The List 91-95

Drowning, All That I Have, Give Up, Last Hope, Advertisement

#91 Drowning

            Sitting in the large hall closet, Lily opened up another beer. She could hear her dog pawing at the other side of the locked door and whimpering. She kicked the door and slurred her way through a loud "Shut up", and the dog quieted. Her head swam, but she took another gulp of the beer.

            She nearly dropped the can when her cell phone vibrated and rang loudly. It took her a moment to remove it from her pocket, but she was able to slide it open before the call was missed.

            "Wha'da you wan'?" she snapped.

            "Lily?"

            "Wha'?"

            There was a short pause from the person on the other end.

            "I'm sorry, do I have the wrong number? I'm looking for Lily."

            "I am Lily." she whined.

            There was a short pause, again.

            "Lily, it's Amanda. Are you okay?"

            Lily huffed. "Does eet mader?"

            On the other end, Amanda turned to Jennie.

            "What's wrong?"

            "Lily, what's wrong? Are you sick? What hap-?"

            "Ya know," Lily interrupted, "all I did was go downstairs t'get sum pizza. An' there they were, in da fridge. 'Is whole stash a beer. An' where ees 'e? Owt wif my mom on a date."

            "Are you drunk?" Amanda asked.

            Jennie jumped up from her chair and went to Amanda's side.

            "She doesn't drink." she said, then took the phone. "You don't drink. What's going on?"

            Lily took another gulp, finishing off the can. Hiccupping, she dropped the phone. She heard Amanda and Jennie yelling through the phone, but didn't bother picking it back up. She was too preoccupied with the sudden urge to vomit. Jennie heard a thump, which was Lily hitting the flooring, and quickly hung up.

            A half hour later, Amanda and Jennie found Lily passed out in a puddle of her own vomit. While Amanda called 911, Jennie tried to wake Lily up. Spitting up more vomit, Lily's eyes open slightly.

            She could vaguely hear Jennie talking to her, but the only word she caught was "why". She felt as if someone was chocking the life out of her. She botched up way through half a sentence and passed out again.        

            At the hospital, Lily's parents ran up to Amanda and Jennie. Her father cried loudly, asking why she would do something like this. Amanda held back the urge to hit him. Jennie held her sister back.

            "She wanted to know how it felt considering you always chose it over your family." she growled, and the girls walked away.

            They didn't bother telling them Lily had died five minutes ago.

 

 

#92 All That I Have

            "We have to do something." Kim whispered.

            "We have to get out of here, that's what we have to do." Charlie whispered back. "Any ideas?"

            They looked down at the floor again as one of the bank robbers passed by them. Everyone had been forced to their knees with their hands behind their heads. When it was clear, Kim scanned the room.

            "I got nothing."

            "I got something." Piper whispered.

            Before Charlie or Kim had a chance to ask what the plan was, Piper stood up. One of the robbers rushed over and pointed his gun at her.

            "Get back down on the floor." he demanded in a shaky voice.

            "Or what?"

            "All right man, that's all they got." one of the other robbers said, coming from the back. "What's she doing up?"

            "You don't want to do this?" Piper said.

            "Get back down!"
            "Just give me the gun/"

            "No."

            "We don't have time for this, man."

            "Just calm down, and give me-"

            The gun cocked. "No."

            Piper's eyes widened.

            "Ah, okay then." she said, nodding. She turned her head to Kim and Charlie. "Yeah, that's all I got."

            "That's all you have?" Kim yelled.

            "You should have told us what you were doing." Charlie scowled.

            "I thought it would work."

            As the three argued, the robber with the gun walked forward. When he was close enough, Piper quickly cut off the argument and grabbed the gun. She pulled him in and cracked him in the face with her fist. He fell immediately, hitting the back of his head on the hard marble floor. She spun around and aimed the gun at the robber with the bag. As the other two robbers rushed at Piper, Kim and Charlie knocked them to the ground and relieved them of their guns.

            "Ah man." the last one whined.

            He put the bag down and got to his knees.

            "Told you I had something." Piper smirked.

            Ten minutes later, the hostages walked out of the back save for the bank manager, the security guard, Kim, Piper, and Charlie. The three young women wiped off the guns and put them on the counter. The security guard handed Kim a bag with the security tapes in it.

            "That's all we have." he said.

            The bank manager escorted them to the back door.

            "Thank you." he said.

            They shook his hand and headed for the car.

            "So what's the plan?" Charlie asked, starting the ignition.

            "I got something." Kim answered.

 

 

#93 Give Up

            Dylan took a step back with the bat still in his hand. His cousin and his two friends stood at the corner, staring at him. The neighbors were yelling, but he wasn't paying attention. He looked down at his brother's body again, and then at the blood dripping off the bat.

            'I did it?' he asked himself. 'It's over?'

            One of the friends at the corner put his arms around Dylan's younger cousin and told her not to look. Dylan took his eyes from the body and looked around at his neighbors.

            What started out as an attempt to get his cousin away from his drunk brother had turned into a heated argument then into full out war. What did his brother expect? That Dylan would just let him drive around drunk with their twelve year old cousin without saying anything? And he was the one who had put his hands around Dylan's throat. He had started it. Dylan only fought back.

            But none of them knew that; knew what his older brother was really like. Either that, or they simply chose not to acknowledge it.

            Dylan heard the sirens. He looked over at his friends.

            "You guys look after her for me."

            When the police cars pulled in front of the house, Dylan was still standing on the front lawn with the bloody bat. He complied with everything they told him to do. One of them put the handcuffs on him and led him to a car.

            "Wait!" his cousin yelled, running over at him. "Please let me talk to my cousin. Please."

            They reluctantly allowed it.

            "Why did you do this?" she cried. "You're so stupid. How could you-"

            "Hey, hey, calm down." Dylan said. "Listen, remember what I told you?"

            Still crying hysterically, she nodded.

            "I love you, all right."

            Dylan was put in the back seat and the door was locked. A cop had to hold his cousin back when the car pulled away. He sat, looking out the window. with an odd kind of expression on.

            "What did you tell her?" one of the cops in the front seat asked.

            "Hmm?" he asked, looking forward.

            "Your cousin; what did you tell her?"

            He went back to looking out the car window.

            "He was going to call the police on me for punching him. And I would always tell my cousin that I was only going to jail for one reason."

            "And what is that?"

            A weird sort of smirk found its way across his lips.

            "Killing the man who ruined our lives."

 

 

#94 Last Hope

            "You don't seem to understand. You have to get pregnant."

            "You don't seem to understand that my husband will not sleep with me."

            By this point, Bella was clearly annoyed with Ambassador Fox, and he was annoyed with her right back. She leaned forward in the chair, burying her face in her hands. Trying to avoid yelling at her, Ambassador Fox sat down in the chair opposite her and leaned forward.

            "Okay, the king seems to like you. The queen is beginning to like you. Your brother-in-laws..."

            "They'll sleep with me. Maybe one of them would knock me up."

            "Bella, don't say such things."

            "You're the one who said I needed to get pregnant."

            In frustration, Ambassador Fox bolted up to his feet.

            "Bella," he heaved, "if anyone finds out that you won't give them an heir let alone haven't even consummated your marriage yet-"

            "Won't?" she shouted, standing up. "Joaquin hates me. I don't know why, but the man hates me. How am I supposed to get him to have sex with me if he won't even look at me?"

            "I don't care how you do, it just has to happen." he argued. "Tie him down and force yourself on him for all I care."

            "You want me to rape my husband?" she laughed, getting more frustrated by the minute.

            Ambassador Fox lowered his voice, coming closer to Bella.

            "Bella, the king could annul your marriage if this goes on much longer. They'll send you back to the States."

            "Even more of a incentive to keep things the way they are in the marriage bed department."

            "If the prince divorces you, if they send you back, it's all over. The Spanish-American alliance will dissolve. We won't be able to do anything with the Spanish for years if your marriage ends. As unfair as this is, this alliance is on your shoulders. Our only chance to seal this for good is for you to give them an heir."

            Biting back a long stream of obscene words and phrases, Bella walked over to her desk and grabbed her keys.

            "Bella, please."           

            She ignored him and stormed out of her room. Once he heard the engine of her mustang roar, Ambassador Fox let our his own stream of obscene words and phrases.

 

 

#95 Advertisement

            Pete sat next to Jamie, who sat next to Kayla, who sat next to Jackson, who sat next to Eve, who sat next to Meghan, who sat next to Kurk. Pete mulled over what kind of cake he wanted the next day and whether he wanted sex or sleep that night. Jamie really didn't think about anything. At all. Kayla wondered if the big black guy who had sat behind her on the train had caught a glimpse at her latest comic strip. Jackson and Eve were both trying to decide whether or not they should feel guilty for sleeping with each other the night before. Meghan wondered how long it would take before Even and Jackson figured out that Kayla already knew and didn't give a damn. Kurk fantasized about the new guy who had just moved down the block. each of them licked away at a vanilla ice cream cone.

            "So how long do you think it'll take for Officer Lupus to get here and yell at us?" Meghan asked, bringing the others back from their own little worlds.

            "How much trouble could we get in? Honestly, it's not like we haven't done this before." Kurk laughed.

            Despite how many times Officer Lupus had warned them that it was not only against the law but dangerous to sit up on that billboard, they did it anyway. It was their unofficial spot; they owned it. Sorta. They felt like they owned it at least. They'd been through every advertisement that had been posted on that billboard for the past ten years.

            The first time they had climbed up to sit on the billboard it was an advertisement for the new Coke or Pepsi product. Whatever.

            A few years after that it was for a college somewhere in bumblefuck Ohio.

            Months later they took that down and left it blank for a little while. That was the first time they ever really got into trouble with Officer Lupus. they each left their own mark on the blank billboard. A new advertisement for the new George Clooney movie was put up the next day.

            Then there was the one for Steve and Barry's, the "Visit Boston" one, and the Navy one.

            Now it was for "The few. The proud. The Marines."

            Out of nowhere, Kayla turned to Jamie.

            "You don't think that guy on train-"

            "He didn't steal your idea, Kay. Calm down already." Pete laughed.

            "S**t!" Eve yelled.

            The other six quickly turned their eyes to her. She looked down at the ground below, quite depressed. She sighed.

            "I dropped my ice cream."