Sarah jumped nearly out of her skin. She stared at it, like it was an alien speaking some strange language. It rang again, and finally she got the courage to answer. Who would be calling here so late? There was an oddly familiar voice was on the other end. It said "Meet me behind the old Sears Auto Shop." That was strange, she thought. She knew the voice, but she couldn't place it. Why would someone want to meet behind an old auto shop?
She didn't know what possessed her to do it. Sarah ran to her bedroom and shirked her night gown onto the floor as she searched her closet for something warm to wear. It was cold outside and she wasn't going to go out in her spaghetti strapped nighty.
She found her old blue sweatshirt and a pair of blue jeans, some blue socks, and her tennis shoes. Sarah glanced at her floor and picked up her scarf and gloves. Suddenly she began to panic. The car keys! Where did she put them? Then she realized that she had left them on the counter in the kitchen when she came home from work just hours ago.
Why had she decided to go? Sarah couldn't for the life of her, figure out what was driving her to do such an insane thing. It was after midnight, and all she had for protection was a can of mase and a tire iron, which she could barely lift. "What am I going to do with that, throw it at some mugger or rapist?" she asked herself outloud as she climbed into her brand new 1984 Buick. She had to chuckle. Sarah was too nervous not to, but too excited to back out now.
Meanwhile...
Bill sat back in his blue false leather seats. It was just after midnight and the air was filled with excitement. It was Tuesday, he always took the the Chevy on Tuesday. It wasn't the fact that it smelled like dead flowers, or the lingering ghost of the long forgotten cigarettes that use to grace his lips. It was the fact that it was a Chevelle, and not just any, it was a 1970. That year meant more to Bill than any other year. It was the year his life changed forever...
He could remember it like it was yesterday.It was November, and it was cold and clear outside. Bill would know, he was homeless. He sat huddled behind a building clinging a notebook, and his only means of defense, a can opener.
Nothing to shield him from the cold except the cardboard box that he lived in, and the side of the Sears Auto Shop, he realized that he heard something off in the distance. He craned his neck and shielded his eyes from the bright and blaring sun. An old grey helicopter was searching the sky for something. Then he heard something else, a car horn, a loud crash, and heated scuffle. He looked down again, glad he had something to write about that didnt include the fact that somebody threw away almost a whole can of soda. He scribbled furiously. He became so lost in thought that time seemed to get away from him.
Before he knew it, he was squinting in the dimness of the only streetlight on the corner. His stomach growled. It was late and he needed to scrounge for food again. Two buildings down was the Dunkin Donuts shop, and usually he had luck finding stale donuts that they would throw away in huge trashbags. They were clean and tasted delicious to someone who was starving.
He made his way down the street and towards the dumpster, careful to keep his can opener in his hand, ready to strike if any of the other homeless cared to fight him for his meal. He reached over the edge to grab the huge black back in front of him, when he heard a voice. It was faint and eerie, and almost seemed to come from right behind him. He hadn't heard anyone approach him. Bill had a keen ear for others, he had been jumped and stabbed on several occasions and was weary of the streets.
He heard it again. This time right in his ear. "Do you want to know what it feels like to never be hungry again?" it hissed. Bill spun around, almost instictively, can opener jabbing outward towards an imaginary belly. He heard the voice cackle behind him and he turned around once again, pointing the can opener at an imaginary chest this time. Whispered in his ear was only one more word, "Bill."
The can opener was gone. It had somehow been ripped from Bill's grasp. The notebook had dropped to the ground with a heavy thud. The largest wave of confusion and pain struck Bill at the same time, and somehow, the most peaceful thoughts flowed through his mind.
He thought of his childhood. How his mother would dress him up for school. How she toiled away raising four children without a husband, because his father had died in the war. He remembered playing on the tire swing with his sisters and building a go cart with his older brother. Then came the sadness, the Army sending an officer to tell little ten year old Billy that his daddy had died. His younger sister becoming ill and dying of the flu. His mother aging rapidly until her heart gave out.
Suddenly there was crying. Bill wasn't crying, but he felt tiny droplets hitting his shoulders and his face. A sharp pain overcame him, and when he gathered himself he was staring at something truly wretched. Its hair was short combed to the sides, and well kept. His face was buried in his hands and he was sobbing uncontrollably. "I never wanted that, for you or your mother."
Bill's guts clenched. He fell. Passed out cold and died upon the cracked and dirty cement of Heden Street. Then something terrible happened, he stood up. Dead. Standing. He looked to the creature that continued to sob. He clenched his right fist and bent over and gathered his notebook. "Why?" Bill asked. The wretched creature removed his head from his hands and bared his face in the moonlight, "Because son, I can't bare to watch you die like the rest of the family."
Something snapped Bill back to reality, and out of memory lane. A car pulled up just behind the old auto shop. He could make out every detail of his sister, her long beautiful chestnut hair, her twinkling blue eyes, even the age marks around her mouth.
He sat back and observed her as he had for many years after he was changed, after his life as he knew it had ended. She had pulled up and shut her car off. She then shut off her lights and began looking around. He saw her turn the car back on and begin to pull out, and thats when he pulled up behind her.
Bill had decided that he was done. He grabed his notebook and opened his door. He shut off the car, but left his lights on as he approached Sarah.
Sarah grasped her mace as she saw a figure come towards her window. She attempted to lock her doors but it was too late, they had been flung open by the man whose face was shrouded in darkness by all of the lights behind him.
Bill reached in tenderly and pulled Sarah to the side of her car. He cupped his hand around her mouth. Sarah's heart was pounding. "Don't hurt me, please don't rape me, I don't want to-Billy!"she fainted.
When Sarah came to, she was inside the Chevy, and there he was, her long lost brother. "Where have you-"she was cut off by Bill's finger touching her lips. "Here," he said quietly. "I want you to know what happened to me. I want you to know what happened to our-" his words cut short by the large hand around his throat. Sarah fainted again.
She woke up in her bed, tucked in. Sarah shook her head, not another dream. She pounded her pillow and struck something underneath it. Strange. She didn't remember putting a notebook underneath her pillow.
COMMENTS
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cadrewolf
19:17 Feb 11 2008
excellent write