Trapped

..::Parker’s P.O.V::..

“Okay,” I said to the group of three in front of me, “So, everybody’s gone hiding again, AGAIN,” I said, anger rising.

“Actually, Harper was punishing Johnny,” Zacky kind of half raised his hand, and cowered away.

“Ah shit. Everybody, search for Johnny, now,” I said, and ran out of the room. I went to the back room of Wal-mart, and called out Johnny’s name as loud as my lungs would have allowed. I heard a faint knocking, only loud enough for me to find which direction it was coming from. I was led to a huge metal door, and there was knocking from the other side of it. I sighed, totally something she would do. Of course, he had been locked into the freezer. I quickly unlocked it, to see Johnny sitting on a bunch of frozen pizzas. I ran to him, and lifted him into my arms, he wasn’t that heavy, but he was fucking freezing. I dropped him, and heard a big ‘clunk’. My heart stopped as I realized what the noise was, even though I was hoping it wasn’t. I turned around, and pushed on the door, but it wouldn’t budge. Oh fuck. Not to mention, I was stuck in here with Johnny of all people. I turned around and looked down at him, “Alright, so, you’re going to hold on to me, so I don’t freeze. Okay?” I said the word ‘okay’ very slowly, to make sure he understood. He nodded his head, and I sat down in his lap as his arms went around me. It was completely awkward, but I would be damned if I let myself freeze.

..::Jimmy’s P.O.V::..

I looked in every room, all of the freezers in the frozen food section. Through all of the bins, cases, aisles, roof, stairwell, bathrooms, oven, and counters. Nobody was anywhere to be found. Then I remembered when Parker found Matt under his bed. I went to Harper’s first, to see if she was there under her bed, and there was no sign of her. I went off to Matt’s room, and looked under his, and there was Harper, sleeping soundly. I grabbed her by the foot, and slid her out. She decided to lift her head at the exact moment it was passing the frame, and I could tell by the sound that it had hurt. I wanted to laugh, but I bit the sides of my mouth just enough so I wouldn’t.

“What the hell,” she asked, and looked around. She attempted sitting up again as she held her forehead.

“Matt and Johnny, we lost them,” I said, and she looked confused, then a horrified look came across her face.

“Oh fuck, Johnny,” she basically shot up and started running. I tried to catch up with her, but she was running just too fast. She ran into a back room that I didn’t even know we had, and thought it was cool. She ran past a bunch of cardboard boxes into a big door. She instantly opened it, and I was instantly freezing. A freezer. There, was Johnny, and Parker, sitting on his lap. She instantly sat up and sprang into my arms.

“Is there any reason Johnny and you were getting a little cozy,” Harper teased her, and I saw Johnny start crawling out.

“I-I-I f-f-found t-the f-free-eezer a-and t-tried t-to ge-et John-ohny o-out a-and g-got l-l-locked in. I-I m-ma-ade hi-im ma-ake m-me w-wa-arm,” she stuttered, and I grabbed her closer to me. I picked her up, and went off to carry her to her bed. I got in with her and tried my hardest to make her warm underneath her blanket. She cuddled herself to me, and she was shivering furiously. Her skin was extremely cold against mine, so I started rubbing her arms with my hands, trying to warm her up as best as I could. So Johnny and Harper had been found, eventually Matt would come around. He wouldn’t just let himself die in a hole, and unless there were anymore exits from this store, then he was still in here. I looked down at Parker’s face to see her sleeping, and she seemed to be a little more warmed up. I let my own eyes close, and went to sleep.

..::---------------::..

‘Come here, Sullivan,” I heard Zan behind me. I was already used to his picking on me and the guys, so my heart didn’t fall and my stomach didn’t feel queasy when I heard his voice. Just another day at school, that’s it. I turned around, and looked at him.

‘Yes, your royal pain in the ass?” I asked sarcastically. That earned me a swing, throwing me back onto the floor. I decided to lie there for a little bit until he decided to spit on me and walk away. I saw Parker look at me, and turn around, and then my heart did drop. I still couldn’t believe they had left us like that. Had we done something to them? I couldn’t find it in my heart to fully hate either of them, especially because Parks had always been really special to me. Matt was always kind of pissed off about it, he would never shut up about how they betrayed us, but deep down, I just think he was a lot more hurt than any of us. We were all best friends, and Parker and Harper got a great opportunity. Deep down, I was just glad that they didn’t have to put up with this anymore, as long as they were getting treated right. I always promised myself, though, that if Zan had ever hurt Parker, I’d knock his lights out, no matter what damage it would cost me. She would always mean a lot to me, until I forgot about her. I had to forget about her, though. I knew – we all knew – that they weren’t coming back to us.

I watched them both walk around, and just lay there on the linoleum floor with a crowd of high school kids staring at me and laughing. I was used to that, too. I didn’t care about the humiliation anymore.

“Dude,” Brian’s face was suddenly in front of me as he was standing by my face, “I think you should get up,” he said.

“I actually think I like this view,” I said, and rubbed my temples.

“Come on, get up before I t-bag you,” he threatened, and I slowly rose to my feet, and grabbed my back pack from the ground. I stuffed it in my locker, which was still open, and decided that I didn’t feel in the mood for school. Brian and I walked off campus, and Brian took out the stash in his pocket, and we went into the woods, “so which one was it this time?”

“Fucking Zan. I’ll kill him one day,” I vowed.

“Take down his shabby girlfriend, too,” he said, taking a hit.

“Parker? Why would I do that?” I asked, wanting to punt him across the country for insulting her.

“They fucked us over, dude. Both of them,” he said, making what they had done very obvious.

“Come on, if the most popular girls-“

“If the most popular girls,” he cut me off, “asked us out, you would say no, because you were head over heels in love with Parker, and even worse, she made it seem like she had the same feelings as you. Now look,” he spread his arms out, pointing out the situation we’re in, “we’re cutting school to do drugs because we get picked on every day,” he said, and I grimaced.

“I guess you’re right,” I put my head down after taking another hit. But no matter what Brian, or Johnny, or Matt, or Zacky had ever said about Parker, my feelings never changed. I always hoped they would come back. Always.

My eyes fluttered open after the memory was over. I’ve tried to keep all memories of high school out of my head. They were here now, and we now knew the truth about what had happened, and keeping my mind set on that made the past hurt less. Parker was still asleep, and I kissed her on the forehead. I didn’t want to wake her up, or leave her side, so I decided to lay in bed with her, and watch her, and hope I wasn’t creepy while doing it.

..::Zacky’s P.O.V::..

“Are you sure you don’t know where Matt went?” I asked her, and she nodded. There was something she wasn’t telling me, and it made me really nervous. I didn’t question why she was under Matt’s bed in the first place, because making her mad wasn’t something I wanted to do right now. She seemed dazed, or traumatized. I didn’t like to see her like this, at all. She was under the covers of her bed, and looked like she didn’t want to talk to me, “Alright. Whatever,” I muttered, standing up from the edge of the bed, and leaving her to herself. I went about, still looking for Matt, and when I came to terms that I wasn’t going to find him, I went to my own room, and placed my head in my hands as I sat down on the couch. I didn’t need this right now, things were starting to look up for once, and then everything came crashing down. Matt was always putting Harper in weird moods, and it was odd, I felt jealous even. I was even starting to wonder if things were going on behind my back. No. I shouldn’t think the worst like this. I wanted to go in there, and just take her into my arms, but I was afraid she’d just kick me out. What was going to happen to us? When was this stupid thing going to be over? Eventually, we’d run out of food.

“Conference room,” Jimmy said as he poked his head into my room, and walked away. I sighed; we all did kind of run off in the middle of a meeting because Harper had inflicted the punishment of locking Johnny in a freezer, then forgot about him. I picked myself up, and dragged my feet to the conference room, where everybody else was, even Johnny, who had a blanket wrapped around him. He looked over at Harper every now and then, scared that she would make a move or something. I sat down by him, not wanting to bother her. Jimmy was standing up this time, his facial expression happy.

“Okay, great news,” he started, “We heard on the radio that a cure may have been found, and by next week, we might be able to get out of here,” there was cheering around the room.

“What’s up with this ‘may’ and ‘might’,” Brian asked, seeming as those two words were annoying him.

“As in there’s a chance that it may not happen, dumbass,” Parker muttered, and Brian glared at her.

“Calm down, there’s still a chance it will happen, we just got to look on the upside of things. Plus, we’ve got to find Matt,” Jimmy said, trying to keep peace in the room. I was surprised that he was actually succeeding. I glanced over at Harper, and she wasn’t even acknowledging my existence. It was like high school over again. Maybe she was lying about any feelings she had, and if, no, when we got out of here, she’d just ditch us again. I stood up, and everybody looked at me.

“What the fuck did I do this time, Harp?” I asked, not really expecting an answer back, so I stormed out of the room. I started walking, until I found a small hole in the wall, just big enough for me to crawl in to.

“The fuck are you doing here?” I heard Matt ask.

“Hiding, what the fuck about you,” I could see the white of his eyes in the dark.

“Doing a fucking trapeze act, what does it look like,” he had sarcasm all in his voice, and I actually chuckled at his comment.

“Sharing is caring,” I said, sitting back.

“Why are you hiding,” he asked me, seeming alright with the fact that I was here.

“Harper. You?”

“Harper.”