‹ Prequel: Take This To Heart
Status: Sequal. :)
Taion
"Flying At Tree Level", Brand New
“He’s not talking.” Zack.
“I don’t care if he’s talking. Just as long as he’s out of trouble and my way.” Ooh. Harsh Alex.
“…He locked the bunk door. The whole half of the bus is closed off to us.” Rian.
Alex cursed that time, loudly, and I flinched in my bunk as I hear his footsteps. He’s obviously embarrassed: Hey Monday is showing up in an hour and I’m torturing them by being a brat…not that I mind. If Alex wants to play dirty, hey, I’m all up for it. Alex makes the first move: tries to open the door, and upon failing, bangs on it harshly. Phoenix Envy (that’s me): counter attack. I send one of my already pre-prepared messages to Jack, who’s phone goes off with Lady Gaga. …I didn’t exactly see that one coming, however.
“Alex, look.” Jack’s voice. I picture him handing his phone to Alex, Alex blushing furiously, and then….
“Your not Switzerland, you jacka-“
Zack cuts him off. “Phoenix, just come out. Your being a child.”
“I gotta go pee!” Jack squeals, still I make no move off of my bunk. Instead a hum that stupid Lady Gaga song and start reading Macy’s text. It seems as if she’s on Alex’s side now as well.
Listen, Phoenix. Don’t ruin this for you. It seems you and the band are on bad terms. Don’t make it worse.
I scoff. “Yeah, right. Bad terms? More like Alex being a total jerk.” My soft voice doesn’t carry from my bunk, as if it would, Alex would have surely commented on it. I throw my phone to the ground and it responds with a barely audible thunk when contacting the carpeted floor.
“Phoenix Envy Stokes Gaskarth! If you don’t open that door in the next few moments,” I didn’t expect anything. Alex couldn’t make threats worth his life. “I’ll send you back where I got you!”
Do what? Did I just hear him wrong? My jaw locks up, my eyes are frozen over with a glassy far off look, and my hands start shaking. Back to where I came from? Like…? “He sells your body, Envy!” I hear Christine’s voice, remember my freak out in class. There? He was going to send me back there? My pulse is racing, my mind to far ahead to register any logical thought process. Was he in jail? Was he dead? I wasn’t sure and I croaked uncertainly, “Wh-what?” My legs had moved by themselves, my fingers as well, and I had pried up the door without a second thought.
I was peering at them, and I must have looked pretty pathetic because in seconds Zack was glaring at Alex, Rian was looking away –shaking his head, Jack had his arms around me in a hug, and Alex was cursing.
I finally realized what he’d said –what he’d done: betrayed me with a simple slice of words. I started sobbing; I was an ugly crier – I noticed when I glanced up and my eyes grabbed at the shiny mirror hanging on the back of a cabnet. Ugly. That word then made me think of the scar on my shoulder. Then how Alex had said he wouldn’t hesitate to throw me back into that abuse. I lost all the grip on sanity I had left and I viciously shoved Jack away, backing into the half of the bus I’d locked myself up in. “I hate you! All of you!”
Jack grabbed at me again, pulling me close so I couldn’t fight him –where my arms were trapped between our chests. He shh-ed me. The bus had become an wild jury.
“What? What’d I do?”
“-Can’t help it Alex’s an ass!”
“-mean, I tried to help…”
“He didn’t mean it, Phoenix!”
“Just stop being an inconsiderate brat!”
“Shut up, Alex!”
I didn’t know what to do. Everyone was yelling. Jack let me go, getting caught up in it as well. “Will you stop!? He’s scared!”
“I’m just not ready to be a father, Jack!”
Silence. At least to me. I could see their mouths moving, but the words had ceased to matter. I didn’t have a guardian. I never did. I had a not so dedicated group of rockers, who, after everything, really didn’t want to take care of me. It was as if Alex had suddenly took everything I could offer and say, “Thanks, but no thanks.” I was crushed, but guilty consciousness’s do nothing but bring me down: I could rid them of my presence myself. No one actually needed court orders or lawyers. Just a backpack. A water bottle. And a bag of low fat baked Doritos. I decided to leave that night. For good.
“I don’t care if he’s talking. Just as long as he’s out of trouble and my way.” Ooh. Harsh Alex.
“…He locked the bunk door. The whole half of the bus is closed off to us.” Rian.
Alex cursed that time, loudly, and I flinched in my bunk as I hear his footsteps. He’s obviously embarrassed: Hey Monday is showing up in an hour and I’m torturing them by being a brat…not that I mind. If Alex wants to play dirty, hey, I’m all up for it. Alex makes the first move: tries to open the door, and upon failing, bangs on it harshly. Phoenix Envy (that’s me): counter attack. I send one of my already pre-prepared messages to Jack, who’s phone goes off with Lady Gaga. …I didn’t exactly see that one coming, however.
“Alex, look.” Jack’s voice. I picture him handing his phone to Alex, Alex blushing furiously, and then….
“Your not Switzerland, you jacka-“
Zack cuts him off. “Phoenix, just come out. Your being a child.”
“I gotta go pee!” Jack squeals, still I make no move off of my bunk. Instead a hum that stupid Lady Gaga song and start reading Macy’s text. It seems as if she’s on Alex’s side now as well.
Listen, Phoenix. Don’t ruin this for you. It seems you and the band are on bad terms. Don’t make it worse.
I scoff. “Yeah, right. Bad terms? More like Alex being a total jerk.” My soft voice doesn’t carry from my bunk, as if it would, Alex would have surely commented on it. I throw my phone to the ground and it responds with a barely audible thunk when contacting the carpeted floor.
“Phoenix Envy Stokes Gaskarth! If you don’t open that door in the next few moments,” I didn’t expect anything. Alex couldn’t make threats worth his life. “I’ll send you back where I got you!”
Do what? Did I just hear him wrong? My jaw locks up, my eyes are frozen over with a glassy far off look, and my hands start shaking. Back to where I came from? Like…? “He sells your body, Envy!” I hear Christine’s voice, remember my freak out in class. There? He was going to send me back there? My pulse is racing, my mind to far ahead to register any logical thought process. Was he in jail? Was he dead? I wasn’t sure and I croaked uncertainly, “Wh-what?” My legs had moved by themselves, my fingers as well, and I had pried up the door without a second thought.
I was peering at them, and I must have looked pretty pathetic because in seconds Zack was glaring at Alex, Rian was looking away –shaking his head, Jack had his arms around me in a hug, and Alex was cursing.
I finally realized what he’d said –what he’d done: betrayed me with a simple slice of words. I started sobbing; I was an ugly crier – I noticed when I glanced up and my eyes grabbed at the shiny mirror hanging on the back of a cabnet. Ugly. That word then made me think of the scar on my shoulder. Then how Alex had said he wouldn’t hesitate to throw me back into that abuse. I lost all the grip on sanity I had left and I viciously shoved Jack away, backing into the half of the bus I’d locked myself up in. “I hate you! All of you!”
Jack grabbed at me again, pulling me close so I couldn’t fight him –where my arms were trapped between our chests. He shh-ed me. The bus had become an wild jury.
“What? What’d I do?”
“-Can’t help it Alex’s an ass!”
“-mean, I tried to help…”
“He didn’t mean it, Phoenix!”
“Just stop being an inconsiderate brat!”
“Shut up, Alex!”
I didn’t know what to do. Everyone was yelling. Jack let me go, getting caught up in it as well. “Will you stop!? He’s scared!”
“I’m just not ready to be a father, Jack!”
Silence. At least to me. I could see their mouths moving, but the words had ceased to matter. I didn’t have a guardian. I never did. I had a not so dedicated group of rockers, who, after everything, really didn’t want to take care of me. It was as if Alex had suddenly took everything I could offer and say, “Thanks, but no thanks.” I was crushed, but guilty consciousness’s do nothing but bring me down: I could rid them of my presence myself. No one actually needed court orders or lawyers. Just a backpack. A water bottle. And a bag of low fat baked Doritos. I decided to leave that night. For good.