CYOA Page 237

[lumy12]

Page Two Hundred Thirty-Seven

As you stand there, trying to make up your mind on your next course of action, the man approaches you slowly with his hands up. "I won't hurt you. You need help?"

You mostly just see his silhouette, outlined in moonlight... he can see you better than you can see him. You suddenly feel self-conscious about your lack of pants and try to tug Joel's shirt lower. If Joel thought you were exposing an obscene amount of leg before... the shirt covers your underwear, but not much more! "Uh... not exactly..."

"Ellie!"

The man stops and stands a respectful distance in front of you, lowering his hands to his sides. You can't decide how old he is... he probably falls into that vast range of older than you but younger than Joel. "Are you running from him? Did he hurt you?"

"Yeah..." ...not how you think, though! You realize what it must look like. I need to button this shirt up a little more, too -- good thing the moon is BEHIND me...

"It's okay. You're safe now." You hear a gun cocking. "I'll shoot the son of a bitch."

Shit! "Oh! No, wait--"

"ELLIE!" ...he's getting closer...

"I got no problem with it," the man continues. "I know his kind -- scum of the earth. And you... so young. It just boils my--"

"No no no, see... you can't. He's not like... a rapist or something. He's my boyfriend. Or, he was... still is, I guess..." He hasn't technically broken up with you -- not yet -- so...

"That don't give him the right to hurt you, honey."

Uugghh! You might be pissed off at Joel, but you sure as fuck don't want him dead! And what if he tore out of the house so fast in pursuit of you that he didn't bring any weapons? You don't think he'd do that, but... maybe if he thought he could catch you right away? Or, if he did bring weapons... he could kill this poor guy, who seems perfectly nice and undeserving of such a fate, and it would be all your fault. "Don't shoot him! That's not what I want. He's not... what you think he is."

"Oh, I bet he's exactly what I think he--"

"No! I swear, he's not!" You move toward the man; if you're very close to him, Joel won't risk the shot. "Please... put the gun away. If he thinks you might hurt me..."

"Ellie?" He sounds like he's right around the corner now!

"Psh. I'm not afraid of him. Big tough guy, thinks he can rough up girls and--"

"No, dude, listen -- he's not -- he would never hurt me like that!" you say desperately.

"But... you just told me he hurt you. And I heard you screaming at him to leave you alone. Why is he--"

"It's all my fault -- he didn't do anything! Just -- go back in your house! Please!" You can hear Joel's footsteps on the pavement now. You whirl around, keeping yourself directly in front of the guy. You don't see Joel... he's sticking to the dark places... but you know he's approaching quickly. "Joel, it's okay! He's not a hunter!"

"...Not a hunter?" the man remarks curiously (you sometimes forget that not everyone is familiar with your terms for things). "Why don't you come on around behind me..."

He puts his hand on your arm, but you shake it off. "No -- he will kill you if he thinks--"

"If you'd just get out of the way..." He still hasn't put the gun down!

"Get your hands off her," Joel growls from the shadows -- although technically now it's your hands on him, because you're tugging on the man's gun arm.

"Joel -- he's okay -- he just thinks you hurt me!"

"You don't have to protect him, honey. And you don't--"

"Drop that gun!" Joel barks at him. "Drop it right now or I'll--"

"Both of you drop your weapons!" you plead. "This is just a big misunderstanding!"

"What's going on?" comes another voice -- a woman! -- from the man's porch. From the doorway, you assume, but there's no moonlight over there to show you.

"Go back inside. I got this under control," the man tells her. He finally lowers his gun, so you make sure to stay between him and Joel, just in case...

"Got what under control?" the woman calls back. She probably can't see Joel...

"I'm helping this young lady here... go back inside -- you're gonna wake up the kids."

Kids! You hope the fact that this guy has a wife and kids convinces Joel not to kill him. You hear a door closing.

"Ellie, come here. Now."

"No!"

"That's right," says the man. "You don't have to put up with--"

"No, I mean... if I go over there, he'll kill you... or you'll kill him... can we just talk? No guns? Let me explain!"

"Can you explain why you've got no pants or shoes on?" asks Joel.

Good! That should tell the man that I didn't run away like--

"Like you don't know," the man fires back.

"He didn't-- it's not like-- fuck!" You're growing more frustrated by the second -- with both of them! "I ran out of the house like this," you say to Joel, then you turn to the man. "And I ran off cuz I was pissed at him, not because I'm afraid of him or cuz he... did anything to me."

"You said he hurt you," the man reminds you again.

"No--"

"What the hell did you tell him?" Joel scoffs.

"Nothing! You just jumped to the wrong conclusion," you tell the poor confused man. "And... I don't blame you, since I'm running around half naked and all... but Joel's not a bad guy. He doesn't mistreat me, I swear. Both of you -- please -- just put your guns away."

Joel slowly moves into the moonlit portion of the street -- and sticks his gun back in his pants, yes! The other man follows suit, much to your relief.

"Thank you!" you say to both of them, then you look at the man. "Dude -- sir -- thank you for wanting to help me. That was really cool of you. But I'm fine. You can go back inside to your wife and--"

"My sister," he corrects you.

"Oh, okay... sister. And your kids... or...?"

"One's mine, two are hers. And this here's your... boyfriend?" he asks dubiously.

"Father," Joel says at the same time you say, "Yes."

"...Huh."

"It's kind of a long story," you add lamely.

"Ellie, let's go."

"I haven't seen you two around here," says the man suspiciously.

Why is he suspicious? What difference does it makes whether we live here or not? "We're just passing through," you explain.

"Passing through... from where to where?"

"None of your business," Joel interjects. "Ellie, c'mon, what are you doin'? Let's go."

He's not yelling, but you're sure his tone isn't doing anything to allay the man's suspicions of... whatever the fuck he's thinking about Joel. Guns down or not, you're still sort of afraid Joel might shoot the guy if you get out of the way. But then... yes! Joel starts walking away. Backing away, actually. Like he doesn't want to turn his back on the guy. Or you...

"Honey, you don't have to go with him," the man says quietly. "You can stay here."

"No, really, it's okay," you insist.

"That guy's not really your dad. Is he." A statement, not a question.

"Is it that obvious?"

"You were calling him by his name, before."

"Oh... right..."

"Regardless... he shouldn't be doing... boyfriend things with you."

"He doesn't!" ...Dude, that's the whole problem!

"I see how you're dressed... how he's dressed..." (okay, so he's shirtless, but that's acceptable for guys in public, isn't it?) "Were you running from his bed? Whatever he told you--"

"No no no, you've got it all wrong! I said he was my boyfriend cuz we--"

"Ellie, stop." Because of course Joel can still fucking hear you. "He's never gonna believe you. Let's go."

"You should have a boyfriend your own age," the man says -- like he knows anything about... anything! "What he's doing is--"

"You don't know what you're talking about," you snap at him. "You don't know a thing about us! If you knew how he--"

"Ellie!" Joel seems to be losing his last shred of patience. He stands still, waiting for you...

"Just a second, Joel! I have to explain. He--"

"You don't have to explain nothin' -- like I said, he's never gonna believe you anyhow."

Oh yeah? We'll see about that! "Dude -- I swear -- Joel is really good to me. If anything, I'm the one who mistreats him. He doesn't want to have sex with me, but--"

"Ellie!"

"Hold on! But I wanna fuck him, see, and we got into this fight because-- well, basically, he told me no a hundred times, and I still... I pretty much tried to rape him. He didn't like it. I mean, why would he, right? So-- wait, what are you doing?!" He's pulling his gun again!

You turn around and see that Joel's now walking toward you, and his gun is drawn, too, although you're not sure who did it first. You decide you're done protecting this judgmental prick. You don't want Joel to kill him, but Joel is right: it's time for you to go. You keep yourself in the line of fire as you move toward Joel.

"Why are you limpin' like that?" he asks.

"I'm trying not to... I can't help it."

"What happened?"

"I dunno... I stepped on something..." You try to turn Joel around, away from the man, but he won't budge.

You hear the guy say something like "to hell with you"... and when you turn to look at him, you see he's heading back to his house -- finally!

Joel still seems wary; he puts his arm around you and steers you into the shadows on the other side of the street. You stumble along, and he sighs. "Am I gonna have to carry you all the way back to--"

"No! I can walk just fine if you'd stop dragging me." He wasn't actually dragging you... you're just starting to remember how angry you are with him, and you don't want to be carried like some baby.

He lets go of you. "Keep it down or your new friend's gonna try to come rescue you again."

"I never told him you were abusing me!"

"You didn't have to."

"Well, it was stupid of him to assume--"

"Oh yes. Real stupid. A young girl's runnin' down the street in her underwear--"

"I wasn't even running!"

"--with this mean old bastard chasin' after her, an' she's yellin' at him to leave her alone. I know if I saw that, I'd sympathize with the asshole an' not the girl. I'd wonder what the hell she did to him."

"But then I told him, and he still didn't--"

"What you told him sounded completely ridiculous. Now he prob'ly thinks we're a coupla freaks."

HA! That actually makes you giggle. "He prob'ly does, huh."

Joel isn't amused. "An' that was real smart of you to run out here with no gun, no shoes, no pants--"

"I didn't know anyone else was here! We looked around before and didn't see anyone!"

"We didn't search the whole area."

"Well, you didn't sense that anyone was around, either."

"I can't sense people from miles away."

"Miles? Pfff. We're not that far away." ...are we? Actually, you have no idea.

"You said it yourself -- you didn' know. You didn' know for sure that there was no one around, yet you ran off anyway. Unarmed -- an' you can't even run. That's a good way to get yourself killed."

"I know, okay? It wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done."

"And -- if you can't keep up, I'm gonna have to carry you."

"You're just walking too fast! Slow down. ...Hey!" you protest as he scoops you up.

He doesn't carry you like a baby; he slings you over his shoulder like a rifle or something. "You shouldn't be walkin' on that foot anyhow."

You try to wriggle your way free. "Put... me... down!"

"You really want me to, I will. But--"

"Yes I really want you to!" ...although I do have an interesting angle on his ass from here... if I wasn't so mad right now, I could--

He lowers you to the ground. "Keep your arm around me, then."

"Who says I even wanna go back with you?"

"Well, I ain't leavin' you out here. You can be pissed off at me from inside the house."

"That guy said I could stay with him if I wanted."

Joel snorts. "Yeah, he was a real hero."

"He was! He was really nice." Or, he was, until he refused to believe that Joel's not a pervert.

"Maybe he just spotted an easy mark. Got you to trust him real quick, didn't he?"

"Oh my God, Joel -- there are good people in the world, you know."

"All I'm sayin' is you don' know jackshit about him. He might've been tryin' to lure you right into his bed."

"Yeah right! He said I should be with someone my own age."

"He's right about that. You should."

...No, I should be with YOU! you fume in your head because you can't say it out loud right after you sort of said you didn't want to be with him. "I should be with someone who loves me," you say instead. Yeah, that's better.

But instead of telling you he loves you, Joel just doesn't reply.

Well, you're not being very lovable right now, are you? you scold yourself. It's strange... Joel has his arm around your shoulders, and yours is around his waist, but you feel like you're far away from him right now.

You hate yourself for this, but... "Do you still love me, Joel?" you ask in a small voice.

He doesn't answer immediately, but before you can start freaking out about the implications of a non-answer, he sighs and says, "Of course I do."

The two of you don't say another word the rest of the way back... but that's okay: you know you can fix this. He already told you the one thing you really needed to know.



THE END



If you'd like to start another adventure, return to page 1.

Comments

Carlos

[(Anonymous)]

ahhh... that was so cool. I'm glad that Joel don't kill the guy or they just kill each other. OK finish with this end now I will see how the other turn out.