The Calling (DrTrollinski & Zhai)

[DrTrollinski]

Carl was glad that he'd gotten it all out of his system. Mia had the right idea to not eat that soup - He really regretted it now, that was for sure. He took a deep breath as he turned to her and let her wipe his lip. He winced every time she did it, though. Carl did have enough money for maybe one night at a little motel, or something. He had enough to pay for their cab fares, enough to buy them some food, and enough to make sure they could sleep under a roof for the night. He expected to be staying some place bad, so he brought along $150.00 to make sure they were covered if they ever needed to head out and take care of things themselves.


This isn't what he had in mind when he picked up the money, though.


".. My lip feels like an alcoholic man's liver." He said, finally cracking a faint grin. He just needed something cool and icy on it, that was all - the swelling would go down after that, for sure. His breath had the horrible stench of vomit to it, and he really wanted some coffee, or something. Just something to help wash it away.


Oh, and his bladder needed to have the pressure taken off of it, too.


"Mia... I hate to interrupt the moment... But I need to pee." He said, sighing a little as he lifted his tongue out of his mouth and licked his lip. Ouch.

 

[Zhai]

"Don't lick the blood, Carl." Mia was trying hard to not gag but she could feel the sensation coming on as her mouth salivated and the back of her mouth felt like something was coming back up. Surely it couldn't be that both of them would throw their guts up in the middle of the night, and she wasn't about to let that happen. Nope. Not today. She sucked in another deep breath and exhaled it slowly. Okay, better.


Taking Carl's hand, stuffing the half blood soaked fabric into his hand, and closing his hands - she nodded and turned her back to Carl. Putting space between them she went back on the adventure of finding her pack again, her eyes squinting towards the even darker forest floor. Ah, there it is; she found it after almost tripping over it and eating a pile of leaves in the process. Picking it up and putting it back on her back, Mia started the next task of looking for Carl's pack.


Finding it, she walked back towards Carl, assuming maybe he was done taking a piss. How long could he need? Out here he couldn't take advantage of the bathroom's privacy for his other needs, and she was confident that all he was doing was peeing.


"You done?" Just to be sure, Mia called out softly through the darkness, still trying to avoid looking in Carl's direction. She couldn't take seeing Carl's blood and his family jewels in the same day.

 

[DrTrollinski]

He was doing his best to stay hidden, but right now, he didn't care. He was sort of out in the open, but even if she was to shoot a glance, he had his back to her. Good thing, too. He was really surprised that she hadn't made a joke about this yet, but right now... Christ, it was like he'd opened a water valve. He didn't know where this came from. He didn't drink any water at the family home they spent a mere few hours at (aside from the soup of course), so he didn't know what could have caused it. Then again, he thought about it, and he completely changed diets today. Their parents and Mrs Greene made sure that their eating routine was balanced when it came to meal times. They could snack as much as they wanted, but... Everything else, it had some kind of healthy aspect to it.


Which, right now, Carl would pay to have.


He'd actually kept hold of the rag and was dabbing his lip with that while he was busy doing his business. And no, the rag didn't touch anything other than his lip and his hand. If it did, he wouldn't be putting it so close to his mouth. His other hand was the one controlling the... Do I really have to say it?


"Bear with me..." He muttered, a sigh of relief hidden behind his voice. "The salt in that soup must have done something..." He said, and then tilted his head back a little. How was this even humanly possible? He was stood there, pissing up a tree for at least another half a minute before he finally zipped his pants up and wiped his hand down on his pant leg. It wasn't as if that washed it, but it made him feel a tad bit cleaner. Once he was done, he turned back to her and gave a nod, taking a deep breath.


God. He felt so much better.


"Alright... I'm good, let's go." He said quietly. He dabbed his lip again, putting only more blood on the rag. Jesus. If they got into a cab, it was going to look like they'd been dragged through Hell and back. They'd need to make up some bullshit and slip some hooded sweatshirts over their dirtied shirts so that they didn't look so suspicious - They were on a camping trip, and when Carl got up to pee during the night, he hooked his lip on a branch. It was too dark to see it.


Yeah, that worked.

 

[Zhai]

Peeing, huh? More like watering the plants! Mia could hear the steady stream of piss hitting the tree like a water hose and she awkwardly idled by, pretending to try and not hear it. It's so loud. It's impossible to act casual listening to Carl pee. God, they were close and all but Mia didn't think the day would come where she'd wipe blood from his face and listen to him pee in the same night.


Mia was about to lean against a nearby tree to get comfortable, thinking Carl would be awhile longer, when she heard his confirmation that he was finally done. Thank you! Turning around, she could see he was still dabbing blood from his lip and now she could clearly tell where the actual source of the blood was; the corner of his lip. From how much there was earlier she thought he'd busted his nose, the center of his lip or even broken his front teeth. All that blood from the corner of his lip. It was amazing he hadn't passed out yet or was still walking and talking. It was easier to see that his lip was swollen, too; the engorged flesh glistening in the little bit of moonlight that spilled into their area.


"Where to now?" She gave Carl his bag and turned in a circle, looking up and down. Where the hell where they? What direction did they travel from and what direction should they travel now? Everything looked the same no matter which direction you were and there wasn't any distinctive markers she could remember. Nothing. Hell, even turning in this little circle was confusing her.


"Carl, we're fucking lost." Throwing her hands up in defeat, Mia signed loud and leaned back against a weak tree, feeling her weight shift it a little.

 

[DrTrollinski]

".. No, we're not... I know my sense of direction, alright?" He smiled a little and then took his bag from her. His lip felt all tingly, and it was still numb as a bitch. It sucked. He could quite literally feel it adding weight to his face due to how swollen it was, but there was nothing he could do about that just yet, was there? He just had to brave it out, and even though there was a bit of blood trickled down his shirt, the side of his upper lip had finally stopped bleeding. For the most part, at least. It felt like it was never going to stop. He was no idiot, though. You couldn't die from a little cut on your lip.


Unless it got severely infected and you got septicemia.


Honestly, he felt the same as what Mia felt. Awkward. They'd played doctor a couple of times to each other when they were younger, when one of them cut their finger, the other would help them put a band aid on it. It was as simple as that, but this time? This time it was a tad bit different. The circumstances were shit, and they looked like a couple of rape victims. What could be better? Oh, to make things even better, yeah, his sister had just listened - and possibly watched - him pee. How. Wonderful. When was the last time they'd actually done that? When they were three-and-a-half, four? When one got out of the bathtub to use the toilet, or something?


And there was the time that Mia was outside the door when they were little listening to him take a shit and laughing at him - He was never going to let her live that down, nor was he going to ever forget that fateful day.


Anyway.


He looked at the footsteps that had been left behind by them and then took a deep breath as he turned to face the mass woodland that was in sync with them. It was right past the tree that was doused in Carl's piss, but that wasn't really relevant, was it? "It's this way." He pointed off in the direction he was facing. "We can't be too much further out of town, sis. Let's keep moving, alright?" He smiled at her.

 

[Zhai]

Amazing. The guy with a busted lip, blood on his shirt, and bladder issues all of a sudden knew where they were going. Knew where they were and which way to go from him. Mia threw her hands up a little, already done with this shit; the forest, the blood, the Nelson family, the darkness, being hungry, needing sleep, smelling like sweat and bugs and probably still have spiderweb on her, and maybe a spider on her making a new home. That was it. Inside she'd given her last fuck and concluded that nothing could be worse than this. Nothing! It didn't even seem this hopeless when they woke up and found their parents missing - still missing!


"Okay, that way." By the tree were a concoction of Carl's insides were - piss, spit, blood, and throw up. Hm. Okay. Right.


Mia walked wide and far away from the tree's area, not taking a chance in stepping or slipping in any of Carl's insides. On this side of the forest it looks the same as where they just left; skinny trees with huge tops, lots of leaves, branches, and little to no moonlight coming down here. More darkness and more of the smell of leaves. She followed behind her brother, just in case he passed out she could catch him; and so if there was a spiderweb, he's hit it first.


More walking and more time passed, and she sighed each time they made it to a new part of the forest that looked like an old part of the forest. It was like a Wonderland or some kind of optical illusion. A never ending one that looked the same at every turn. Mia was almost convinced they were going in circles.


"How much further, GPS Carl?" She snickered, patting her brother on his shoulder.

 

[DrTrollinski]

He was tired of walking. Just one straight line of walking, for how long? Almost half an hour? They must have been close, and he knew for a fact that they weren't walking in circles. How? Because they hadn't come across the smell of urine and vomit again, so that was always a good sign. With a sigh, he looked down at the ground as they made their way down a small slope. How had they not been attacked by some sort of rabid animal by now? He had his pocket knife with him, but that wouldn't do much against a frenzied wolf.


Or whatever creature you got in a Georgian forest. Wait. Were they even in Georgia? Yeah, they must have been. They'd still be driving if they weren't in Georgia. They would have even arrived at their Foster Family's home if they were travelling to a new State. Upon hearing Mia's question, he sighed and pulled out his cellphone and flicked it on. He saw something that was very satisfying.


One bar of signal. That meant his 3G would connect. Barely. A huge shit-eating grin went across his face (which caused his lip to open up and start bleeding again) and he flicked through some of his apps. He came across the 'maps' app, clicked on it, and then tapped his foot on the ground while waiting very patiently. The signal hadn't dropped yet, but signal meant that they were close to a town. They must have been. He wouldn't be getting any service, otherwise.


It loaded.


"Oh my god!" Carl shrieked, sounding like he'd just seen a ghost, or something. "Maps, Mia! Fucking maps!" He laughed wildly and zoomed out on the area they were in. The location wasn't entirely accurate, but it was rough, and pointing them in the direction the phone was facing. He turned very slightly to the right. "It's that way, Mia! Fifteen minutes, and we'll be out of this damn forest!" He laughed wildly and quickly ran up, giving her a big old hug. "We've made it!" He grinned, rubbing her back.

 

[Zhai]

Carl's screaming was, at the very least, scary and alarming as hell. Mia froze, her body going rigid and a new rush of adrenaline pumping through her."Oh shit what?!" Her eyes widened as she frantically searched around, turning in place and searching up, down, left and right. What the fuck was he looking at? What did he see? What did he hear? What's out there?! Damn it, Carl!


Mia was prepared to die a horrible death by whatever, when she heard him say something about 'maps'. What's a 'map'? What kind of rabid animal is that?


Wait...'maps'? Maps? Maps what? Where?


Now calm, her eyes searched around the forest looking for this magically map he had seen. Was it posted somewhere? Like at the parks where they nail a map to a tree?


Completely calm now Mia finally sees the glow of something in Carl's hand and she rushes over to investigate.His phone!; and with a signal, weak but working apparently! She didn't get a good look at his phone's display before she got swept up and squeezed in Carl's embrace. At first she was grossed out knowing that there was his blood getting on her, and she could faintly smell the iron sneak up her nose from his face. Or maybe it's from his shirt.


However she celebrated with Carl, smiling just as big as him but unable to return his hug since he'd trapped her arms. "Damn it, Carl! You couldn't think of that sooner?" Mia was excited, happy as hell, and most of all - relieved that they had something to go by now; but she was also, for some reason, mad that he didn't think of this sooner. It wasn't his fault and she knew it.


When he finally releases her, she grabs the phone and looks at it, relishing they had a sense of direction - an actual sense of direction - and that in fifteen minutes with fast walking and no breaks, they'd be out of these fucking woods. Mia was tempted to run the whole way but thought better of it. She sucked at running and with as much blood as Carl's lost he was liable to pass out.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"We're gonna' get out of these damned woods, Mia!" He laughed happily and started to speed-walk. He wanted to get into town, buy a bottle of water, and then get a cab to go somewhere away from here. He just wanted to get out of there right now. As soon as possible. He wanted to take Mia to a nice diner in the next town, and then they could eat and find a place to stay for the night. That's all he wanted. A nice meal, a cheeseburger, a milkshake, anything like that.


The walk that went on for fifteen minutes felt a lot longer than that, and it probably was. It was probably close to about thirty minutes, but who cared? It was so satisfying. The streetlights, the cars that slowly went through the town, the lights of buildings. Everything. It was so nice. It was awesome. He looked at Mia and ran to her, giving her another hug.


".. I love you, Mia!" He yelled, grinning. "We did it! We did it!" He jumped once on the spot and then threw his arms up into the air. "Woo!" He yelled, laughing loudly. "Let's go, Mia. We need to get out of this dump." He said happily.

 

[Zhai]

Awesome! Now they had a map, a way to go, and even an estimated time of arrival; but it meant more walking. Mia was happy - fucking ecstatic - but even the thought of more walking made her calves burn, her feet ache, and heart start beating wildly like it was preparing for this. Just a little more walking and this was over. Easy as pie. Mia once again followed Carl through the remaining stretch of woods, both of them walking so fast that if a spiderweb did hitch a ride on her face she wouldn't have noticed. Or at least wouldn't have freaked out on the spot. She would have time to freak out in civilization's company.


Before they got out of the forest Mia could see lights through the thinning forest line and hearing cars driving by. Holy shit! They'd made it. She was already celebrating even before Carl was, and when they had broken through the wood line; both of them hugging each other tightly and doing a little celebratory hop in place. They probably looked like damn fools to the whatever people across the street were watching, dancing and hugging near the trees. Mia could even admit if she were watching from her window, she'd be concerned that crazy people had showed up in town.


"Carl, we did it!" She screamed in excitement and broke from her brother's arms, rushing up the small hill to the street's edge and looking left to right. There was no car coming but there was the taillights of a passing car far ahead. Across the street there was the beginnings of maybe a small town or a rest stop area. There were some semi trucks parked in an empty lot; there were lights coming out of a diner, two cars at a gas station beside that diner, and what looked like more behind all of those buildings.


"Hurry your ass, Carl! I'm starving!" Mia smiled so big her cheeks were burning again. She could see the sign of a maybe motel, too. Food. Motel. Cars. All in the same place. This must be their lucky day.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"My treat!" He yelled in excitement, but stopped her before they could go in. He realized something. They couldn't go into a diner looking like this - They'd have the police called on them, and then that would be the end of it. He had enough money to set them up here for the night, but first, there was something else they needed to get in order. It was so late. What was it, midnight? One in the morning? They were so far from the house they once resided at, and Carl knew that this was the perfect place to settle down, just for one night.


He grabbed her by the arm, and then pulled her away from the area and behind the little building that were the dedicated restrooms. He sighed a little and reached down into his bag, pulling out a hooded sweater before slipping it on over his head. He smiled once it was all in place, and then picked up his bag again.


"Mia... You might want to put one of these on as well - If they see your shirt... They'll call the police, and we'll be done for." He said. "Have you got one in your bag? If you haven't, you can have one of mine." He smiled kindly at her and then took a quick glance around. By now, the police would have searched the whole area. If Lydia and Travis had actually called the police, that is, so they were safe regardless. Carl's stomach was growling so loud - he could smell fried food emitting from the diner. He was just... He was drooling. He was so starving after losing all the contents of his stomach.

 

[Zhai]

What now? Why was he putting the plug on the Fun Bottle?! Mia whipped around to face Carl, trying to decide if she was pissed off or not that he was stopping her. She couldn't decide what he could possibly be stopping her for. There was no one out here - just the two of them. There wasn't anyone lingering near the parked trucks or cars, there wasn't anyone coming in or out of the businesses. Hell, there wasn't even someone having a smoke outside, and that was the unusual thing. Normally there was always someone having a smoke somewhere.


When Carl offered her his hoodie, a deep blush spread all over her face and down her neck. Okay, that was reason to stop. She'd just now realized again that her shirt was open and her bra was all exposed...and that Carl had seen. Quickly she pulled her ripped shirt together for cover and snatched the hoodie from him, turning her back to Carl. Off with the bag and on with the hoodie; her hands finger-combed through her hair, trying to catch stray strands, weed out knocks, and dismiss whatever leaves or branches were caught in there.


With nothing to hold her hair in a ponytail, she started quickly braiding the loose locks and hoping it would hold long enough. Her hands felt over her face and she rubbed her eyes, licked her lips, and straightened the hoodie again. "Now you still look like shit." Wasn't that the truth? Mia no longer looked like a rape victim but not Carl looked like he'd gotten punched in the face with brass knuckles. "You need to..change."


Mia walked over to a door with a little Man on it, knocked, and when she heard nothing, wrenched the door open. It was was kind of clean single person restroom, empty and with paper towels and a sink. "Just go wash your face and change your shirt." She held the door open, ushering Carl in.

 

[DrTrollinski]

".. Fine, fine." He said, quickly going inside and taking his own hoodie off yet again after closing the door over. He ripped off his t-shirt and shoved it into his bag, and then pulled out a clean t-shirt. Awesome. It was dark blue, so he quickly slipped that on, and then put his hoodie over his head again. He went to the little tiny sink and started to wash his face with one of the paper towels. First off, though, he splashed some cold water on his face, and then he started cleaning it with a paper towel. He wiped off all the grime and dried blood and vomit, and then nursed his lip a little. The swelling hardly went down, so he was going to have to ask for an ice pack.


Once he was as cleaned up as he could get, he tossed the paper towel (and the rock from his pocket) into the toilet, and then flushed both of the items away. Thank god that was over. He sighed and then went back out of the little mini shack of a restroom and rejoined Mia, the blood and dirt gone from his face. He was starting to feel sick from being so hungry now, so he wanted to make this as quick as he could - He needed to eat. He was going to treat Mia to everything. Milkshakes. Coffee. Cheeseburgers. Fries. Dessert. Soda. Whatever she wanted - he had the money for a room for two, and the motel seemed to be doing alright, as well. It didn't look expensive, either. It was thirty dollars a night for this particular one.


"I'm good... Can we go and eat now, Mia? I've loved our walk, but... I need to get some ice for my lip, and then some food for my stomach." He gave a half smile on the side of his mouth that wasn't swollen, and then patted her shoulder.

 

[Zhai]

While Carl was inside the bathroom, Mia took advantage of the free moment to go pee, too. In and out even before Carl was. That was a first.


There was still no one outside. On this side of the building she would have normally thought it was creepy but being in the woods for the last couple of hours has changed her standards for what's creepy. As long as there was light back here, this was heaven compared to where they'd just come from.


What was taking him so long? Her eyes kept shifting back towards the bathroom door, but it still hadn't opened up. She debated opening it, just to see what he was doing or if he needed help. What if he'd passed out in there? All of that running, lost blood, and no food finally getting to him. Oh shit. Freaking out now, Mia turned and walked up to the bathroom, her hand reaching for the knob right as Carl came casually walking out.


"Jesus, I thought you passed out or was...was..." She slowed down, her voice turning in the beginnings of a smile and her lips pulling at the corners. If he was doing that in there, then Mia wouldn't let him live it down. Not ever! "Nevermind, um..." Now that that humorous moment had passed in her, she got a good looked at him. Clean shirt. Blood gone. Lip...lip still looks like shit. It looked worse without the blood on it than it did all cleaned up. It was swollen purple and red, literally.


"Maybe you should get the hotel and I'll go get the food? You're going to scare the waitress with that lip." Mia hand reached forward, tempted to touch his lip but stopping short. Better not touch it. Her hand dropped back to her side and she started looking around again.

 

[DrTrollinski]

He knew she was coming up with a joke. He could hear it in her voice and--


Nevermind.


Well, that was a moodkill. Oh well. He looked at her as she spoke and then shook his head, sighing a little. "I'll be fine... If she asks what happened, I walked into a door, alright?" He brushed his hair down a little so that it looked a bit more normal, and then smiled at her. "Trust me, Mia... I'll ask for an ice pack, I'll get the swelling down, and then we'll be cool as a cucumber, alright?" He chuckled and put a hand on her shoulder to spin her around, and then nodded towards the little diner. God, he couldn't wait to sit down in the back corner of the restaurant, drink a hot coffee, and eat a cheeseburger.


Maybe the lip did look shitty. He saw it in the mirror in the little bathroom. A door could easily do that, though.


"I either walked into a door, or I fell over. Hell, or we could say we were playing baseball and I got a ball to the face. Anything works, Mia. They don't have any evidence to prove us wrong, you know." He smiled a little. "Plus, we'll go in there, flash my money around, and we'll look perfectly normal. For all they know, we've just left a house party and we're stopping for a late night snack." He chuckled under his breath and winked at her, squeezing her shoulder. "It'll be fine, come on." He said, nodding towards the diner.

 

[Zhai]

So Mia's plan was down the drain. Carl was too proud a big brother to even let her go get some take out from a diner that was maybe a few feet away the motel he'd be waiting in. No matter. She figured he would object to her suggestion and she didn't hold any hard feelings about it. Instead she listened to another one of his brilliant plans, allowing him to swivel her around to face the diner across the wide lot. From here it looked a little empty; the windows were large and the lights were bright. There was a waitress walking back and forth behind a counter, a man with a ball cap sitting at the furthest window seat from the entrance, and that was about it. Relatively empty.


"We could just say I punched you in the face." Mia laughed softly, balling her fist and playfully tapping her brother's cheek. She hooked arms with him, and walked forward, taking him with her whether he was ready to walk or not. It was hard not to bust into a sprint to get there faster but luckily the walk was short. Mia let go of her brother's arm, reaching forward to push open the door to the diner, the waitress's head whipping around towards them at the sound of the bell's chime that announced their entrance. The man sat in the corner didn't even flinch. Didn't even look back to see who was coming in.


There was the thick smell of coffee, something frying, and smoke; steam was coming from what Mia assumed was the kitchen and a man yelled from back there. The waitress turned, picked up a plate that was slide on the counter, and walked from behind her counter to set the plate down on the man's table. They exchanged words and she came walking down the aisle towards them. Mia smiled a little at her. The woman looked like a typical waitress at a side of the road diner; dress, apron, hair in a bun, red lip stick, aged - maybe in her forties - and a coffee pot in her hand as she walked around.


"Two...please." Mia spoke softly, nervously grabbing the straps of her bag.


The woman - her name tape said Sally - smiled nervously, her eyes switching from Mia to Carl. Goddamn it. She must be looking at his lip, her eyes wide and her red lips parting like she was about to say something. Ask a question maybe. Please let it not be what happened to Carl's lip. Mia cleared her throat and spoke up again, "Two, please."


The waitress smiled politely, still nervously. "Take a seat anywhere, honey."

 

[DrTrollinski]

Well, that was Carl's back seat plan right out of the window. In all fairness, actually, they could sit in the one corner that didn't have a window. That would be much better, actually. They wouldn't be able to be seen that easily if they were sat there, either, and that was a very good sign indeed. He pointed over to the seat in the back right corner and smiled a little.


"Take the back seat. No windows, but... I need a peaceful booth." He whispered to her. "I'm gonna' go ask for some ice, alright? I'll get us some menus, too." He smiled and then patted her shoulder, followed by going up to the breakfast bar that was attached to the kitchen. The woman, Sally, eyed him, her eyes darting off to his lip every now and again.


"Can I do something for you, sweetheart?"





"Yeah, go ahead." He replied, smirking a little. It was a bad joke, but he managed to get a laugh out of her. At least that broke the ice, and hopefully she was a little less suspicious of himself and Mia now. "I'm just kidding... I'd really appreciate an ice pack, for my lip. If you don't mind, ma'am." He smiled kindly at her, and she gave the same smile back alongside a nod. She disappeared into the kitchen, and while she was gone, Carl looked across at Mia and gave her a thumbs up as if to say that everything was okay. He kind of felt a little better that he'd managed to get the waitress to laugh - She was working a late and dead night, so she must have been tired.


"Here's your ice." She smiled and handed him an ice pack wrapped in paper towels. Carl smiled and took it from her, quickly applying it to his upper lip. It stung like fuck, but he knew that it was beginning to have an effect on his lip already. "What happened to your lip, anyway?" She asked.


"I was at a friend's house just into town. I've been staying there with my sister for a few days." He said. "We left there about an hour ago, if that, a gust of wind slammed the door shut - I was tired, we both were. The door came right at me and cracked me across the face... I didn't realize how bad it was until we were halfway here, my sister pointed it out to me. I got it cleaned up about ten minutes ago." He shot her a smile and a gentle laugh. He could have sworn that a more relieved look coated her face. "We're really hungry. We haven't eaten tonight, I'm afraid. Could we get some menus?" He asked, Sally nodded and handed him two from under the bar.


After thanking her, Carl took the menus and kept the ice pack stuck to his face while he walked across the diner and then set the menus down on the table in front of Mia. He liked the corner table quite a lot - It was nice and quiet and secluded. The diner was mostly wood themed, and it looked very Western, come to think of it. Wild Western, I mean. There were pictures of this, that, and the other all hung around the walls, and there was gentle Country music playing.


"I think she bought it." He whispered quietly to her.

 

[Zhai]

"Well, of course she bought it. You're over there sweeping her off her feet your boyish charm and fat lip." Mia laughed softly, reaching across the table to take one of the menu's for herself. It was a long, wide plastic covered menu that was packed front and back with...Damn, what wasn't on here? They had everything from Southern Food to Hispanic Food and...what was that? Asian Cuisine? Mia flipped the front and back menu at least ten times before she finally found a place to start.


"I don't think Jen would be happy." Mia smiled again, her eyebrow raising at her brother sat across the table. Jen. Mia felt like shit now that she'd invited Jen over for that amazing night with Carl and now here they were, however many miles away from home in a diner. Carl has a fat lip. There were scratches all over her legs. They both probably smelled like sweat and forest. However the forest smelled.


It was hard to get comfortable in the diner. It wasn't the atmosphere or the people or even the stiff cushion in the booth that made her uncomfortable. It was the fact that they were literally on the run from..Hell, who weren't they running from? By now Lydia or Travis had noticed them gone missing, called the police or Case Worker, and those guys were probably out there looking for them. At any moment police cars, search squads or even Lydia's truck could pull up and that's it. They would be caught before they even ordered drinks.


"Where are we going after this?" Mia kept looking at her menu, still debating what kind of breakfast plate she wanted. Damn it. It was hard to pick what you wanted when you wanted everything!

 

[DrTrollinski]

"My manly charm usually had girls on the floor and kissing my feet most the time. I just did something basic that time." He grinned and winked at her as he picked up his menu. God, it was one in the morning, but he wanted breakfast, and dinner. He didn't know what he was going to get, maybe he could get a breakfast-dinner combo, or something. Yeah, that sounded like a good plan. Maybe a cheeseburger with some pancakes and syrup on the side.


He honestly wanted to pig out on everything he wanted. He could do it, seeing as Carl knew how to eat like a horse.


"Speaking of Jen... I honestly should call her on a pay phone when I get the chance." He sighed. "If not... We can stop by and visit her when we get back into town." He shrugged a little.


Then came the question. What next?


"Tomorrow morning... We'll get a cab up to the next town. I should have enough money to cover things to get home... If not, we'll have to hitchhike, or something." He said, his mouth watering over the food on the menu. One hot and sweet latte, a cheeseburger and fries, and a plate of pancakes and syrup. Done.

 

[Zhai]

"You're hardly manly, Carl. You probably don't even have chest hair." Mia smiled to herself, satisfied with inflicting probable injury to her brother's ego. If any boy wanted anything bad enough to be able to step up that ladder from boy to man - it was probably body hair. And a deep voice.


"I don't think it's a good idea to call Jen. What if she says something to her parents? Or tells the police she heard from us? I know you like Jenna and everything, Carl but..." Mia shrugged and glanced from her menu for a split second to Carl. The look on his face when he talks about Jenna. It's enough to bury Romeo and Juliet's story in the grave. Mia reconsidered her approach on Carl calling Jen, thinking that maybe it would be good for him. Hearing a familiar voice. Knowing that something in their fucked up World was still in the right place.


Sally, ever hovering behind the counter closest to their table, finally grabbed her coffee pot and note pad, came around the bar side, and to their table. She set the half full coffee pot on the edge of their booth, reached into her pocket for a pen, and looked between them. Waiting. "What will it be?"





Mia looked from the top and bottom of the menu, flipped it over, and then did it again. What to order? What to eat? What to drink? Her head finally whipped up from the menu and looked at Sally. "Caesar salad and a water. No lemon." Okay, that's not what she wanted but she forgot what she really wanted, said the first thing she normally does, and was relived when Sally started writing on the note pad and turned to look at Carl.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Oh, Mia, please." He smirked. "I've got the body hair, the voice, the muscle, and--" He paused. Maybe his next coming line was a tad bit inappropriate to say to his sister. "We'll leave it at that. I'll let you figure out the rest." He laughed and winked at her and then lied back on the leather couch of the booth. God, it might not have been a soft chair, but it was certainly better than the beds they'd been given at their Foster Family's home. He put the ice pack back to his lip for a few minutes, but then heard Mia talking of Jenna.


"She wouldn't do that." He said defensively. "No. No, no, no. She wouldn't say anything. I know Jen. She--.. She wouldn't rat us out, alright?" He said, gulping quietly as he looked across at Mia. He was doing his best not to seem upset or worried, but that really wasn't going so well right now. He was terrified about what might happen - What if he didn't call her at all and she just forgot about him? What if she decided not to wait for him and went off and started dating the biggest douchebag in their school?


No. Carl couldn't let that happen.


He fell silent once Sally walked over to take their orders. He remained quiet and coughed the sadness away from his voice while Mia was busy saying what she wanted. For fuck's sake. A Caesar Salad? No, no, he was going to make sure that she ate something decent as well, not rabbit food. Once Sally turned to him he pulled the ice pack away and flashed her a smile - the swelling had really gone down now.


"Right... I'll have a bacon cheeseburger with... Make that a large fries, eh?" He smiled. "Along with that... We'll take a plate of pancakes with syrup. I'll have a sweet latte with mine, too. Please." He said, and then looked over to Mia. "And whatever drink she wants, too." He said. He was hoping that she'd go for something hot. Running through a Georgian forest really took its toll on you. He needed something replenish his energy, and Mia probably did, too. He'd ordered so much so that she could actually eat something as well.

 

[Zhai]

When Sally left Mia sat her menu on the table and looked across at Carl. Her hands came up in her own defense but at the same time not to offend Carl, "Look...I'm not saying that she would rat on us if you called but what are you going to say if she asks where we are? What's going on?" The waitress came back, sat their drinks on the table, and left again. Alone again, Mia continued. "What if, let's say, Lydia now knows we're gone, okay? She has probably called the cops by now. So now the cops know we're missing and where will they start looking? Around here. If we manage to hide from them while they're looking around here for us, then where do they go next?"


Mia stopped for emphasis, looking at her brother and arching her eyebrow in question. "They're going to look where we live. Our school. Our neighbors. Our friends. Whatever relatives they think we have. They're going to question them, ask the if they've seen us or where we could be. Do you think Jenna is going to keep our secret? She's going to be so worried that something's happened to us - to you - that she will say something, Carl. She's going to say something."


Okay, so this all sounds harsh but Carl needed to hear it, she figured. Jenna was a sweet girl, yeah but she respected her parents as much as the next child in the neighborhood. Well maybe not Marcus. He was hardheaded. Jenna, though, would tell her parents if she spoke them them, especially if the police are involved. It'd alarm her. It'd be more reason to tell someone if she spoke to Carl. She'd think she was doing it for the better.


"Look, Carl. If you want to call her then..do it, but you need to think about us, too. Jenna is going to tell her parents if they tell her to. We won't make it far enough away from here by the time police come in and make road blocks or something. And I'm sure as hell not running through the forest again. You promised me a taxi." Mia folded her arms, sighing and looking out the farthest window. Hm, that guy who was in here before them had left.

 

[DrTrollinski]

He listened closely to her every word but closed his eyes half way through it and rested his forehead in his hands above the table. It was the girl he loved. The only girl aside from Mia that he'd ever really had a true bond to. He couldn't risk it. He couldn't lose her. He didn't say anything to the waitress when she brought the drinks over, because he was buried in thought after her first sentence. He didn't want to think about what this could end like.


You need to think about us, too.





He got the wrong end of the stick with that comment. He really took that one to the chin, and he took it in the wrong context entirely. He felt himself well up with anger and sadness, but he bottled it up. He couldn't let it all flow out here, not now. Maybe later on, maybe he could just do something that would help get the anger out of him - he didn't have anything except his cup of coffee and a knife and fork to throw across the room if he really wanted to. He took one sip of his coffee and then set it down as gently as he could, but his emotion made it quite a heavy drop.


".. All I've been doing since we figured out that our parents were gone is thinking about us, Mia..." He took a deep breath. ".. With everything that's happened... We've got nothing left. No home. No parents. No education. No healthcare. Mrs Greene's gone, our parents might be lying in a gutter somewhere or could be at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, and we've got one thing left - That's each other. I've never stopped thinking about us, but--.." He gulped and looked down at the table, biting his bottom lip.


"I kissed her." He said. ".. On the night I walked her back... Yeah, we kissed... It was only a little one, but... We kissed. I... If I don't call her, don't visit her, don't do anything to confirm that I'm actually alive... She's going to forget about me. She's going to forget that you or I ever even existed, and she's going to move on and do--.. do something else." He threw one hand up into the air on the last part of his sentence. ".. We've already lost so much already, Mia... I don't want to lose her, too." He choked. ".. If you honestly feel like we can't trust her, fine, I'll lie. I'll tell her we've gone North, or we've gone somewhere to find help... You've trusted me a lot with things, Mia... I just..." He reached across the table and took hold of one of her hands, and then looked up at her with wide eyes.


"Please trust me with this, as well. Please."

 

[Zhai]

That went sideways. No, it went sideways, this ways, up ways, and blew up in several ways. Mia tried several times to put her piece in while her brother started ranting, trying to save herself from whatever Hell on Earth he was about to bring because of something she said. What did she say? What pissed him off? He asked for her opinion, asked if she thought it was right to contact Jenna and she gave him what he asked for. The honest truth. Although ugly and depriving, it was what Mia thoroughly thought out before spilling onto the table.


Okay, she understood Carl wanted to talk to her but Mia wanted to call her friends, too, and let them know she was alive. Let them know she was on her way back to town and not to cancel all they plans they had for the weekend. She wanted to call Mrs. Greene and tell her to go back to the house because two hungry kids were coming home!


When she heard Carl bite out the word 'us', she knew it was about the part of her statement - that he asked for - when she mentioned him needing to get his priorities in order. It wasn't to offend him. It wasn't to lessen Jenna's importance. It was about thinking in this moment. Right now. Jenna wasn't here running for her life. Jenna wasn't missing her parents. Jenna wasn't about to tell some lie to the police about being abused.


"Jenna's not here, Carl! Jenna is not fucking here! With us! Right now! When I say think about us I mean right now!" Mia's voice was loud and she knew it. The waitress poked her head from behind a corner, but maybe thought better of intervening because she disappeared again.


She withdrew the hand Carl held on to and stood out of her seat. "Damn it, Carl..." Don't cry. Don't cry. Mia's eyes searched in front of her, away from her brother, and out of the glass. She could feel the stinging warning of tears and when she blinked, there was definitely the moisture there. Nothing rolled down her cheek yet and she decided she was doing a good enough job not sobbing like she'd lost her best friend. And continued.


"You guys kissed, I get it...but just because you kissed her, doesn't mean you love her. You like it. You've got strong feelings somewhere. Hell, you probably get that strong feel in your balls but what does that have to do with right now? I understand our lives aren't what they used to be, Carl. We've lost everything but each other. Jenna...Jenna isn't apart of our lives. She's apart of yours and you need to stop and think who you want to protect. Her or you. If we're caught because you made some phone call, regardless if you lie or not, then she's not going to come visit you in prison. She's not going to drive that extra couple of miles to come visit you if we're moved to another state for Foster care."


Mia shifted her weight left to right, nervous of her words, her eyes still burning. "Just...I trust you, Carl...but you need to pick. Is it Jenna...or is it us? Me?" Out of the corner of her eye she could see Sally the devoted waitress awkwardly idling behind the counter, holding a tray of food. Mia looked at Carl once more, reached to pat his shoulder gingerly, and walked towards the diner's exit. On the way out, she didn't say anything to Sally. She didn't break her stride. Out the door and around the corner, walking further into the rest stop collection of buildings.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Carl was... Horrified. He felt his heart sink at her words. He felt every last ounce of trust and every bit of love that he had in his system just get crushed. It felt like the past fifteen years had all been for nothing. It felt like... It felt like he was alone. It felt like he was unappreciated. He didn't let her pat his shoulder. She didn't deserve that privilege. She didn't have the right to say anything of what she said - she didn't have the right to tell him who he did or didn't love.


She didn't know a thing.


As soon as he saw her get up, he felt his heart crack even more and finally shatter into a thousand pieces. He felt his face burning up, and his eyes becoming glossy with tears. Now would be the time to sit down and accept defeat for him, in most scenarios. But this time was different. This time he was angry. He was upset. He was heartbroken. All of those emotions shoved into one big ball never did anything for him. No. No, he wasn't letting her walk away from this. He slowly got up and quickly gave chase after telling Sally to 'keep the food hot'. As soon as he caught up he grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around, not aggressively, but enough to shock her, most definitely.


"You want to know something, Mia?" He sniffled. Tears were already streaming down his cheeks. "I've never in my whole fucking life felt more betrayed than how you just made me feel. I've never felt more heartbroken, more--.." He broke out into tears. ".. More useless." He choked out. ".. I never thought you'd say that..." He shook his head quickly. "I never thought you'd say something like that to me." He sobbed loudly, and then quickly looked away. "Yeah, things are shit... I know who I love, Mia. I know if I love Jenna. You don't know that, and I'm not saying that to try and dig at you... Whatever I say couldn't compare to everything you said to me in there... I just--.. I do love her, okay?! Where does--.. where does my happiness come into place?!" He sobbed, his crying and blubbering now becoming more manic. "Where do I get the chance just to let my fucking guard down and just take five minutes just to try and look forward to something?! Not all this running, not all the hiding - None of that!" He bawled, and then slowly looked away once again.


"And then you ask me to make a choice... And you walk out. You fucking walk away from me! Like I'm nothing! Like all we ever went through doesn't mean shit anymore! Is that what I am now, Mia? Just some fucking--.. some fucking scrub that isn't even worth the time of day? Holy shit, the whole time, I've been thinking about you, okay?! I've been thinking about you to make sure that you were happy, and that you were safe. I didn't think about us! Because I'm not the one who matters to me, alright? You're the one who fucking matters to me!" He cried to her, and then bowed his head to look at the ground. ".. And I thought you knew that... and I thought that just that once... Just that once that you'd be okay... Just for me... To think about someone else that I loved..." He sobbed. He kept crying after that. It didn't even feel worth saying anything else. He was so heartbroken and he felt so crushed and abandoned. His cries showed that, too.