Chapter Twelve

"Maybe next time, you won't go off on rescue mission's without telling me."
        Vanessa scowled, and rubbed her shoulder. It felt like the man had ripped it from it's socket. The boy had been quiet the whole time they walked back to the store, and so she looked at him,"What's your name?" She said kindly. He looked up, and said,"Simon. Simon Chance." His eyes darted downwards again, and Vanessa frowned. "Are you OK?" His eyes shot up again, and he nodded,"Yeah. Er...Thanks." Vanessa smiled at him and he looked back down at the floor. Resigned, Vanessa abandoned her attempts at civil conversation. So they walked up to the store in silence.
        Eziekiel was still fuming, so she took over the actual talking part. Drifting towards the counter, she cleared her throat, and the man looked over at her. He smiled wanly, and walked over. "Caused a bit of trouble?" Vanessa blushed, and looked at her hands,"Yeah. But, um, anyways...."
"Car rental?"
"Guessed it."
He smiled, and grabbed a sheet of stapled papers, pushing them to Vanessa. "Fill these out, and we'll try to find a suitable vehicle for your needs." She smiled faintly, and walked back over to Eziekiel, rifling through the papers. Eziekiel went to grab them, but she turned away, and said,"No."
"No?"
"No. You'll break the pen, or something. I'll do it." He shrugged, and leaned back. She looked around, and sat in the chair between him and Simon. She read through the questions.
"'Address?"
What the hell do I put for address? Giant clock?" Vanessa snorted, and Eziekiel looked at her as if she'd gone crazy. She felt the blood rush to her cheeks, and looked down at the paper again. She decided to put her own address, before it burnt down. After scribbling it down on her knee, she answered the other questions, check the right boxes, and signed  her loopy signature.
     She grinned at Eziekiel,"See? No broken pen." He rolled his eyes and didn't reply, so she got up and placed the papers on the counter's again. After looking through them, typing some information on his computer, and grabbing a calculator, the man said,"So, would you like to look at our available vehicles?" Vanessa just nodded, and he smiled. She followed him out the back door, and walked through the Lot with him. He stopped at a dark red van. He looked at her, and said,"The Ford Explorer is great for...." He trailed on, and she numbly listened. After she had finished his speech, she smiled apologetically,"Sorry. I'm not really a car person. I just need something rather fast, and that can hold 7....8 people." She had forgotten about Simon. Was he going to come? Ivory would go ballistic. They couldn't just dump him off at the streets again, for him to be attacked. She firmly decided he was going to come, no matter what Ivory thought.
      The man nodded, and they walked further into the Lot. Finally, he showed her a large black car. It looked big enough. She smiled gratefully at him,"Thanks." He nodded again, and looked down at the price tag. After she handed him the money, he gestured to the car, and said,"Would you like to drive it?" She shrugged, and got in. The seat were comfortable, and the man got in the passenger's seat.
      She rode around the Lot, then pulled up to the front of the store. Eziekiel stepped out, Simon behind him, and grinned crookedly at her. She returned it with one of her own. The man gave a last smile, then walked back into the store.
                ....
       Eziekiel
          As he watched Vanessa follow the man out, he muttered to himself,"Let's see if she can buy a car, without getting attacked..." Simon, who was two seats away from him, smiled a little at this, and said,"If she hadn't done what she did, I'd be dead." Eziekiel looked at him, surprised he was speaking to him, and nodded,"Yeah. I guess." They sat in silence for a few more minutes, then Eziekiel asked,"Who was that, anyway?" Simon looked up from his hands, and stared at the other wall.
"He's known me since I was 18. I guess you could call him a hit man, but he's more of a thug. He met my mother, and...let's just say he isn't known for taking rejections gracefully. So either it was let that bastard push her around whenever he was bored, or get shot."
          Eziekiel nodded slowly, and said,"So she had no choice but to let him push her around...."
Simon's eyes hardened, and he said,"You got it. When I was 19, she had been putting up with his crap for a year. I despised him. He'd come over whenever he wanted, and I'd have to listen to my mother's screams the rest of the night." Eziekiel didn't speak. Living with 5 other children who's parent's sucked, he was used to stories like this. But that didn't make it any less disgusting. He could just imagine Vanessa's expression if she heard this, and was glad she was outside.
         Simon continued,"When I turned 20, I'd had enough. It was a bad neighborhood. It wasn't hard to get a hold of a gun. He came home one night, and I pointed it at his head. But my mother would have rather gotten shot then allowed her son to become a killer, so I didn't kill him. That did scare him away, though. At least, I thought it had."
           Eziekiel glanced at him, and then looked down at his hands. "My friends and I, we all haven't had the best stories. We live together, without parents. I was the first one. I had just run away from my dad. He was an addict, and whenever he was high he would beat the lights outta' me. One day, I snapped, I guess. I hit him back. And I ran." At this, Simon looked up at him. Eziekiel continued,"You could come, if you like. Meet the others..." He trailed off, feeling more awkward by the minute.
            He wasn't good at the sob story stuff. He remembered when Jason came along, and he didn't seem to messed up about it. So he didn't have to worry about it. They both had their issues, an they didn't really talk about it. The, Ivory showed up.
            She was the worst. He couldn't blame her. Her eyes had a look he'd never forget. They were dark, and scared, and they had the look of someone who had felt the terrors of life early, much to early to be fair. Her hair had been long, and curly, and she was pretty, in a weak sort of way. Her arms were like twigs, and her shoulder blades were like wings jutted out of her back. She had had bruises and scars all over her body, mostly on her thighs. It was nauseating. After Savannah came, she had taken care of all the motherly stuff. He was extremely grateful, for he and Jason had no idea how to help Ivory.
             Then the twins came, and he was overcome with how close they became. Without each other, they would all fall apart. Particularly Savannah. Everyone revolved around Savannah, mostly because she treated them with the love they had never gotten as children.
             The Misfits were more then just a group of kids. They were a family.