DIRT ~ finished

Panic

Will and Jake didn't talk, both of their minds were somewhere else. Distracting them from the fact they were, again, about to face Hell On Earth. Will was bringing back the dream over and over until the boots were unforgettable. High, light brown, two little stars at the top, real cowboy like. And he just hoped that through the years the boots were still recognisable. And that they were still being worn by his father of course.

Yet the idea of his father being dad already was easy to accept. It had been years since Will had seen him, and the few memories that had stayed intact were slowly fading. Sure, his mother still told him stories, but that's different than being able to picture your own dad's face.

When Will was smaller, and his father had just left, he kept asking his mom when he'd come back so he could show how he drank coffee now. 'Cause he was a 'real man'. And every night his mother would bow over his bed and talk good thoughts into the little boys mind.

'Your dad is a good man William. He is on a bad place right now, but for the sake of all these poor people hurt in there. He is an angel, and when you close your eyes at night, he'll be standing right beside your bed.'

But mother never explained he wouldn't be able to see him. So when night fell, and he crawled under his blankets, he'd close his eyes partly and spied underneath his eyelids. Hoping that one day daddy would sit on his desk chair, wearing these awful cowboy boots, sipping his disgusting coffee. Giving a little grin.

'This is what real man drink son. Not beer, not water but coffee.'

And Will would than be able to fall asleep, knowing father was close.

Yet that never happened obviously. The sipping coffee man had made a mistake, and paid his price. Was still paying his price?

And the screaming went louder, and filled Will's heart with desperation and hope at the same time. Causing chills all over his body. From goosebumps on his arms, and the hairs standing upright, to his knees, barely holding the boy on his feet.

A couple of steps away from the edge were some police officers. Mother had told Will that already, he wasn't aloud to 'visit' anyone, except for Feeding day. To make sure he would never break that rule, she told him about a little girl throwing an apple down on a regular day. And how the officers had beaten her up like she was a terrible criminal. Will actually thought it was nice of them to not throw her with the men in the Pit too.

'What do we do now?' Will whispered.

Jake stayed silent for a while, looking around, acting like Will had asked for the way. They needed some fort of cover up to be so close to the Pit. No one came this close without a good reason. The screaming was just to awful for that. And Will already felt like he went insane, as he actually listened to what the voices said. A high pitched voice overreached all of the others. And more chills rose up his spine when Will realised the voice needed to come from a really young boy. Eight max.

'Help! The sun! I need water! It hasn't rained in days.'

Will swallowed a dry hump of stress. The boy was awfully right. The burning hot sun drove everyone on the ground insane, and everyone was constantly eating ice cream or locking themselves up in cool rooms. He can't even imagine the heat the kid was going through. Around ten to twenty filthy man in a hole, no water but constantly revealed to the sun shine above them.

'My lips are cracking. I don't have long. Someone.'

Will swallowed once again, now holding his ears to hold any noise away. The panic in his body was higher than ever, and he never felt so out of breath. His lungs rose and fell back into normal position without any normal rhythm in it. Gasping for sweet cold air Will staggered on his legs. Jake grabbed his shoulder, talking but the sound didn't seem to reach Will's hearing. There was nothing but the little boy's screams for help.

'I won't do it. I won't kill them for the blood. But I'm so thirsty. Someone!'

Will opened his mouth as far as he could, and the tension on his jaw muscles went from nothing to high, as he started to scream. The air he needed so bad streamed out of him, and Jake fell on his knees, now also covering his ears. An officer with a real officer type of brown moustache looked up at the two boys causing all the noise. And he ran up to Will, aggressively pressing his sweaty and slightly hairy hand over Will's opened mouth. Throttling the deafening screams, and stopping the air from getting blown away even more.

'Calm down boy. Sssst. Sssst', the man tried to calm Will down.

Breathing in and out exaggerated to make Will slower down his inhaling. Which went uncontrollably.

Jake still lay on his knees, squeezing his eyes shut, peeping ears.

Will was hyperventilating, being forced to breathe normally by an unknown officer, with incredibly like sweat smelling hand palms. All the images spinning around in front of his eyes, the voice of the kid haunting.

And the moustache man kept repeating his normal tempo breathing. While sending his coworkers at the edge of the Pit signs that he had it all under control. And slowly he did, and Will leaned against the fence of a random house, panting, and the noises had left. His screaming had silent all the Pitters, and now only the officers voice was to hear.

'You okay boy?'

Will squeezed and opened his eyes a couple of times, until everything was visible and sharp again. He was still holding his pounding heart in his chest, but the panic was fading.

'Yeah', he mumbled confused. 'The boy.'

The friendly looking officer frowned. His eyebrows were almost as bushy as his moustache, which was perfectly trimmed but just a little to big under his tiny nose. He had no hair, and wasn't wearing anything on it's bald head. The sweat shone in the sun, and he looked almost like an egg with a moustache.

'What's your name boy?'

'William sir.'

Jake now crawled up and was almost breathing as heavily as Will.

'You frightened the crap out of me bud', he smiled softly.

'Well it looks like you and your friend here will be fine. Now tell me, why the panic?'

Will stared at the Pit, only some meters away from them. And an idea popped up in his head, The officer didn't seem like a bad person, trying to help him. So he sighed acting.

'I heard little brother', he whispers, changing his voice into the one of a broken person.

Will knows like no one else how that sounds. His mom spoke like that for weeks after fathers leaving.

And Will's acting skills worked. The officer sighed too, bowing his head. Yet Will had the idea he was trying to hide his compassion.

'That's to bad boy. Where is he in for?'

'I don't know sir', Will responded.

He felt Jake questioning staring at him from behind. But he kept quiet, knowing his friend had a plan.

'We are orphans. I take care of him. Took..care of him. Yesterday he didn't come home like normally after school. I came here to ask him what he's done. I wasn't planning on doing anything wrong sir, I promise you. But when I heard his voice, it hit me he actually is down there. I way just hoping he was sleeping over at a friends place or something. Please mister, let me see him. I won't talk. Just let me see if he's alive', Will fake begged, impressed with his own story.

The officer bit his lower lip, and the moustache moved as his lip did. He seemed to think while doing. And as he turned to Will again, Will could feel he had succeeded.

'I am not allowed to do this kid. But okay, I'll find an excuse. You get one minute understood?'

One minute was enough.