Expiration Date by J. Del Vecchio (books for students to read TXT) 📕

dead.

His body lay hunched on the ground. I stood up standing motionless for several seconds, listening to the shallow breathing his wounded chest created as it moved in an up and down off-beat rhythm. He struggled to breath. But he was still alive and filled with a vengeance that I didn’t want to be around for when he re-gained the strength to come after me.

“Ash!” I screamed, running straight towards her room. “Ash, wake up! We have to get out of here.” She looked up at me confused and sleepy eyed.

“What, why?” Her voice had that dryness to it that every voice has when first waking up.

“Look, I don’t have time to explain everything right now, but I need you to trust me. You trust me don’t you?” I touched her chin and tilted it up slightly, trying to get her to stay focused on me and not on going back to sleep.

She looked up with rolling eyes, “Of course I trust you, but what’s happening?” Ashley said.

I ignored her question. “Pack extra clothes and anything else you need. We are going to umm…” I paused not knowing how to phrase my words just right, after all, I didn’t want to scare her, “Well, me and you are going to go on a trip of our own. It’ll be fun!” I tried to hide the scared tone in my own voice, but she obviously wasn’t as naïve as she had been six months ago.

“Jane, tell me what’s going on! You have blood on your hand! I don’t like this.” Tears started streaming down her pale face. I hadn’t realized the blood that stained my arms and shirt.

“I accidentally cut myself” I lied.

“I’m not doing anything you say until you stop and tell me.” She was being stubborn.

“Ash, I don’t have time for this. Do as I say, or I’ll leave you behind, and I have no problem doing so.” That was harsh. I knew it was, but it worked, because she got up and started doing as I had told her.

I made my way back up to my own room and grabbed the worn bag I used to use when we did things such as family trips. It had collected dust from sitting there untouched for about a year now. Once I grabbed all the things I thought I would need, I rushed back to Ash’s room where she was quietly crying. The sight of her made me sad. She didn’t deserve any of this. She never was one to see the worst in anyone, and despite how Dad treated us, she still loved him. She still believed in him, had hope for him. How could I tell her all that happened tonight, when she still didn’t believe in the cruelty I possessed? I would make it up to her...somehow.

“Okay, you ready?” I said trying to force a smile on my face. I knew it wouldn’t be much longer before Dad came to his senses. Luckily though, I had given him a hard enough stab to keep him stilled for the time I needed. I knew I should be feeling some sort of sorrow or remorse for what I did, but I didn’t. I cannot regret what I don’t feel sorry for.

“Where are we going, Jane?” Ash said still not falling for my fake smile.

“It’s a surprise.” I said not knowing myself where we were headed. The thought of where we would go hadn’t occurred to me until this moment. “I know you like surprises, don’t you?”

“I guess.” She rubbed her eyes.

“Me too.” I lied. I hated surprises. What was so great about not knowing what was going to happen? You can never prepare for what will happen if it is a surprise. To me, surprises are foolish, stupid and completely pointless. But if Ashley liked surprises, then she was going to love me and the life she was about to face, because even I didn’t know how we were going to make it out in the world. Yippee, what a great surprise to look forward to.

I took a hold of Ash’s hand. I knew that to get out the front door, we would need to go through the kitchen. It wasn’t him I was worried about, I knew he was still disoriented by the groaning and dazed look he had on when I passed him to get to and from my room to Ashley’s room, but I was worried for Ashley. I hadn’t told her yet.

“Close your eyes.” I whispered to her. Her small lids flickered shut without any questioning this time. I lead her into the kitchen.

The hairs on my arm stood on end. The door was only several feet away from where we stood tiptoeing, when a low groan came out in a grating whisper, “I’ll get you, mark my words, Jane, I’ll get you.”



ter>Leave It Behind<</font>/font>

“There are things that we never want to let go of, people we never want to leave behind, but keep in mind that letting go isn’t the end of the world, it’s the beginning of a new life.” -Author Unknown

“What are we going to do, Blaze?”
He stared dead into my eyes. “I’ve got a plan.”

The door made a dull thud as I closed it, but at that moment I was closing more then just a door, I was closing a significant part of my past as well. There would be no going back. The place where I now stood was no longer my home, but more of a lurid nightmare that would one day be only a memory. My mother used to always say, ‘Home is where the heart is’, and my heart was not here.

Ashley’s hand slid out from my weak grasp. Oddly enough, my stomach hurt more then my head did. It felt as though my stomach was a balloon and someone was sitting on it, compressing all the air down, waiting any moment for it to burst into pieces never to be repaired again. It was a combination of pain from the blow he gave me to the ribs, and a tinge of nausea. For every minute I just stood there, the pain seemed to intensify by the seconds. I dared not to take a step afraid the pain would be unbearable, but I felt like I was going to be sick, and I couldn’t just stand there idly wincing in pain while Ash watched me.

I ran over to the dead bushes that lined the edges of the pathway, and doubled over in pain. I pulled my hair back just as I started gagging. It wasn’t actual throwing up, but more of a dry heaving. I didn’t have enough food in my stomach for anything to actually come up. Besides the cup of tea I had a couple of hours ago, and the scone I ate earlier in the morning; I hadn’t eaten anything else. Dad never kept enough food in the house for us to eat while he was out, so I always gave most of what little food supply there was to Ash. And at this moment I was glad I did. Spit dangled from my mouth daring to drop onto the bush below, and as soon as the pain started to subside, I went back to where Ash stood with a horrified look on her face. She had her suitcase in one hand, and mine in her other one. It wasn’t until now that I realized she was still in her tattered nightgown. I hadn’t thought to tell her to change into something warmer before we left.

“Are you okay, Jane?” She asked.

“Yah, I’m fine. Just got a little sick, that’s all.” My stomach felt a little better now.

“Jane, tell me where we’re going. You’re acting weird, and I don’t like it . . . you’re scaring me!” I watched as she plopped herself down in the middle of the driveway to show she refused to continue any farther on my little ‘journey’ until she got some answers. I caved in quickly not in the mood to indulge in her childish game.

“Fine, you win.’ I said, “We’re going to the city.”

She looked up in disbelief. “The city?” She stood back up now that I had given her the answer she wanted.

“Yes, now get up. We have to get moving.” Me and Ash got used to leaving the house at odd times of the day and night when Mom was still alive because there was a little Indian village a few miles away that would sometimes give us trouble. Luckily, I used this same scenario to get her to follow me more into the night.

The city wasn’t all that far from the house. It was about forty-five minute wagon ride, so I figured we would be able to make it there on foot at the latest tomorrow, but even then I hoped it wouldn’t take that long. Dad sounded malicious, and I didn’t want him to catch up to us and find out where we were headed. He could probably take a pretty good guess that the city is where I was headed, but our town was surrounded by so many other towns that we also frequently visited, that I knew he would second guess himself. I had only ever been to the city once, and I loved it. But that wasn’t my reason for going there. I was going for a much more selfish reason. I was going because Blaze was there.

As Ash and I walked on in silence, so many questions came rushing into my head. What would we do for shelter or food? How would we survive? What if he wasn’t still in the city? The last time I saw him he had whispered to me one last thing before his dad yanked him away from me and out of my life. “Look for me in the city.” he had said, “my dad said we’re moving to Rook Road. Come to house….” But he was gone before he could tell me where to exactly find him. But at least I knew what street I was looking for, but unfortunately there could be tons of houses on only one street. Especially in the city.


Night turned into day as we