Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:41:38 -0400
From: Cory Falls <saintz1@live.com>
Subject: A Change: part 4

"Cody, can we please stop I'm tired." Chad whined sleepily.

"Sure, buddy. We all need a little sleep and we're not too far from
Pearisburg, so we'll get some supplies and then head to Narrows."

"Thanks" Chad said.

"Where are we gonna sleep?" Mike asked.

"Well, I guess on the ground." I pointed at a downed tree. "That looks good
enough"

"Alright" he said skeptically.

All three of us made our way to the log. I laid down with Mike snuggling up
to my side and Chad lying on top of me. With both of them settled in, I
wrapped my arm around Mike's shoulders and put my other hand on Chad's
small back. We decided we'd talk a bit before we went to sleep.

"So,guys,what do you think?"

"Will we see Mommy and Daddy again?" Chad asked.

I wasn't sure what to say, because in reality I wasn't sure what I was
doing. I was just hoping to make it to my Dad in Ohio, and hoping to keep
the guys safe. They would never see their parents again unless they wanted
to and for the sake of God, I hope they didn't.

"Well, bud, I'm not sure. After we get to my Dad in Ohio, we'll see what we
can do, ok?"

"Ok" he said yawning, and finally falling asleep.

"What about you, Mike?"

"Whatever you think is best, Cody," he said snuggling closer.

"Kid, it's what you think, not me."

"Well...I want to be with you and my parents. My parents don't want me
though, and you do. Cody, I'll always love you, I know it. I never want to
leave you," he said a single tear rolling down his cheek.

I pulled him even closer.

"Mike" I said kissing the top of his head "I love you too and always will,
you'll never be alone. I won't let you," and with that Mike fell asleep.

To tell the truth, I didn't sleep at all that night. Being out in the
middle of nowhere, I didn't want to sleep. With all the animals around
here, both of the guys could have been in danger. It was a long night, and
I was tired, but I had to protect my boys. I had to.

                                *

That was a long night, but at first light I woke the boys up. They both
wanted to sleep longer, but I told them we had to get a move on. After they
both pissed, they ate a small breakfast of brown beans (like I said, it was
assorted cans!) I still refrained from eating. If worst came to worst, the
guys would have something to eat.

"Ok,guys,we should be in town in a few hours," I said smiling.

It was actually about an hour. I guess I was closer to town then I thought
I was. We had a lot of people staring at us moving through the town, but I
expected this, and just waved when they stared. We got to Wal-Mart and then
I remembered, my Mom worked there. But she didn't seem to be helping me
when Mike was beaten, so if I saw her I would hit her so hard her teeth
would fall out. It was clear to me she didn't care, just like the rest of
them.

As we entered Wal-Mart I told the boys to stay with me. It wasn't going to
be easy to checkout stuff without an adult. But hopefully I could lie and
get through.

"Ok guys, we need food. Canned food would be best. It doesn't look like
anyone is looking for us so I think we'll be ok."

They followed me to the canned food aisle.

"So, guys, what do you want?"

"Fruit," they both said.

"Is that all?"

"Yea, it's the best tasting...no veggies!" Chad said sm iling.

"Kids," I said laughing.

I grabbed more or less everything under the sun, apples, peaches,
cranberries, blackberries, pomegranate, everything. I also decided we would
need some new clothes, just to stay inconspicuous. I grabbed some briefs
for Chad and Mike, grabbed some boxers for myself. I got some shirts,
pants, and coats for them and a hoodie for myself. Fuck, check-out was a
bitch. The cashier wanted to know why I was getting all this and not my
parents, thinking on my toes I told him, my mom was sick. When I said that
he looked liked he believed me more but was still questioning. What was she
sick with? When did she get sick? Is she ok? My god, I wanted to strangle
him. Finally I said she wanted the stuff. I gave him the money plus some
extra for himself and that shut him up. Finally,we got out of that damned
store.

"I never thought we would get out of there."

"That guy asks to many questions," Mike says.

I sighed.

"Well, I don't know about you guys but I'm hungry." I said pointing at
Wendy's.

"Ok!" they both yelled.

We walked over to the Wendy's and they ran in. Both of them wanted a kids
meal, so I got them both a chicken nugget meal. They picked out a table by
the window while I was ordering my stuff.  I decided we should talk.

"Well , guys, after we go through Narrows we only have a few hours till we
enter West Virginia. We'll mostly be going through the wilderness for
safety, and I don't know anyone in West Virginia that will help us."

"So we're alone then?" Mike asked.

"Yea, kid, we're alone...."

He stared at me for a minute, he looked as if he had something to say but
he didn't... and I didn't want to him to cry, so I let it go.

"How long will it take to get to Ohio?" Chad asked.

"Ohio....it'll probably take.. a good few days, I'm not sure how many."

"Cody...will we make it?" Mike said staring at the ground.

I messed up his hair. "Of course we will, we'll make it to my Dad."

"Are you sure he'll help us?" Mike asked.

"Yes, I'm sure he will. He's a very caring man."

And with that all the conversation stopped, more people had came into the
restaurant. I didn't want anyone to hear us. All three of use ate quick and
then just left. As we walked down the street, I was silently letting go of
all that held me to this town. I grew up here...it would be hard but, I had
to do it to make it to Ohio. The boys were my responsibility now. I had to
take care of them.

When we were about halfway through the town, we passed the park and I saw
the boys eyes light up.

"Cody, can we...?" Chad started to say.

Before he could finish asking I said, "sure guys, go ahead."

They both smiled at me and ran off towards the park. The past few days had
aged me, I almost forgot what it was like to be a kid. They looked so
happy, playing around on the swings and slides. What the hell was I
thinking?! Did I really believe we would make it to Ohio? Would my dad help
us? Hell no, I thought it was a lost cause. But they needed hope..and so
did I. They trusted me with their lives, but really if I take them away
like this, I would ruin their lives. If my dad refused us, I'm not sure
what i would do. We could always keep running, but that's not a life, it's
a death sentence. And their parents....how could they be like that! They
loved him till he said he was gay.... It wasn't right, by any means. Accept
him for how he is! He's your son for God's sake! I guess you could call it
the past now, but do we have any future?

"Cody, push me!" Chad yelled from the swing.

"Ok, kid, I'm coming" I yell back laughing.

I pushed both Mike and Chad on the swing for a little while and we ran and
wrestled around. I almost forgot about all our problems, all our pain. But
that was short lived as the sun started to set.

"Ok, I'm sorry guys, but we need to go," I said frowning.

"Ah," they both sighed.

"I'm sorry, ok?"

"It not your fault" Mike said.

I kind of smiled at that. To this day I'm not sure why. We started walking
through town until we got to the town border facing Narrows, it was 11pm at
this time.

"Ok, guys we need to cross the bridge, traffic doesn't look bad so I think
we can make it. Both of you guys hold my hands, ok?"

They both nodded and grabbed my hands.

We slowly made our way across the bridge, and thank god the traffic was
light, I knew days when you couldn't drive, let alone walk, across this
bridge. As we got across I decided we'd been in the open for to long, so we
made a bee line for the trees. It had been hours since any of us had
eaten. So, we sat down under the trees for our meal. I grabbed out a can of
blueberries for Mike and I. We ate quickly, but Chad didn't like
blueberries so I got him something else. It was the last can Iliana had
gave up, a can of beans. He ate it without much complaint.

"That was nice," Mike said.

"Yep," Chad said in return.

I was getting tired, and the boys looked like they were going to fall
asleep standing up. I tired to find a place with a little shelter away from
the road, but to no such luck. So, I just lead them deeper into the woods
where people driving on the road couldn't see us. I found a big rock in a
small clearing in the woods and decided we would sleep on top of it just to
be off the ground. Mike climbed up, while I lifted Chad up. It was a big
damn rock! I had one boy on each side of me as I fell asleep.

*

I woke up a few hours later to a weird sound. I felt around me and found
Mike, but not Chad. At that point, I bolted up right and saw him down on
the ground hunched over and throwing up.

"Holy fuck! Chad, are you ok!?"

"I feel bad...." Chad groaned out.

I thought for a minute and jumped down off the rock. I felt his forehead
and it was burning up. I knew this was bad and I needed to find help, NOW.
I thought for a minute and knew where to go, but we would need to run. I
woke Mike up and filled him in on what was happening. I told him to follow
me. So I grabbed Chad and ran.

It was the middle of the night. It was raining cats and dogs, and I'd never
been in these woods. It was like walking through a maze! I fell many times
and was pretty muddied. Chad was whimpering in my arms and Mike was
struggling to keep up. We came to a hill, and saw the light on top, so I
knew where we were and we were close to her house. I climbed up the hill
and then tripped and rolled back down. I hit my mouth on a rock and my lips
was bleeding but, I needed to get Chad help. So, I got up and trudged
on. We finally got to the top of the hill and came out into a neighborhood
that I knew.

I finally found her house and ran up to the door. I banged on it and prayed
to god that she was home. I prayed.


E-mail comments to saintz1@live.com ..... and we have a new blog for the
story ,it's new so we don't know how it's going to go but we'll try.
http://achangeblog.blogspot.com/

All will be read.

Thanks to my editor, Kosta (spongebobkosta1@aol.com).