Trailer trash teen ch.3

Tina rode furiously through the woods on her old ten-
speed. The chill autumn air blew hard against her
face, blowing away her tears. She made a sharp turn
down a random trail, not caring where she was going
until she reached the top of a hill, where she
stopped.

Sniffling softly she dismounted her bike. She grabbed
her purse and pulled out a cigarette, lit it, then sat
down at the base of a tree. She inhaled a deep breath
of smoke, exhaled slowly, then gingerly touched her
right cheek.

It stung. She pulled out her rarely used compact (she
didn’t usually wear make-up) and examined her face in
the mirror. It was hard to tell, since her face was
red from the cold, but it looked like her cheek was
already beginning to swell.

Her fingers trembling, Tina put the compact away and
took another drag from her smoke. She couldn’t believe
he’d actually hit her! She hadn’t seen her father so
angry in years, and though he was prone to giving her
a swat on the butt when he was mad, he’d only rarely
hit her before. He’d certainly never punched her like
this before, that was for sure.

Tina couldn’t understand how such a little thing had
set him off. Two days before Tina had found out that
her semester grades had been high enough to keep her
on the honor roll so to celebrate, she had drank a few
of her dad’s beers with Michelle. He’d been out of
town for the weekend at the time, busy now that the
holidays were over. He had returned while she was
attending her first day of the second semester and
found his fridge empty.

When she’d gotten home he’d immediately started
screaming at her. She’d been shocked at his temper,
and had tried to calm him down, but he was having none
of it. Eventually she’d run to her room and locked the
door, only to have him kick it in, demanding $150 for
all the beer she’d stolen over the last year. She’d
pleaded with him to calm down, but instead he’d hit
her close-fisted right in the face.

He’d left her alone after that, storming out of the
room while she cried pathetically on her bed. When she
regained her composure enough she’d run out of the
trailer, unlocked her bike, and taken off.

Now she sat underneath a large, leafless tree, huddled
against the sudden wind which had picked up. It was a
bright sunny day but unusually cold for South
Carolina, even for this time of year. She smoked her
cigarette quickly, then lit up another.

I need to get the fuck out of there! she thought
angrily to herself. I should tell a teacher, get him
locked up…

Suddenly there was a loud, high-pitched scream in the
woods.

Tina jerked up and glanced around. It sounded like the
scream had come from the other side of the hill.
Standing slowly, she listened for more.

She heard rustling in the trees a good ways off, and
the sound of sobbing. It sounded like a girl, Tina
thought.

Deciding to investigate, Tina mounted her bike and
took off quietly down the hill. When she reached its
base she listened again, then turned right, towards
the river. Tina was familiar with these woods as they
backed up onto the trailer park. She’d ridden through
them ever since she was little and knew there was a
crude “fort” constructed by the boys down near the
river. She decided the screams must be coming from
there.

As she approached the screams became more like a
persistent crying. Tina’s heart raced: either the boys
were playing games or they were hurting someone.
Neither would surprise the 16-year-old girl.

She cleared another rise in the land and could see the
fort. She was right: about eight or nine boys from the
surrounding trailer parks (hers and the other two near
the woods) were gathered in a semi-circle. They ranged
in age from 10 to thirteen, Tina figured, though she
didn’t recognize any of them specifically. They
appeared to be laughing and tormenting someone.

Suddenly that “someone” came into view. To Tina’s
surprise, it was a little girl!

She was probably 10 or eleven, Tina thought, and was
definitely the source of the screaming. Her bright
yellow hair was disheveled and one of the straps of
her pink overalls had been unhooked. One of the boys,
the largest in the group, was holding her as she tried
in vain to get away. It looked to Tina like the boy
was trying to get the other strap of the girl’s
overalls unhooked as well.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?!” Tina screamed in
shock before she could think.

The boys jumped in surprise, and looked over at her.
One of them took off running at the very site of her,
and a couple more looked like they were ready to.

The boy holding the girl, however, didn’t look phased.
“Mind your business!” he yelled back.

Tina peddled closer to the action as the little girl
squirmed against the boy.

“What’re you doing to that girl!” Tina yelled.

“Gonna get a peak at her pussy,” the boy yelled back.

“NO!” the little girl cried. “I changed my mind!
Lemmie go!!”

Tina stopped. She was a good twenty yards away from
them, and could tell the boy was serious. He looked
like he was 12 years old or so, roughly Joey’s age,
and probably the group’s leader. The other boys were
looking suspiciously at Tina but seemed less
intimidated already, their leader having displayed so
much defiance.

“I’ll go get the cops!” Tina shouted.