Status: I hope you like it. It's my first story so if you have any advice for me please feel free to share
Babette's Story
Chapter 1
How can a city girl make a life for herself in the country? My father Owen Darmody saw no other choice but for us to leave New York City and move to Franklin County, Virginia with my aunt Gillian. My father couldn't face the loss of my little brother. He couldn't even look out the window of our apartment without having a graphic flashback of my brother being gunned down in a crossfire between two rival gangs.
Charlie was only 13 and everyone in our neighborhood had a soft spot for him. He would happily offer help to the older women with grocery bags. He loved getting his hands dirty in the autoshop with my father and two older brothers. He was a kid who never paid any mind to the bad things around him, he was just optimistic.
I was running late to work that horrible day....
*{Flashback}*
"Bye pop I'll see ya later" I said rushing out the door. I was late for my shift at the diner. I finally made my way out of our apartment building when I spotted Charlie running in the street with his two best friends Lucky and Jimmy.
"Hey Charlie don't run in the damn street! I know you gots better sense than that." I shouted at him.
"Alright alright ain't no need to yell Baps." He ran over to me with a smile on his face. "Heading to work? Want me to walk with you?" He asked as usual.
"Naaa that's ok since I gotta run to work, I'm so late." I told him as I ruffled his hair. "Remember what pop said be home by 5 Charlie and not a minute later."
"I got it Baps, he only reminds me every damn hour." He replied rolling his eyes.
"Language baby brother." I laughed "Dont let pop hear ya speaking like that. Anyways catch ya later, stay outta trouble" I said speed walking away. He said something back no doubt a snide comment but I never heard what he said.
I made it about a block and a half down the street when I heard the gunfire. It sounded as if it was coming from every direction. I dropped to the ground waiting for it to end. Two minutes felt like hours and I was back on my feet looking around hearing the screams of women, children, men. It wasn't till my father yelled for Charlie that I started running back up the block to our building. I was in no way prepared for what I was about to see. As I made my way to the crowd of people in the street I notice a body on the floor slightly twitching. I recognized the shoes belonging to my brother and that's when I pushed people out of the way to reach him. I finally made it to the front of the crowd dropping to the ground and propping his head on my lap. Everything felt as if it was going in slow motion. I heard my fathers voice but I never saw him. I stared at my little brother's body riddled with bullets watching him gasped for air, tears falling from his eyes. He couldn't speak he just gurgled and spit up blood.
"You stay with me Charlie!! Don't you dare die on us!!" I cried hysterically. He stared into my honey hazel eyes, the eyes of my mother, fighting for air. "God damnit Charlie... Help me please!!! Help me!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
The grip Charlie had on my hand loosened, his body stopped convulsing and his dark brown eyes stared in to nothingness. I screamed for my father, I screamed for my older brothers, I screamed for God to help me. Seven other people were murder that day innocent bystanders and none of them gangsters. Charlie's friend Jimmy also died that day taking a bullet to the head. I stayed in the middle of the street holding my brother's dead body rocking back and forth in a daze while my father and older brothers held each other for support, till the police showed up and took his body away.
*{Present Day}*
Now here I am staring out the passenger side window of my pop's Chevrolet packed with some of our belongings, as my brother's Eli and Richie drove the Hupmobile behind us with the rest of our stuff. I watched as the city lights turned into grass covered fields that went on for miles. My father broke me out of my daze when he finally spoke to me.
"This transition is gonna be hard for all of us but that city life is over. I don't want to worry about losing another one of my children in those hostile streets" he said staring at the road ahead. "Your aunt Gillian and her daughter are the only family we got left. Besides it'll be a nice change for you living with other women."
"I'm sure it'll be different" I mumbled.
Charlie was only 13 and everyone in our neighborhood had a soft spot for him. He would happily offer help to the older women with grocery bags. He loved getting his hands dirty in the autoshop with my father and two older brothers. He was a kid who never paid any mind to the bad things around him, he was just optimistic.
I was running late to work that horrible day....
*{Flashback}*
"Bye pop I'll see ya later" I said rushing out the door. I was late for my shift at the diner. I finally made my way out of our apartment building when I spotted Charlie running in the street with his two best friends Lucky and Jimmy.
"Hey Charlie don't run in the damn street! I know you gots better sense than that." I shouted at him.
"Alright alright ain't no need to yell Baps." He ran over to me with a smile on his face. "Heading to work? Want me to walk with you?" He asked as usual.
"Naaa that's ok since I gotta run to work, I'm so late." I told him as I ruffled his hair. "Remember what pop said be home by 5 Charlie and not a minute later."
"I got it Baps, he only reminds me every damn hour." He replied rolling his eyes.
"Language baby brother." I laughed "Dont let pop hear ya speaking like that. Anyways catch ya later, stay outta trouble" I said speed walking away. He said something back no doubt a snide comment but I never heard what he said.
I made it about a block and a half down the street when I heard the gunfire. It sounded as if it was coming from every direction. I dropped to the ground waiting for it to end. Two minutes felt like hours and I was back on my feet looking around hearing the screams of women, children, men. It wasn't till my father yelled for Charlie that I started running back up the block to our building. I was in no way prepared for what I was about to see. As I made my way to the crowd of people in the street I notice a body on the floor slightly twitching. I recognized the shoes belonging to my brother and that's when I pushed people out of the way to reach him. I finally made it to the front of the crowd dropping to the ground and propping his head on my lap. Everything felt as if it was going in slow motion. I heard my fathers voice but I never saw him. I stared at my little brother's body riddled with bullets watching him gasped for air, tears falling from his eyes. He couldn't speak he just gurgled and spit up blood.
"You stay with me Charlie!! Don't you dare die on us!!" I cried hysterically. He stared into my honey hazel eyes, the eyes of my mother, fighting for air. "God damnit Charlie... Help me please!!! Help me!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
The grip Charlie had on my hand loosened, his body stopped convulsing and his dark brown eyes stared in to nothingness. I screamed for my father, I screamed for my older brothers, I screamed for God to help me. Seven other people were murder that day innocent bystanders and none of them gangsters. Charlie's friend Jimmy also died that day taking a bullet to the head. I stayed in the middle of the street holding my brother's dead body rocking back and forth in a daze while my father and older brothers held each other for support, till the police showed up and took his body away.
*{Present Day}*
Now here I am staring out the passenger side window of my pop's Chevrolet packed with some of our belongings, as my brother's Eli and Richie drove the Hupmobile behind us with the rest of our stuff. I watched as the city lights turned into grass covered fields that went on for miles. My father broke me out of my daze when he finally spoke to me.
"This transition is gonna be hard for all of us but that city life is over. I don't want to worry about losing another one of my children in those hostile streets" he said staring at the road ahead. "Your aunt Gillian and her daughter are the only family we got left. Besides it'll be a nice change for you living with other women."
"I'm sure it'll be different" I mumbled.