Beneath Dead Vines

I got up and groaned when I felt a sharp pain in my left shoulder. Once again I had slept on it wrong. It was one of the reasons I avoided sleeping on the floor as much as possible.

The rest of the morning was pretty normal. Ate a bowl of cereal, took a shower, said morning to my mom then left to school. The same daily procedure I’ve had for the past few years.

I always got to school an hour early so I could hang out with all of my friends. We’d rather hang out than get an extra hour of sleep. There was an area at school that had a bunch of pine trees surrounding the creek, which ran through the school. Between all the pine trees was an open area with boulders scattered around in a circle, providing our seats and the pine trees gave us our hide out. The ground was covered in dead pine needles, causing the floor to appear as a yellow color with brown pine cones scattered everywhere.

I walked into the forest of pine trees and dodged all the branches that stuck out. Just as I got to the opening, a pine cone hit my chest. I glanced up to see Bryan with his large smirk.

“Good morning,” I said with a grin.

He leaned back against the boulder behind him and said, “Morning.”

“Are we the only ones here?” I asked.

“Nope, I’m here now.” I heard a voice say behind me.

I turned around to see Alice standing with her arms wrapped around her stomach and baggy eyes that were completely noticeable. Her hair was down and she was wearing a red sweatshirt that was too big for her body and blue jeans.

“You look like shit.” Bryan said behind me with a chuckle.

“You obviously haven’t looked in a mirror lately.” Alice replied with a small shrug.

I laughed when I saw Bryan’s proud grin turn into a frown.

“Can’t we all just get along?” Shelby asked as she emerged from behind a pine tree.

“What fun would that be?” I asked Shelby.

She looked at me then shrugged, “It could be a lot of fun.”

Alice and I both glanced at each other before looking back at Shelby and saying, “Nah!”

Everyone burst out laughing when Shelby’s face looked down in shame. Shelby was the good girl of the group. No bad words, no violence, and no sad faces. We had even tried getting her to say bad words, but she always refused. She always wore bright colored clothing. For instance the lime green converse and bright orange shirt with white skinny jeans she was wearing now. She had come from India in the fifth grade and been my best friend ever since. She loved her long black wavy hair and always used her brown skin color as an excuse. Her favorite line “It’s just because I’m black".

“Thanks for trying, Shelbs,” Bryan said while wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

“Oh, Bryan, go get a room!” I yelled while rolling my eyes.

“What? I need a room for looking into her beautiful brown eyes?” he said while leaning closer toward Shelby and looking into her eyes.

“Ariel? Don’t we have to go to that one thing at that one place?” Alice asked me while pointing toward the exit.

“Oh yeah! We should go do that!” I played along. Alice grabbed my arm then we both backed out of our hide out. When we got out, we both began cracking up.

“They may have won the battle, but they have not won the war!” Alice declared in a deep voice.

I laughed harder and nodded in agreement. Alice began laughing with me until the pain in her stomach kicked in and she cradled it while letting out a painful sigh.

“Are you ok, Ali?” I asked.

She nodded then sat down on the grass. I sat beside her and pulled my knees to my chest. I hated seeing her like this.

“Why don’t you chill at my house for a week or two?” I asked her softly, wishing she would say yes.

“You know I can’t, Air. It’ll only make things worse…”

“We need to—“

“Hey Al,” Eric called as he walked toward us.

“Morning,” Alice replied.

“Hey Rick.” I said with a smile.

“It’s Eric, not Rick.” He said in an annoyed tone.

“Alright, Rick.”

Alice looked at me then shook her head with a smile.

“Why are you out here on the grass?” Eric asked.

“Bryan and Shelby.” We said in unison.

“You guys say the same things at the same time a lot. It’s getting pretty weird.” Eric pointed out.

“Sisters at heart.” I said with a chuckle.

“Not just sisters, but twins.” Alice corrected.

“Yeah, but I got the good looks.” I stated.

“Is that why you don’t have a boyfriend?”

I made a fake laugh then flipped her off.

“Hey don’t be doing that to my girl.” Eric defended.

I rolled my eyes, “I should probably leave you two love birds alone.”

“No! Stay, Air. I promise nothing will be happening.” Alice quickly said.

I looked at Alice then instantly knew why she didn’t want me to leave. If I stayed, nothing would happen. No hugging or kissing, but if I left he would accidently touch her stomach and figure everything out.

“Alright, alright,” I said, giving in.

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around to see the Chris guy once again. This time he was wearing a solid red hat with a red shirt and black jeans. His hair covered his right eye and I noticed that he had a few freckles on his cheeks. He smiled at me with his bright blue eyes lighting up.

“Good morning, Ariel.” He said in his soothing voice.

“Morning, Chris.” I returned his smile.

“Find your way home alright?” he asked while letting his hand slip into his pocket.

“Of course I did.”

“Ehem!” I heard Alice yell behind me.

“Oh! Um...Chris, Alice. Alice, Chris.” I introduced them.

Chris looked at her and smiled again. “Nice to meet you, Alice.”

“Same to you also, Chris.”

“Why are you here so early?” Chris asked me.

“Oh, just chilling with my friends. We do this every morning.”

“I see, well the bell is going to ring any second and since I couldn’t drive or walk you home, can I walk you to class?”

I paused to think about it only to be nudged and answered for, “She’d love it if you would.” Alice quickly replied.

Chris looked at Alice and gave a thankful smiled then averted his eyes back toward me. “So, let’s head out?”

I nodded then began walking toward my class on the other side of school. He walked beside me with his hands in his pockets and his amazing smile.

“So how are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m doing alright, what about you?”

“Great actually.”

I smiled at him then said, “That’s good to hear.”

The halls were completely empty and it was quiet. I stared down at the dark blue tiles. It was a habit I picked up after Scott died. People always told me not to stare at the ground when I walk because it won’t talk back or anything. Truthfully, that’s why I did it. I could talk to it and it would listen and not judge.

“What do you do for fun?” Chris asked, breaking the dead silence.

“Hanging out with friends, you?”

“Sports, friends, music. You know the essentials of life.”

“What music do you listen to?” I asked.

“Rock and heaving metal. Really anything, but rap.”

I smiled, “Me too.”

“We have quite a few things in common it seems.”

“Yeah it does,” I agreed.

“Well…I’d like to get to know you more…so can I take you out to dinner sometime?” he asked with a nervous smile.

“How does Friday sound?” I asked, smiling back.

“Pick you up at seven?”

I nodded with a smile then grabbed my pen out of my left pocket, and wrote my cell phone number on his hand. “Text me.”

He nodded then finished walking me to my class and waved goodbye before he left. As he turned around, the bell rang and he disappeared in the crowd of people that began flooding the hall ways.

Every class went by fast until lunch. I spaced out through most of them, thinking about Alice, and the ones that I felt had less work to do, I read in. Most teachers would get pissed off if you didn’t pay attention in class, but I was one of the few students that actually passed their class with an easy a. School came easy to me compared to most other people.

I sat down at the same table I sat at everyday and waited for everyone to show up. I was always the first because my classroom was right across the hall from the lunch room. As usual, Bryan was the first to come and he saw in his usual spot across from me.

“What’s up, Ariel?” he asked as he set his tray of food on the table.

“Oh, you know, the same old boring stuff.” I replied with a shrug.

“Ariel,” I heard someone yell across the cafeteria. I looked up to see Alice running toward me with a giant smile on her face. She practically tacked the chair next to me, trying to sit down and when she finally managed to sit on the chair evenly, she was heaving.

“Details now,” She demanded in between breaths.

“There’s not much to tell.”

She narrowed her eyes at me then said, “Bullshit.”

I laughed then said, “He asked me out to dinner on Friday, that’s all I have.”

“Well did you say yes?”

“Yeah…”

“Ariel! Oh My God! I need to meet him and get to know that he won’t hurt my twin!” Alice was overly excited about this whole event and it somewhat scared me.

“Wait, Ariel has a boyfriend?” Bryan asked, suddenly catching on to the conversation.

“Yeah, I can’t believe it either,” I admitted.

“Who is it?” Bryan asked.

“His name is Chris. I haven’t seen him at school until a few days ago.”

“Hm…must be a new kid or something.” Bryan concluded.

I shrugged. Maybe he was. It would make plenty of sense if he were.

I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder and looked back to see Chris standing behind me. This seemed to be his way of saying hi because he did it a lot, but I’ll admit, I preferred it more than being tackled.

“Is it ok if I sit with you?” he asked, showing his amazing smile.

“Please do!” Alice answered.

Chris chuckled then pulled out the chair next to me and sat down then he set his tray of food on the table. I glanced down at it and saw a plain turkey sandwich. The lunch ladies had spared the kids of their evil concoctions for the day it seemed.

“Does she always answer for you?” He asked.

I smiled then glanced over at Alice, who couldn’t take her eyes off of Chris. “She’s my twin sooo…yeah.”

Bryan reached his hand across the table then said, “My names Bryan. I hear yours is Chris?”

Chris shook his hand and nodded, “Yeah, that’s my name.”

“Are you a new student?” Bryan asked him.

“Yup, moved here a couple months ago from Florida,” He shrugged.

I smiled at them. They were getting along great, which meant I had their approval on dating him. I think I was beginning to like him anyways.

“Ariel, are you going to eat?” Chris asked, noticing the empty space in front of me.

“Oh, I forgot money.” I lied. I didn’t like eating more than one meal a day. I hated having the feeling of wishing I hadn’t eaten something when I got upset.

“Well…you can have some of mine.” He offered with a smile.

I watched him reach down to his turkey sandwich and rip it in half then hand me the bigger piece. I looked at him and he gave me a look that encouraged me to take it. I didn’t want to make a scene and tell him no.

I sighed then grabbed it and began eating it. I wouldn’t admit it, but I was actually really hungry and this sandwich tasted like it was the best thing I had ever eaten.

Alice and Bryan both looked at each other, then back at him. “How’d you do that?”

“Do what?” He asked them with a raise eyebrow.

“Get her to eat? She normally always refuses.” Bryan told him

“And you only smiled.” Alice pointed out.

“I have no idea,” he said while scratching the back of his head. At the moment I wanted to give them both a glare and hide behind something, but thankfully Shelby and Eric came just in time.

“Hey guys.” Shelby said as they both sat down.

“Hey, Babe, this is Chris, Ariel’s new boyfriend.” Bryan said while wrapping his arm around her.

“You mean she’s moved on?” Shelby asked in an astonished tone.

“Hey, I’m right here you know?” I butted in.

“May I ask what happened? I mean you keep talking about something, but not being very specific on the topic.” Chris asked carefully, knowing it wasn’t good.

Suddenly all eyes were on me. I wanted to shrink away and be forgotten. I really hated explaining to people what happened. It had messed me up so much that I stopped eating and went silent for a couple months. Just thinking about it made my stomach curdle.

“I was dating this guy Scott. One night he came to my house drunk and I got pissed off at him. We got into an argument over his drinking and I told him to get away from me.” I paused for a moment to take a breath. “Later that night, I got a call from his mom saying that he had gotten into an accident. She was crying, so I knew it was bad until she told me that he had died. He had gotten in a head on collision with another driver. He would’ve lived if he had worn his seatbelt…the dumb idiot…”

The table was silent as I finished. I was too afraid to look up at anyone because I knew I would start crying. My lungs felt like they hadn’t had oxygen in years and my eyes were begging to release tears.

“I’m sorry, Ariel. I didn’t know.” Chris said softly.

“It’s okay. What’s done is done.”

“Is that why you wouldn’t get into the car with me the other day?” Chris asked, putting the pieces together.

I nodded, “Silly of me, I know.”

“Not at all.”

I looked up and saw his comforting smile. I felt his hand reach under the table and hold mine. They were so warm and soft. I managed a smile back before turning and facing everyone else. Bryan and Shelby were staring blankly at us, but I knew they were all thinking about it.

“Aw you two,” Alice said, trying to get a reaction out of us.

I looked up at her and smiled, “I don’t blush.”

“You don’t?” I heard Chris ask beside me.

“I…uh…Nope, I don’t.” I answered.

“Bet I could get you to blush by the end of the day.”

I looked up at him, ready to say it’s on, until I saw the confidence in his eyes. He was really going to try and make me blush.

“Nah, that’s okay.”

“Aw Ariel, are you too scared?” Shelby asked me.

“No! I just don’t see how any of this is in for me.”

“Well, what do you want?” Chris asked me.

“Ah, I don’t know.” I mumbled.

“I don’t plan on you winning anyways, so that’s okay with me.” He said with a smirk.

“Ohhhhhh,” Alice, Shelby, Bryan and Eric all said really loud, causing everyone to look at us. It seemed like we were always the center of attention at lunch.

“Alright, if you’re that confident then bring it, tough guy.” I said while holding out my hand.

He shook my hand to confirm the deal and before letting go, he bent his head down and kissed the top of my hand. So that’s how he’s going to play.

“Quick question. What do you get if you win?” I asked in curiosity.

“A kiss…On the cheek of course.”

I laughed then nodded, “Way to dream big.”

“Have to have some type of goal in life, right?”

I smiled and nodded until I looked over at Alice. She was staring down at her cell phone with the color drained from her face. I knew it had to be about her dad.

I got up and grabbed Alice’s arm then said, “Excuse us for a bit.” I dragged her out of the lunch room and into the ladies room. It was the worst bathroom in the school, so no one ever went in it. No seats, trash everywhere, not much warm water and no toilet paper. Not to mention the yellow mold growing everywhere.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

She didn’t answer. Instead, she handed me her cell phone and let me read the text. It said “You’re in deep shit when you get home”. If it wasn’t already obvious, it was from her dad.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know…but tonight’s going to be hell…”

“Not alone it won’t. I will go home with you.”

“Ariel, you know I can’t let you do that.”

“I’m going, Alice. Whether you like it or not.” I said with determination.

“What if he hurts you too? You know that I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if he did.”

“How is it any different from you…?”

“I deserve it…” she mumbled.

I slammed my fist down on the counter and yelled, “Like hell you do! If anyone deserves something it’s him!”

“Ariel, calm down. You can come okay?”

I took a deep staggered breath and nodded. I really hated it when she blamed herself for what he did to her. She didn’t deserve such a terrible life. Not her, not anyone. I wish it could’ve been me instead. Alice is too fragile for this. Then again after so long, I may be fragile too…

“We should probably get back out there with your boyfriend.” She said softly with a fake smile.

“In a bit…Are you okay?”

“When am I ever okay?” Her smile died down and her voice was hard.

“When he’s not around?”

“Then unless he is around I am okay.” She smiled once again.

I rolled my eyes and opened the bathroom door before walking back over to our lunch table. I took my seat next to Chris and spent the rest of lunch thinking about the possibilities that could happen tonight. None of them turned out good.

Chris walked me to my next class and kept quiet while I was in thought. I felt somewhat bad after he left because I had just wasted his time. He was a nice guy and would probably deny it, but I had wasted his time.

The rest of school went by really slow. I hadn’t exchanged many words and kept checking the clock every few seconds. I was honestly a little scared of going to her house, but I couldn’t just let her go home knowing that she’d get hurt.

When the bell finally ran, telling us to go home, I walked outside and met up with Alice. She was leaning against the light pole in front of the school with a smile. Even I could tell that it was still fake, but I never mentioned it to her. She would deny any possibility of it being fake regardless of what evidence I had.

“You sure that you want to go?” She asked me as I walked up to her.

“Yeah, I want to kick his ass.”

“Let’s take this step by step.”

“Can’t we just start on the step where I kick his ass? It’d make things a lot less time consuming.”

“Come on,” She said with a small chuckle as she wrapped her arm around mine and began walking away from the safety of our school.

“So who won the bet?” she asked while we crossed the street with no cars in either direction.

“I haven’t really seen him since lunch.” I answered with a victorious smile.

“Well he sure is a hottie. I’m a little jealous.”

“Don’t let Rick hear you say that.” I joked.

She looked at me then rolled her eyes at the name I used. The only reason I called him Rick was because it bugged the hell out of him.

We both went quiet when a huge gust of wind hit and blew our hair in all sorts of directions. The sky had dark gray clouds blanketing it with a flash of white lightening every once in a while. The trees were slightly bending due to the impact of the wind and their leaves made loud rustling noises along with the crackling of thunder. The weather didn’t help the uneasy feeling I had in the pit of my stomach or the thoughts that crossed my mind about what he was capable of doing to the both of us.

Before I knew it, we were standing in front of her house. It was small and had brown paint chipping off it. The roof was covered in leaves with some parts missing shingles. A dead tree was barely standing beside the house and the ground was covered in yellow, dried out grass. To put it off, her dad’s rusty old car sat in the cracked driveway letting us know that he was home.

I glanced up at her and saw the fear that lied in her eyes. She was probably just as scared as me except I wouldn’t let her see it. If she did, she’d make me go home and face it on her own, which I refused to let happen. So I sucked it up and acted strong.

Her arm trembled against mine as we walked toward the front door. It felt like a horror movie. We were the dumb kids walking into the creepy house to our death. Only difference was that we knew it would end badly instead of some happy little story to tell others.

Alice opened the door then slowly crept into the smoke scented house. She motioned for me to follow her once she saw the coast was clear. I walked in then closed the door as softly as I could, which failed because it creaked the entire time. Alice and I shared a glance before walking deeper into the black hole.

The walls were an off-white color with wooden trim around each door. The carpet was dark brown and had the scent of cigarettes engraved into it. Beer cans were scattered all across the floor as well, which didn’t exactly give the warm welcoming feeling.

“Alice! Is that you?” We heard her dad shout out at the top of the stairs.

Alice turned toward me and mouthed a “Stay here” before saying, “Yeah, I’m here.”

“Where the hell were you last night?”

“I stayed at Ariel’s house.”

I could hear the floor creak with each step he took above our heads. He started taking slow steps down the stairs toward us. Alice looked at me and motioned for me to go, but I shook my head and held my ground. I already came this far, no way was I going to turn around and run when she couldn’t come with me. I had a plan up my sleeve that would have to work.

Once he was down the steps, he turned and faced us. His eyes grew wider when he saw me standing beside Alice. I couldn’t help but grin. He was scared…or at least I thought he was.

“What’s she doing here, Alice?”

“She was—,“ Alice began.

“Making sure she got home with the storm and all.” I finished.

He crossed his arms over his large beer belly and glared at me. His face had gotten chubbier and he had grown a small beard since the last time I saw him. Crumbs from his previous meal were sticking to his black facial hair. His eyes were blood shot and sweat was dripping down his forehead. Dry vomit spots covered his large white shirt and he was in black boxers.

“Well, she’s home so you can leave now.” He said while wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

“Actually, I’d like to stay.” I said while glaring at him.

“I suggest you leave now.” He demanded with his voice rising slightly.

“I suggest you quit abusing her.”

His eyebrows raised and then he narrowed them at me. I stared back at him with the same intensity and smirked.

“What are you going to do about it?”

“Simple. I will have the cops on your ass before you can scream out lies.”

“Do you really think adults are going to believe a 17 year old girl over a cop?” It was his turn to smirk because he knew that I was useless.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked to see Alice looking at me. Her eyes were beginning to water and she was slightly shaking. Slowly her head shook and her hand dropped off my shoulder.

“If you even think about getting the cops involved I promise your mom’s life will be hell. She will lose her job and house eventually.” He said with his smirk growing larger with each painful word.

“Are you threatening my mother?” I shouted as I balled up my hand into a fist and began walking toward him.

“Ariel, don’t.” I heard Alice say softly.

“Yeah, Ariel, you don’t know what you’re doing. The longer you’re here, the worse it will be for Alice.”

“You see…that’s where you’re wrong, Asshole. Alice is coming to live with me at my house and she will never see your sorry face again.”

“She’s not 18 yet. She can’t do anything I don’t allow her to,” He quickly countered.

“This is where education comes in handy. I learned that you can move out once you are 16 under certain circumstances, this being one of them.”

I turned toward Alice and said, “Go pack your things.” She paused before a huge smile covered her face and then she shuffled past her dad to the stairs.

Before I knew what was happening, her dad grabbed her arm and threw her into the wall beside him. Alice’s head hit hard and then as she was falling, her neck hit the table beneath her and she fell to the ground. He then ran and tackled me to the floor. His weight pinned my arms and legs to the dirty carpet and the strong reeking smell made my eyes water.

“Get the hell off me, Pig!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

“She isn’t going anywhere and you are going to get uninvolved!” he shouted before swinging his hand across my face.

My cheek stung and tears slowly ran down my face. I could feel his smirk burning into my skin at his fresh bruise. I refused to let him see me cry or show any sign of the shear pain was in.

“Get your fat ass off me!” I shouted as I began lifting myself off the ground with him still on me. Once my legs were at a ninety degree angle and my shoulder touched the ground, I quickly shoved him off then got up to my feet.

He fell to the ground and groaned in pain as his head met the wall. I was going to kick him and break some bones, but then I remembered what happened to Alice. I looked over to her and saw her still laying unconscious on the ground. There was some blood dripping down her forehead and her face was pale white.

I ran down to her then dropped to my knees and gently shook her shoulder. “Alice? Alice wake up!” She didn’t wake up. I quickly felt her neck for a pulse and found one, but it was faint. She needed a doctor and fast.

I pulled out my cell phone and dialed 911. “I need an ambulance now! My friend is hurt badly! Please, the address is 168 Sherly Drive. Hurry!”

I hung up the phone then got up. A normal person would’ve been crying and holding her friend’s hand, but I had anger flowing through me. I was going to get the asshole back while I still had the chance to do so.

I turned around just in time to have a fist slam into my face. I instantly fell to the ground with a cry out of pain. I opened my eyes to look around and realized that I could only see out of my right eye. The other was swollen shut. I glanced around to find him leaning over Alice, getting ready to pick her up. Quickly, I got up and tackling him over Alice to the floor.

I slammed my elbow into his stomach and listened to him lose his breath. “You think you’re in pain now?” I asked before getting up and nailing a kick into his rib cage, causing him to cry out in pain.

“How about now?” I yelled and kicked him once more. “You are going to pay for what you did!” I kept kicking him until one of the men from the ambulance pulled me away.

“Calm down, Miss!”

I realized what was happening once I saw Alice being dragged away on a yellow gurney with an oxygen mask covering her nose and mouth. Her eyes were closed still and I could sense the urgency, so I ran after them trying to help in any way I could.

I watched as they lifted her up into the back of the ambulance and began pushing on her chest repeatedly. The one pushing down on her chest was a Caucasian woman with her long red hair in a ponytail. She had on a navy blue suit and black shoes, matching everyone else’s.

“Miss, we are taking her to the hospital now!” The man that held me back said. He had short black hair and a small black mustache. He looked to be in his mid-thirties. “Are you going?”

I nodded then quickly jumped into the back of the ambulance before the doors were shut behind me. The lady was still pounding on her chest and a loud ringing noise filled my ears.

“Damn it! Wake up kid!” She shouted.