Chpt. 11

 

I lay, painfully on my back in one of the closet sized rooms, a piece of board covering the window so no light disturbed me. I was still in my filthy clothes, drying blood sticking my shirt and pants to my skin in places. I had my eyes closed, I knew I wouldn’t sleep, but it was just less painful then trying to keep them open. I was trying to figure out why I hadn’t called for aid, hadn’t played my feminine card. What had I proven? That I was a fool?

Obviously.

That I loved my little girl more then I loved myself?

Possibly.

That girls were just as strong as some boys could be?

No. I’d seen fisticuff fights worse then the beating I’d gotten and they’d walked away from their fights under their own power. This wasn’t a battle of the sexes; it wasn’t a battle for anything but rights. Simple human rights to live prosper, to attempt to be as happy as possible. I hadn’t proven a damn thing, yet I still felt a sharp heat of pride in my heart. Either that or it was giving out and I was going to die in this dingy little room.

I don’t know how much time passed before I heard footsteps from outside, come in. It took effort, but I opened my eyes and started to lift myself up, even if it was just to see who it was. It was Jesse. He was still pale as he’d been this morning, but now, as he looked at me, rage formed blossoms high on his cheeks and in his forehead. He let out a strangled cry and slammed one fist into the wall, where it disappeared. I flinched as the punch vibrated the room, maybe the whole building, and as the cry echoed in my head. "Jesse." I croaked, "Don’t." he pulled his hand from where it had become embedded in the wall, it came away with splinters stuck in his flesh and he was bleeding profusely. "Ow." Jesse said flatly, the tiniest note of surprise in his voice; as if he wasn’t sure why putting his hand through a wall had hurt. I closed my eyes momentarily, the inside of my chest tight from seeing blood dripping from his knuckles. Then he rounded on me, he eyes on fire. "Don’t what, Vel? Don’t listen ta ya ‘nymore? Dat’s no problem cause I ain’t never gonna listen ta ya again! Ya coulda gotten yerself killed Vel! Des boys is crazy right now, day do ‘nythin’ dat Blink tells um ta." Some detached part of me noticed that the more upset Jesse got, the worse his speech got.

"Jesse, calm down…" I began, but Jesse cut me off,

"I ain’t gonna calm down, Vel. Cause ya know who else needed ta be calmed down? Belle, yer daughter, da one ya fergot about when ya were bein ‘noble’. ‘d ya know dat it took me ‘nd Satin almost an hour ta get ‘er ta stop cryin’ ‘nd screamin’ yer name? I promised da li’l filly dat her fool mama was gonna be all right! I lied ta her, Vel."

"Jesse! Ya did…" he cut me off again,

"I did what? Listened ta some stupid li’l girl? I ran scared like a pup wit my tail ‘tween my legs while da mudda of me child stood off against a mob a street boys wit blood on its mind? Is dat what I did Vel? Is dat what ya was gonna say? WHA’D I DO, VEL?"

"Ya took care of yer little girl while her mama did somethin’ stupid." I answered quickly, hoping he wouldn’t cut me off this time. But he didn’t say anything else; he just stood there staring at me, blood dripping from his knuckles onto the already filthy floor. "You’d better go get that checked out." I scolded hoarsely, my voice recovering slowly as I spoke, my chest hurting a little less with every rise and fall of breath.

"No." he answered flatly.

"Jesse…" I tried to plead.

"No. I’m not going to leave you alone again."

"Jesse…" I tried again, but again he interrupted me,

"Damnit Velvet, NO! If I leave this room right now, I’m going to hunt down everyone who was in that group this morning and make them all look worse then you do!" that was comforting, but I liked that Jesse’s voice softened a degree before he said the next few words, "I’ll be alright." He took off his vest and balled it up under my head as I lay myself back down into a less painful position.

"They were just doin’ what they were told, Jesse, you can’t punish um fer that."

"And why not?" he yelled, beginning to pace back and forth, parallel with my body, his anger rising again. "Why shouldn’t I go soak the lot of um? Dey was blinded by dis excitement ova dis stupid strike! If I’d just said somethin’…if Spit er Print…" suddenly his mind switched targets again, "Dose damn cowardly b******s! Dey was right dere da whole time! They coulda stopped this! When I get my hands on them…" he made a gesture like he could already feel Print’s neck under his fingers.

"I didn’t want them to."

"Didn’t want ‘em ta do what?"

"Stop them, give me away." He rounded his ricocheting anger on me again,

"’nd ya know what? Belle’s screamin’ almost gave me away ta Jet, did I tell ya dat! She woulda caught me if Satin hadn’t shoved me under her bed at the last second." I felt like someone had stomped on my stomach again. In trying to save them, I’d put Jesse in even more danger; I couldn’t even begin to think about what Jet would have done to him if she caught him on her property again, let alone deep in the bowels of her brothel, shut in a room with on of "her" girls.

I closed my eyes as another wave of nausea passed through my body, I felt my skin pale, grow sort of clammy. Jesse’s growls of frustration and rage quieted and he dropped to his knees beside my head. I flinched because in my mind I saw those out-of-control knees hitting my face, because I couldn’t see though my closed lids. I heard Jesse’s sigh of relief at my flinch,

"God. Ya went all white ‘nd I was afraid…"

"That I died while you were yelling at me?" I asked bluntly, not bothering to open my eyes. He stayed silent; if it weren’t for his slightly ragged breathing I would have thought he left the room. So I took my chance and finally spoke in a calm, even tone, "Now. Are ya done rantin’ fer the moment ‘nd ya ready ta listen ta me?" I got a vague, non-comforting grunt, and I opened my eyes "Yer gonna go downstairs ‘nd get yerself bandaged up cause yer gonna get gangrene if ya keep dis up. Den yer gonna come back up here ‘nd bring our ‘illustrious leaders’ ta me."

"Our what?"

"Bring Kid Blink ‘nd Fiction up here ta me. Especially Blink."

"I ain’t gonna listen ta…"

"Don’t argue with me right now Jesse, when I can talk ta ya witout layin’ on my back, dan ya can fight me all ya wanna." I heard a faint growl issue from his throat, "I promise I won’t die while yer gone."

"I swear… I don’t’ know where you get yer tact, but I ain’t sure my heart can take much more." To my complete shock, Jesse leaned forward and planted a kiss on my forehead, then heard his footsteps across the floor and his leaving. I sighed deeply and closed my eyes, letting my head sink back into the partially rotten floorboards and I started to drift to sleep to escape the pain I was in. "What ‘m I gonna do about ya, Jesse?" was the last thing I remember saying.

 

I awoke later to the sound of aggravated voices; I tightened my lids over my eyes and felt a bad mood start to creep up from the bowels of my mind.

"Don’t know what yer so antsy ‘bout Whips. She broke da rules, she knew what was gonna happen." I also heard another growl that I knew was Jesse’s and a loud bang, which was probably Fiction being slammed into the wall outside my room. Suddenly the three of them were coming through the doorway, Fiction fixing his rumpled shirt. Blink stood at one side of me, his small arms crossed over his chest; Fiction stood beside him, doing his best to look not to look like he’d just been slammed against anything. Jesse just scowled at the three of us and leaned against the wall, arms crossed. Fiction was the first to break the silence,

"My dear Velvet, we wished to extend our deepest sympathies at your unfortunate accident." He gave me this bright, winning smile, but above it his eyes were dark and angry. I did my best to glare at him from my spot on the floor, but I’ve found it’s hard to be serious and intimidating while lying on your back. I knew I could yell at Jesse from the floor, deep in that dark psyche of his, he knew right from wrong. But from here Fiction would never listen to me, never mind Blink. I took another moment of silence to prepare myself, then rolled over and dragged my beaten body across the floor and up to wall into a sitting position. Good, now at least I didn’t look as hurt as I was.

"Bullshit, Fiction." I snarled, my voice more strained then I would have liked, "it was dat little boy there, him ‘nd yer group of rebels." Unlike Jesse, my speech got better the angrier I was. Blink leapt towards me, advancing on me as menacingly as an seven-year-old can,

"’t was yer own fault! If ya’d just wear skirts lika normal goil…" he’d come to close, Jesse had started to move, but my hard had shot out faster. I fastened my fingers deep into the fabric of Blink’s shirt, pulling him so close to me that he was nearly straddling my lap. The whole side of my body started screaming in pain, but I refused to let it show on my face, this had to be done. I put my mouth right up next to his ear, speaking low enough that the others couldn’t hear me, but forceful enough that Blink knew I was serious.

"Now you listen to me you little b*****d. It’s no secret that I don’t like you, ‘nd I think you’ve made it blatantly clear that you hate my guts as well. But this isn’t about you, ‘nd it sure as hell isn’t about me. You’ve started something that’s bigger then all of us. You’ve proved that to me today, why else would a bunch of kids be listenin’ to a little kid like you? Then it came to me, what your saying makes sense. I thought you were just going to get us all thrown ta the bulls er worse, but I can tell that this just might work." With that I released his collar, throwing him backwards; the side of my body started screaming again. I saw blackness trying to invade my vision, I ignored it and kept talking, if I didn’t make this deal now then I never would. "Fiction, I’ve seen the error of my ways, ‘ll take up yer cause, but I want yer word on something first."

"My word? Is that all you ask? You don’t want me to sign anything in my blood?" sarcasm dripped from every word, but I ignored it all. I fixed my gaze on Kid Blink, meeting those green eyes with my marbled blue ones. People hate looking me in the eyes, there’s something about the color of them that makes most folks shy away, I used that to my advantage now.

"I want ya ta swear ta me that I’ll still be able ta feed Belle. She’s my reason for doing everything, even throwin’ my lot in wit ya’ll."

"Really that won’t be necessary…"

"Give. Me. Your. Word." I looked straight at Blink here, he nodded at the same time that Fiction gave in and said,

"I give you my word." Finally I allowed my eyelids to droop, it felt like a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders and now I was just tired and in pain. But, unfortunately, it still wasn’t all right for me to go back to sleep yet. Off to the side, I heard Blink mutter a quiet,

"B***h." Under his breath and Jesse lost it a little, but it was nothing compared to what he’d done before.

"Listen ta me, if ya call my goil a b***h again, I swear ‘m gonna soak ya where ya stand." Blink held his hands out in a plaintive gesture.

"Take it easy dere, Whips, I don’t mean nutin’ by it, I just hate yer goil."

"I don’t’ care, ya treat her with respect." I let out an audible sigh and, despite screaming protests from my body, I started to stand. Blink and Fiction just watched me struggle with blank eyes, but Jesse finally pushed himself away from the wall and walked over closer to me.

"I let ya sit up like dat, but yer not gonna be standin’ ‘ny time soon." I scoffed at him, but the muscles in my arms chose now to spasm and I fell back down with a grunt. "See? I told you so."

"After what you told me about Belle, you really think that I’m going ta stay layin’ here lika invalid?" Jesse took my shoulders and pushed, gently, but firmly, on my shoulders in an attempt to get me to lie back down.

"She’ll be fine wit Satin fer da time bein’, however if ya do too much too soon ya could die er somethin’. Den where would we be?"

"I could tell ya where we’d be…" Blink muttered, but Jesse gave him such an evil look that he fell silent, scowling. Fiction looked at Jesse hard then turned that weighted gaze on me; I returned the stony gaze with one of my own. Silently, Fiction nodded at me and placed a dirty hand on one of Kid Blink’s shoulders. Blink whipped his head around, an indignant look on his face; but the look vanished when he caught Fiction’s eye. Without a word, they both left the room.

Hours later

Author's Note

please don't think badly of Jesse, he's really not that much of an asshole. he just can't show his feelings really well er the right way...

Reviews

[Brette Medb]

Damn what are those two up to? I don't like them nor do I trust them at all...

[Corey Lunare-]

I don't think bad of him in the slighest...I'd be angry tooif the woman i loved did somehting that stupid if not for a just reason. Jesse is brought out even more in the chapterofyour tale here and i am begining to take a great liking to him. yours fears of the reader thinking badly of jesse are not feas at all. He is a great guy willing to give his life for Vel who i willing to give her life for Belle. Quite the circle of te ultmate love you have here.

"That I loved my little girl more then I loved myself?

Possibly."

Therei no possibly about it. She loves that little girl more than she does her wn life and i beliee she would die a thousan deaths to keep her safe. Once more great job Dream!