Black Tangled Heart.., a story i'm writing... Options

[minorxthreat]

Prologue

        "Raleigh, you get back here, right now!"

        A girl with elbow length white-blonde hair turned, her crystalline blue eyes flashing. She stared up at her mother, the one woman standing between her and freedom. All of Raleigh's belongings, packed away in boxes, lay among her. "And what if I don't?" She challenged.

        Her mother's pale green eyes narrowed. "Fine. Go. I won't stop you. But listen to me," her eyes were beseeching now. "If you go, don't expect us to let you back in." She gestured around at the lake and the forest which separated the Evans household from civilization. The nearest town, Hope, was at least an hour's drive away.

        Raleigh shrugged. "Wasn't going to come back anyways." And with that, she loaded her boxes into her truck and drove off, without once looking back. She popped a tape into the tape player, but the stupid thing ate her tape. She sighed and pulled off to one side of the road. Resting her forehead on the steering wheel, she turned off the engine. What now? She wondered, closing her eyes. It had all seemed easier when she was sitting at home, planning how to get away. Away from an abusive father, away from a mother who'd begun to give up hope.. Away from Andy.. She shuddered thinking about his strong arms holding her down a few months ago.. Him entering her. The searing pain. She hadn't told anyone, and she didn't plan to.

        But what, what was she going to do now? A sixteen year old girl, who hadn't finished high school yet, with no money, except a truck and a few other things which she could probably sell off for something.. And she could stay with Mark for at least a little while. His parents were kind, they'd understand her problems.. If she showed them the bruises. But they might get too involved, and right now, that was the last thing she needed. All she needed was a place to crash, just for a month or two, until she got her plane ticket. Then she was gone. For good. Off to Australia, where she hoped she could at least finish school, maybe go to college, if she could afford it. Meet a nice person, one who'll split rent with her, make new friends.. Get a new life. And a new identity, in case her parents ever decided to look for her.

        The first thing she had to do was start the car. Then drive over to Mark's, get his help, or at least some advice. He knew what her parents were like, and if he knew about Andy.. Raleigh shook her head. Mark didn't need to know about that. She reached out and flipped on the radio. Turning the key in the ignition, the engine responded with a roar.

        She tore down the road, but once she started to near the town, she slowed a little. She turned down a couple streets, stopped at a traffic light or two, then found herself driving down a really nice neighborhood. She stopped at one near the end of the street, and sat there for a second. Sighing, she opened the door, and hopped out. She walked up to the door, and, after rocking on her toes for a while, rang the doorbell.

        Through the little window on the left side of the door, she watched the distorted figure as it came towards her. The door opened. "Why, Raleigh, what a surprise!" A short and stout woman with a warm face and hair that was only beginning to gray stood before her.

        Raleigh smiled weakly. "Hey, Mrs. Fawcett.. Is Mark home by any chance?"

        Mrs. Fawcett nodded. "Just a moment." She turned and hollered up the stairs. "Tom! Get Mark! Raleigh's here to see him!"

        There was a few moments of silence, in which Mrs. Fawcett invited Raleigh inside, then a large thump. There was a few more seconds of silence, then feet pounding on the floorboards. Soon, Mark Fawcett came barreling down the stairs at Raleigh and had her in a big bear hug before she could blink. Laughing, he spun her around.

        When Mark finally put her down, his looked outside, his dark green eyes narrowed. He saw her truck, saw the boxes. The smile disappeared. He grabbed her hand without a word and dragged her upstairs to his room. He sat down at his desk and gestured for her to sit on his bed, across from him. Raleigh complied.

        Pulling a little white board and an erasable pen, he wrote: 'Did you get out?'

        Raleigh reached out and accepted the board from him. Even though Mark had tempoarily lost his hearing nearly a year ago, she still wasn't used to communicating with her best friend only in writing. Wish shaking hands, she erased his question and wrote 'Yes, I did.'

        'How?'

        'Packed my things, said "I'm getting out of here." Only my mother had an objection to it. Then I just drove.'

        'Then you came here.'

        'Yeah.'

        'You'll have to tell my parents about it. I'm sure they'll let you stay.'

        'Yeah. And if not, I'll just mention something about living on the streets, becoming a stripper to make money and getting gang-raped nightly.'

        'They have to let you stay.'

        Raleigh looked up at Mark. His face showed concern, and his slightly mo-hawked black hair was rigidly gelled in place, but if it weren't, Raleigh knew it would have fallen across his brow, almost in a sexy way. She shook her head. This was no time to find my best friend sexy, she told herself sternly. As she met his clover colored eyes, he smiled, giving her a look that said, plainly, 'It'll be okay.'

        She smiled back weakly.

        'Wanna get it over with?'

        She nodded.

~
        "So you just walked out?" Mr. Fawcett asked, signing so Mark would understand.

        They all sat in the living room. Mr. and Mrs. Fawcett, Mark, Raleigh and Mark's younger brother, Tom.

        Raleigh nodded, biting her lower lip.

        "Well of course you can stay with us dear." Mrs. Fawcett said, giving Raleigh a sympathetic smile. While Mr. Fawcett signed, she said, "You can stay in the guest room for the time being."

        Raleigh felt truly happy for the first time in months. With the help of Mark, Tom and Mr. Fawcett, all her boxes were up in the guest room.<br>
        "Thanks you guys." She said, walking up to each and pecking them on the cheek. "This means so much to me. And don't worry. I'll be out of here before you know it."

        Tom hung back after the other two left. "I'm really glad you're staying, Raleigh." He said, looking down at his feet.

        Raleigh smiled. "It's Kendall now. It's my middle name. I think I'm going to go by that now."

        Tom nodded, looking up at her and smiling. "Kendall Evans."

        She grinned back. "That's right. Now, if you don't mind, I've had a long night.." She nodded towards the bed. "I think I'm going to get to sleep, okay?"

        Tom nodded again. "Of course. I'll.." He stopped. "See you in the morning."

        Raleigh-now-Kendall smiled. "Yeah. In the morning." She ushered him out of the room and closed it with a snap.

        Tom stood there, staring at her door. "In the morning." He repeated, whispering. Then, smiling, he headed downstairs.

        Kendall shook her hair out of her eyes and sat on the floor, staring into the mirror that was sitting on the floor across from her. A girl with icy blue eyes rimmed heavilly in black eyeliner, sitting haunched in a corner stared back. Her long wite-blonde hair fell in sheets around her, -Not yet waist-length, but getting there.- covering her arms, which were clasped around her knees. A black tear wound its way down her cheek.

        As she began to undress, the girl in the mirror was revealed to be a little small for her age, -well, being only five feet, three inches, it was understandable- but she wasn't skinny, exactly, but definitely underweight. Long bruises decorated her arms and legs, given to her by her father when he'd lost his temper last. She slipped into her pajamas and turned off the light.

        'I'm going to be happy here.' She thought to herself, as she lay in bed a few minutes later. 'Life's finally starting to go my way.' She drifted off to sleep.

      A couple hours later, the door of her bedroom opened with a low creak. Whoever it was who opened the door, paused, listening, to be sure he hadn't disturbed the sleeping girl. When he was assured by her slow breathing, he crept further into the room. A patch of moon-light fell across his face. It was Tom. He stood beside Kendall's bed and just watched her sleep.

        A floorboard outside Kendall's door creaked. Tom jumped, then realized that it was one of his parents coming to check up on all of them. Placing a couple fingers to his lips, he kissed them, then placed them on Kendall's forehead.

        Kendall woke with a start and jumped out of her bed. She glanced wildly around her room, but no one was there. But she could have sworn someone had been watching her. Shaking her head, she climbed back into her bed. It was a long time until she fell asleep again.

        Throughout the next few weeks, Kendall made herself at home. She sold her truck for $3500 and bought a ticket to New York city to live with her Aunt Kelly. After she'd made all the arrangements, she slowly repacked the little she'd unpacked and put her things in Tom's car, who was going to drive her to Vancouver.

        On the morning of her departure all the Fawcett's got up to see her off. She went up to each in turn and hugged them. "Thanks, Mr. Fawcett, Mrs. Fawcett."

        When she got to Mark, she pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. With her tongue between her teeth she wrote out a message that she ripped out and stuffed into his pocket. She got up on tiptoe and hugged him, then kissed him lightly on the cheek.

        Then it was time to go.

        As she got into the car, she saw Mark pull the peice of paper out of his pocket. After he read it, he looked up at her, his eyes filling with tears. He raised his hand and waved.

        Kendall, who had started to cry as well, waved back. "Bye! Thanks for everything!" She shouted out the window.

        Mark looked down at the message again. ' I'll never forget the help you have given me. I just wanted you to know that, even though you've been my best friend for nearly ten years, I've loved you for at least twelve. I'll never forget you, Mark Fawcett. '


What do you guys think? (please be nice )

This post has been edited by minorxthreat: Sep 24 2004, 09:31 PM