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Post by Monday on Nov 30, 2008 23:09:11 GMT -5
I walked into the partial cover provided by the patio and already felt instant relief. Still, my damp clothes almost had my teeth chattering. There was no light coming from inside, and I was too afraid to knock on the door. So, instead, I gripped the door knob, half expecting it to be locked. I was surprised to find it turn without hesitation, and I was in the threshold without consciously making the decision to enter. I took a few ragged breaths in and, when nothing jumped out at me, I made my way into the small, but cozy house. I was almost convinced I was alone when I felt something warm and wet brush across my hand. My brain registered that it was just a dog, but my body still reacted. If I was any less startled I might have been able to control the sharp intake of breath that gave away my position in the dark. But I couldn't stifle the reaction in time, and I saw the dark silhouette of a person move toward me in the dark. Unconsciously, fight or flight kicked in and I was moving in the opposite direction of the dark stranger headed toward me. I could barely breath, I was so afraid, and I didn't want to stick around and see if the menacing shadow was friend or foe. Instead of running toward the door, however, I just ran to the opposite side of the house that the man was coming from. But my clumsy steps in the unfamiliar and dark surroundings had me stumbling about, as his practiced strides quickly caught up to me. He reached for my shoulder, but I quickly turned and kicked him in the shin with all my might, enough, in fact, to make him stumble. Of course I tripped my self up in the process and fell to the floor on my hands and knees. As I tried to push myself up again, he grabbed my foot and I gasped in shock as he tried to pull me back toward him. I used my other foot to kick him once hard in the face. With a pain filled grunt he released me, and I was on the move again before he was about to catch me again. "Wait," he said, and something familiar in his voice made me falter for enough of a second for him to tackle me to the ground. "Let go of me!" I shouted, my instincts of self preservation kicking in again, as I struggled against his far greater strength. He pinned both of my shoulders against the ground, and upon seeing my face clearly for the first time said, in a surprised tone, "Alex?"
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Post by Monday on Dec 5, 2008 19:29:30 GMT -5
The man's face remained in the shadows so immediately, stupidly, my thoughts jumped to Matty. Even though I already knew that there was no way that this could be him, I couldn't stop the idea from hitting me. And that's what it felt like. Getting hit by someone. This man was taller and leaner then Matty had been, and his voice did sound oddly familiar. Then it hit me. And I almost groaned out loud. "John." His faced moved into the light and I saw that my fears were confirmed. Yep it was him. He looked slightly annoyed and confused. "What are you doing?" His voice was incredulous. "You know, how about we continue this conversation with you getting off of me." He looked down as if he had honestly forgotten he had me locked to the ground. "Sorry," he grumbled. "Are you by yourself? Where are your parents and Matty?" John Williams was my brother's idiot best friend. I couldn't stand him. Any time he was around me, I was treated like the annoying kid sister, though I maintained that I was more mature then both of them combined.
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Post by Monday on Dec 25, 2008 0:00:07 GMT -5
I sighed in exasperation. I didn't have time to deal with this. Now I would have to explain all the painful details of the last week to him, and I didn't want him to see me get upset. I could already imagine his smart ass remarks. "I'm not sure where they are," I said through gritted teeth. He noticed my obvious discomfort on the subject and rolled his eyes. "Listen, Lex, I can't help you if you don't give me a little more explanation then that." I had known him long enough to be familiar with his stubbornness. But I could be just as recalcitrant. "Who ever said I wanted your help?" "You're the one who broke into my house," he said smugly, "Why don't you get off of your high horse and just explain to me why you're here?" I rolled my eyes and scoffed at him. "OK, first of all I didn't know this was your house, secondly, I don't consider it breaking and entering if the door was unlocked. And thirdly this whole 'white knight' thing is really getting on my nerves."
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Post by Monday on Jan 19, 2009 19:23:07 GMT -5
"Look," he said, finally loosing his patience, "This isn't getting us anywhere. Do you want to explain to me what's going on, or do you want to leave? It's up to you." I could tell by the set of his jaw that these terms weren't negotiable. "My mom and Matty left a few days ago to find out what was going on and to bring back some water. And when they didn't come back after three days, i had to leave too. I don't know where they are, I don't know what's going on, and I honestly have no idea what to do." I blinked away my angry tears before he got a chance to see them. We were silent for a few moments before he finally broke in. "I don't know where my family is either. I was visiting here for the weekend, but both my mother and father were at work when..." He stopped there, and I finally found my voice. "And what happened? In a moment, everything stopped working. Why? What's going on?" "My guess is a good as yours. I've stayed at home, hoping I might get news or that my family would come back." I stood up and dusted of my pants and jacket. "Well, I've waited long enough. We're not going to figure out anything by just waiting here." He scowled at me in the dark. "And what exactly are you planning on doing?" "First, I'm going to wait till morning. And then I'm going to find them." "Find who?" "My brother and mom. Who else?" He stood up beside me. "Well I'm coming with you." I actually laughed out loud when he said this. "Uh, no. You're not." "You can't honestly expect to go out there on your own. There's no telling what or who you'll find. We could be in the middle of World War III for all you know!" "Oh, and I expect you're going to keep me out of harms way?" I asked with raised eyebrows, "Like I said before, I'm not really looking for your help." "Whether you were looking or not, you did run into me, and I'm not about to let Matt's little sister run off and get herself killed." "I can take care of myself. Besides," I said, looking him up and down, "I'd rather face the darkness alone then with you." "Harsh much?" he said, raising his hands as if in defense. "What did I ever do to you, anyways." "Oh, there were plenty of times. Let's see, you through me in that pond when I was eight, ruined my favorite dress-" He shrugged innocently. "So?" "I wasn't finished. You through me in the water in the middle of March, two days after my birthday, and during my birthday party. While I was busy being toweled off, everyone was eating the cake, including you. And, if I remember correctly, you didn't even get in any trouble." He looked contemplative before replying, "That might of had something to do with me telling them that you fell in, and that I had nothing to do with it." "Ya think!" I half-way shouted at him. "Matty and you may have been best friends for the past ten years, but that does not mean I have any special regard toward you what-so-ever! Especially after all of the childish, humiliating, and terrible pranks you played on me! I'm not eight years old anymore, and I am not about to let you push me around." I seethed for a few more moments while he wisely waited to let my temper go down before speaking. "Are you finished?" He asked calmly, as if young women ranted at him on a daily basis. They probably did..., I thought to myself. "Because we have more important issues at hand besides the whoas of your 2nd grade birthday party." He looked annoyed and impatient and my anger flared up once again. "You made my childhood a living nightmare!" He rolled his eyes before saying, "Look, I'm sorry that you hate me and all, but we need to work together or we're going to get no where, fast. Can't you at least try to work with me here? For Matt and your mother's sakes, if nothing else?" I glared at him for a few very long minutes. It was like being a kid all over again and having him convince me to tie my shoes together or to go sit in a puddle. He knew that I worshiped him and my brother back in the day, and by the time I realized that they weren't my pals but just my older brother and his mean friend, I had resigned him as being the worst person to associate myself with. I hadn't said more then hello to him in the past five years, and now we were expected to work together? I sighed, loudly. "Fine. You can come with me." He smiled in a way that made me want to yell at him again. "But don't think this means you can tell me what to do or anything. We're... temporary partners. Nothing more." "Good. We'll leave first thing in the morning." He found me some dry clothes, which I grudgingly thanked him for and gave me a blanket and pillow on the couch. " 'Night partner," John said as he made his way effortlessly through the darkness. "Whatever," I grumbled, and I could hear him laughing from the other room.
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Post by Monday on Jun 26, 2009 15:26:48 GMT -5
I settled into the comfortable leather couch and, what with all the excitement of the day, was asleep within a matter of moments. Dawn seemed to break to soon the next morning. As a ray of sunlight broke across my face from the outside window I began to become aware of my surroundings. I didn't want to open my eyes just yet, because I knew already that what I wanted to see most in the world would not be there. Still, I was forced to blink my eyes into focus when I heard a loud noise coming from inside the house. For a moment, I had forgotten what had happened the night before with me running into John, and what not. But the was immediately remedied as I opened my eyes to his infuriatingly haughty face. "Good morning," he said, way to cheery to be considered a normal person, especially under these circumstances. I sighed before saying, "Please don't tell me that you're one of those people." He looked at me with a weird expression. "What do you mean, 'one of those people'?" "You know." Though, obviously, he didn't. "One of those, I-wake-up-first-thing-in-the-morning-and-am-in-an-annoyingly-happy-mood-right-off-the-bat people," I explained. "Ah," he said with raised eyebrows, "and that would make you one of the I-hate-waking-up-so-I'm-just-going-to-be-a-pain-in-the-ass people. Right?" I shrugged my shoulders sarcastically. "You don't have to hang around, you know. Leave me to be some one else's pain in the ass." He just smiled. "Nice try, but you're not getting away that easily." He walked into the kitchen into what, I could only assume, was the pantry, whistling. I had sat up unconsciously somewhere in our little discussion. I bit back my fast rising anger at my new 'partner' and took the time to take personal stock of myself. My leg muscles felt mildly soar from the lengthy walk of the day before, but other then that, I felt fine physically. My mouth was dry, and I became aware almost immediately of an overwhelming thirst. I glanced over at John who was apparently scavenging for something. It was inconvenient in the biggest degree of the term that I had to rely on this man, if you could call him that. He was only a few years older then me, at seventeen. I cleared my throat and tried to speak clearly though it was obviously raspy. "Do you have any water?" I saw his head peek out from behind a door. " 'Course." He walked out and threw a bottle at me. "Thanks," I added grudgingly, as he went back to his room. I chugged half the bottle greedily before stopping to take a breath. If I had learned anything over the past few days, it was leaning to appreciate the sweet taste of water.
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Post by Monday on Jul 17, 2009 0:33:36 GMT -5
I took a few relaxing breaths in order to calm myself before I ventured into the kitchen. I knew if he saw me get frustrated, that would only make him more willing to taunt me. Still, it seemed a daunting task to repress something that came to me so naturally. "What are you doing in there, anyways?" I asked, poking my head around the corner. He answered without turning around to look at me. "Just gathering up supplies. I don't know how long it will be until we find some more food and water." My eyebrows furrowed. "It shouldn't be that difficult," I disagreed. "We'll be headed toward the city. There should be plenty of gas stations or..." My words started to trail off as John turned around and looked at me like I was some kind of crazy person. "What?" "I'm not sure the city is the best place for us to be headed for right now." He appraised the expression on my face as if I might spontaneously com bust at any moment. I said he was annoying, but I never said he wasn't smart. "Well I think it is. For one, there could be valuable information about what's going on, in the city. And for another, we can't just wander about aimlessly, hoping to find them! We'll have a better chance at finding them where we know there are going to be more people." He just sat there and frowned at me as I carried on. "I really don't think so, Lex. The city is probably the worst place for us to go at this point. The place will be crawling with people, and we need to come to terms with the fact that we're all scared here. And nothing is more dangerous then a mass of frightened, confused people." Somewhere, deep in the back of my mind, I knew he was probably right. What he was saying made sense, but on a different plain then the one I was currently located. I set my jaw and looked him straight in the eye. I would not budge on this. "If you are to afraid to go with me, then don't. I'm not asking you if I can look for them in the city. I'm telling." He took several minutes before deciding to respond, enough time to think through his answer and for me to calm down to a reasonable level. "Look. I know it's difficult for you, not knowing where they are." I had to look down at my feet, in order to hide the worry breaking across my face. "But that doesn't change the fact that they wouldn't want you risking your own neck in some half-cocked attempt at finding them." If he was trying to piss me off, he was doing a hell of a good job.He held up is hands at me when he caught site of the anger in my eyes, as if his hands could hold back my wrath. "We can start heading for the city, OK? But the moment it looks like it could become too dangerous, we're going to find a better way. Deal?" His hand was once again raised in front of him, but this time awaiting a hand shake. I glared at him for a moment, hating to bend to his will, even in a compromise. Never-the-less, I grasped his shockingly warm hand, and muttered, "Fine" before turning around to gather up my bag.
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Post by Monday on Jul 23, 2009 22:28:55 GMT -5
"Are you sure you know where you're going?" I muttered, doubtfully. The space between his eyebrows scruncted up as he looked back down at the map in his hands. I honestly couldn't believe this. I mean, I used to drive to the city with my parents all the time. Granted, John went to school two hours in the opposite direction, but he used to live here for crying out loud! Why were they finding it so difficult to get there now. The roads did look a lot different now that they were on foot. But still. "Right," he said, looking a little less confused. Sort of. "I think we just took a wrong turn just a little ways back there." "You think?" I knew my attitude wasn't helping out anyone. But I couldn't seem to help myself... John turned his frown on me, instead of at the map. "Oh yee of little faith." I rolled my eyes at him. "Excuse me if you haven't exactly gained my trust just yet, oh fearless leader."
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