Chương 16: Elizabeth
After Dad storms out the door, I follow but not in pursuit of him. These past few days have been a blur. For the first time in a while, I might be able to get away with some time by myself. Even though Steven was a fucking asshole, I still can't believe the fact that I shot him. We left him for dead, and I can only blame myself.
The town is huge. Homes are surrounding me and I don't know where to go. I take a sharp left down the road and continue towards the wall. If I get in trouble, fuck it. People need to lay off and just give me some space. As I reach the wall, I take time to marvel at the elegance of it. It's a moderately tall brick wall. I assume it was part of the community to begin with, and the style of the wall matches the homes that are hiding within in.
After leaning against this wall for what must be hours, I bring myself out of my stupor and notice the sun starting to hide behind the trees. My eyes are heavy and I want sleep, but I don't want to go back. Not yet.
A pair of feet shuffles to my right, and I look over quickly, jumping up. "Relax, it's okay," I'm greeted with a warm, welcoming smile from a girl with black hair containing honestly the ugliest purple streaks I have ever seen in my life. "I just wanted to meet the new girl. The name's Jessica."
She reaches her hand out to shake mine. While I reach out to accept the invitation, I notice the dirt under her fingernails and the cuts on her wrists. Noticing my lengthy stare, she quickly pulls her hand away and shoves them into the pockets of her leather jacket.
"So... how long do you think you'll be staying?" she asks me timidly.
"We haven't really thought much about it. We just got here today, but I kinda like it here. It's safe. It's a community with what seems to be caring people. I want to stay." The words spill from my mouth, but I feel that I can trust this girl. I hang my head back down as she sits down next to me.
Minutes pass, maybe hours, as we both sit here in silence. You can notice a lot about a person when they aren't preoccupied with talking. You notice their twitches, the way they bounce their feet on the ground. It almost tells a story.
Jessica breaks the silence to start the conversation. "Wanna go adventuring? I know this part of the wall where we can sneak out." I contemplate the offer. Adventure? Definitely not me, but with a fun girl who I feel that I can trust? Maybe. I'm too tired tonight.
"Sorry, I really think I'm gonna go find my dad and call it a night. I've been sitting at this wall for way too damn long." Jessica chuckles, and says, "I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Sure," I respond, not really sure what else tomorrow will bring other than more self-reflection and maybe some food.
Jessica walks away, and after a few minutes I force myself to get off the ground and head back towards the homes. The street lights illuminate the road and I'm not sure where my dad even is, but I will figure it out. I walk down the road for a while until I notice the food building from earlier. I doubt Dad is in there, but maybe Rich or Justin?
There's no guard at the door like there was earlier, and I'm a little cautious about going inside. I look around for a while to make sure I'm not breaking any unspoken rules. I open the door and enter, hoping and praying someone is in there to help me to my father. Of course, there's no one in here. I spend my time walking up and down the aisles of shelves just to make sure, but there's no one in sight.
I start to head back to the door but I'm startled when it flies open. A man who I don't recognize looks around, then sees me. He begins to charge at me, and I'm frightened. My legs won't move. My defense mechanism doesn't kick in. I regret all of that when the man tackles me and is holding me down, with my face to the floor.
"You think you can just show up here and start stealing our shit?" He's pushing so hard on the back of my neck, and I feel like he's almost choking me. "We're about to teach you not to steal, our way." I hear a gun click behind me, and I'm bracing myself to hear the hammer hit. At this point, with what I did, I don't mind leaving this way.
Sure, according to others I have so much of my life ahead of me. But in reality, what else is left on this god forsaken planet? Half of the population is brain dead, and whoever's left is either fucking stupid or smart enough to live to die. I'm going to pass at some point, whether it's at the hands of old age, the dead, or this fucking guy. So go ahead, asshole. Pull the trigger.
Lost in my train of thoughts, I don't notice when Dad walks in the door and notices the scene. I'm only brought back to my senses when the guy is thrown off of me, and I hear scuffling and some punches being thrown. My father's booming voice scares the shit out of me as I hear his words.
"You will never touch my daughter again." The trigger is pulled, and for a moment I'm worried that my father is dead. When I turn around, I see the other guy laying against the wall. His brain matter is splattered all over, and I can't believe I just witnessed a human murdered - for the second time. It's a lot easier to watch it this time now that I'm not the one behind the gun.
Dad looks at me, trying to make sure I'm okay. I just give him a brief nod, never taking my eyes off the man on the floor. I was going to die by his hand. He had the trigger pulled, and he was ready to shoot me. Footsteps come from outside, and get louder until they reach the door of the warehouse. My father and I are greeted with Justin's concerning eyes.
"What the hell happened? What did you do?" he yells, running to the man's body. Justin cradles his head in his arms, and I'm starting to panic. Did we just mess everything up? This entire community was willing to accept us.
Dad's the first to speak. "He had a gun pulled on Lizzy, he was going to shoot her. His finger was over the trigger, waiting. He was holding her on the floor, my anger kicked in... I defended my daughter like any father would." I'm scared as shit now, more scared than I felt when I would lock myself in my room to hide from the scary truth of the adult world and divorce.
Justin jumps up from the floor. "He may have had a temper. He may have had the worse temper in here, but he never would have fucking pulled that trigger." He walks towards the door and then stops. I cringe at his next words.
"Good luck explaining to Rich that you just murdered his son."
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