Angels and Saviors and Whatnot

We kept running, our bare feet hitting the scorching pavement as we tried to get away from the monster who had destroyed my life. Yeah, hot pavement in January. We are talking about LA here.

"Keep going," Andy puffed as we caught sight of my yard. "We're almost there."

"Just shut up and run," I said, trying to keep up with him. I really wasn't in the mood to hear him talk. He had slept with another girl, and my psycho father was after me. Now was not the time to try to tell me what to do.

We kept running and finally got up the driveway. By then, my asthma was getting to me and it was hard for me to breathe. I remembered I had left my inhaler in my room and that thought alone kept me going until we got in the house. We burst inside and met four pairs of wild, confused eyes.

"Don't, question, it," I wheezed, racing up to my room, not daring to look back.

I swung open my door and looked around, still wheezing. I saw it, that beautiful gray inhaler and checked the back to see how many puffs I had left. 138, I was still good. I let out all of my air (without choking to death) and puffed, breathing in the sweet medicine. I took another puff, and then two more. By then my heart rate was out of control, but I could breathe regularly. I searched through my almost empty dresser and found some shorts, a gray t shirt, and some socks and underwear. My hands were shaking so badly from the medicine and running, I could barely hold my clothing as I walked to the bathroom.

I changed, removed my makeup, and took my hair down, letting the faded purple and blue cascade down to my lower back. Damn, I need to dye my hair again, and soon. I picked up my mother's dress and walked out, meeting Andy's darkened blue eyes.

"Move," I said coldly, still pissed from this morning. I swerved from his outstretched hand and walked down the stairs, picking up the white shoes I had thrown off last night. I noticed that the girl had left and there was just Ashley, Jake, Sandra and Jinxx left.

There was trash everywhere but I really didn't care. I walked into the kitchen, placing the dress and shoes down on the counter. I heard Andy's heavy footsteps come down the stairs very slowly and I turned around facing him, my eyes mere slits.

He came into the living room, then thought better of it, turned around and raced up the stairs, into my room, and shut the door, quite loudly.

"What's up with him?" Sandy asked, rubbing her head as she stood up. I moved over to the living room, sitting down on the couch.

"He knows what he did, why don't you ask him," I said, emotionless, crossing my arms and legs.

"Alrighty then..." she said. She walked up the stairs and into my room, shutting the door as she got inside.

"What happened?" Jake asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," I said, tears welling up in my eyes. I blinked them back, trying not to cry.

Jake got up off of the love-seat and walked up the stairs into my room, probably to interrogate Andy or Sandra.

"Honey, we're here for you," Ashley said, "don't shut us out."

He got up off of the floor and sat with me on the couch, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. I scooted closer to him and put my head on his shoulder. He welcomed it and pulled me closer to him, rubbing my back as I breathed heavily.

"Alli Cat, why is your heart rate so fast?"

"I took some medicine to keep me from dying, I'm fine Ash," I said.

"What happened this morning Alli?" He kept rubbing my back as Jinxx joined us on the couch.

"I found out that Andy cheated on me last night," I said, no emotion on my face or in my head.

"Ohmygod, Alli, I'm so sorry," Jinxx said, placing a hand on my leg.

"I'm okay, I've shed my tears. He's not worth it."

"Allison don't say that, he was drunk, he didn't know what he was doing," Jinxx said.

"So that makes it okay to cheat?" I asked defensively, picking my head up off of Ashley's chest.
He pulled my head back onto his chest and kept rubbing my back, in smooth circles.

"Shh, Alli, you need to be calm, being mad or sad or anything could cause you to have an anxiety attack or something," Ashley said softly.

I heard my door open and somebody coming down the stairs. I picked my head up and found Sandy standing there, a solemn look on her face.

"Andy feels horrible for what he did Allison. Maybe you should talk to him."

"Maybe he shouldn't have done what he did. I don't want to hear it. I'm done," I said, loud enough for the guys to hear upstairs. I stood up and crossed my arms, not having anything that was coming out of her mouth. I walked into the kitchen and picked up my dress and shoes, wanting to put them back. I huffed out a breath and walked upstairs to my room. I opened the door and saw Andy sitting on my empty bed, his eyes red and puffy, with Jake in the floor in front of him. He looked up, his hair sticking to his face.

"A-Alli?"

"Allison," I corrected him. I walked to my nightstand and picked up the jewelry from last night. I then walked to my closet and pushed the button that had kept me sane for so many years. I walked into the little portal after hearing a "DUDE!" from Jake. I closed the sliding piece of drywall behind me and looked around me at all the pipes and other walls connecting to other rooms of the house. I felt my way along the narrow walkway, dress, shoes, and jewelry in my hand, and got to my mother's memorial room.

I opened the door I had left unlocked and stepped inside, breathing in my mother's scent. It comforted me, like it did in those dark times that I had come up here when my father had beat me. I placed the dress back into the box, along with the earrings and necklace. I placed the shoes next to the dress and closed the box. I sat down next to the box and curled up into a ball, pulling my knees to my chest. I breathed out heavily and just sat there, letting my thoughts take over.

I picked my head up and did what I always did when I came in here. I let a shaky finger crawl up the wall, tracing the pink flower details and tracing my mother's name into the wall.
K-E-L-S-E-Y. My index finger would trace the letters over and over again, calming my raging head and letting my breathing slow down. I traced the letters maybe five more times and I was pretty calm by then. I stood up and looked around the room at all the pictures of my mother, and
I noticed something really weird.

In one of the pictures of the family (my father, mother and I before he went crazy), I saw that my father had one hand around my mother's shoulder's, and one behind his back. I then noticed that in another picture of just him and my mother, it's the same thing, just with the opposite hand. What the hell was he hiding behind his back? I thought about as I slowly walked out, quietly closing the door behind me as I silently walked into my closet and into my room.

Andy and Jake were still there, but this time, Jake was sitting on the bed with Andy, and both of their backs were turned against me.

"Jake, please, I need her to know how sorry I am, I didn't know what I was doing, my mind was all messed up," I heard Andy sob out, and I saw him put his face in his hands. Jake rubbed his back, like Ashley had done to me.

"Just give it time, she'll forget it eventually.

You obviously know nothing about girls then, I thought to myself.

They both jumped and turned around. Oops, guess I said that out loud.

"What do you mean?" Andy asked, his voice cracking.

"A girl may forgive, but she never forgets," I said, looking into his eyes. Why did they seem so much darker?

"I need your help with something," I told both of them as I walked towards the end of the bed. I sat down on the familiar mattress and looked at Andy and Jake.

"What do you need help with?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, Alli we'll help you," Andy said, his voice still cracking from crying. He reached out to put a hand on my bent knee but I moved away. I did not want him touching me right now, but seeing his hurt face made me feel bad. I pushed the thoughts aside and looked around, trying to think of what to say.

"I need your help figuring out what really happened to my mom. I know she's dead, but I don't know how she died. I was told she died of breast cancer, but that's a huge lie according to the picture I saw in that other room."

"Dude, you mean there's another room behind your closet?" Jake asked, his eyes wide with curiosity.

"Yes, Jake, there is. It's where I've kept all of the things I've managed to save of my mother."

"What all do you know?"

"I know that in some of the pictures I have, my father had one of his hands behind his back. He's hiding something, but I don't know what. And this morning he said he wouldn't rest until I met the same fate my miserable mother did."

"Yeah, I remember that," Andy said, his head perked up. I rolled my eyes and focused on Jake.

"Well dudes, I'm hungry, I'm gonna go order pizza, I'll be back up in a few," Jake said.

"Fat ass!" I yelled as he walked out. I got a middle finger in return and I laughed slightly.

"You're so pretty when you smile," Andy said, his cheek on one of his hands. He was staring up at me with those big dark blue eyes and he was smiling.

"Stop, I don't care, I'm still pissed at you," I said, even though I could feel a bright blush creep up on my cheeks.

"You're blushing Alli," he said, running the tips of his fingers down my side. I moved away again, desperate to not let him touch me. If he touches me, I'll start to forgive him.

"Don't touch me," I said, trying to sound cold and daring.

"Why not?" Andy said, moving towards me, making me back up into the head board. My back bumped up against it and I watched as Andy crawled up on top of me and stared at me through his dark hair.

"Are you still mad at me?"

"Yes," I said softly, moving my hand up to his neck. It was like I was in a trance, and I couldn't do anything to stop it. My head was screaming "No! No! Be mad at him! Fight this feeling!" But my heart was screaming "Kiss him already, dammit!"

My hand reached the back of his neck and I pulled his lips onto mine. God, this felt so wrong, but it felt so right. I wanted to just punch him in the face and then make him feel better. I wanted him to get run over but then I wanted to take him to the hospital to get him looked at. I wanted to beat him and kiss the spots I had bruised. It was one of those feelings. And right as I could feel his tongue push through my lips, I heard the door open, and we both jumped.

"Well, looks like somebody made up," Jake said as he walked in and set down a box of pizza on the nightstand. "Don't mind me, I'm just here to deliver food. Not that you'll need it, you're going to swallow each other," he said, chuckling lightly. "I told everybody else about what you said about your dad. They'd be happy to help, but we're gonna leave you two alone for a little while to....continue making up." He chuckled again as he walked out and closed the door.

"Well, would you like to continue?" Andy asked, his hand snaking up my leg.

"No. I want to eat." I slid off of the bed and onto the floor, crawling like a dog to the pizza box. I felt a smack against my ass and I gasped. I turned around and saw Andy smirking, and then mimicking me by sliding off the bed.

"Can I ask you a question?" I asked, getting the pizza box from the nightstand.

"Yeah, anything," he said, taking a slice of pepperoni.

"Why are your eyes darker blue?"

"So you've noticed," he said under his breath.

"What?" Why did he say that?

"Uhm, nothing, what do you mean?"

"Your eyes, they're darker blue than before, why?"

"Uhm....genetics?" He laughed slightly and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. God, he's so cute when he does that.

"Is there anything you're not telling me?" I looked into his deep blue eyes and watched as he stopped chewing his pizza. He swallowed and coughed a little.

"Uh, no, why would you say that?"

"Because you're a terrible liar." Which was true. I've known him long enough to know that he was a pretty bad liar. I crossed my arms and raised and eyebrow. "Andy, stop lying to me, I deserve to know, especially after this morning."

He sighed and said "I think I may know something about your mom."

"Wait, really, what?"

"When you ran out, that girl sat down and found a pistol and a baseball bat in the couch. That could have something to do with it."

My mind instantly flashed back to the nightmares I've been having. The chair, me being bound, hand and foot, my father with the baseball bat and Toni with the pistol. What could this mean?
Did my father kill my mother? Why would he?

"Andy, my father was a mortician, do you think he could have murdered my mother and then put some sort of special makeup on her to make it look like it was an internal failure?" My eyes were wide, and so were his.

"I have no idea, but I'll help you find out, he'll be put in jail, for good, and when that happens, I have a new song title for you." He smiled and sat back against my bed.

"Oh really? What is it?"

"The Mortician's Daughter."

Notes

If any of you have ever had an asthma attack, or has asthma in general, you'll know that it sucks dick, especially if you're involved in sports. I had one when I was in 8th grade from playing with my dog outside, and I had to stay in the hospital for the night because it was so bad. And if any of you have ever been cheated on, you know it sucks. I got cheated on by my current boyfriend on my 14th birthday. I was devastated, but I was so....afraid of being alone, I decided to stay. Call me stupid, say I made a mistake, but I love him. Yes, he's made up for it, and he has quite a temper, but I still love him through and through. But thanks for reading(: I made a long chapter for you guys, because I love you XP