Ch. 24: Breaking Loose

A Chapter by Tina Bee

Myra is whisked away to the lovely confines of juvenile hall once again.

Now I stood here with a male guard coming toward me with some keys.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Your mommy is here to get you," the guard said to me smiling from ear to ear.

I knew this wasn't going to be a happy reunion. It was already six p.m. and I was dying to get home, shower, and get some sleep.

The cell door opened and I walked out. The guard was always on my heels and I wanted so badly to scream at him, but I was too tired. We walked all the way to the front and passed other cells with girls my age in there. Most were busy reading or writing, but some stopped and glared. We finally reached the end and the doors clicked open.

"Can I leave?" I asked giving him the biggest back off face that I could.

"Collect your belongings first at the counter" he answered obviously not impressed with my face.

I went over to the counter.

"Name?" the officer behind the glass asked.

"Myra Huntington," I answered him and he looked down at a list on a clip board.

The officer went under the counter and brought a box out.

"Huntington, Myra: two flip flops, one t-shirt, one pair of short pants, hair tie, purse, wallet with sixty-three dollars and ninety six cents, one cellular phone," the officer said and he put my stuff on the table.

I grabbed my purse and stuffed my phone and money inside of it.

"Can I change?" I asked him.

"Bathrooms to your right as you exit. Have a nice life," the officer said rudely to me, but I turned and left.

I walked out and passed the bars and straight to the bathroom I went. I fixed my hair, washed my face, and changed out of the mandatory juvenile hall clothing and into my street clothes were still stained, but they were better than nothing. Once out the bathroom I went to the area where families waited. Mom was sitting down by herself and when she saw me she cried out.

"I never thought I'd see you again! The bail bondsman gave me so much grief about coming to get you. It took all day and every single moment of it was horrible," Mom said emphatically to me.

"I just want to go home," was all I responded with.

"Yes we're going, but I have to warn you things there aren't...settled," I knew that was an understatement especially if mom was saying it.

"What do you mean?" I asked her as I smoothen out the wrinkles in my clothes.

"People, mostly friends of Kevin's, have been outside protesting," mom said and that was the biggest shock of all.

"Protesting what?" I asked since none, in my humble opinion, was a big deal.

"Mostly Langston's arrest," Mom said quietly with a tortured look on her face.

"Oh my God," I said and started hyperventilating.

"Sit down," Mom said holding me up.

"I just want to go home," I told because that was the truth.

"Maybe you shouldn't. Maybe it's too soon," Mom said to me as I collapsed onto a chair in the lobby.

"Where can I go?" I asked in an anguished voice.

"Well there's a hotel right at the edge of town. I'd be willing to rent you out a room for two days until all of this dies down," Mom said.

I contemplated that. I'd be able to shower and rest without people outside my room causing havoc.

"I'd need things from home," I said.

"I already packed up your closet," Mom said.

"I need toilet trees and my cell charger," I said.

"It's in the bag," Mom said.

"I'll go," I said.

"Good," Mom said.

We walked out and the day was hot and the sun was still blaring my eyes burned and when we got into the car I fell asleep right away.

"Now don't answer the door for anyone you don't know. No knows where you are, not even your brothers. Please stay safe and don't get into trouble," Mom said.

"I won't," I told mom as I lied down.

"This is all for the best," Mom said and she closed the door.

It was already eight PM. and I had already showered and changed. I was ready for bed and mom had guaranteed me a week of rest by paying for my room. I had plugged my cell phone charger into the outlet by my mom when we arrived. It had been an hour so I switched the phone on. The back one all scratched up, but the screen was fine. I wanted to know the extent of the damage.

Right away my phone began ringing and text messages poured in. I had two hundred and two unread texts and thirty voice mail messages. My eyes nearly burst out of their sockets. I called my voice mail just to go through it and get it cleared. I wanted to know who had called me with threats so I could write down their number and give it to the attorney mom had hired.

"Hey Myra it's Katy. I heard what happened," there was strange noises in the background, "and I just wanted you to know that I hope everything works out for you. Call me back later."

Next message:

"Oh you can go f**k yourself you little b***h. We're going to get you for what you did to Langston. YOU W***E!" the message ended. I grabbed my pen and paper and wrote the number down.

Next message:

"It's all over the Internet now: YOU'RE A HO JUST LIKE YOUR MOM!" I wrote that number down also.

I continued to go through the voice mails. Some were positive, but most were derogatory. Soon my paper was filled and I had to grab a clean sheet. I had cleared out my voice mail in thirty minutes and I wanted to move on to the texts, but I was too emotionally exhausted.

I put the papers in my bag and laid back. The room I was in had only a single bed. It wasn't that big and it smelled like old cardboard. The walls were painted a sickly yellow and the sheets looked like something out of the sixties with multicolored crossing patters and weird shapes. There was a desk and a chair. Above that sat a TV which sat a stand suspended in the air. The air conditioner was by the door to my right and it was on full blast. The carpet was green and spotless so I didn't have much to complain about in that department.

I had laid two of the fluffy pillows on top of each other. The light on left side was still on and I wanted to keep it that way. Something deep of me was afraid that if I shut off the lights all the bad things would overwhelm my body and I wouldn't wake up when the sunlight hit the rooms curtains. I decided to switch on the TV to cure my loneliness. As soon as I did that I regretted it.

"...Now to a story that we told you about last night: two local girls, Daisy Spins and Kimmi Lautner, who were brutally beaten down by missing teen, Myra Huntington, are in stable condition tonight at Estonia General Hospital. Here's Ed Turnfield covering the latest news on this story tonight; Ed?" the new anchor asked.

"Thanks Tom. I'm standing out here tonight in front of the hospital where it was pretty much touch and go for the family of fourteen year old Daisy Spins. You might remember that Spins and Kimmi Lautner were with a group of friends yesterday evening when Huntington and a male accomplice followed and them to a burger stand on the east side of the city. Apparently Huntington approached the two and began her assault on them without provocation. Here's what Mrs. Spins, mother of Daisy Spins, had to say about this ordeal earlier this afternoon."

The screen switched over to a teary eyed Mrs. Spins who I'd spent plenty of time with over these past few years. She had been the mother I'd never had and now it looked like whatever bond that had formed was long gone.

"It makes me sick! I've known the little snot that hurt my daughter for years now. Where was her parent? Why was she stalking my daughter? How could the people my little girl was with not defend her? I want answers. As a parent it is my right to know why this happened to my daughter and I will NOT rest until my questions are answered."

The camera went back to the reporter standing outside of the hospital.

"Tonight there have been many updates to this story. Myra Huntington and her male accomplice were found and arrested early this morning. Since they are both are juveniles their record is private, but we know now that a third male, eighteen year old Langston Hughes, was arrested this afternoon in connection with this assault and he has been booked as well. This case is taking so many twists and turns that it'll be awhile before we know what truly took place. Back to you Tom."

The screen went back to Tom.

"Thanks Ed. So many people have been outraged by this story that we've been bombarded with emails and phone calls about this story. Here's what one viewer had to say," the screen went to the email that was sent in, "it's a sad commentary about modern day society when two friends can't even go out for burgers and fries without being almost beaten to death" Tom read aloud.

"Here's another email," now the co-anchor who was a female began narrating, "I'm a good friend of all three of these girls and what has happened is a shame and appalling. My heart goes out to Daisy and Kimmi. Get well soon girls."

I switched the television off because my anger was rising. They had flashed my eighth grade school picture on TV twice and Langston's once and for some reason Greg's name and photo were left out of the news coverage.

Now suddenly I was the villain and they had nothing to with it? I followed them? I assaulted them? There was no mention of the Internet videos or the rumor spreading about me. It was just poor Daisy and Kimmi.

My phone started ringing and I nearly threw it at the wall. I read the ID and didn't recognize the number, but I meant to give whoever was at the other end a piece of my mind.

"Who is this?" I asked angrily.

"Hi, Myra," it was David.

"David?" I asked.

"Yes. I went by your house and there were news crews and people outside of it is everything ok?" David asked.

"No it's not, but I don't want to talk about it," I said.

"Oh well can you come outside I'd still love to take you out and get your mind off things?" David asked.

He was such a sweet guy. Even through all of this I'd be a sucker to let him go.

"I'm not at home I'm in a hotel. Let me give you directions. Where are you?" I asked.

David told me his location and I directed him to the hotel and my room number. After we hung up I got up and got dressed. The only make up I had was some glittery lip gloss in my purse and I applied it. I was just putting on my shoes when there was a knock on the door. I answered and David was standing there with a get well teddy bear and some flowers.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi, come in," I said trying to get the door closed quickly so none of the other guests knew I was here.

"I picked these up at the store where I was calling you from. I figured since things were going well I'd try to cheer you up," David said.

"Thank you," I told him and took the bear and the flowers and set them on the table.

I pulled out the chair and motioned for David to sit and he did so. Tonight he was dressed in a simple long white T-shirt with blue jeans. He work baby blue and white Jordan's and it looked like his hair had been cut recently. His dark brown eyes were set on me and I smiled back at him as I took a seat on the bed.

"So what's going on? There were helicopters, police cars, and news crews out there. It's a mess," David said.

"It's all my fault," I told him.

"Why?" David asked and I looked at him once again.

He was a rounded nose and luscious milk chocolate colored skin. There wasn't one freckle or blemish on his face. His lips were full and when he smiled his perfectly white teeth lit up the room. I couldn't lie to him and I didn't want to. I sat and explained the whole thing, leaving Langston out of the story, and he listened. He oohed and awed when I told him about the video and the beat down. I also left out the part where Greg and I had sex in his car because that would serve me no purpose here.

"So you see I'm no good. Turn on the local news station and I'm on there with this whole ordeal blaring for the city and the three surrounding counties to view," I said.

"You're just caught up," David said.

"That's an understatement," I told him.

"No that says it all. If you'd done that in my neighborhood no one would've called the cops. The parents would've gotten you and those two girls together and made you apologize to one another. After that there would've been a big barbecue and all would be forgotten, but now with this lawyer talk I can tell this is going to end badly for you," David said.

"I know," I told him.

"Just hope the parents can forgive and move on. Maybe this Kimmi girl will grow a heart and say forget it," David suggested.

"I doubt that and I know Daisy's folks want all charges to be filed. Maybe even attempted murder charges," I added.

David's smile was gone now and he looked quite serious. I felt like I was drowning in a pool of my own blood and that this was it. My life was officially over before it had even begun. I realized that David didn't know my true age. This wasn't a good time to reveal that little detail either.

"So you just want to stay in?" David asked.

"Yes. That would be for the best," I explained.

"We could order pizza and a movie and have a date night," David suggested.

"I'd love that," I said getting excited.

The one good thing about hotels was that pizza places delivered here all hours of the day and night. Our pizza arrived an hour later and I had just ordered a movie off of pay-per-view. David was sitting by the door on the right side of the bed and I was on the left. We were both eating our second slices when my cell phone went off. I hit ignore, but a half a minute later it was going off again. I hit ignore, but to no avail another call came in from a number I didn't know.

"Hand it here" David said and so I did, "Hello who's this...yes she's here...obviously she doesn't care about what you have to say...no one here cares about any n***a named Langston. F**k off trick!" David said and hung up.

He handed me my phone back and to my surprise it didn't ring again until after the movie finished. By this time I had had four slices and a load of soda and David had his feet on the bed just laid back talking to me. This time I answered.

"Hello?" I said.

"Myra," it was Greg.

"Oh my God where are you?" I asked.

"At home. My parents got me out, but they're shipping me off to my Grandparents' tonight," Greg said.

"I'm sorry for this whole thing," I told him.

"It's a mess in front of your house. People are protesting over Langston's arrest mostly. They have signs up calling you all types of names," Greg said.

"So I've heard," I told Greg.

"I just wanted you to know that last night was the best thing that ever happened to me," Greg said.

"My lawyer has advised me not to talk about the events that happened last night," I lied.

"Oh, well my parents were about to clear my name so no charges were filed so I'll be alright just bored as hell for the entire summer," Greg said.

"That's good news and be sure to call me when you get there. I've got to go," I said hanging up.

"So how long will you be here?" David asked.

"I'm guessing until the protesters disband," I said.

"I've got to be going," David said getting up.

"Oh really?" I asked getting up with him.

"Tomorrow I'm working all day, but before I go in I'm buying a cell phone. I don't want to be out of contact with you," David said.

I was blushing. This guy was very into me even with all my drama. I felt lucky.

"Well be sure to call or text me the number," I said.

"Sure will," David said reaching the door.

"Good night," I said.

"Night," David said and he turned and left closing the door silently behind him.

Now it was after midnight and I needed sleep. I went to the door and engaged both locks. I went to the window and made sure that was locked and then I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth and prepared for bed. When I was done I decided to shut off all the lights and to put my phone on silent.

Once in bed I quickly went to my dream world which had shockingly been ruined by a wild fire. I heard people screaming and I smelt the stench of burning hair and flesh. Children wondered aimlessly calling out the names of lost loved ones while I passed them by seemingly unnoticed. My dream world had been destroyed and soon my reality would be also.

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