Forever - Johnny Cade

Chapter 23:

*1 week later*

"Please stop!" I yell as I hold my face above my head for protection, but the same wooden baseball bat kept hitting me.

"I didn't mean to! It was an accident, please!" I yell again through thick sobs as I let out a yelp of pain from the hard bat connecting with my ribs.

I curl into a little ball on the floor, trying to protect as much as myself as I could when rough hands started pulling my legs back, the bat colliding with my stomach.

I cry out in pain as I try to gasp for air, nothing happening. 

I only had the wind knocked out of me, but it felt like I was being strangled.

"Leave her alone!" Joey's voice booms through the house.

I look up just enough to see him running over to him, knocking the one with the bat on the ground.

"You're asking for it, you piece of shit!" a female voice calls out as he gets whacked on the head with a beer bottle, it shattering all over the floor.

"No!" I yell as loud as I could as he collapsed to the ground.

The cool wind blowing against my face pulls me out of my latest flashback.

I could feel my eyes burning with tears threatening to fall at any moment.

Even walking couldn't distract me enough to not think about the bad times.

It's been a week and I've been having constant flashbacks of Joey and them.

They've been so bad that I've been losing sleep.

It takes me half the night to try and fall asleep, and when I do, I keep getting woken up by Joey's cries of pain.

I've been getting super anxious and stressed, not knowing what was real and what was just a flashback. Sometimes they would be so real that I think that I never even left.

I haven't been eating, my stomach always a roaring, starving, monster.

I never know when the next agonizing memory would block my vision.

The sun was just starting to set, and I was no where near the Curtis house.

I look up from the pavement to try and locate where I have wondered to. 

A bunch of big, nice houses littered the streets, a nice open park in the middle.

Shit.

I was on the south side.

I was so distracted, I didn't even see where I was going.

I start to panic, turning and walking back the way I came as fast as I could without looking suspicious.

Who am I kidding I'm a greaser on the south side, who's not going to be suspicious?

I walk even faster, almost jogging, trying to escape the Mr. Rogers neighbourhood as quickly as possible without being seen.

I sighed in relief once I saw the familiar old worn down houses.

I slow down my walking, tired from the speed walking across several blocks.

I catch my breath as I get closer to the West side of town.

The home side of town.

I was almost there when I heard the sound of a engine coming from behind me.

I look behind my shoulder to see the same blue mustang from before getting closer to me.

I stiffen as I continue to walk, trying to act as normal as I could, hoping to get into the West side faster.