Welcome to the Family

Rebecca wandered the streets of Long Beach, but she didn't travel too far from the venue that she had first arrived at. She just had to come up with a strategy to get her backpack back since that held most of her belongings and clothes. She didn't know how long these guys were going to be staying in Long Beach, so she had to think fast. The only plan she could really come up with though, was sneaking back on. She was still trying to figure out why she left it in the first place, but then she remembered that she didn't want to be caught stowing away like some crazy person would try to do. She didn't want these people thinking bad about her at all.

Rebecca sighed as she got up from the swing set she was sitting on. The hoodie that she was wearing was nice and warm on the breezy cold night. If she had only been in her ratty old jeans and thin T-shirt she would have frozen by now. She had jackets in her backpack, but since she had left it behind for the time being she took the one thing that was lying around out in the open to keep her warm. Rebecca headed back in the direction she thought the venue was in and started walking in that direction.

******

Jimmy Sullivan couldn't get the image of the girl pulling up her hoodie in the parking lot out of his mind. It kept coming back and he didn't know why exactly. He thought that she looked rather lost and confused. If only he had seen her face he could probably have detected what kind of emotion was going through her mind at the time, but then again he couldn't have been positive about that either.

"Hey, Jimbo, you okay?" Zacky asked sitting down next to his friend.

"Yeah, I guess," Jimmy answered.

"You sure, you look like something's tearing you up inside?" Zacky asked.

"Last night before we started talking with the director about the concert, I was standing outside the venue to get a little fresh air from the stuffiness of backstage. Before I came back in though, I saw a shadow moving away from the direction of the bus so I followed it. The shadow turned out to be a person and they walked under a streetlight wearing a hoodie that looked kind of familiar from the back, but I couldn't make it out in the dark and from the distance. Anyway, from what I could tell, the person looked like a girl from the back and the height as well. She looked rather young. Just as she was going under the streetlight she pulled up the hood, but not before I caught a glimpse of her dark brown hair," he explained to his friend.

"This girl, she's been on your mind since?" Zacky wondered.

"Yeah, but I don't know why. I mean I love Leanna, she's great, but this girl, she seemed like a lost soul or something," Jimmy said.

Before Zacky could continue with the conversation they were interrupted by Brian.

"Hey, has anyone seen my hoodie?" he asked walking into the room they were in.

"No," Jimmy said.

"Zacky?" Brian prompted.

"Nope, where did you have it last?" Zacky asked.

"It was on the bus before we left last night to talk to the director. I went to go put it on a few minutes ago, but couldn't find it anywhere. Instead I found this," he said, holding up a faded grey backpack.

"Where did you find that?" Jimmy asked.

"Under the bunks," Brian said.

"That doesn't look familiar at all," Zacky said.

"I was just trying to search for my hoodie and thought it might have got kicked under the bunks, but I guess not," Brian said, with a shrug.

"Have you shown this to Matt and Johnny yet/" Jimmy asked.

"No, they weren't around," Brian answered.

"We should show them that and see what they might want to do with it. Maybe the owner might come back for it," Zacky suggested.

Brian and Jimmy nodded their heads in agreement. They both got up and followed Zacky towards the venue where they found Matt and Johnny discussing more important details about the show tomorrow night.

"Hey, Matt have you seen this before?" Brian asked, showing him the backpack.

"No, where did you find it?" he asked.

"On the bus," Brian answered.

"What was it doing there?" Johnny asked.

"I don't know. I was just looking for my hoodie that seemed to have gone missing when I found this under one of the bunk sections," Brian replied.

"What should we do with it?" Zacky wondered.

"Let's keep it and see if the owner comes back for it," Matt replied.

"Sounds good to me," Brian said, heading back towards the bus.

Jimmy still couldn't keep the girl from the night before out of his mind. He soon followed Brian back to the bus. They put the backpack in plain sight of the front door of the bus. They thought that the owner would show up sooner or later and they were hoping for sooner than later. They had a show to prepare for and they wanted to know who this mysterious person truly was.

******

Rebecca sighed heavily as she stuffed her hands in the pockets of the stolen hoodie. She needed to go back to that bus and retrieve her backpack, but she seemed to have lost her way a little bit. She had come across a park during her walk and stayed there for the majority of the night, but it seemed to get a lot colder as the night wore on. She took her hands out of the pockets and then crossed her arms to try and stay warmer. She then found an alleyway and at the end of it she saw a rather large structure. She realized that it looked highly similar to the venue that she had left a few hours ago.

Rebecca wasn't sure how far of a walk it would be if she kept walking down the street, so she made the rash decision to go into the alleyway. Growing up on the streets made her rather stronger than most girls that she saw. A lot of the rich, snobby ones she saw from afar wouldn't even dare to enter such a filthy place, but sometimes alleyways were her refuge from the cold and of course they made for good hiding spots as well when she was running from the law or some random person she stole something from. She walked further down the alley hoping that it was the faster way to get to her destination.

"And just where do ya think yer going tonight," a gruff voice asked from behind her.

Rebecca whipped around as fast as she could, but she was a bit late. She found herself up against a wall on one side of the alley. There was someone hovering over her.

"You are absolutely gorgeous there, love," the same gruff voice said.

Rebecca found herself cringing at this man's hot, disgusting breath on her face.

"You're absolutely disgusting and I would appreciate it if you would leave me alone," Rebecca said, trying to move.

"You're not going anywhere just yet," the man said.

Rebecca wasn't one to take no as an answer. She didn't want this disgusting person on her or near her so she did what she taught herself how to do when she was growing up in the streets. She quickly kneed him where the sun isn't supposed to shine and he immediately buckled.

"You'll pay for that one missy," he groaned in pain.

Rebecca didn't stay to see if he got up or not. She took off running. She got to the end of the alley before she started hearing the footsteps behind her. She pushed herself to run faster. She ran through the near empty streets one goal in her mind. She ran faster as she heard the footsteps getting closer. She wasn't sure if she would make it to the bus again before this person caught her. She prayed that she did because she actually felt safe on that bus. She couldn't remember the last time she felt safe, but she knew for a fact that she did when she had been on that bus.

Her energy was starting to falter, but she knew that she couldn't stop. If she did then she knew something bad was going to happen to her. She was only fifteen years old and she couldn't be stupid now. She kept running. She heard a faint wheezing from behind and her hope soared higher than ever as she continued to push herself.

Rebecca didn't look back at all. She kept her eyes forward so that she could keep an eye out for the bus. She saw the dark silhouette of the bus in the distance and her heart soared with a higher sense of relief. She could almost feel that safe and comfort that she did earlier. Unfortunately, before she could get closer to the bus she tripped over a bump in the road and fell skidding across the asphalt. Her hands stung and so did her arms and legs. Just as she was about to get up though, someone grabbed her ankle.

"You're mine now," the guy from the alley panted, holding onto her ankle rather hard.

Rebecca fought as hard as she could. She kicked and flailed her arms as much as possible. She wasn't going to let this nasty man hurt her. She heard a crack after kicking out randomly and then a loud grunt of pain. She had connected her foot with something. She continued to kick and punch until she didn't hear anything else.

Rebecca scrambled to her feet then and ran back towards the bus. The doors were open again and she boarded the bus. She didn't even see her backpack placed in front of the door. She ran back towards the bunk and then dropped to the floor until she was underneath the bunks again. She breathed in and out rather hard. She was still trying to recover from what she just barely managed to escape from. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her breathing down, but they snapped open when she felt a hand on her ankle again. She tried to grab hold of something, but realized there was nothing to grab onto to keep herself there.

She was pulled out from the bunks and then flipped over so that she was on her back instead of her stomach. She stared into the eyes of five heavily tattooed men. They all had glares on their faces, well all except one. Rebecca cursed herself for getting caught since that was the farthest thought in her mind. She just wanted to feel safe again.