Chapter One

Best friends are there, especially through the hard times.

Des.

She's running.

Always running.

Although, this applies more to the metaphorical sense than the literal sense; this much is quite obvious from her heavy breathing.

But she can't stop, won't stop. She's too far now to go back, and she sure as Hell doesn’t want to after what happened.

Her feet carry her, as if on auto-pilot. She's too caught up in her thoughts to think about where she's going, and pretty soon, she's at the Devil's Playground.

Des takes the middle swing, and faces the forest.

The Devil's Playground is a nick name of sorts. Of course, that's all it was to her. Her parental supervision, along with the majority of the other adults and kids in the town, take it more seriously.

It was originally named by the Reverend of one of the many churches in the town. Small children that went into the forest got lost more often than not, and were never seen again. The Reverend said that the Devil had taken up residence in the woods, and that he was sending demons to take the little kids. And the town, as gullible and easily manipulated as the people in it were, believed him.

So slowly, parents stopped taking their children to the park, and the kids were forbidden from going near it. Pretty soon the playground was considered abandoned.

On the bright side, Des has the area all to herself. More or less anyway. There are always her friends that hang out here on a regular basis, along with the very few families that aren't super religious who come on the weekends.

Des shakes her head and blows the bleached white bangs out of her eyes.

Gripping the swing's chains, she closes her eyes and hangs her head.

It's late, at least past midnight. She would have to find somewhere to crash for the night soon. She did have school tomorrow, and ditching isn't something she does often.

Des gets off of her favorite swing to pace.

There's no way she's going back home tonight. It's just not an option. There's always the option of spending the night in her tree house...

She shakes the thought from her head. There aren't any clean clothes, and seeing how she doesn't fave a flashlight on her, not even looking for the tree house is something she can do.

Des curses softly and runs a hand through her midnight black hair.

Looks like she would have to call---

“Desdemona where have you been?”

Her luck sucks tonight, really it does.

“Here,” she replies, mentally patting herself on the back for not flinching at her harsh tone.

“And just why is that? It's two in the freakin' morning!”

Des takes a breath and turns around.

“I had no idea it was that late. Honest, Cersie.”

Cersie purses her lips and glares, unable to deny the truth behind Des' words.

“You didn't call,” she accuses, the fire in her gray eyes not relenting.

“I didn't,” Des agrees, tapping the toe of her old, black Converse on the ground nervously.

“Why.” Not a question. A demand. Jesus, Cersie was pissed.

“I didn't want to bother you this late,” Des says carefully.

“Crap load of good that did. 'Cos, here I am, bothered at two. In. The morning.”

“I don't think you need to keep emphasizing---”

“Oh I do,” she interrupts. “Believe me, I do. Because---not only was I woken up by the most annoying voice I have heard in my entire life---I was questioned by the Spanish Inquisition for a good half hour!”

“...Are you mad?” Des asks, looking at the ground.

“No, I'm not. Mad? No. Absolutely livid? Yes. Yes I am.”

“I'm really, really sor---”

“Ah ah ah! I'm not done. Learn not to interrupt your elders.” Des has to stifle a laugh at that because this is sort of a serious matter here. “I'm pissed at that sorry excuse for a human step-jerk you have.” She walks over to sit on the blue jungle gym. “Not you. You, I am quite disappointed in.”

“I know, I know.”

“No, I don't think you do know. But I'll lecture you later about that.”

“Thank you, mother.”

“Watch it, missy,” Cersie says, smiling. “So, come sit on the jungle gym of pure torture.” She pats the empty spot next to her.

Des scoffs and goes to sit on the blue bar a level higher than her.

“Way to follow directions.”

“I learned from the best,” Des grins.

Cersie smiles and shakes her head before returning to her serious face.

“So tell me just what the Hell happened, and how your step-father got my phone number,” she demands.

“Well, Jake was being an a*s---as usual---so I called him out on it---as usual---and then I left---as usual. You should know the drill by now CeeCee.”

Des ruffles her friend's hair so the pink and black layers get mixed up.

Cersie glares as she attempts to fix it.

“Uh-huh, okay, so, when did he get my number? It's creepy and no me gusta.”

“Um...He probably raided my old phone or something. Or he just looked at 

caller ID. You called the house a two or three days ago, y'know,” Des says.

“Ugh. Remind me to get my number changed.”

Des laughs and jumps off the jungle gym. She sticks her hands the jean shorts' pockets, and turns around to face Cersie.

She follows suit, and brushes the microscopic amount of dust off of her plaid skirt.

“So, let's go home, 'kay?” Cersie says, hooking arms with her.

“But I didn't ask---”

“Does it look like I'm gonna take no for an answer, Des?” she sighs.

“...No, not really.”

“Then you'll crash at my place.”

“Thank you. Really.”

“That's what best friends are for, right?”

Author's Note

I started this book for Camp NaNoWriMo, but never finished it. Looks like it'll get done for the next camp.

Reviews

[halflives]

CRYING. GAWD. THIS IS REALLY, REALLY GOOD.

It sucked me in from the first few lines. "She was running. Always running." orsomethinglikethatmymemoryisshot. And then I was just completely glued to the page from there on. HOW THE HELL DO YOU DO THIS CAN YOU COACH ME ON KEEPING YOUR READER GLUED ONTO THE PAGE SERIOUSLY.

this review sucks. seriously. i'm so terrible at this.

but this is freaking good.

reading ooooon~

[r]

--Although, this applies more to the metaphorical sense than the literal sense; this much is quite obvious from her heavy breathing.-- Oh my freaking God. Are you for cereal. I can't even. That's just fantastic. Fjhfdhgkhfg.

--Her luck sucks tonight, really it does.-- Well, yes, it seems so.

--“No, I'm not. Mad? No. Absolutely livid? Yes. Yes I am.”-- Dying. I'm dying. GHfhkgjhg. Aherm.

--It's creepy and no me gusta.-- Lol, no me gusta. I say that like a magillion times everyday. 8D

That was utterly fantastic. I have no idea what is happening, but I f*****g love it. Hkhgfkhgg. Write more, so I can see what happens and see who da fawk Jake is and gjhgjkhgfjhg.

NaNoWriMo! :D I did that. Ghkghfgf. That story's on here, as a matter of fact, not that I write it even more, but still. Tgfh. It's the thought that counts.

BUT ANYWAY. I like this. Me gusta. Write more. It's delicious. And it's also very nice to read something by you after MONTHS AND MONTHS AND MONTHS OF ABSOLUTELY F*****G NOTHING. Have a nice day. :3

[Daydreamer54]

Interesting start and i like how you put us in the misdst of the action. i wonder why she ran away from home and who jake s...looking forward to reading more! ^^

[master squiggles]

oh my god

this is so interesting, what the hell

I mean seriously; how do you manage to lure me in with the first 3 sentences of this book. God, I can't even stop reading it just ahfskajs. it has me so interestedddddddd.

I love how Des is just out in the middle of the night, yes. that is wonderful.

i love the whole "devil's playground" thing. holy s**t, that's interesting.

okay, des is out at two in the morning, to be exact. c: lolness. she seems quite interesting, even now, although we know like nothing about her and afsjkas

cersie. that name is f*****g adorable for some reason and gajskga

i want cersie's hair, yes

okay, so, this is really interesting and hard to stop reading. but i must stop reading it, however, because the chapter is over and i'm sad now. dammittttt.
um... what else was i going to say? oh right. i don't know how you could come up with something this interesting so effortlessly and afkjaksf.

yay, nanowrimo. the thing that i never actually attempted to do.

so, yes. poofa, you need to write more of this. naow.

this review sucks