Date: Mon, 06 Oct 2003 10:17:58 -0700
From: RC in Sacramento <sacwriter@hotmail.com>
Subject: Becka the Beast, Chapter 11

This is a work of fiction from a first time author. It depicts acts of sex
and sexuality between two teenage females. If such content disturbs you, or
you are under 18, get out and stay out. As always, this story can only be
reproduced by consent of the author.

			Becka the Beast
			 by Sacwriter

Chapter 11***

	"Hello, Oso? It's me, Gia."
	"Gia, are you okay? You're late, I was just about to send the boys out
looking for you. Did you find Becka?"
	"No, Daddy, I didn't. She wasn't in school today, but I went to see that
girl I told you about, the one that Becka used to hang out with. Oh, Daddy,
it was just awful!"
	"What, Gia? What was awful?"
	"That woman! Daddy, she was a prostitute. She tried to turn Becka over to
one of her tricks, but Becka fought her way out and ran away. But she had to
leave all of her stuff behind. Daddy, she doesn't have any clothes, or
money, or anything. I'm afraid she'll go back to her father, just because
she doesn't have anywhere else to go."
	"Damn. Gia, you're probably right. Honey, I'm beginning to think that it's
time we called in the cops on this. I know, you say Becka doesn't want to
get them involved, but this is her safety we're talking about here."
	"I know, Dad, but we just can't! Becka totally freaked when she found out
that I told you about her and her father. What do you think she'll do if we
tell a bunch of strangers? If she even sees a police car outside her house,
she'll start running and never stop. We can't take the risk, Dad, at least
not until I've had a chance to talk to her."
	(sigh) "Okay, honey, we won't call the cops, at least not for now. But that
still doesn't help us find her. Do you have any idea on where she could be?"
	"No, but I think I know where she's going to be. Look, no matter what she
decides, if she's going to run away for good or just hide out for a while,
she's going to need her clothes. She'll probably wait until her Dad is gone,
and then sneak in to get them. So I'm going to watch her house tonight, and
see if I can catch her going in or coming out."
	"Gia, damn it, no! I told you I don't want you going over there again, that
guy is dangerous. And before you say that you can take care of yourself,
just remember what I taught you about junkies."
	Gia remembered, all right. It was one of the main themes he drilled into
all of his students.
	'Don't ever get into a fight with a guy who's high on drugs, not if there's
any conceivable way you can get away from it. Drugs can make him crazy fast,
crazy strong, and crazy mean. He won't feel pain, so he'll keep on trying to
kill you even if you cripple him. It doesn't matter how well you're trained
or how small the other guy is, or even how much damage you do in the fight,
he can have one foot in the grave and still be able to drag you in with
him.'
	"I remember, Dad. But don't worry, I'm not planning on going anywhere near
the house. Becka showed me a spot out in the woods where you can watch the
backyard. Her father doesn't know about it, and I figure if and when she
comes back she'll go there first, so that's where I'll wait for her. It's
okay, Oso, I'll stay out of sight and I won't do anything stupid."
	"Uh huh. Where have I heard that before? It sounds like you're going to do
this no matter what I say, aren't you? And you still don't want either me or
your brothers to wait there with you?"
	"You can't, Dad, and for the same reasons as before. Becka might talk to
me, but not if one of you guys are there."
	"Dammit. Okay, I'll go along with this for now, but only because Becka is
in so much trouble. But you keep your phone with you, and call here every
half hour. I'll pick you up myself at eight, and not a minute later. If she
doesn't show up by then, I'll let you try again tomorrow, but that's it.
Understood?"
	"Understood, Oso. And thank you."
	"Thank me when we get Becka safe and sound. But Gia, there's something else
I gotta tell you about. You remember Benny Hudson, don't you?"
	"Our lawyer? Sure, what about him?"

			* * *

	Gia listened in silence as her father told her the story that Benny had
told him. When he was done, he made her promise once again to keep in close
contact, and to be ready to be picked up no later than 8 o'clock. After he
hung up she sat for a long time, again and again turning over in her mind
the incredible information her father had just given her. In the space of a
few minutes her entire relationship with Becka had been changed, their
potential future together altered in ways she couldn't possibly have
predicted. She knew she had a lot of thinking to do.
	Gia sighed, looking through the trees at the back of Becka's house. She
settled herself back against the bole of a large oak, and pulled her school
bag open, taking out that day's homework. She hadn't really lied to her
father, she had just left out a few facts. Like the fact that she wasn't
going to watch Becka's house, she was already there and had been so for
almost an hour. And the fact that she had already approached the house,
sneaking a peak through the window and into Becka's room. And she most
definitely was going to leave out what she saw in that room when she did.

			* * *

	Becka never showed that night, nor was she at school the next morning. At
lunch a dispirited Gia reported to her other three friends what had happened
the day before, including the run-in with Toni Brightman, and the
information that Becka was out on the streets virtually destitute. She still
wouldn't tell them why Becka had run away, or what her secret was that Gia
had betrayed to her father. But the three girls were far from stupid, and
although they didn't talk to Gia about it, their speculations were pretty
close to the mark.
	It was so strange, Sammie thought, how drastically their feelings had
changed in such a short time. A week ago if Becka Jackson had fallen off the
face of the earth, all three of them would have heaved a sigh of relief. Now
though she found herself opening her book binder, and bringing out the
picture that Becka had drawn of the three of them sitting at this very
table. She passed it around and they all looked at it, silently, and Sammie
suddenly felt like there was a large rock in her throat. Gia looked like she
was going to cry, but instead she gathered up her things and left without a
word.
	Becka never showed at home on that night, either. From the open front
window Gia heard the sounds of Ralph Danning watching a ball game.

			* * *

	"Gia, c'mon! You've gotta eat something!" Justine's voice was pleading, and
concern for her friend was obviously making her upset. She tried pushing a
bowl of ice cream from her tray onto Gia's, but the other girl ignored it,
sunk too far in her depression to even acknowledge the gesture. She still
hadn't found Becka, and worry for her lost lover was eating at her like a
cancer.
	"Justine, leave her alone. Gia's got enough to worry about without you
trying to force feed her," said Sammie. She reached out and took Gia's hand,
giving it a reassuring squeeze. Gia squeezed back, but it was listless,
almost automatic. It would almost have been better if she hadn't responded
at all.
	"So what are you going to do tonight, Gia?" asked Kelly. "Are you going to
go out there again? I mean, if Becka hasn't come back in all this time, and
your father doesn't want you going out there anymore, like, what can you
do?"
	"I am going back out there." Gia's answer was soft, but it was backed by a
steely resolve that left no doubt that she would do exactly what she said.
"I'm going to be out there tonight, tomorrow night, and the night after
that. And I'm going to keep looking for Becka until I find her, and I don't
care what my Dad, my brothers, or Ralph Goddamned Danning have to say about
it."
	Justine and Kelly looked away from the other girl, intimidated by the sheer
power of her words. But Sammie responded differently, she was staring at her
new friend, her mouth and eyes open in surprise. It had suddenly come over
her, a dawning realization, as if someone had just flicked on a light.
	Gia and Becka weren't just friends. They were lovers.
	Sammie closed her mouth sharply and glanced at the other two girls, but
Justine and Kelly didn't seem to have noticed, nor had they shared her
sudden revelation. That wasn't surprising, Sammie had always been the de
facto leader of their little group by virtue of her intelligence, as much as
by her forceful personality. She had known them for years and loved them
like sisters, but she had no illusions about either of them ever becoming
rocket scientists. No, so far at least, she was the only one who had figured
out the secret relationship between Becka and Gia.
	Lesbians. They were lesbians. It was all just so ... so ...
	Romantic?
	Sammie frowned at the startling thought, pulled it out again and examined
it more closely. It was true, Sammie didn't understand how one girl could
have sexual feelings with another. She and Kelly had once felt each other up
on a sleepover when they were kids, but that had just been childish
curiosity. The idea of actually touching another girl's naked body, of
kissing her and putting your tongue in her mouth, made her feel a little bit
queasy. And as for putting your tongue anywhere else - Eyeeww! No way! She
just couldn't understand the attraction, and had never felt the need to hang
out with people who did. At least, not until now.
	Sammie was a romantic, through and through. She was addicted to the cheap,
slushy romances that she bought by the dozen in the used book stores she
liked to shop. The concept of love, especially if it was forbidden or
impossible, was just too damned fascinating to be marred by petty
prejudices. The maiden in distress, lost and alone, sought by the rugged and
dashing hero, fighting against all odds to save his beloved from a fate
worse than death. Ohmygod, it was positively Victorian!
	Of course, in this case the 'maiden' was Becka the Beast, and the 'rugged
and dashing hero' was tiny little Gia Cameron, but still ...
	Sammie sighed, taking in the pain that she saw on her young friend's face.
Romance be damned, the important thing was that Gia and Becka were in a lot
of trouble. She had no idea what she might be able to do to help them out,
but if the opportunity came, she was determined that she would. Even if they
were a couple of lezbos.
	"Hey, you know," said Justine, nervously twirling one long strand of curly
red hair. "Maybe you're just going down there at the wrong time of day. I
mean, if I was going to sneak into someone's house, even like, my own, I
sure wouldn't do it at night! I mean, everybody's home at night, so why
sneak in then? So, like, maybe Becka is sneaking back into her house during
the day, you know?"
	There was silence at the table, as the other three girls looked at Justine
in surprise that bordered on shock. Justine was the ultimate Valley Girl,
and her thought processes were best described by two words; short, and
shallow. To hear the willowy redhead actually come up with such a clever
idea was kind of like hearing Vivaldi played on a kazoo.
	"Justine, you are a freaking genius!" said Gia, as she leapt to her feet
and began to shove the remains of her lunch into her book bag. Without even
bothering to close it up, she threw the pack over one shoulder and clambered
out from behind the table. In a flash she was gone, vanished into the
noontime crowd.
Justine turned to the other girls and smiled, beaming smugly.
	"You hear that? I'm a freaking genius!"

			* * *

	Becka made her way through the tall weeds and the low hanging branches of
sycamore and oak, hugging her arms against the chill. She wished she could
walk down the path in the sunlight, but she couldn't take the chance, parts
of the trail were visible from her house and some of the other houses in the
neighborhood. So she crept through the shadowy woods like an animal, the
impression enhanced by the growling in her stomach.
	The woods in this area were actually just overgrown lots, plots of land
that had either contained houses long since torn down, or that someday would
be built on, if the economics of the neighborhood ever improved. The area
was small and twisty, but Becka had grown up here and was intimate with
every plant and rock and crumbling foundation that could possibly offer her
shelter and concealment.
One such place was a section of red brick wall, part of an old basement long
since filled in. A slab of concrete covered with dirt and weeds provided an
overhang, and a small crawl space that was almost impossible to find. Becka
had converted it into a nest, lining it with flattened cardboard boxes she'd
scrounged from the dumpster behind the supermarket. She had spent the last
two nights there, shivering in the darkened lot, a bent sheet of cardboard
her only blanket against the chill night air.
	Becka's stomach growled again, reminding her that she hadn't eaten since
yesterday, and pitifully little even then. She had only had five dollars in
her pocket when she had run out of Toni's hellhole and it hadn't gone far,
she had gotten a can opener and four cans of chili that were on sale. She
had also gotten some plastic forks from a 7-11 store, and an empty plastic
Coke bottle scrounged from the trash that she had filled with water from the
bathroom faucet at a gas station. The water tasted like metal, and she had
eaten the last of the chili yesterday.
	Becka could have stolen more cans of food, and for that matter she could
have stolen the can opener and the chili as well, and still had that five
dollars in her pocket to fall back on. She was an accomplished shoplifter,
it would have been easy and virtually risk free. But she found out that she
just couldn't bring herself to do it anymore. Whenever she even thought
about stealing she would remember Gia, and how the younger girl would have
disapproved, and somehow that was enough to make her face down even her
hunger.
	Gia. Oh God, how she missed Gia.
	She had seen Gia again since that day she had left, twice now in fact. She
had watched her as she crept through the backyards of her neighbors, and
seen her settle in the little copse of trees where the two of them had once
watched the back of her house together, the spot where they had first
kissed. It had hurt like a knife in her chest, but she couldn't make herself
leave. She had spent both nights crouching in the grass a scant dozen yards
away, hurting even more when the other girl had finally left. On both those
nights she had crawled back into her little cardboard nest and forced
herself not to cry.
	Becka put those thoughts behind her now, as she crept closer to her
destination. It was the middle of the day, so she knew that Gia would still
be in school. She also knew that her old man's truck was finally gone from
the driveway, and that this was probably the best chance she was going to
get. She didn't have her keys anymore, they had been in the pocket of her
mother's jacket that she had been forced to leave behind at Toni's place,
but she knew that she could climb through her bedroom window because she had
long ago broken the lock on it for just that purpose. She could pack all the
few possessions she wanted to take with her and be gone in just a few
minutes and even, she promised her empty stomach, have time enough to raid
the refrigerator on her way out.
	After that, though, her plans were indistinct at best. She could walk to
the highway and hitchhike, and be hundreds of miles from here by tomorrow.
She could lie about her age, find work, even live off the streets if she had
to. She was good at hustling up part time jobs around the neighborhood, she
could do it again wherever she ended up. And if worse came to worse, she
could even make herself one of those signs like she saw homeless people
holding, the 'Will Work For Food' ones. It would be rough, she knew, but
somehow she would survive.
	But it would have to be without Gia.
	Becka forced herself to focus, as she approached the copse that overlooked
the back of her house. She slipped quietly through the trees, but then
stopped, momentarily stunned by what she saw there. She felt her heart skip
a beat, and begin swelling up inside her chest, and she seemed to have
forgotten how to breath. Hanging from one tree limb was the faded blue of
her mother's denim jacket, unmistakable with it's red eagle on the back.
Gia. Gia must have left it here last night, for her to find.
	Becka lost all pretense of stealth and ran forward, eager to touch this
last physical link to the only two people in the world who had ever loved
her. But as her fingers reached it a rustle of dry grass and a snapping twig
stopped the girl, made her spin around in a defensive crouch. From behind a
tree stepped a tiny figure wearing black jeans and a long sleeved white
blouse, topped by a sweet brown face and raven black hair.
	"Becka?"
	Becka felt a twisting in her chest, as if someone were ripping her heart
out one artery at a time. The blood in her head was pounding, and she knew
that something was about to explode any second now. Fear, longing,
loneliness, overwhelming terror, all warred within her at the same time.
Terror finally won, as she spun around and ran blindly back through the
overgrown brush.
	"Becka, wait!" came the shout, and she knew that Gia was right behind her.
She put on an extra burst of speed, but three days of living like a fugitive
had taken it's toll. Before she had gone more than fifty feet Gia had leaped
on her from behind, bearing her to the ground and driving the wind from her
lungs. In an instant, the other girl was sitting on her back and had
wrenched Becka's right arm up between her shoulder blades. She knew it was
hopeless, but Becka still struggled like an animal.
	"Becka! Becka, dammit, stop fighting me! You know you're just going to hurt
yourself. Becka! Becka, please!"
It was the pain in Gia's voice rather than the one in her arm that finally
made Becka stop struggling. She lay there like that, her body still but
trembling, her every muscle taught as a bowstring. Her breath blew in and
out through her nose like a bellows.
	Gia eased up the pressure on the other girl's arm, but still held her wrist
tightly. Softly, as if she were talking to a wild animal she was afraid of
spooking, Gia said, "If I let you go, will you promise not to run? At least
not until I've said what I came to say?" A long minute passed until, with a
tight little movement of her head, Becka nodded.
	Gia let go of Becka's wrist. As Becka brought her arm back down beside her,
she felt Gia sit up straight, but she didn't get up from her seat on Becka's
back. After a while, the smaller girl spoke.
	"I love you. And I'm sorry I hurt you. But Becka, I'm not sorry that I told
my Dad about what's been happening to you in that house. I had to get you
out of there, and I needed his help to do it. Baby, I swear, I was going to
burn that damned place down before I let Ralph lay another finger on you!
Getting my Dad's help just seemed like a better plan.
	"Becka, I know you feel ashamed, but you haven't done anything wrong. Bad
things were done to you, and they started when you were just a little girl.
You had no choice, because that bastard didn't give you any, so you've got
to stop blaming yourself. Dammit, Becka, no one else does."
	Becka had to swallow the knot in her throat before she could talk. When she
did, her voice came out as a harsh rasping sound, like a saw going through
rotted wood.
	"You don't know what you're talking about. You don't know how people will
feel, or what they're gonna say, or how they're gonna look at me. You think
I haven't wanted to tell? Tell the cops, make them throw my old man in
prison, make it all stop? I can't! I can't even let people know about it.
They already think I'm a freak now, what do you think they'll say when they
find out I've been fucking my old man for six years, and never said anything
about it!
	"I can't do it, Gia, and I can't face anybody who knows what I did. You
want me to live in your house, where your father and your brothers will be
looking at me every day, and knowing what I am? Get real, Gia. It's just not
going to happen. Now get off of me, and just let me go."
	"What, so you can just disappear, and I never see you again? That is what's
not going to happen, Becka! You say I don't know what I'm talking about, but
I know a hell of a lot more than you think. I know that you're the victim
here, and I know that you're not a freak. And I know my Dad and my brothers,
and that they won't think you're a freak, either. Dammit, Becka, why can't
you just let it out and trust people? Why can't you trust me?"
	"Gia, you don't understand! To you it's all black and white and simple, and
it's not. You think you know what will happen, but you don't. You don't know
anything, Gia!"
	"Yeah, well I know something you don't know! I know that Ralph Danning
isn't your father!"

	Gia held her breath after making the announcement, alert for any reaction
that the other girl would make. But other than a sudden tensing of muscles
she gave no sign at all that she had even heard. Carefully, Gia leaned
forward, and in a softer voice she continued.
	"Your mother was married twice, the first time to a man named Hugh Everett
Jackson. He was a long haul truck driver, who died in an accident in Idaho
when you were about two years old. I have a picture of him in my book bag.
He had curly blonde hair and blue eyes. He looked like you, Becka."
Somewhere, something had shifted, some fundamental change in Becka's
universe that suddenly made everything different. It was as if a light had
been turned on in a dark room, to reveal that what you thought was there,
never had been. Becka began to cry then, softly, silently, the only sign of
her pain the fat tears that flowed down her cheeks, and the harshness of her
breathing. Gently Gia laid herself over Becka's body, gripping her
shoulders, covering her like a blanket. The older girl was so tense, it was
like hugging a brick wall. As the silent sobs continued to wrack her body,
Becka reached up and grasped her hand, holding on as if her sanity depended
on it. And maybe it did.
	After many long minutes the soft sobbing petered out, and Gia rolled off of
Becka's back and lay on the grass beside her. Becka reached for her, and the
two girls held each other with a painful intensity. Blue eyes finally looked
into brown and Becka said, "Is it true? Swear to me that it's true."
	"Becka, I swear to God that it's true! Oso called our lawyer last week when
I told him about you, he wanted to see what we could do to get you out of
there. The lawyer checked on Ralph's background and found out that he moved
in with you and your Mom about six months after your real Dad died. That
house wasn't even his, your Mom and Dad bought it when they got married.
Ralph just came along afterwards when your Mom was vulnerable and moved in.
He got her hooked on drugs, and then he used her up.
	"Becka, Ralph never even married your mother! When she was sick and in the
hospital, he had himself declared her common law husband, just so he could
keep the house and also keep custody of you. Ralph Danning is a lot of
things, Becka, but he's not your father."

	Becka knew it, now. She knew in her heart that Gia was telling her the
truth, and with that acceptance the reaction finally came. A shudder seemed
to go through the older girl's frame, a subtle tremble that soon built
itself up to a body sized shaking. She grabbed Gia again and held her
tightly, as if trying to use the other girl's body to fill the hole that had
just opened up inside of her. A harsh sound came from her lips, a high
pitched keening that spoke of six year's worth of dark and hidden pain,
drawn out and finally exposed to the light. It was a sound of mourning, for
a childhood and an innocence lost, and for two loving parents taken away
much too soon. Becka buried her face in Gia's hair, as a thousand frozen
emotions thawed, and were swept away by the girl's tears.
(continued)