A/N: Well, I finally got my longed-for free time to actually sit down and write. Sorry I haven't updated in like, forever, but I hope you are too angry. :) If you get the time, please review and I will be sure to return the favor by reviewing something of yours! I changed this chapter, which is now called Kevin's Story. IT'S A REALLY IMPORTANT CHAPTER, SO IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT, OR EVEN IF YOU HAVE, READ IT AGAIN BECAUSE SOMETHING SIGNIFICANT HAPPENS IN IT. I decided to forget about that Robin guy. I didn't really want another guy interfering with Judith and Kevin's relationship. And I also thought that his arrival was sort of random and kind of abrupt. So anyways- I think you'll enjoy the previous chapter a lot more than the one with Robin in it. Okay, I'm really glad that people told me that I should keep writing this story! Thanks bunches to Nobody-n-Particular, Lady Knight Bella, and SKATENaked-BlindReaper. It was because of your notes that I decided to continue the story! :)
Judith
Chapter 3: Kevin's Story
As droplets of water dripped from the tarnished traffic lights and slate roofs, the sun reclaimed itself from behind the sinister rain clouds. As is custom in a happy story, the sun is supposed to suggest hope and joy, but it only slightly impacted Kevin and Judith as they walked briskly across the sidewalks of Mauve City. Brownstones and duplexes were on either side of them, complete with walls of grungy bricks, an occasional broken window, and clotheslines hanging from windows in between the houses. They passed an open lot where about twelve noisy kids were playing their version of football, while some other scrawny kids slouched against a wall to watch, only hoping that they would get picked to play the next day. On the left was an open market where a portly man was selling all sorts of fruit and vegetables in barrels while the shoppers carefully selected the best looking ones to bring home. As they were nearing the border of the city, Kevin and Judith agreed to stop for lunch at a diner.
The two took a right on Citron Boulevard and Kevin led the way into the parking lot of the Jukebox Diner. The building was shaped like a large oval trailer and was entirely chrome except for its bright green doors, which stood out oddly compared to the gleaming silver paneling. Kevin held the door for Judith and when a waiter asked her how many would be coming to dinner, she responded, "Two."
They were seated in a booth with lavender fabric situated towards a far, dark corner of the diner. The waiter carelessly tossed two tattered menus with collected grime near the edges, and said that he would be right out with their water. Kevin swiftly glanced at the waiter's nametag, and saw that his name was Elvis. Apparently Judith had spotted it too, because she was trying hard to stifle a laugh.
With Elvis gone, Judith felt like she could talk to Kevin again without being overheard. "I… I don't feel safe here anymore," she said, every wisp of her previous laughter gone. "It's like with every second, I feel like they're getting… closer."
"Hey- no one's gonna find us here! It's about three miles away from where we saw that… er, silhouette thing on that building. Besides, we don't even know if he was after you."
"I don't know. It was like I could feel his- or perhaps her- eyes glaring at me. And I just got that weird feeling, but I guess I'll never know for sure."
Kevin never had much experience in offering comfort, but tried his best, "We'll be out of here soon- and then there'll be nothing to worry about!"
Judith saw the eagerness on his face and tried to look a bit more hopeful for his sake, but she still did not believe things would turn out precisely as well as Kevin claimed they would. Elvis soon returned with their water, "Whaddya want to eat?" he asked.
"Umm," neither Kevin nor Judith had opened their menus, "I guess I'll just have a burger," said Kevin.
"And you?" asked Elvis, looking at Judith, with his pen poised to write her order on his small, slightly yellow, pad of paper.
"I'll just have a chicken sandwich," she said.
"They'll be ready in 'bout fifteen minutes," declared their waiter.
"Umm, you said before that there was…. more to your story," said Kevin hesitantly.
"Well, I left out that other part for I reason."
"Why?" asked Kevin, looking a bit confused.
"Because there's that small fact that I just met you, and barely even know you. I don't really see a reason to discuss all my deepest emotions and past with you."
Kevin tried to smother his annoyance by changing the subject. "Do you wanna know why I'm leaving?"
"Yeah, didn't you say that you tried to leave before?"
"I did try. But now it's completely different. About a year ago I was so determined to leave- y'know, I had this whole big plan that I would move out into the country and get a job or something. Anything would have been better than the situation I was faced with."
Judith's deep blue eyes gazed pensively at him, which was his cue to continue.
"I always hated this city; I hated my high school. My step dad completely took over my family- er… what was left of it. One day, when I was about sixteen, my mom didn't come home from work. We were supposed to go see a baseball game- just the two of us. But she never came home. I sat on the porch waiting for what seemed like hours for her to return. The police were on the lookout for her for nearly seven months when they just gave up. It's bizarre- that night when I was waiting for her three years ago, I knew that I would never see her again. I don't know how, though," Kevin paused when he saw the waiter coming with their food.
"Alrigh'- chicken sandwich for the lady…. and the Jukebox burger for you," he soon set off for the kitchen where a loud noise of what seemed like shattering glass came from.
"Anyways, my dad," Kevin let out a hateful sneer, "my dad decided to leave us when my brother was born- decided two kids were too much for him, the coward. So- he went to Hungary. And I will never know why the hell he chose to go there. Not like Hungary's a bad place or anything, it's just that I have no idea what he was planning to do there. My step dad, Stephan, made my brother and me work for his construction company. Thought two boys- a fourteen year-old and a seventeen year-old- could improve his corporation. So we hauled bricks, mixed cement, shoveled the dirt, and painted the walls. Yeah, that was like hell. I despised him for making my little brother, Tyler, do it- and in his condition, too! He was bipolar and I was the only one who knew how to take care of him. Sometimes Stephan would hit us if we failed to show up for construction duty, and when he continued to do that, I decided I just had enough- so I ran away. But I didn't get very far. It was then that I realized my brother really needed me- I couldn't leave. So another year went by and… um, Tyler…" Judith could see that this was really hard for Kevin to say. "Tyler died. It was… so abrupt… he had a terrible fever, and in the morning I went over to his bed, and touched his face- so cold."
Kevin's emerald green eyes turned glassy, and it was then that Judith realized that they shared something so close that it was hard to believe that only minutes ago she had told Kevin that she hardly knew him. Judith and Kevin both lost the only ones in their life whom they ever cared about, and they were left with nothing in Mauve City except each other. Kevin slowly lowered his face into his hands, overcome by sorrow.
A/N: Put me on your author alert list if you want to know when there is a new chapter.