Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:41:38 -0400 From: Cory Falls Subject: A Change: part 4 "Cody, can we please stop I'm tired." Chad whined sleepily. "Sure, buddy. We all need a little sleep and we're not too far from Pearisburg, so we'll get some supplies and then head to Narrows." "Thanks" Chad said. "Where are we gonna sleep?" Mike asked. "Well, I guess on the ground." I pointed at a downed tree. "That looks good enough" "Alright" he said skeptically. All three of us made our way to the log. I laid down with Mike snuggling up to my side and Chad lying on top of me. With both of them settled in, I wrapped my arm around Mike's shoulders and put my other hand on Chad's small back. We decided we'd talk a bit before we went to sleep. "So,guys,what do you think?" "Will we see Mommy and Daddy again?" Chad asked. I wasn't sure what to say, because in reality I wasn't sure what I was doing. I was just hoping to make it to my Dad in Ohio, and hoping to keep the guys safe. They would never see their parents again unless they wanted to and for the sake of God, I hope they didn't. "Well, bud, I'm not sure. After we get to my Dad in Ohio, we'll see what we can do, ok?" "Ok" he said yawning, and finally falling asleep. "What about you, Mike?" "Whatever you think is best, Cody," he said snuggling closer. "Kid, it's what you think, not me." "Well...I want to be with you and my parents. My parents don't want me though, and you do. Cody, I'll always love you, I know it. I never want to leave you," he said a single tear rolling down his cheek. I pulled him even closer. "Mike" I said kissing the top of his head "I love you too and always will, you'll never be alone. I won't let you," and with that Mike fell asleep. To tell the truth, I didn't sleep at all that night. Being out in the middle of nowhere, I didn't want to sleep. With all the animals around here, both of the guys could have been in danger. It was a long night, and I was tired, but I had to protect my boys. I had to. * That was a long night, but at first light I woke the boys up. They both wanted to sleep longer, but I told them we had to get a move on. After they both pissed, they ate a small breakfast of brown beans (like I said, it was assorted cans!) I still refrained from eating. If worst came to worst, the guys would have something to eat. "Ok,guys,we should be in town in a few hours," I said smiling. It was actually about an hour. I guess I was closer to town then I thought I was. We had a lot of people staring at us moving through the town, but I expected this, and just waved when they stared. We got to Wal-Mart and then I remembered, my Mom worked there. But she didn't seem to be helping me when Mike was beaten, so if I saw her I would hit her so hard her teeth would fall out. It was clear to me she didn't care, just like the rest of them. As we entered Wal-Mart I told the boys to stay with me. It wasn't going to be easy to checkout stuff without an adult. But hopefully I could lie and get through. "Ok guys, we need food. Canned food would be best. It doesn't look like anyone is looking for us so I think we'll be ok." They followed me to the canned food aisle. "So, guys, what do you want?" "Fruit," they both said. "Is that all?" "Yea, it's the best tasting...no veggies!" Chad said sm iling. "Kids," I said laughing. I grabbed more or less everything under the sun, apples, peaches, cranberries, blackberries, pomegranate, everything. I also decided we would need some new clothes, just to stay inconspicuous. I grabbed some briefs for Chad and Mike, grabbed some boxers for myself. I got some shirts, pants, and coats for them and a hoodie for myself. Fuck, check-out was a bitch. The cashier wanted to know why I was getting all this and not my parents, thinking on my toes I told him, my mom was sick. When I said that he looked liked he believed me more but was still questioning. What was she sick with? When did she get sick? Is she ok? My god, I wanted to strangle him. Finally I said she wanted the stuff. I gave him the money plus some extra for himself and that shut him up. Finally,we got out of that damned store. "I never thought we would get out of there." "That guy asks to many questions," Mike says. I sighed. "Well, I don't know about you guys but I'm hungry." I said pointing at Wendy's. "Ok!" they both yelled. We walked over to the Wendy's and they ran in. Both of them wanted a kids meal, so I got them both a chicken nugget meal. They picked out a table by the window while I was ordering my stuff. I decided we should talk. "Well , guys, after we go through Narrows we only have a few hours till we enter West Virginia. We'll mostly be going through the wilderness for safety, and I don't know anyone in West Virginia that will help us." "So we're alone then?" Mike asked. "Yea, kid, we're alone...." He stared at me for a minute, he looked as if he had something to say but he didn't... and I didn't want to him to cry, so I let it go. "How long will it take to get to Ohio?" Chad asked. "Ohio....it'll probably take.. a good few days, I'm not sure how many." "Cody...will we make it?" Mike said staring at the ground. I messed up his hair. "Of course we will, we'll make it to my Dad." "Are you sure he'll help us?" Mike asked. "Yes, I'm sure he will. He's a very caring man." And with that all the conversation stopped, more people had came into the restaurant. I didn't want anyone to hear us. All three of use ate quick and then just left. As we walked down the street, I was silently letting go of all that held me to this town. I grew up here...it would be hard but, I had to do it to make it to Ohio. The boys were my responsibility now. I had to take care of them. When we were about halfway through the town, we passed the park and I saw the boys eyes light up. "Cody, can we...?" Chad started to say. Before he could finish asking I said, "sure guys, go ahead." They both smiled at me and ran off towards the park. The past few days had aged me, I almost forgot what it was like to be a kid. They looked so happy, playing around on the swings and slides. What the hell was I thinking?! Did I really believe we would make it to Ohio? Would my dad help us? Hell no, I thought it was a lost cause. But they needed hope..and so did I. They trusted me with their lives, but really if I take them away like this, I would ruin their lives. If my dad refused us, I'm not sure what i would do. We could always keep running, but that's not a life, it's a death sentence. And their parents....how could they be like that! They loved him till he said he was gay.... It wasn't right, by any means. Accept him for how he is! He's your son for God's sake! I guess you could call it the past now, but do we have any future? "Cody, push me!" Chad yelled from the swing. "Ok, kid, I'm coming" I yell back laughing. I pushed both Mike and Chad on the swing for a little while and we ran and wrestled around. I almost forgot about all our problems, all our pain. But that was short lived as the sun started to set. "Ok, I'm sorry guys, but we need to go," I said frowning. "Ah," they both sighed. "I'm sorry, ok?" "It not your fault" Mike said. I kind of smiled at that. To this day I'm not sure why. We started walking through town until we got to the town border facing Narrows, it was 11pm at this time. "Ok, guys we need to cross the bridge, traffic doesn't look bad so I think we can make it. Both of you guys hold my hands, ok?" They both nodded and grabbed my hands. We slowly made our way across the bridge, and thank god the traffic was light, I knew days when you couldn't drive, let alone walk, across this bridge. As we got across I decided we'd been in the open for to long, so we made a bee line for the trees. It had been hours since any of us had eaten. So, we sat down under the trees for our meal. I grabbed out a can of blueberries for Mike and I. We ate quickly, but Chad didn't like blueberries so I got him something else. It was the last can Iliana had gave up, a can of beans. He ate it without much complaint. "That was nice," Mike said. "Yep," Chad said in return. I was getting tired, and the boys looked like they were going to fall asleep standing up. I tired to find a place with a little shelter away from the road, but to no such luck. So, I just lead them deeper into the woods where people driving on the road couldn't see us. I found a big rock in a small clearing in the woods and decided we would sleep on top of it just to be off the ground. Mike climbed up, while I lifted Chad up. It was a big damn rock! I had one boy on each side of me as I fell asleep. * I woke up a few hours later to a weird sound. I felt around me and found Mike, but not Chad. At that point, I bolted up right and saw him down on the ground hunched over and throwing up. "Holy fuck! Chad, are you ok!?" "I feel bad...." Chad groaned out. I thought for a minute and jumped down off the rock. I felt his forehead and it was burning up. I knew this was bad and I needed to find help, NOW. I thought for a minute and knew where to go, but we would need to run. I woke Mike up and filled him in on what was happening. I told him to follow me. So I grabbed Chad and ran. It was the middle of the night. It was raining cats and dogs, and I'd never been in these woods. It was like walking through a maze! I fell many times and was pretty muddied. Chad was whimpering in my arms and Mike was struggling to keep up. We came to a hill, and saw the light on top, so I knew where we were and we were close to her house. I climbed up the hill and then tripped and rolled back down. I hit my mouth on a rock and my lips was bleeding but, I needed to get Chad help. So, I got up and trudged on. We finally got to the top of the hill and came out into a neighborhood that I knew. I finally found her house and ran up to the door. I banged on it and prayed to god that she was home. I prayed. E-mail comments to saintz1@live.com ..... and we have a new blog for the story ,it's new so we don't know how it's going to go but we'll try. http://achangeblog.blogspot.com/ All will be read. Thanks to my editor, Kosta (spongebobkosta1@aol.com).