Fences

I met Lily outside of her house at 11 am. She had on a pair of jeans, something unusual to me, and a white t-shirt. I had on my own ratty jeans and an old red t-shirt. She had a big, pink slung bag over her shoulder, with cartoon buttons and signatures on the sack.

“Ready?” I said looking her over.

“Yep.” She pushed her glasses up.

I had my own sack over my shoulder, filled with a bunch of my shirts, socks, undies, and another pair of jeans. I didn’t know how long I’d be gone, but I was gonna make this last.

“You aren’t scared?” Lily asked me again.

“No. I’ve never been scared. Are you?”

“I’m excited. I’ve never been anywhere that was fun.” She giggled happily, “And, I’ve never been on a bus before.”

Lily and I continued to walk the back roads, avoiding human contact, and straight to where I knew the bus station was. We didn’t really talk much, the silence was nice, and I knew we were both fueled off adrenaline.

“You didn’t tell your mom anything?” I asked once we got our tickets and awaited the bus.

“No…but,” Lily gave me a worried glance, “I left her a note.”

I shook my head, “What’d you write?”

“I just told her not to worry, that I’m with you and that I have my medication.” Lily smiled.

“She’ll worry. She’s a mom…your mom.”

“I know, but she needs to trust me. She trust you, so maybe she won’t worry so much.”

I smiled back at her, nodding, “Let’s hope.”

It didn’t take long for the bus to board; Lily and I were in the very back. We played hang man, listened to her walkman, and then she started to take pictures of me. I groaned at each mini flash, and shook my head.

“C’mon, I look weird!” I took one of the polaroids and shook it, “See.”

“So? No one but you and me are gonna see them.” Lily stacked the polaroids and set them in her bag.

“Fine,” I took the camera, “let’s take one together.”

Lily gave me a small grimace, but didn’t refuse. She scooted closer to me, I slung my arm around her shoulder and use my other hand to take a quick picture of us. As soon as the polaroid slipped out, I shook it quickly.

I saw Lily’s shy smile emerge first, “Look,” I told her softly, “we look okay.”

She giggled, “I look happy.”

“Aren’t you happy?”

“I was afraid I’d look nervous.”

The picture emerged fully, and we looked at ourselves. We looked like a happy pair of kids, which we were. But, on the surface didn’t tell the story going on underneath. That one was dying and the either was running away.

“Can we take another? I want you to have one. I’ll take it.” Lily scooted back over to me, taking the camera.

I grinned like an idiot, Lily gave another shy smile and then took the picture. As soon as it slipped, she shook it this time. We didn’t speak as the image emerged, and showed us.

“We are some fine lookin’ kids.” I joked.

“Yeah…we are.” Lily spoke softly.


We got to New York 2 hours later, and then we found a small hotel near the city, that didn’t card me. I planned to stay there until Lily decided to go back to New Jersey, and then I would decide where I’d go from there. We dropped our things off and headed back out into the city, looking for the zoo.

When we finally got to the New York City zoo, we paid for our passes and Lily nervously took my hand. She squeezed it gently, her glasses slipped down her nose and I pushed them up for her.

“What do you want to see first?” I asked her.

“Uh…the monkeys, then we can work our way to the sea animals.” She said with a smile.

“Good idea.”

Lily took a couple of photos as we swept through the bird exhibit and the monkeys and then towards the lions and tigers. I had bought her a stuffed tiger while she bought a soda, and I was rewarded with a hug.

“Thank you, Frankie.” She gushed, “This is awesome, no one’s ever bought me a stuffed animal before.”

I smiled back at her, “No problem, I would’ve got you a sea animal, but they only had sharks.”

She giggled, “It’s the thought that counts.”

Lily took my hand again, leading me towards the sea animals.

One thing about Lily, that was blatantly obvious since the day we met, was that she obsessed about sea creatures and water. She liked to float and be free, as she told me. She wished she could live in the water, and I completely understood.

“Look at how big they are,” Lily spoke in a hushed tone as we walked through the underground aquarium, “aren't they magnificent?”

I nodded, watching the seat turtles and fish swim. We tried to find the sea lions, but so far, we only saw the seals and a few sharks. We continued out of the aquarium until we found them; and Lily gasped happily.

“Oh my gosh!” She squeezed my hand, pulling me over to them, “Look Frankie!”

Lily leaned against the glass and watched them with large eyes. I stood by, watching her, happy that I made a dream of hers come true. How hard was it to get this girl a zoo? Not very. No one tried, but me, and I was happy to do so.


“That was wonderful, Frankie, thank you again.” Lily had thanked me as we walked our way to the city bus.

The night had come, we had to get to the hotel before the buses stopped running. We had spent the entire day at the zoo, seeing each and every animal until we got tired and hungry.

“It’s no problem for me, y’know.” I told her.

As we walked, Lily put her things away, making sure she had everything, then we got to the stop. A man came over, standing beside Lily; I already knew, from his nervous stance that he was gonna try and take her bag. I stood, making my way to Lily’s left side, blocking her bag. The guy saw me, he got in front of me, looked down at me.

He pulled out a knife.

Lily gasped, I swallowed hard. The guy looked down at us, “Hand over the bag.”

I looked to Lily, her bottom lip trembled, and she shook her head. I blocked her body with mine, “There’s nothing in her bag,” I started, “we just spent all our money at the zoo.” I told him.

“Give me the bag.” He snarled at me gesturing with his knife.

“No.” Lily refused softly.

The guy put his knife up towards Lily, pushing me out the way, she gasped.

“Tell your girlfriend to give me the bag and I won’t hurt her.”

I looked at the knife near her chest, then at her face, she shook her head again. I couldn’t make Lily give her bag to him, it was filled with the wonderful day we had.

“I can’t, man.” I told him sadly.

The man gabbed his knife out at me, but Lily grabbed the blade with her hand; the fastest reflex I had ever seen. Then, she let out this loud, piercing scream. The man ran off, while I put my hands to my ears, fighting her scream.

“Oh my god.” She finally screamed out words, but they were lower than her wail.

“Lil,” I saw blood dripping down her palm, “Oh fuck.”

“I’m scared. Help me, Frankie.”