Two years on and two distinct storylines later, Wattsy has become Wattsy the gangster (contemporary), and Joey the terrorist (gritty/soft sci-fi) who's given away his protagonist rights to Ric (formerly Riz) Original story by teapotdear
The rain was starting to come down far more than expected but for once Ric was rather excited and welcomed the weather. She stared at it as she brushed her blond hair absently. She had to admit it had been quieter in the house now that Joey was out of the picture, she could actually enjoy the rain. Maybe she would go out of the house and not have to worry about Joe demanding to know where she was going or nag her for not wearing the right clothes for the weather. The possibilities were endless. Once she was sure her hair was untangled she grabbed her coat and started to head for the door. She padded slowly through the apartment, not wanting to wake her mother. She was surprised to find her leaning in the old recliner staring out the window herself silently. She seemed like she was daydreaming, which wasn’t really normal for someone who was known to work so hard. Even on days off Louise was either sleeping or trying to clean the house a bit. Sure the first few days Joe had been gone was nice. Louise had given her daughter a lot of attention, it had been a wonderful few days but now- it was like all the life was sucked out of her mother and the house. It was almost eerie in the home, like it was eminent that something would break. She didn’t want to cause more grief but she couldn’t help but tip toe towards her mother and put a hand on her. “Mom, are you ok?” “Mm?” her mother slowly looked from the window and up to her daughter tiredly. It was clear her mother hadn’t been sleeping. The euphoria of Joe’s leaving was gone now and it was clear Louise wasn’t taking it well any longer. “Did you sleep last night?” Ric asked, sounding a bit annoyed now. This was all over someone who was a jerk? At least Ric thought he was a jerk. But it was clear her mother felt otherwise. “No, I’ll be fine sweetheart.” Louise replied, sitting up a bit more in the chair, “It was just a hard time last night.” Ric stood up a bit straighter, this was quickly becoming a boring conversation and she wanted to go outside. She looked from her mother towards the door, and back again. “Let’s go outside mom, it’s actually nice outside.” Ric said, wanting to get her mom out of the slump. She wanted her mom to snap out of it, it was better when she was happier. Whenever Louise was happy that usually meant Ric got spoiled, the sooner that happened again the better. “Not now sweetie.” Ric frowned a bit, this was getting ridiculous. “Fine, I’ll go by myself.” She pouted, grabbing her raincoat quickly and heading towards the door again. She opened it, glad to be greeted by the cold wind outside. People were starting bustling quickly down the run down roads, trying to get home without getting to soaked in the weather. Ric began her journey down the road, half expecting some of her friends to be waiting for her around the corner. Though she honestly needed time to sulk and wallow in her own angst for a while, so she was a bit happy when she rounded the corner and none of the gang was around. At least the atmosphere outside was a little less depressing than in the apartment. Even if there was a lot of trash in the roads and people practically wearing rags out here there was still a feeling of rebirth whenever the rain fell. As she walked she thought about maybe going to the Depot and grabbing their rations. It might be nice to make some dinner for her and her mom tonight. She really doubted her mom would want to cook tonight. She didn’t exactly want to eat something drenched in her mom’s tears or something and she wouldn’t put it past her mother to burn a dish since she hadn’t slept at all the night before. No it was better for Ric if she just got the food and cooked for the night. Honestly she couldn’t wait to get into the army and never have to worry about going to the Depot again. It would just be a lot easier to raid trucks with the others and make sure that her family was fed. Maybe then they would take her seriously and appreciate her wanting to join the army. Maybe they would even apologize to her about holding her back until she was out of the house. That would be the day. But for now she needed to get some food. The Depot wasn’t far from the house and it seemed much more packed than normal. Maybe it was an excuse for people instead of having to deal with the rain outside. Children were huddled near their mothers in an attempt to keep warm, while some single people walked up and down the aisles. It was depressing seeing people picking items up, looking at the prince, before sadly putting them back where they had been placed. It was things that like that that made Ric even more disgusted. She forced herself further into the building, keeping her eyes cast on the tile floor beneath her as she walked the aisles for a moment. Finally when she was in a lone aisle she looked up and grabbed a couple things to make soup. It was the best thing to get without having to worry about it being too expensive. She thought of getting some bread with it as well, maybe some crackers. She grabbed the crackers a moment before looking at the price; it seemed to have gone up in price, great. She slowly put the box back in the shelf before moving on. It was so different not having Ric around; at least he made a bit more money so they didn’t have to worry too much on the price of things.
She finally went to the register, putting the few items on the register. The worker looked down at the items and then at the girl. It was a silent exchange for the most part. Ric was more concerned with looking at the windows near the register, the rain was coming down a bit softer now. She only looked up when she heard the cashier clear his throat to get her attention again. “I said $45” He repeated, Ric frowned deeply before digging into her pockets for money that she had that her mother let her borrow during her good days. She handed the money and the cashier counted it out carefully before feeling the money for any inconsistently as if already determining her as a criminal who would print off fake money. She honestly wanted to chew him out but had to stop herself, she doubted her mom would want to pick her up from jail for punching an idiot. Once the cashier determined she wasn’t handing him fake money he handed her the change. She looked down at it a second before her frown deepened. “You short changed me.” “What?” “You heard me. You gave me two dollars instead of five.” The cashier snorted a bit, obviously amused by this. “Move along little girl before I make you move.” He replied nonchalant. “Are you ******** kidding me? I want the rest of my change a*****e.” The blond girl said, she was glaring hard at him. If looks could kill he would surely be dead. The cashier began to pick up the phone to call security sending the girl over the edge. She swung hard at the older man. As soon as she connected she knew she messed up. 3 Security officers swarmed on her like hornets, they grabbed her and dragged her out kicking and screaming. Her groceries had fallen all over the ground in the store. Cans and vegetables were rolling everywhere and she was unable to grab them. “Let me go!” She yelled, making sure it was a struggle for them, there was no way she was leaving without a fight. They pulled her out of the back of the store and let go of her. Ric fell into a puddle and she started to get up in an attempt to fight back only to feel a foot connect with her ribs then a fist punched her hard in the face. She should have known this was going to happen. It seemed like there was much more young rich kids getting jobs so they could ******** with the poor. It reminded her of bullies in schools, someone trying to find the weakest person to mess with and hurt. Unfortunately she was the weak person today. The 3 kicked her and one even had the nerve to spit on her before they lost interest and walked away. Ric slowly moved to get up only to hear the door behind her open again and then a loud splash was accompanied by it. She slowly looked over next to her to see her bag now soaked in the puddle beside her. If her groceries weren’t ruined when she dropped them before they sure as hell were ruined now. She groaned a bit as she slowly rose off the ground. Ric opened the soaked bag and was at least able to salvage the soups but the bread was nothing more than slop and the vegetables were bruised and ruined. She grabbed out an apple slowly before aiming it at the door that was now closed. “******** you!” She screamed, throwing the apple at the door before groaning in pain. The security gaurds hurt her pretty bad. That was going to be hard to explain to her mom, she knew her mother would throw a fit and probably wouldn’t let her leave the house again for who knew how long. She’d much rather not have to deal with that. Slowly she turned, leaning down again to pick up the soup cans and pocketing them again. Ric looked around before slowly making a decision. Part of her hated what she had planned but there was really nowhere else to turn at the moment. She had to swallow her pride, as much as she hated that idea. She made her way towards the metro slowly, a hand resting against her rib. It took her some time to get to the metro but she was happy to say she made it there without much of a problem. She walked down the steps slowly; her hair blowing in front of her face which she was thankful for, at least it would stop people from staring at her now swollen black eye. Once she was off the stairs she looked around nervously. Finally she found a familiar face of one of Joe’s coworkers. She made her way over to him quickly, giving him a fake smile and wave. The man appeared to not recognize her at first before his eyes widened in realization. The man quickly got on his radio before approaching her. “What happened to you las?” the man who’s name tag read ‘Shaun’. “It’s a long story.” She replied, “I’m fine, is Joe here?” Shaun frowned softly before nodding, “Aye, I called him as soon as I saw you. He should be on his way. How about you sit on the bench while we wait for him yeah?” Shaun asked, leading her to one of the free benches. Ric was actually a bit thankful for the company; she didn’t feel safe by herself at the moment. She had heard to many stories about people robbing others who were hurt or wouldn’t put much of a fight. She would have been a great target, having someone in the resistance near her made it less likely. She sat down, wincing a bit in pain as she did so but quickly tried to play it off as nothing. It seemed like it was only a couple seconds before Joe appeared walking out of the train quickly and practically ran to Ric. When he reached her he gently moved her hair out of the way of the black eye and frowned. Clearly he wasn’t pleased to see Ric hurt and there was no doubt he assumed she did something that started the fight. Honestly, he was more worried about her well being than anything else. “Rica, what happened?” “Nothing, I’m fine.” She snapped, trying to hit his hand away from her. She clearly wasn’t fine though, if she had been she wouldn’t have gone looking for Joe in the first place. “Bullshit. Rica, what happened?” His voice was firm, just like a worried parent. “I went to the depot and some assholes hit me.” She replied, clearly unhappy about telling him. Joe frowned a bit, standing up straighter and walking into the bathroom before coming back out with a wet paper towel. He started slowly attempt to get some of the blood off her face. He was quickly given a small slap on his hand and a deathly glare from Ric. “I can do it myself.” “I know you can. But I don’t think you can see where all the blood is. I don’t want you going home and giving your mum a heart attack.” That was fair enough. She rolled her eyes and sighed loudly to voice her displeasure as he continued. It was silent between them for quite some time as Joe worked on cleaning her face off the best he could. It felt like the silence would last forever before finally Joe made a soft grunting sound. “How’s your mum doing?” “She was doing great.” Rica said, “She was actually laughing and we went to the park like we used to.” She could tell that stung the man a bit. She was a bit proud of herself over that little zinger but she remembered why she came here and went silent for a moment. “But she hasn’t slept in a couple days. I think she really misses you.” She admitted, Joe stopped a second to take in the girl’s expression a moment to make sure she was serious. The last thing he wanted to do was walk into the house and Louise to get into a yelling match with him again. “Does she?” “Yeah, she really does.” Ric repeated, her tone was clearly annoyed though. “Well then.” Joe said under his breath as he finished up cleaning her face of all the blood, “I guess I should go talk to her.” Rica looked up at him silently. “I should take you home anyway; I don’t want you getting yourself into any more trouble.” “a*****e.” She muttered under her breath but she was smiling slightly. She got up slowly and it was clear Joe wanted her to use him as support but she simply ignored him and started walking towards the direction of home. Joe followed after her quickly, smiling a bit at the girl. “So are you going to tell your mum what happened or will I?” He asked, clearly teasing. “If you tell her I’ll be sure tell her about when you accidentally ran over a puppy.” She threatened. Joe chuckled softly, shaking his head a moment. “Well then, let’s say you fell down the stairs than.” Rica nodded a moment before smirking. “You better bring mom some roses.” Rica replied as they walked down the road together. Maybe now things would be a bit better. She would take normalcy a while longer, even if she didn’t like the idea all that much. She had to admit her mom and Joe kept one another sane and that’s what mattered- even if she wouldn’t say it out loud. She had been right; the rain had been a good sign after all.
The torrential rain flooding the streets outside was an open invitation to Ric. It had been coaxing her out for the last hour and she wasn't going to wait any longer to hear back from the others. She yanked a brush through her frizzed hair as she forced on her boots. She had to admit it had been quieter in the house now that Joey was out of the picture; she could finally enjoy the rain. She would go out of the house for first time in ages and not have to worry about Joe demanding to know where she was going or nagging her for not wearing the right clothes for the weather. The possibilities were endless.
She padded through the apartment, past the still figure in the old recliner – her mother. All Ric had to do was get out the door without waking Louise… Then she saw the purse by the chair. It wasn't like she need-needed a few extra dollars in her pocket, but she could definitely find a need for it. Besides, no one had noticed her pinch a few extra dollars before.
The creaky floorboards beneath the rug didn't give her away. The pouch full of change hardly made a sound. The wallet was back in its place, the purse looking untouched and a spare twenty sitting in Ric's pocket before she could say 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'. It wasn't until Ric looked up that she saw her mother's eyes wide open, glazed over as she stared into space.
Sure the first few days Joe had been gone was nice. Louise had given Ric a lot of attention, it had been a wonderful few days but now? Now Ric had to deal with this. Suddenly she was playing mother instead of daughter. She could leave, Louise wouldn't notice, but instead she put a hand on her mum's shoulder.
“Mum, are you ok?”
“Mm?” Louise slowly drifted down from space. The bags under her eyes were darker than they had been yesterday and the day before. The lines on her face seemed deeper too as she recognised Ric with a smile. “Did I sleep in?”
“Did you sleep at all last night?” Ric asked, sounding a bit annoyed now. All this over Old-Man Commander Jerk-Face. It was like he hadn’t left at all, still there making her life hell.
“I’m fine,” Louise said, sitting up in the chair. “It’s just work.”
It was all Ric could do not to roll her eyes. She grabbed Louise’s arm and tried to pull her out of the chair. “Let’s go outside. It’s really nice out!”
“I need to clean this place up.”
“Come on!”
“Not now, Rica.” Louise’s arm slipped from Ric’s grasp. She rose from the chair, collected all the things she had dumped on the floor that Joey normally put away before she woke up, and started to right the apartment.
“Fine,” Ric said, straightening herself up, “I’ll go by myself.” She left with a bang that shook the door in its frame. If she ever acted like that because of Rusty or anyone else, she was going to kill herself.
-
The cold gust in the open air cooled Ric from the argument. The streets were bustling, full of people trying to get home without getting drenched, running from cover to cover like they could make it between the raindrops. It left the road open for Ric, stomping through the flooded potholes. She half expected to find Felix or Rusty waiting around the corner, but with every next corner, her hopes sunk further. She'd have made do with Kamir if she had to. There was no one.
She supposed she still had the rain. Someone told her once that the rain brought rebirth, and as she watched the litter wash off the curb into the stormwater drains, she guessed they couldn’t be that wrong.
But the rain couldn’t fix everything. The first sign of someone else’s happiness made Ric’s mind rush back to Louise and her stupid hang up. Rica wasn’t going home in a hurry and there was no way she was going to school. No sooner had the thought crossed her mind of going to the Depot than she overheard someone say: “The Depot won’t do anything until it stops pissing down. Let us ********’ starve just so their shoes don’t get wet.”
That would be right. They were out of fresh food and so was the Depot. Honestly, she couldn’t wait to get into the Army and never have to worry about these stupid things again. Even if she had to work her way through from food raids, she'd prove herself. A little rain wouldn't stop her. Maybe then everyone would take her seriously. Maybe they would even apologise to her about holding her back until she was out of the house. That would be the day. But for now she needed to get some food. The spare twenty would come in handy.
The trains that could grind to a halt at the suggestion of rain, today had no problems rushing Ric to Parra. It was about the only thing that seemed to be working.
From the moment Ric got off the train, she was hit by a wall of people. The shops were normally busy, but with the Depot's doors closed, everyone was flooding in. Children were huddled near their mothers in an attempt to keep warm, while some single people wandered aimlessly through the complex like they'd come in only to get out of the rain. It was depressing seeing people passing by items, looking at the price and never putting it in their trolley or basket. It was things that like that that made Ric even more disgusted.
She forced herself further into the building, keeping her eyes cast on the tile floor beneath her. Finally, when she was in one of the emptier grocery stores, she looked up and grabbed a couple things to make a curry. It was the best thing to get without having to worry about it being too expensive, or how old the vege was. She thought of getting some dessert, maybe strawberries. Louise loved strawberries – sometimes Ric thought she loved them more than Joey. She grabbed a punnet for a moment before looking at the price; it had gone up again. Off-season. Great. There wouldn't be much of the twenty left after that. She slowly put them back before moving on.
The cashier judged Ric and her basket of goods before she'd even reached the register. Sometimes the lifeless exchange with the check-out machine were more inviting than human contact, and as the cashier's expression morphed with every good he scanned, Ric wished she'd gone somewhere without a person. She tried not to even look at him. It was easier said than done.
“I said that's forty-five, ninety,” he repeated.
Ric frowned as she dug into her pockets, giving up most of her pocket money with the self-gifted bill. She handed it over and the cashier counted it out carefully before putting the notes up to the light, one by one. A queue had started to form behind her. They all watched the cashier, waiting for the moment she was called out for a dodgy fiver. She wanted to chew that cashier out.
He put the money away – everything disappointingly kosher – and he handed Ric her change. She looked down at it and boiled.
“I'm short.”
“What?”
“It's four, ten. I gave you fifty. It's four, ten, not two.”
The cashier snorted. “You must have dropped the other two. Move along.”
“I want the rest of my change, shitstick.” If looks could kill he would be dead.
The cashier began to pick up the phone to call security. “Maybe if you were in school, you'd know how to count.”
Ric swung at the older man. The crack in her knuckles shocked her to life. It felt amazing. Then something slammed her knees out from under her. Three security officers swarmed her like hornets. She screamed but the shoppers looked away. Her flailing blows hit nothing until her hands were cuffed behind her.
They dragged her out the back of the store. Ric was ready for the cell, instead they threw out into the pouring rain. With no hands to help, she slammed face-first into the asphalt. It was just the start. A foot connected with her ribs. Another hit hard against her back.
She should have known this would happen.
The three beat her until they grew bored. Eventually, they cut the cuffs and walked away. Ric didn't move. The easing rain washed off the dirt and the blood, but it left the humiliation untouched. She'd lost her money, her food and her dignity all because of two lousy dollars. Time in a holding cell would have been a story she could sell. No one wanted to hear her bruises were earnt cowering in the service lane while she was beaten by hired thugs.
-
Ric let the crowd swallow her as she returned to the station. Amongst all the people, her pain was invisible. She was heckled for being too slow as she hobbled along, clutching her side. No one gawked or sneered at her scratched face and swollen eye. It had to be one of the first times in her life she loved being ignored.
Then she reached the platform and a pair of eyes locked onto her before she could see them. A Resistance runner spotted her the moment her head had peaked into view on the escalator. He didn't miss the pickpocket or the fight happening further down, but his attention was especially on Ric. It wasn't until she had almost reached him that he stopped paying attention to the history of trouble on her clothes and noticed who was wearing them.
Her small wave and smile didn't stop the shock.
“******** me dead! What the hell happened to you?”
“It’s a long story.” Ric backed off as he tried to pull her hair away to see the damage. “I’m fine. Is Joe around?”
He jumped onto his phone in a heartbeat. “Yeah. Of course. I'll get him down here right away. Do you want to sit down?" He guided her to a bench, shooing away the man who'd been using it. “Do you need anything– What? Who is this…?” His voice cracked with frustration as he focused on the phone. “It's Shaun, I was calling Simo… I can tell you're not Simo. Where's he ******** off to? I got a situation.”
The attention on the two of them was growing. Ric could feel the sideways glances and hear the whispers growing around them. Even though Shaun had all the energy and Ric had balled herself up into the smallest target she could be, they knew. They judged her the same way the cashier had judged her.
A train pulled up as the runner became more agitated.
“Don't worry about it,” Ric said as she got up. Shaun had no way of getting to her before she'd slipped onto the train and its doors closed behind her.
She elbowed her way through the carriages until she found one that was empty, or mostly empty. The group of five froze as she came in. Ric pushed passed them, finding a seat far from the deal. She flopped into the chair by the window and waited. The gangsters didn't look at her again.
The rain thundered against the train as it crawled back south. Ric saw none of the washed out scenery along the way, all she could see was her mum's disappointment and the million different ways she could find to show that disappointment. If she was lucky, there would be a punishment, but if there wasn't, Ric tried to come up with something that would do. Maybe she would actually go to school for a whole week, every day, every class. That would make it up to Louise. Or maybe two weeks. She couldn’t be asked to do a month, she’d already suffered enough. Maybe she could stay out until Louise left for work. If she planned it right, she could avoid her mum for at least a couple of days until she didn't look so bad.
Ric had lost track of time as the train lurched forward once again from its latest stop. She didn't notice the carriage doors open or the gangsters pause their conversation, but when she caught a glimpse of someone sitting a few rows away staring at her, she had had enough.
“What the hell do you want?”
Joey shrugged and looked out the window. “I'm catching a train.” There was barely a drop of water on him, like he hadn't existed since he'd walked out on that sunny day three weeks ago until he had boarded the train. He was a picture of health: clean, rested, untouched. How was that fair?
All she wanted to do was yell at him, but Ric suddenly found herself fighting back tears. She clamped her jaw shut, and pressed harder as the tears ignored her efforts to stop them. It was all she could do to hold back sobs, her face pressed against the window so Joey couldn’t see her cry. This was all her fault, she shouldn’t have gone to that bloody runner.
They sat in the silence, staring out at the rain. Eventually Joey sat opposite her, but he never said a thing. When Ric shivered in her soaked clothes, he took off his jacket and left it on the seat next to her. She didn't touch it for the longest time and it had lost all his body heat when she finally pulled it around her shoulders like a blanket.
By the time the train had come to the end of the line, even the gangsters had gone. The intercom reminded them to get off the train but neither of them moved. It was starting to clear up and there were patches of blue peeking through the sodden clouds. They watched it together.
“Can we go home now?” Ric said.
Joey just nodded.
Ric led the way off the train. The platform was empty except for a few stragglers and the usual suspects. It would be a while before the next train arrived to take them back the way they’d come. If they were lucky, they’d be waiting long enough that they’d miss Louise and avoid the confrontation for a few more hours.
No one was judging her anymore as she walked back and forth along the yellow line on the edge of the platform, her bruises and ripped clothes hidden under the bulk of Joe’s jacket. She felt alone except for Joey’s eyes following her. It almost seemed like he cared if she fell.
“If you give Mum strawberries, she might take you back,” she said as she passed him again. “I’m not promising anything, she’s still totally pissed at you.”
“Do you know what we were fighting about?”
“You being an arsehole?”
“Your mum wanted you to do karate, I thought you were a natural boxer.”
“******** you.” She pulled the jacket tighter around her shoulders and she smiled for what felt like the first time in ages. She would take normalcy a while longer, even if she didn’t like the idea all that much. She had to admit her mom and Joe kept one another sane and that’s what mattered – even if she couldn’t say it out loud.
She had been right; the rain had been a good sign after all.