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 Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 10:46 pm
Manuela fidgeted as she shakily dialed the number she'd gotten from the Liberty Center. It was Harper's emergency contact, so hopefully that would mean someone in his family. She hadn't thought to get his own cell phone number, but then again she hadn't thought she would be needing to talk to him this urgently. A good sign, the phone rang instead of cutting off, that meant at least it was a real number. The girl was dressed for cold weather despite it only being a little cool outside, and at her feet was a bag packed with enough clothing for two or three days. Her eyes were puffy from crying, and she sounded almost like she had a head cold. It wasn't that she wanted to run away, she didn't want to hurt Mama Estelle, she just needed to get away for a little while. There were too many questions.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 10:54 pm
The phone clicked when Eliot casually picked it up, nestled easily between his index finger and thumb.
"Yo?" He answered, giving a light yawn. "Eliot at the house of rock speakin, what's up?" He elaborated a second later.
It was a fairly mellow day for the group; Sunny was home for work, Soloman would be off in about an hour, Ashley was lazily painting her toenails on the floor of the living room while Harper sat next to Eliot with a controller glued in his hands.
"Hurry up Eliot, you keep this paused forever and it's forfeit!" Harper yelled, his voice likely to carry over to the listener on the other end of the phone.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 11:08 pm
Not recognizing the voice, Manuela almost thought she had called the wrong number. "I- Um," she started, "Can I speak to Harper?" Her voice crackled a bit as she was relieved to hear someone that sounded like him on the other side. She licked her chapped lips, trying to sound sensible. "Please," she added quietly.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 11:12 pm
"Harper, it's a girl." Eliot said with a snarky tone of voice, which caused Harper to roll his eyes and mumble something about forfeit for sure.
Harper took the phone and put it to his ear, "What's up? This is Harper."
"Sounded sad." Eliot commented in the background, to the other adults more than Harper. He unpaused the game him and Harper were playing and proceeded in killing Harper's character which caused Harper to take a loud, deep breath.
"Well, she should be sad - and scared; some little brat calling my son during our family time.." Ashley mumbled under her breath.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 11:18 pm
"Hey, Harper," Manuela said, twirling the cord of the phone around her finger, "It's um, Manuela." She hesitated, then decided to go for the straight approach, "I need a place to stay for a day or two, and I didn't know who to call. Riley's got no room at home and, I don't know." She anticipated him laughing, or saying something like yeah right, but at this point she just really needed to hear someone besides her mother and the parishioners.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 11:23 pm
Harper wasn't sure how to respond to that at first. After a couple seconds he just said, "Huh?" and left it at that a little longer than would of been comfortable.
"Did you and your mom get'n a fight or somethin?" He quickly asked after the momentary silence, trying to catch it before she said anything else.
By then, he had the (slight) attentions of the three adults with him; Eliot had put the controller down and threw his arm around the back of the couch he was sitting on; to better lean in and eavesdrop.
Sunny put down his guitar from the corner, "Your friend okay, Harper?"
"Are you okay?" Harper quickly asked after that, frowning at Sunny while mentally yelling at him for not reminding him to ask that sooner.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 11:27 pm
"I'm okay, it's just there's a lot of people that want me to do a lot of things right now, and I can't stay here," she explained, not sure of any other way to put it. Sister Darvos had told the parish about what had happened, and now there were people calling her a freak, asking for help, and just plain wanting to touch her. She understood why, it was kind of weird, but that didn't justify making someone do things they didn't want to do.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 11:33 pm
Harper was bewildered again, briefly thinking she had made a mistake in calling them. He wasn't much of a help, even if he wanted to his family failed at most everything and... well, when in doubt, turn to the adults, no matter how pathetic they may be.
"Let me ask my .. uh.. parents, hang on." Harper put his hand over the mouth piece of the phone.
"She says she's okay but that there's people that want her to do stuff, and she can't stay at home." Harper took a deep breath. This entire thing was probably the most 'serious' thing that had ever happened in his short life, and he was doing his best not to flip out - and it wasn't even really his problem!
Sunny was the quickest to respond, "Who wants her to do what?" He asked seriously.
"I don't know!" Harper yelled back quickly, showing his frustration, and the loudness of his tone likely to seep through the phone lines some.
Ashley shook her head, "It's probably just child drama between her and her parents. Got caught eating too much chocolate or something." She said, though she didn't even sound like she believed herself too much.
Eliot sunk into the couch, "We better not be about to adopt another kid."
"She can stay with us for as long as she needs to, Harper." Sunny cut in bravely, standing up and looking around for his keys, "Do we need to pick her up?"
Harper put the phone back to his ears, "Do we need to come pick you up?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 11:42 pm
Manny thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. Wait, they couldn't see her. "No, no," she told him, feeling a bit embarassed about the neighborhood she lived in, "I can take the bus, I just need to know where you guys live and I can get there alright." She hadn't heard what Sunny asked in the background, nor what Ashley had said, which was probably for the best.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 11:46 pm
"You want to take the bus?" Harper asked, raising his eyebrows. "My uncle says he can come pick you up. I can come too.. But if you really have to take the bus.. Momma, can you tell her the address?" Harper began.
Luckily, Sunny snatched the phone away from Harper before Ashley got it. "Hey .. uhm. This is Harper's uncle." He proceeded to tell her their apartment complex's address and apartment number, as well as, "If your sure you don't want me to pick you up?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 11:55 pm
Manny hmmed to herself as she scribbled the address and number down on a scrap of paper. "It was getting kind of cold, but the buses would be running for at least another hour, so it wouldn't be a problem if the place was far. Which, from the fancy sound of it, it was. "No, I can take the buses. You um, you don't want to come out here," she told him sheepishly, pausing when she heard people moving around on the stairs outside. "I um, I have to go now. I'll be there soon," she added quickly, then hung up the phone.
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Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 12:08 am
Sunny hung up the phone and glanced around the room; three other faces staring at him.
"So what's wrong?" Harper asked expectantly, his arms crossed tight.
"She's gonna come on the bus. Didn't tell me anything new, she probably doesn't wanna talk to strangers and your the only one she knows... who are we talking about here, Harper?" Sunny asked, standing up again.
Harper shook his head, "Manuela, friend from school. Solo saw her once when I was little, none of the rest of you though.."
"She isn't that disgusting bird girl, is it?" Ashley asked, distastefully.
"No, mother." Harper snapped, trying to cross his arms even tighter, "She's nice, very girly if that makes you feel better." He gave a sigh, "I wish I knew what was wrong, though.."
"Well, help me clean up a little Harper. If she ends up staying this place is in no condition to house a child."
Harper stared at him.
"Well you know what I mean."
Thus, Sunny did his best to tidy up the wreck, and Harper helped a little more than he usually would have.
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Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 12:21 am
It took her all of ten minutes to figure out how to get out of there. She slid her bedroom window open as quietly as she could and lowered her bag down on her bedsheet. Then she climbed out herself, holding onto the sheet only long enough for her feet to touch the stack of wooden crates. A few of the chickens inside them stirred, clucking and kicking around at being woken up this late. "Shh," she told them, "It's just me." After some hushing they quieted down and she picked her bag back up, exiting the tiny yard through a hole in the chain link fence. The combined bus ride took just over forty-five minutes, and the closest stop to the address she'd been given was three blocks down. Her black fur trimmed jacket protected her from most of the wind, but by the time she reached the building her lips were cracked and she was shivering again. Wishing she didn't look so out of place, she found the right door and rang the bell.
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Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 12:33 am
By then Eliot had turned the video games back on; Harper recently gave up cleaning and was playing too, but much less enthused. He was slunked lazily along the couch with one arm over his head and the other mashing controller buttons - when the bell rang, he jumped a little.
"I'll get it." Ashley declared, standing up.
There was a collective "NO!" from the three males in the room as Harper got up to the door before her.
Ashley crossed her arms, 'hmfed' and took a seat on the couch next to Eliot; the three adults watching the door expectantly.
Harper opened the door and quickly moved out of the way for her to come in, "Hey Manny!" He said, trying to sound as cheerful as he could, "We are gonna have fun, yeah? S'like a sleep over or something!" No need to hit the big questions unless she brought it up, right? He beckoned for her to hurry in before it got too cold inside as well. Sunny gave a weak wave, Ashley just stared at the girl, but Eliot managed to make it seem friendly.
"Hey Manuela, I'm Eliot - Harper's favorite. Come in sweetie, want a blanket or something? I think I have a clean one somewhere..." Eliot frowned as he tried to mentally locate a clean blanket.
There apartment was, in fact, still a wreck. Still, Sunny managed to pick up most of the rotting food stuffs and empty beer cans, so the chaos was a bit more organized. Dirty clothes and remnants of college frat pads were still littered everywhere in lamely built piles to try and clear them out of the way - Sunny looked rather embarrassed but the other three didn't seem to care.
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Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 12:49 am
"Hey Harper," Manuela said quietly, showing a little smile when he mentioned a sleep over, "Yeah." She came in quickly, suddenly taken aback by how big the apartment was. In truth it made her even more embarassed of where she had come from. Eliot's question jarred her from her stunned silence, and she nodded, "Thank you very much, whatever you can find will be okay." Feeling a little more confident now that someone else had aknowledged her she felt she should introduce herself. "My name is Manuela, Manuela Ceballos-Escalera. I go to school with Harper at the Liberty Center."
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