Status: Haitus For Probably A Month--Sorry Guys!

Speechless.

& We'll Run From Them With No Conviction

It was easier than Amelia had ever imagined when it came to finding Mickey. Viper and his lackeys were still shacked up in the same old condemned apartment building. The basement window was still shattered from the time Cougar had taken a baseball bat to it. It made for an easy yet painfully sharp entrance into the complex. The jagged edges of the splinted glass dug into Amelia’s shoulders, back, and hips as she slid, as noiseless as possible, through the small opening of the window.

It made Amelia’s blood boil that as hard as she had tried to keep Mickey out of Viper’s soiled hands she had wound up there anyway. It made her furious that Candice was more stupid then Amelia had ever originally assumed.

Amelia crept deeper into the shadowy basement and when it became clear that it was empty, aside from a few rats and cockroaches, she crept up the steps to the first floor. She was frozen somewhere between the third step and the basement door when she heard voices drifting down the steps to meet her ears.

”What are you talking about?” The first voice questioned. It was a man’s voice, thick with an accent, but Amelia couldn’t picture a face to the voice.

”Look man I’m just tellin’ you what I heard, a’right? And what I’m telling you is that there were people in those tunnels bro.” Amelia closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. Could she not go a day without having Viper and his gang snoop around.

”Don’t call me ‘bro’ asshole.” The man scuffed. "Candy told you this?

“Candy tells me a lot of things when she’s with me.”

“You mean beneath you. You better watch yourself, Viper isn’t gonna take it well when he finds out there are people creepin’ around those tunnels and that you’re sleepin’ with his piece of ass.”

At least now Amelia had something to hold over Candy’s head. Mia knew she would do anything to keep that secret away from Viper’s ears.

Amelia stood stock still afraid to creak the steps beneath her feet for another 15 minutes before the two voices faded with their footsteps from the room. Amelia turned the tarnished knob and prayed no one would hear as she pushed the door open farther.

She slid through the gap and crept through the apartment she had had the displeasure of being in one to many times. She moved to the first apartment door and turned the knob. The room was empty aside from the adjacent kitchen, which was filled with things that didn’t belong in a kitchen. Money was shoved in the first drawer nearest the sink but Amelia over looked that, her target was something entirely different. The following drawer contained a handful of pocketknives, one in particular catching her eye. She pursed her lips before pocketing the weapon and moving along through the drawers until she found the drawer she’d been looking for. Inside were syringes and Amelia’s fingers itched to grab one and guide it to the inside of her elbow. She was playing with fire, Amelia knew, but then again Amelia had never particularly feared fire.

She grabbed a handful of the needles and shoved them into the pocket of her hoodie. She closed the drawer and darted from the room as silently as she’d come. Truthfully Amelia hadn’t a clue as to where Mickey would be, only that she was close enough to always be within easy reach of Viper.

Amelia moved through the rooms, her skin crawling and her heart racing in remembrance. She remembered this forbidden and vacant lot better than she would have liked. She remembered being tossed to the ground on days where she made less than $45 dollars—those were the days she relied on people to feed her because Viper would take all her earnings leaving nothing for dinner. She remembered the days when Viper would threaten to turn her into a prostitute if she didn’t give up one of the sluts she was hiding from him.

Yet somehow the nightmarish Viper and his gang, the begging, the hiding, the fear—somehow that was easier for Amelia to handle than the world she’d forsaken. It was easier for Amelia to have Mickey fall asleep in her arms cold at 3 am then it was for her to deal with her mother yelling at her for being fifteen minutes late after curfew. It was easier to deal with Viper’s threats then it was for her to deal with the fact that Matt seemed to be drifting farther and farther from her. It was easier for Amelia to distance herself from The Tunnel People knowing that at anytime one of them could die then it was to deal with the death of her cousin and Logan. It was easier to sit in front of the concrete wall and teach Mickey how to read and write with chalk then it was for her to deal with the nasty rumors and the harassment that issued from her school five days a week.

Amelia knew in her heart it was wrong for her to feel this way. She knew there was something wrong with her, after all sane people didn’t toss away family and familiarity for homelessness. But Amelia couldn’t bring herself to care. Even though most people would never fathom why she did it, Amelia didn’t regret her decision to leave. It had brought her Mickey, Cougar and the others, it had taught her street smarts, and how to be brave. It taught her to love the little things in life, to appreciate every article of clothing on her body. Amelia had an understanding, a love, and an appreciation for things that most people her age would never understand and would overlook.

Amelia knew all to well, as she crept down the hallway, that the people searching for her now would never truly understand why she did the what she did but Amelia was okay with that. Somewhere between collapsing outside All Time Low’s bus upon her arrival and ending up in John O’ Callaghan’s bunk, Amelia had made peace with herself and those around her. Amelia couldn’t blame them for being angry with her actions and in return Amelia understood theirs. She understood that in calling Renee, Matt had meant to help—of course that didn’t mean Amelia had to like it. It had angered her to know that in many ways the inner workings of her family hadn’t changed. They still would rather turn a blind eye then admit something was wrong. When something was wrong they would rather seek a third party to handle it then to deal with the uncomfortable situation.

It had just added to the reasons why Amelia had left. She had felt that no one cared, no one listened. Matt would engross himself in his music, her mother would pop Zolof, her father would work from 5-9 to get away from it all. Amelia had been the problem child of the family and she realized that at an early age. She had been a colicky baby, a terrible two year old, a biting three year old, and she threw temper tantrums from the time she was 4 until she was 11. When she was 12 and Matt had teased her and said she couldn’t play baseball with him she threw the ball at him resulting in 5 stitches to the back of the head. When she was thirteen and her parents were getting divorced she started stealing. When she was fourteen she started smoking and hanging out with kids older than her. When she was fifteen she started drinking. When she was sixteen she started sleeping around.

Looking back Amelia could laugh in bitterness. After everything she had done her family had still chosen to blow her off. When she had showed up crying to Matt when she had truly needed him he had been nothing short of .

“You’ve gone you’re whole life not needing me Amelia. Every time you get in trouble its your own damn fault. The last time you came to me crying it was from your third time getting arrested and you wanted me to pay your bail. I don’t want to know Mia. Whatever it is, I don’t want to know. I can’t deal with your angsty rebellion right now. Go call Craig—I’m sure he’d love to help you vandalize a house or something.”

As stunned and hurt as Amelia had been she couldn’t blame him. Amelia had burnt her bridges and peoples patients had run out. She knew that for the first time her parents weren’t going to bail her out of jail. She knew she couldn’t convince Matt that her boyfriend had hit her just so she could get some kind of satisfaction from it because the boy had simply annoyed her. She had manipulated Matt one to many times, she’d angered her parents with her stupid rebellion to often.

Amelia was the boy who cried wolf and when something had finally been wrong no one was coming to save her. She had known that she had to save herself and take responsibility for her actions. Running away had been her answer.

It had taught her responsibility if nothing else. She had cared for The Tunnel People by standing beside Cougar and she had basically raised Mickey. Amelia wasn’t the ungrateful angry teenager she had been back then; she was a woman coming to the aid of her family.

It was then that Amelia heard the high-pitched voice she’d been aching to hear for far to long.

”Where’s Mommy?”

“What? Do I look psychic to you? How the hell am I s’ppose to know where your mother is?”


Chills ran down Amelia’s spine and she froze at the baritone voice—Viper.

Jagger,” Amelia spun on her heels to face the cold steely voice.

Her name was Metallica and she had two hippie parents with a dedicated love for the band to thank for it. The girl had honey blonde hair that had been woven into dreadlocks. She had cool blue eyes and a layer of soot coated her skin. Eyeliner had been smeared under her eyes from the times she snatched purses and found makeup inside.

She had once lived with Amelia and the rest of The Tunnel People. It only surprised Amelia mildly that she was here now. Metallica looked rough but she was a thief with no backbone and Amelia was sure that Metallica had sought the refuge of Viper at the first sign of weakness within The Tunnel People.

“Metallica,” Amelia acknowledged, her voiced hushed. Metallica made Amelia uneasy, she wondered if any alliance still lay within her or if Metallica was on the verge of alerting Viper to her whereabouts.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

“I could say the same thing to you,” Amelia countered easily.

Metallica pursed her lips, her teeth gnashing together. “You’re here for Mickey.” It wasn’t a question, Metallica had been a good friend to Amelia for a long time. She knew Mia enough to know the inner workings of her mind—just another reason why Amelia was cautious of her now. “It’s a trap Jag. Viper wants you, badly.”

“He thinks I’m dead.” But Metallica just shook her head,

“No, Candy came through a few minutes ago. Thankfully she was doped up just yesterday so her saying you’re alive and here isn’t exactly a solid statement. Viper is cautious if anything but he knows that if you are alive and here that you’ll be after Mickey.” Her eyes turned helpless, “Walk away, Jagger.” She warned. “You won’t get another chance.”

“I’m not leaving without Mickey.” She gave Metallica a knowing look. “You know that.”

“Yeah,” She sighed tiredly as she scratched her head. “I know.”

“Help me,” Amelia implored. “Please.”

“I can’t.” Her voice was hoarse and tears pooled in her eyes. Fear suddenly flooded her blue orbs and Amelia understood. Viper’s tattooed grip came in the form of fear for Metallica. She wouldn’t be leaving this place anytime soon; fear chained her here.

“Alli please,” Amelia began urgently. “I can help you. I can get you out. I left, I got out and I can help you do the same, I just need your help first.”

“What if he catches us.”

“We’re fighters, Alli. You have to believe you can win.”

“But we can’t.” Her voice cracked.

“Then at the very least you can’t say you didn’t try.”

Metallica stared at Amelia for a long time apprehensively. Amelia had never led Metallica astray, she had never led her into danger. Metallica knew that Amelia could help her, but what scared her more than Viper was what she would do if she left. She understood this twisted world, she had a place in it. But out there? The real world held her drug addicted, alcoholic parents who had thrown her out. She dropped out of school when she was 17, she had no diploma, no degree. There would be nowhere for her to go.

“You can stay with me,” Amelia read her mind. She knew what it felt like to feel so helpless, so trapped. It was far to easy to rationalize the impossibility of making it in a world so completely different from the one they had shared. It was so easy to claim it was impossible to live a normal life and convince yourself you are better off stuck as Viper’s bitch. “I promise,” she added. “I’ll help you. I’ll help you get a job, get a place to live far away from here and you can stay with me for as long as you need. We’re stronger together, Alli we can do this.”

It seemed like forever past as Metallica gnashed her teeth together and shifted nervously on her converse encased feet, her eyes averted.

“O-okay,” She stated shakily as she met Amelia’s gaze. “Okay, I’ll help.”

Relief flooded through Amelia; now all she had to do was get out of the jungle alive. Because Amelia and Metallica knew all to well of the wild things lurking all around them
♠ ♠ ♠
Spent four days in Florida and came back just yesterday. I had a lot of fun and I am proud to say did not freak out on my first plane ride. I'm thinking of creating a story loosely based off of it with Derek Sanders as the main man--anyone interested?

Also, I'm wondering if anyone would read a spin off with Metallica. I realize you'll all need more info on her but I'm just curious if your mildly interested.

&& FYI I didn't create Metallica's name off the top of my head, I actually went to school with a girl named Metallica.

As per usual your feedback is greatly appreciated and if your lucky maybe you'll get one of my mother's brownies in response =]