TAG, YOU’RE IT

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( warning - disturbing imagery )

“I’LL BE THERE.” Arianna said, hanging up the phone and putting it back on the retriever. Richie had called her asking if she wanted to hang out at his house since his parents weren't home.

But first, Arianna needed to know if her dad was asleep. She crept down the stairs, trying to listen for a sign of her dad. She heard the sound of the television on, and she heard her dad's snores. Thank God he was asleep.

Arianna ran to her room, swinging the door open to find Sydney and Bill in their room, laughing about something she didn't care about. They immediately stopped laughing, and looked at Arianna, who awkwardly stood at the door. They awkwardly stared back.

After the fight, none of the losers stayed in touch, except for Arianna and Richie, or Bill and Sydney and Beverly. It just wasn't the same.

Arianna tore her blue eyes away from them, walking to the closet to get her jacket. She slid it on and walked out of the room without saying anything. Arianna stood there for a second, getting ready to sneak out. After a few seconds, she started quietly walking down the hall, now thankful for the carpeting.

She walked down the stairs quietly, peeking around the wall and looking at her father, who was drunkenly lying on his recliner with an empty beer bottle in his hand. Arianna rolled her blue eyes. Typical dad, right?

"Jonathon, I'm gonna start cooking, would chicken be alright?" Her mother suddenly called, and Arianna's heart leaped as she heard footsteps from the back of the house coming, where her parents room was.

Arianna's eyes widened, knowing that her dad was going to wake up any second now, and there was a good chance her mother would catch her in the act. She quickly put her hoodie on and started speed walking to the entrance hall, where she could quickly slip into a closet if her mother caught her.

"I was hoping for something better than just chicken, but I guess." Arianna heard her dad rudely respond. Another typical thing. Arianna had a mini heart attack as she heard heavy footsteps start coming her way, too.

Arianna didn't think before sprinting to the front door, unlocking it and closing it behind her before sprinting off the front lawn, out of view just as her mother looked out of the window.

She kept running for a few seconds, scared that if she stopped, somebody, more specifically her parents, would catch her.

After fifteen seconds, panting heavily, she stopped running and shut her eyes, trying to catch her breath. "Gosh..." she breathed out, putting her hands on her knees and continued trying to control her breathing.

Once she caught her breath, she looked up and smiled as she saw Richie's house. She put her hands in her back pockets as she walked up to the front lawn, but she stopped walking as she heard a faint sound.

It sounded as if somebody had let out a cry for help.

Arianna stayed as still as she could so she could try to make out a sound, and her blue eyes widened as the sound erupted again, only louder, and she quickly figured it out.

A cry for help.

"Richie!" Arianna sprinted to the front door, taking two steps at a time when she reached the porch. She quickly grabbed the door knob and tried opening the door, but couldn't. When she heard glass crash inside of the house, she let out a cry of frustration and panic.

This is really happening.

"Oh my gosh. Richie, hang on!" She took a step back from the door and ran her fingers through her hair, trying to think of what to do. Running back to her house and getting Sydney and Bill would take too long, and nobody was outside to get help.

A lightbulb switched inside of her head as she remembered something. She had a hairpin in her pocket, and thank God she knew how to pick locks. She quickly shoved her hand into her right pocket and pulled out her hairpin. Arianna stuck the hairpin into the lock and quickly turned it different ways.

It only took a few tries until the doorknob unlocked. Arianna smiled and swung the door open, not caring that the door hit the wall as she ran inside.

"Richie?" She called out, and jumped as she heard something slam against a wall in another room.

Arianna froze, afraid of the scary things to come. Her blue eyes glided over to the scene of the house; alcohol-stained sofa cushions, spilled alcohol stains on the beige-colored carpet, and so much more. Arianna's heart hurt, for she had never been inside of Richie's house before, and seeing what kind of setting he lived in broke her heart.

Arianna gasped as Richie came into view, tripping over the doorframe and falling on his right side, his glasses falling off him.

"Richie!" Arianna ran over to him and kneeled beside him, looking at him with fear. Her heart broke at the sight of the poor boy.

His bottom lip was busted, tiny pieces of glass stuck out his forearms, a huge knot was forming on his left temple, and there was a bruise on his right eye, already turning purple.

"Richie - hey, Richie! Stay awake! I'm here!" She quickly said as his eyes kept fluttering closed.

"Ari -" His voice was hoarse and raspy from all of the cries and screams, and Arianna realized that he had been crying for help for some time. He coughed nastily before even finishing her name.

"Richard!" Arianna heard a woman's voice angrily yell, making Arianna jump. "Come back here, you little shit!"

"C'mon, Rich, you have to get up!" Arianna tried not to cry as she panicked, so she grabbed his shoulders and tried to shake him awake.

Richie only groaned and opened his eyes, sadly looking up at her. "I can't... get up. It hurts."

Arianna pleadingly looked at him. "Richie, please get up or you're gonna die!" She managed to help him up, though it was hard because he was weak, and he was close to passing out.

She lead him towards the living room, but she quickly spun around as a door slammed behind them.

Richie's parents were angrily standing at the doorway, only about ten feet away from the kids. Richie opened his eyes, trying to keep himself awake at the sight of his parents. "Don't... don't touch her."

"Who are you?" The woman spoke as she looked Arianna up and down, completely ignoring her son. "Go home kid, you didn't see anything!"

"Wait - hold on!" The man started, then started laughing. "Oh, I see. You're that Taylor girl who hangs with our son. His little girlfriend."

Arianna angrily glared at them. "He's... we're not together. He's coming with me."

"Oh, no he's not." Mr. Tozier replied, before starting to slowly walk up to them. "Go home. Get out of here, before you won't ever step foot outside this house again."

Arianna hesitantly looked at him, but protectively held Richie at her side. "I'm not going anywhere without him."

Richie's parents looked at each other and chuckled in a sinister way.

"Have it your way."

Mr. Tozier then charged at Arianna, and Arianna turned, but Richie fell from her grasp and caught himself on the coffee table. Arianna couldn't even help Richie up before his dad grabbed her shoulders and pushed her to the ground.

"Stop!" Richie woke a little bit and was getting better at keeping his eyes open.

Arianna cursed in pain as her ankle twisted and Richie's father climbed on top of her.

"I told you to go home. Did you listen?" He angrily said, holding her by her shoulders. Arianna winced as his beer stained breath filled her nostrils.

Mrs. Tozier stormed up to Richie and grabbed his arms, starting to take him to his room so he wouldn't see the girl of his dreams murdered by his own father.

"So now, you're just going to have to pay the consequences, darli-" He yelped as Arianna kicked him in the crotch with her uninjured leg, then kicked him as hard as she could in the face.

"No!" Richie's mother said, then Richie quickly looked next to him, saw a shard of glass, grabbed it and stabbed it into his mother's left arm. She yelled and let go of Richie, and Richie ran as quickly as he could, helped Arianna up, and he helped her limp outside.

"Get them!" Richie's mother angrily yelled, gripping her arm in pain.

Arianna and Richie had their arms wrapped around each other as Richie helped her step down the porch steps, and they quickly started to move off the lawn, that is until Mr. Tozier threw an object at his head, making him fall to the ground, falling on the same rib he did earlier, and for Arianna to fall next to him.

"Richie!" Arianna pulled Richie close to her as his parents stood at the door.

"If you kids don't come back here, I'll murder both of you!" His father demanded.

Arianna shook her head as tears blurred her vision, then turned to Richie.

"Go."

"What?"

"Go, Ari. Now, before he kills you."

"No! You're stupid, Richie! Are you insane?! I'm not leaving you!" Arianna insisted, putting her hands on his cheeks.

"Arianna, I mean it. If we both run, he'll eventually find us, and they'll kill us both." Richie groaned, his eyes starting to flutter closed from the horrific pain in his right rib. "They always get away with things like this, anyway."

"No, shut up!" Arianna turned to the neighbors house and frantically called for help. "Help, please!"

"Nobody's home, Taylor." His father chuckled, then started to walk towards them.

"Hello?"

Everybody's heads snapped to the right, where an old man with overalls on stood with a worried expression. He looked from Richie and Arianna to Mr. and Mrs. Tozier.

"Please, help." Arianna mouthed, starting to sob.

The old man's eyes widened, then he quickly walked back into his house.

Arianna sighed in defeat and looked down at Richie, who was close to fainting.

"See? Nobody cares about that kid." Mr. Tozier gestured towards Richie.

"D-Don't touch her..." Richie whispered as his breathing was slowing.

"No, no, that's not true!" Arianna said. "I care about him! My sister does, our friends do, we all do!"

"That's a damn lie!" Mrs. Tozier chimed up. "That kid was a huge mistake, that's why we don't give a damn about him."

Arianna's nostrils flared, pulling Richie closer to her chest as she stared at his mother in anger. "You're no mother. You suck ass."

Mr. Tozier growled and started running towards them, and Arianna clutched onto Richie tighter and squeezed her eyes shut, expecting to feel any sort of pain, but when nothing came, she opened her eyes to see the old man standing in front of her.

"Don't place a finger on these kids. The police are on the way." The old man said, then looked behind him to see Arianna and Richie. "Are you okay?"

Arianna nodded, and smiled through tears. "Thank you." She mouthed, then held Richie's head close to her as sirens were heard in the distance.

Soon, a bunch of police cars arrived, along with an ambulance, and police men and women came out of the car, aiming their guns at Mr. and Mrs. Tozier.

"Put your hands in the air!"

Richie's parents looked at each other in defeat, then slowly put their hands behind their heads.

"Please, help him!" Arianna told the medics that rushed towards them with a stretcher, then put him on.

A police woman came up to her and put her hands on her shoulders. "Are you okay?" Arianna nodded.

Everything seemed as if it were in slow motion, and Arianna slowly looked around with blurred vision. She watched as they strapped Richie up to the stretcher and put an oxygen mask on him, she watched as Mr. and Mrs. Tozier were being handcuffed, she watched the medics lift Richie into the ambulance truck.

"Wait!" Arianna started running to the ambulance truck, but the police woman grabbed her arm.

"Woah woah woah, where are you going?"

"I need to go on the ambulance with him!" Arianna looked at her with pleading eyes.

The police officer quickly gave in. "Hurry, go."

Arianna smiled through tears and quickly thanked her, then ran with her limp as fast as she could because she needed to be with him.

With her Richie.

"Ari!"

Arianna spun around and saw Sydney and Bill riding up on their bikes.

"Ari, what?" Sydney asked, looking around.

"W - W - What happened?!" Bill asked with worry.

"I have to go! Follow the ambulance!" Arianna frantically replied, then ran to ambulance truck and made it inside just in time.

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