Zoe and Barrett | Teen Ink

Zoe and Barrett

May 17, 2017
By frgrimard BRONZE, Lafayette, Colorado
frgrimard BRONZE, Lafayette, Colorado
3 articles 0 photos 0 comments

  7:30 am. 7:30 am is the time a 17 year old teenage girl by the name of Zoe Cross wakes up. A girl with her whole life ahead of her. A girl who has experienced the lack of parents since she was 9 years old. A 17 year old girl wakes up, brushes her teeth, laces her shoes, and steps outside for a day, filled with the greatest possibility of succeeding. But instead, she walks down to an alley way down the street, shakes a hand filled with cash with a guy in a hoodie, in exchange for a quick smoke, laced with something more sinister than tobacco. That 17 year old teenage girl, walks her army booted feet back to her house, changes back into her pajamas, and crawls back into bed, to waste her day away on a high.
     “Zoe! Zoe!”  a voice called out for her. “Zoe?!”
     “What do you want Barrett?!” Zoe mumbles from under her covers. Her older brother, Barrett barges into her room.
     “Why aren’t you at school?” He asks. Zoe groans, and rolls over in her bed. “Huh?” Barrett nudges her. Zoe rolls back over and reveals her tired face.
     “I dropped out.”
Barrett’s expression dropped,  he stepped back from the bed.
     “What the hell is wrong with you Z?” He asked
     “Bare, I’m eighteen,” she rolls her eyes, “I’m allowed to make my own decisions now.” Zoe’s eyes were bloodshot and barely open. She giggled and fell onto her pillow.
     “Wow Zoe. It’s such a great idea to get high with a member of the FBI in the house with you. Smart.” Barrett storms out “get your life together!” He screams.”

     A few hours later, Zoe woke up to a house lacking her older brother’s presence. She stumbles to the fridge and takes a swig of orange juice.
     “What’s up buttercup.” Barrett’s wife walks across the kitchen behind Zoe. Zoe jumps spilling the orange juice on the floor.
     “God, you scared me.” Zoe says picking up the juice container from the floor.
     “Well I’m not God, and I didn’t mean to startle you.” she remarks back.
     “Ashley, what are you even doing here?”
     “I live here silly, why aren’t you at school?”
Zoe rolls her eyes,
     “I dropped out, and please don’t give me a lecture because I know I’m already a disappointment.”
     “I wasn’t going to,” Ashley soaks up the orange juice, and stands up, “I was actually going to ask if you wanted to go to lunch with me?”
Zoe laughs and sets the empty juice jug onto the counter.
     “I mean if you’re paying.”

     At the restaurant, Zoe and Ashley sit in a booth, across from each other.
     “How was your morning.” Ashley asks, taking a subtle bite of salad.
     “It was alright, I guess.” Zoe gnaws off a piece of burger from her hands.
     “Barrett is worried about you, you know that right?”
Zoe’s eyes roll and she impatiently drops her food.
     “Yeah I know that Ash,” Zoe shovels a handful of fries into her mouth, “he needs to chill, I’m literally just trying to live my life, and he gets in the way of that.”
     “Actually, he wants your life to be good, he wants you to do good things for yourself, and not throw your life away. Oh here he is now.”
     Barrett comes in, kisses Ashley on the cheek, and sits next to her.
     “What’s up.” He  says, out of breath.
     “We’re cool.” Zoe says with a mouthful of food.
     “How was that dope this morning?” Barrett shamelessly announces.
Zoe slams her hand on the table, causing Ashley to jump.
     “What’s your deal Barrett?!” she shouts. The whole diner seemed to stop and look.
     “Zoe you need to be quiet.” Barrett calmly responds.
     “You do not tell me what to do,” Zoe stands up and points her finger in Barrett’s face. “I am perfectly capable of having a great life, and I do not need you to help me do so.”  Zoe runs out of the diner and down the street. Ashley stands up and starts towards Zoe. Barrett puts his hand on her shoulder and sits her back down.
     “It’s okay, she just needs to be alone.” He says.

     Later that day, Ashley and Barrett were back home watching t.v. and waiting anxiously for Zoe to come back home.
     “When do you think she’ll be back?” Ashley says quietly.
Barrett puts his arm around her,
     “Honey, I have no idea.” He says back.
     “I never thought I would have someone like this to look after at this point in my life.” Ashley remarks
Barrett removes his arm from Ashley, and begins cracking his knuckles.
     “Me either honestly.”
Their conversation was interrupted by a knock at the door. Barrett quickly stands up and answers the door to a police officer.
     “Bobby! What’s up?” Barrett says bringing him in for a hug.
     “Nothing much Barrett. I’m here about your sister.” Bobby says
     “Oh crap, what about her, we were just waiting for her.”
     “She was caught stealing shoes in the mall about an hour ago.”
Barrett rubs his hands on his face and groans.
     “Gosh, why does have to do this to me all the time.”
Bobby shakes his head.
     “You want me to take you down there?” Bobby asks.
Barrett nods his hand,  and grabs his coat.
     “I’ll be back soon Ashley!”
     About an hour later, Barrett and Zoe walk in the door quietly to Ashley asleep in the couch.
     “Please go to your room, talk to me in the morning, okay, I’m kind of done with you.” Barrett says
     “Whatever Bare. I know you’ve never actually cared about me anyways.” Zoe rolls her eyes and stomps into her room.
Barrett raises his voice.
     “You know that’s not true Zoe!”
Barrett’s yell wakes Ashley up.
     “Is she back?” Ashley asks stretching and rubbing her eyes.
     “Yeah she is.” Barrett says walking into his room.

     The next morning, Barrett and Ashley wake up and walk into the kitchen.
     “What’s this? Ashley asks picking up a note on the table.
The note read: “I’m sorry but I gotta be alone right now. I know you’ve tried to help but noone can help me. I’m gonna go live with my friend, I love you guys. Bye. -Zoe”
Barrett ran into Zoe’s room and found it to be torn apart.
     “Really Zoe?” Barrett exclaimed with a quick breath.
     “Well we gotta find her right?” Ashley asks.
     “No, this won’t last for long. She’ll come back.”
Ashley huffs, and crosses her arms.
     “I think you need to care more about your sister!”
     “Ash, I care so much about Zoe, I love her with my whole heart!” Barrett yells.
     “It doesn’t seem that way when you let her just up and leave like this.”
     “You think I’m just allowing her to do this? It kills me Ash, it really does, but there’s nothing we can do to make her less stubborn.”
     “Whatever Barrett, I’ll let you figure this out by yourself.” Ashley grabs her car keys and runs out the front door.
Barrett’s pager goes off, it reads “911.” Barrett quickly runs to his room and changes into his FBI uniform and runs out of the door to the emergency.

     In the car, a call comes onto Barrett’s dispatch radio
     “Young girl with gun, frightened, standing in the middle of bank. Come quickly.”
Barrett immediately knew who it was. He started his sirens and sped up his car.

     Once Barrett got to the bank, he could see his young sister’s face standing in the middle of the bank, holding up a gun. It was an image he should have been more scared to see, but for some reason it seemed likely for her to be in this situation. The bank was surrounded with police cars, and cops pointing guns at the 18 year old. Barrett walks out of his car and tells the cops to drop their weapons.
     “That’s my sister,” Barrett announces, walking fast paced into the bank. The cops listen and holster their weapons. Barrett walks into the bank, and makes eye contact with Zoe, her eyes flooded with tears.
     “What are you doing Zoe?!” Barrett screams.
     “I-I don’t know.” Zoe says, trying not to cry.
     “This isn’t you. Please stop.”
     “I have to do this, I have to make something of myself, I need to feel something.”
     “Not like this Z, not this way.” Barrett holds his gun pointed at Zoe. Zoe points her gun at him.
     “I’m scared Bare.”
     “I know you are, hand over the gun, okay?” There’s a hesitation from Zoe, she looks at the gun and back at Barrett. She tries to put the gun down, but a shot goes off, and a body falls.

     7:30 am. 7:30 am is the time a 17 year old teenage girl by the name of Zoe Cross wakes up. A girl with her whole life ahead of her. A girl who has experienced the lack of parents since she was 9 years old. A 17 year old girl wakes up, brushes her teeth, laces her shoes, and steps outside for a day, filled with the greatest possibility of succeeding. But instead, she’s in prison, for accidentally shooting and killing her older brother in an attempted bank heist.

 

    



    
 
     



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