Protection

Protection
By: Aidan Gleason



I stand in the heat down at the park behind my house. I wait for a red jeep to pull up in the parking lot and honk the horn. I wish for a friend to appear to keep my company. My wish is granted. My friend Laura comes from around the corner of the street. I told my mother I was staying at a friend's house around the block. 
My mother doesn't like Laura. She thinks Laura is a bad influence, but what she doesn't see is that Laura is doing the best that she can with the life she was given by something higher that my mother calls god. Laura knows who she is and what she wants unlike me who is still finding myself and goes with the flow.
Laura and I sit on the swings and tell stories of the old time when we were younger and everything was so much simpler. We don't know much about life, but we like to think we are older than we are. A red jeep pulls up in the parking lot and honks the horn. The waiting pays off. Music blares from the speakers as we approach the car.
The shotgun door opens; one of my favorite people emerges from the car and towers above me. I can feel a smile creep across my face.  He smiles back and opens his arms up ready for a hug. I run leaving Laura behind me and jump into his arms. Hitting him like I hadn't seen him in years he jolts backwards from the impact. I rap my arms around him. In an instant my feet leave the ground, Tony swings me around. I feel save, like I always do when I'm with him. He sets me down and pulls the front seat forward allowing Laura and I to climb into the back seat. As Laura and I get set the front seat clicks and Tony climbs in the front. Brett is in the driver's seat in his usual brown element brim beanie, jeans, and brown skater sweatshirt. Tony is in a white wife beater, and jeans.
The door closes and freedom begins. The car starts and we pull out onto the street.  Just to mess with Tony, Laura and I flick his ears. Finally after five minutes he gets mad and turns around and tickles us. It was what we wanted him to do, but we will never admit it to him. We laugh so hard we cry. Eventually the car stops in front of a town house.
We get out and follow Brett into the house. I walk up to the room where Laura and I are sleeping. There are two queen size beds. Tony slips off his jacket revealing his muscles and an outline of a six pack under his white wife beater. His spiky brown hair looks blonde in the light. Brett pulls off his jacket and sits down on the bed closest to the door. His brown skater hair curls under his hat. Laura sits on Brett rapping her arms around his neck, and his around her waist.
"Well I'm taking this bed." She says.
Tony looks at me with piercing blue eyes. Before I know it Tony is holding me on his lap. His arms tighten around me, almost protecting me from the world. My head gets heavy, I lean on his shoulder, and my forehead rests on his neck. I can smell his Abercrombie and Fitch cologne. My mind drifts. My eyes go blank. My body relaxes for once in my life. I'm safe. I dream.
As I wake Tony is still holding me. Brett, Laura, and Tony are watching the movie Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang. Tony had moved us to lean against the head board. I was ling next to him, with my head resting on his chest. Tony is rubbing my back. The sun has set. I lift my head and look at him. He moves my hair out of my face and tucks it behind my ears. My hand slides up from his side, and touches his face. He turns his head and pretends to bite my hand. I pull away just in time, and laugh. He laughs too.
The door bell rings. Tony and I get up and go downstairs, Laura and Brett follow. Tony and Brett go into the back yard to start the bond fire. Laura and I get the door. Four friends of ours stand out side the door. First Alex, then Ceria, followed by Drew, and Chris, Tony's brother. I follow the crowd to the kitchen and grab a case of sprite, and walk to the backyard, and set the case down my chair.
The night grows darker, and the time passes by faster. I stand next to Tony. He pulls me on top of him, so I am straddling him. Everyone around us laughs and talks.
"Hey, Tony you know your holding an Irish girl right?" His brother Chris asks.
"Whoa you're Irish?" He asks me.
"Yeah, you have a problem with that?"
"Yeah I do. You have to leave." His serious face turns into a smile.
I gasp in a joking manor and slap him softly in the face.
"That's it?" He jokes.
"Not even close." I respond.
"Well let's see if this is good enough for you." He throws me back and accidentally let's go of my right arm. It sets in the fire. It burns my flesh. I can feel the skin burning. I let out a short powerful scream. I can't pick my arm up with out my head falling in.  I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.
"Brett! Make him let me up." I scream. Brett calmly walks over to Tony and puts his hand on his shoulder.
"Dude, just let her up we both know that you love her just let her up nothing bad's going to happen."
Tony yanks me up from the fire like I'm a doll lying on the ground. Tears roll down my face. I can still feel the heat on my arm. I get up and walk inside crying. I turn on the cold water and let the sinjed flesh cool under it. Chris comes inside and hops up on the counter next to the sink. He lifts my chin and looks me in the eyes. He wipes away my tears with the back of his index finger.
"Keep your chin up. You know he didn't mean to." I fake a smile and look back at my arm burnt to the point where the skin is pure white. I turn off the water and dry my arm with a paper towel. Chris hops off of the counter and walks over to the cabinet. He pulls out a few things and ushers me to the kitchen table. He lays out a bottle of rubbing alcohol, burn cream, gauze, and tape. Brett comes inside and sits next to me.
"This is going to hurt. I'd either bite something or hold onto something," Says Chris.
I know I'm going to have to be strong and fight back tears. Brett holds onto my wrist right above my burn. His grip is strong. Tony comes inside. Chris tells me to sit on top of him. I do as he says. Tony puts his right arm around my stomach to hold my hand, and his left arm around my shoulders. The alcohol pours onto my skin. Pain surges through my body. I try to pull back and fight them off. It's no use, but I don't give in. Fighting like my life depended on it my mind collapses. It shuts down. Brett and Tony's grips are strong. There is no point in fighting them. I do anyways, trying to escape the pain I go into my mind. No use. Tony's grip gets tighter. I feel a pop at my shoulder. I scream with pain. Tony lets go of my hand and puts it behind my right shoulder. His other hand holds onto the front of my shoulder keeping it in line. He pushes. Another pop my shoulder is back in place. There is no pain, no sound. I my life is peaceful. There is only movement. Tony shakes me, I am awake, but nothing is wrong like it was. Chris puts cream and a bandage on my arm. Brett's mouth is moving, but no words come out. I hear nothing, everything and everyone is silent. I nod my head not understanding what I was responding to. The let go of me.
I walk outside.  There is no pop of the fire, no sizzle of sodas, or laughter of friends. I look up at the moon lit sky. The stars looking like white pebbles on a blanket of black. I look back around at my friends. Chris is leaning across the fire and mouthing words to me. I can hear him. My heard pounds, I panic. I throw back my chair feeling like I'm in a movie. I feel the wind on my bare arms coming from the open field in the backyard. I turn to it like it was my best friend that I hadn't seen in years. I run as fast as I can to try and escape the soundless world that my friends were at. The grass is up to my waist as I reach the middle of the field. I look up. No sound. Blood rushes to my head. Suddenly the ground rushes up to meet me. Sound comes back into my head like getting knocked head over heals by a giant wave. Screams fill my ears, like I am in a movie where I can hear pain everywhere. I hold onto my ears to try and go back to the silence.
"Stop it!" I scream, hoping it would do some good. Tears roll down my face. I hear footsteps and screams.
Someone lifts my head. My back is leaning against someone's chest. I can hear their heart beat, it's Chris. He holds me as I cry I his arms.
"It's ok. It's fine. You're alright. I promise nothing bad is going to happen to you again." He calms me down to the point where all my worries and fears, and the screams melt away. He picks me up like I'm a little kid. I feel safe again, only I'm safe with Tony's brother Chris. Eventually we are back at the bonfire. Everyone pretends like nothing has happened, and I'm glad. He puts me down in front of Tony, who grabs me and pulls me onto his lap. I lean my head on his shoulder. My legs are heated by the fire. My feet hover in front of the stone that shows the outline of where the fire is. Chris sits next to us on the bench.
Tony kisses me on the top of my head and whispers in my ear, "I'm sorry."
I grab his hand in a silent acceptation to his apology. The night gets later and later.
I slide off of Tony and go inside to grab a bag of chips. My arm pulses with pain still. I sit down and grab a sprite out of a case of 12. The night is almost over. Laura is tired, along with Ceria, Drew, and Brett. They go upstairs to bed, leaving Alex, Chris, Tony and I in the night. We decide to go upstairs to watch a movie in the room where the girls and I are sleeping. My eyes grow heavy as I reach the steps to the kitchen. Tony stops short in front of me bends down and pulls me onto his back. We reach the girls room, and I slide off of his back. I walk to the bed and slide in next to Laura, Tony sits next to me. We watch the movie Boon dock Saints. As the movie ends, Tony gets up and grabs Brett who had fallen asleep on the floor and helped him into the boy's room next door. Chris and Drew were already in there. I stair at the wall feeling the blood in my arm pulse. I fall into a silent sleep.
As I awake the windows shadow is printed on the white wall of the room. I sit up, rub my eyes, and look around forgetting where I was for a short moment. Laura is still asleep next to me, Ceria is spread out on the other bed, and Alex is on the floor where she had fallen asleep next to Brett while watching the movie the night before. As I swing my legs over the edge of the bed, Alex wakes up. She looks up at me with a sleepy smile and dream filled eyes and stretches. She gets up as I get down off the bed. Still dressed in our clothes, we walk downstairs to the kitchen. The sun is high in the sky, about mid day. Eventually everyone gets up and files downstairs to the kitchen. As we sit around the table telling stories and jokes about life, Laura's phone rings. She answers her and the person on the other end exchange words then hang up.
"I really hate my parents," she says with a serious face. "We have to leave, my dad wants us back home."
"O.K. that's fine we'll see you to tomorrow right?" asks Tony.
"Defiantly," I say and nudge him in the side.
We go upstairs and grab the things we brought, say goodbye to Drew and Chris, and get in the car. The engine starts, and the music turns on. We dance in the backseat and laugh at Tony pretending to dance in the front seat next to Brett.
We get to Laura's house and get out. I hug Brett after Laura, Alex, and Ceria. I wait to hug Tony, leaving the best for last. My three girl friends start walking to the house. I hug Tony, feeling protected and safe in his arms once more. He kisses me on the top of my head as Brett slams his door shut, letting us know he is ready to go. Tony lets go and gets in the car. They drive away, only looking back once, leaving me standing in the middle of the street with only a memory.