It Will All Be Over Soon (sequal to We've Made It So Far), chapter 2
As what seemed like years went by I began to shake from the chills running up my spine. I looked as Calli grasped both of my brothers and kept her eyes sealed tight. I began feeling a wave of nausea run over me as I realized the shaking had stopped.
"Stay here," I direct towards the three of them, no one opposing.
I crawled till I reached the edge of the table and out from underneath it. I continued shaking as I stood, my knees worse than jell-o. I take a step forward almost falling but regain balance as I remember the six eyes watching me as if I was their savior. I take another step, the another until I regain my basic knowledge of walking once more.
I shiver as my feet run across the cold marble floor and the hole in the heel of my sock wasn't helping. I look around and notice my entire world would be different. My house was destroyed and all of my stuff ... even my black electric guitar I got two years ago. I gulp as I realize none of this will even matter if my parents aren't all right.
I take a few more steps off of the marble onto carpeting as I ran my fingers along the paneling and continued down the hall dodging glass from the broken family pictures scattered all over the floor, from various vacations and me and my brothers' school pictures. I wince as a piece goes into the bottom of my foot and I pull up my foot to pull it out, only a small piece but still painful. I walk a little further ignoring the wincing pain until I come to the first room. I reluctantly look in, afraid of what I may see, but both sad and uplifting there is no one to be seen.
I continue farther into this new hell hole of a home (and not the usual teenage one) I finally decide on looking out the cracked windows before continuing. The hell hole of my home just became my haven as I look into the distraught streets of Berkley. Flames consuming front doors, blood curdling scream coming from small children and moaning from injured adults. Ruble from fallen houses and building lying in the once clean streets. I place my elbows on the window sill and put my face in my hands.
I think to myself 'no, this can't be happening. I'm dreaming, I always have these dreams... '
I look up, nothing has changed, I'm not dreaming. What is going on? Even an earthquake wouldn't have done this. I continue down the hallway and feel the floor starting to slope downward. I reach for a door but it falls of it's hinges before I touch it. I look in terrified amazement as I see piles of ruble but no house. Half of my house had collapsed. I start to scream as I see a hand from beneath piles of wood, an unmoving hand with an Adeline tattoo on the finger. I back away and start to run back taking short breaths and fighting the sting in my eyes. I reach the kitchen and look beneath the table to find Calli comforting Jakob and Jared who were hysterical. Both look up at me and come running wrapping their arms around my waist. Calli seems my dismay and comes over and wraps her arms around me too, as I comfort the boys, she comforts me.
We had no home, no parents, no life. Calli who had never really had a family didn't want to go to her house, she could only pray they were all dead, and if they weren't she prayed they thought she was. We decided to go see Tre or Mike, having nowhere else to go. We brought the warmest clothes we could find in my room since Jakob and Jared's room were no longer there. We brought food and some water from the fridge, but just enough to get us there and possibly back if there was nothing to be found at either of their homes. I covered Jared's head as we walked through the streets lined with the dead. No police or fireman to be found anywhere, no one to come to our rescue. What a wonderful world we live in where we can expect no form of hope in a time of crisis, where four kids walk through streets of the lifeless and have no way to turn. I looked down and into bright blue eyes. Ones supposed to be filled with life, Ante's eyes, my best friend lay dead in front of me and my remaining family I cannot even mourn. I side step him and continue as Jake buries his head in my shoulder crying. I feel him start to shake but I keep going I cannot stop, we cannot stop, at least until we make to Mike's.
Calli's P.O.V. (That Morning)
"Call! Wake up you piece of shit!"
"Fuck off!" I mumble into my hoodie. Just as I drift off to sleep again I feel a strong pain on the back of my neck, I reach up and can already tell it will be a welt then a nasty bruise. I look up at my wild-eyed mother who had a leather belt in her hand.
"I told you to get your ass up..." and she walks off as if nothing had happened like always. I get off of the cigarette burnt couch with a spring stabbing me. I get chills as I hear the squeaking door being opened and slammed. I go to my book bag and run a brush through my hair and go to the bathroom, within ten minutes I am ready to leave just as my stepfather walked through the door. The glare in his eye meant I wouldn't be leaving with just one new bruise.
"Don't leave yet," he said to me sternly. He was waiting until after he gets yelled at by my mother to come and beat me- but not today he can go suck himself for all I cared. As soon as he got inside I ran as fast as I could to Joey's. As I reached three blocks down I slowed to a brisk walk counting each of my steps by four left-1, right-2,left-3, right-4, and so on until I ran into a figure. I looked up into jade eyes filled with tiredness. I smile and throw a punch at Joey's shoulder.
"Hey dorkwad, what's up?"
"Well I usually love your wicked sense of humor but- it's seven in the morning and the first day of school, so now it's just annoying."
"Well that just means you'll get more of it," flashing my smart-ass-smile.
Calli's P.O.V. (present)
I walk down the streets that gave me shelter so many nights. Sleeping between stores next to garbage cans, stealing shoes to make it through two more years. Now it's gone, everything, everyone is gone. I feel something cold on the top of my head, as I look up rain falls down my face washing away my salty tears. I stop, and as if the rain made my cold blood start to boil, I turn as kick over a trash can, pick up a brick and throw it. I look at the sky and scream until I drop to my knees sobbing. Joey comes over and pulls me to my feet but I wont stand. He starts to walk as he cradles me as if I were an infant, and softly he sings to me, he sings the classics, none of the new bullshit. He sings Good Charlotte ,even though he hates them he knows I love them and he listens to them for me. He sings 'Hold On' and slowly joyful tears replace my frightened ones and I drift off.
His soothing voice letting me rest in his warmth and slowly the horrid smell is released from my nose.
Hold on if you feel like letting go
Hold on it gets better than you know
I lose all control of my head as it falls onto his shoulder and inhales his sweet scent.
"Your days
You say they're way too long
And your nights
You can't sleep at all
Hold on, Hold on Calli I need you... "
With his last words I fell into my irreversible sleep, only to be awakened when my prince charming comes to rescue me.
Joey's P.O.V.
"Don't leave me Calli please!" I say without reaction as the girl lay limp in my arms. She was still breathing but barely, she had a panic attack. We had to keep going, so Jake had grown about three years beyond his real age and had taken Jared beneath his wings. Jake was a true angel, since Jared had been born I had never seen him once complain about anything unreasonable. He loved Jared as I loved Jake but he had never been mean to him. I feel a twinge of guilt as I realized that if I had lost Jake I wouldn't be able to live with myself for causing him so embarrassment, it may seem superficial, but we wasted hours arguing when we could have been having fun, and I could have lost him like I lost mom and dad. As I look up from my day dream I see a disaster. There was no house in sight just wood, cement, and plaster, but no where to be found was Mike's house. I feel a hand on my shoulder as I turn around I am greeted by a pair of bouncing blue eyes as the arms are thrown around me.
"You're alive! You're alive, all of you are alive!" Mike was alive, we had someone else.
"Stay here," I direct towards the three of them, no one opposing.
I crawled till I reached the edge of the table and out from underneath it. I continued shaking as I stood, my knees worse than jell-o. I take a step forward almost falling but regain balance as I remember the six eyes watching me as if I was their savior. I take another step, the another until I regain my basic knowledge of walking once more.
I shiver as my feet run across the cold marble floor and the hole in the heel of my sock wasn't helping. I look around and notice my entire world would be different. My house was destroyed and all of my stuff ... even my black electric guitar I got two years ago. I gulp as I realize none of this will even matter if my parents aren't all right.
I take a few more steps off of the marble onto carpeting as I ran my fingers along the paneling and continued down the hall dodging glass from the broken family pictures scattered all over the floor, from various vacations and me and my brothers' school pictures. I wince as a piece goes into the bottom of my foot and I pull up my foot to pull it out, only a small piece but still painful. I walk a little further ignoring the wincing pain until I come to the first room. I reluctantly look in, afraid of what I may see, but both sad and uplifting there is no one to be seen.
I continue farther into this new hell hole of a home (and not the usual teenage one) I finally decide on looking out the cracked windows before continuing. The hell hole of my home just became my haven as I look into the distraught streets of Berkley. Flames consuming front doors, blood curdling scream coming from small children and moaning from injured adults. Ruble from fallen houses and building lying in the once clean streets. I place my elbows on the window sill and put my face in my hands.
I think to myself 'no, this can't be happening. I'm dreaming, I always have these dreams... '
I look up, nothing has changed, I'm not dreaming. What is going on? Even an earthquake wouldn't have done this. I continue down the hallway and feel the floor starting to slope downward. I reach for a door but it falls of it's hinges before I touch it. I look in terrified amazement as I see piles of ruble but no house. Half of my house had collapsed. I start to scream as I see a hand from beneath piles of wood, an unmoving hand with an Adeline tattoo on the finger. I back away and start to run back taking short breaths and fighting the sting in my eyes. I reach the kitchen and look beneath the table to find Calli comforting Jakob and Jared who were hysterical. Both look up at me and come running wrapping their arms around my waist. Calli seems my dismay and comes over and wraps her arms around me too, as I comfort the boys, she comforts me.
We had no home, no parents, no life. Calli who had never really had a family didn't want to go to her house, she could only pray they were all dead, and if they weren't she prayed they thought she was. We decided to go see Tre or Mike, having nowhere else to go. We brought the warmest clothes we could find in my room since Jakob and Jared's room were no longer there. We brought food and some water from the fridge, but just enough to get us there and possibly back if there was nothing to be found at either of their homes. I covered Jared's head as we walked through the streets lined with the dead. No police or fireman to be found anywhere, no one to come to our rescue. What a wonderful world we live in where we can expect no form of hope in a time of crisis, where four kids walk through streets of the lifeless and have no way to turn. I looked down and into bright blue eyes. Ones supposed to be filled with life, Ante's eyes, my best friend lay dead in front of me and my remaining family I cannot even mourn. I side step him and continue as Jake buries his head in my shoulder crying. I feel him start to shake but I keep going I cannot stop, we cannot stop, at least until we make to Mike's.
Calli's P.O.V. (That Morning)
"Call! Wake up you piece of shit!"
"Fuck off!" I mumble into my hoodie. Just as I drift off to sleep again I feel a strong pain on the back of my neck, I reach up and can already tell it will be a welt then a nasty bruise. I look up at my wild-eyed mother who had a leather belt in her hand.
"I told you to get your ass up..." and she walks off as if nothing had happened like always. I get off of the cigarette burnt couch with a spring stabbing me. I get chills as I hear the squeaking door being opened and slammed. I go to my book bag and run a brush through my hair and go to the bathroom, within ten minutes I am ready to leave just as my stepfather walked through the door. The glare in his eye meant I wouldn't be leaving with just one new bruise.
"Don't leave yet," he said to me sternly. He was waiting until after he gets yelled at by my mother to come and beat me- but not today he can go suck himself for all I cared. As soon as he got inside I ran as fast as I could to Joey's. As I reached three blocks down I slowed to a brisk walk counting each of my steps by four left-1, right-2,left-3, right-4, and so on until I ran into a figure. I looked up into jade eyes filled with tiredness. I smile and throw a punch at Joey's shoulder.
"Hey dorkwad, what's up?"
"Well I usually love your wicked sense of humor but- it's seven in the morning and the first day of school, so now it's just annoying."
"Well that just means you'll get more of it," flashing my smart-ass-smile.
Calli's P.O.V. (present)
I walk down the streets that gave me shelter so many nights. Sleeping between stores next to garbage cans, stealing shoes to make it through two more years. Now it's gone, everything, everyone is gone. I feel something cold on the top of my head, as I look up rain falls down my face washing away my salty tears. I stop, and as if the rain made my cold blood start to boil, I turn as kick over a trash can, pick up a brick and throw it. I look at the sky and scream until I drop to my knees sobbing. Joey comes over and pulls me to my feet but I wont stand. He starts to walk as he cradles me as if I were an infant, and softly he sings to me, he sings the classics, none of the new bullshit. He sings Good Charlotte ,even though he hates them he knows I love them and he listens to them for me. He sings 'Hold On' and slowly joyful tears replace my frightened ones and I drift off.
His soothing voice letting me rest in his warmth and slowly the horrid smell is released from my nose.
Hold on if you feel like letting go
Hold on it gets better than you know
I lose all control of my head as it falls onto his shoulder and inhales his sweet scent.
"Your days
You say they're way too long
And your nights
You can't sleep at all
Hold on, Hold on Calli I need you... "
With his last words I fell into my irreversible sleep, only to be awakened when my prince charming comes to rescue me.
Joey's P.O.V.
"Don't leave me Calli please!" I say without reaction as the girl lay limp in my arms. She was still breathing but barely, she had a panic attack. We had to keep going, so Jake had grown about three years beyond his real age and had taken Jared beneath his wings. Jake was a true angel, since Jared had been born I had never seen him once complain about anything unreasonable. He loved Jared as I loved Jake but he had never been mean to him. I feel a twinge of guilt as I realized that if I had lost Jake I wouldn't be able to live with myself for causing him so embarrassment, it may seem superficial, but we wasted hours arguing when we could have been having fun, and I could have lost him like I lost mom and dad. As I look up from my day dream I see a disaster. There was no house in sight just wood, cement, and plaster, but no where to be found was Mike's house. I feel a hand on my shoulder as I turn around I am greeted by a pair of bouncing blue eyes as the arms are thrown around me.
"You're alive! You're alive, all of you are alive!" Mike was alive, we had someone else.
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