Chapter one – Back track

I was sitting on the train, on my way to Tulsa (an old hick town) with not much to do. I was thinking of everything that went down in the past couple of months. I mean, jail had been fun, the guards were hilarious. When my brother said you become hard in jail, I didn't really get him. Now, having experienced it all, I can empathize. You see things in jail, some things a person shouldn't see at all. I'm hard, and cold. All thanks to my fucking ex-best friend, who was too gutless to own up to her own problem. I, being the good friend and all, valued that her parents actually gave two shits about her and took the heat off of her shoulders. Let me take you on a little walk down the event that changed my life.

Flash back

Kami and I were fourteen. We had been best friends since god knows when. But as we grew older, Kami had transformed. As hard as she tried to avoid it, trouble always seemed to find her. So eventually, she just welcomed it, and accepted that she wasn't going to be the angel her parents wanted her to be.

One particularly boring night, we were sitting in her backyard sipping coca-cola. Kami slurped the last bit out of the bottle and threw it down conclusively. It shattered, spraying wet pieces of glass across the concrete.

"Jeez, Kami calm down. You're gonna hurt somebody." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Whatever," she retorted, "let's do something.""

"Like what? Not much to choose from at midnight on a Sunday, Kam."

"I got an idea. Let's go for a little walk."

"But Kami, it's late. And cold. Let's just go inside and watch T.V. or something."

"You're such a kid. C'mon." Kami grabbed my hand and pulled me up from the cold grass. I tossed my bottle over my head and followed her out.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, I started to wonder about our destination.

"Hey Kami, where are we going?" I asked, hurrying alongside her.

"Over to the principal's house," She smiled slyly, walking around the corner.

"Why are we going there?" I asked, slightly suspicious.

"Because we are, we're paying him a little visit." I said nothing, and like an idiot, continued to follow.

A while later we were standing outside Mr.Cleary's house.

"Well, should we make our way to the front door?" I sighed, starting towards it.

"Where the hell are you going? This way loser!" Kami yelled, pulling me into the alley between the bungalows.

"What are you doing?" I squeaked, eyeing her as she pulled out a lighter.

"We are going to give him an early birthday present. And it's time to light the candles." She whispered excitedly.

"WE! Nuh-uh. I am not doing anything. I want nothing to do with your psychotic plan...whatever it is," I hissed.

"Oh come on, you need to live a little bit!" She giggled, flicking the lighter open and watching the flame burst to life. My eyes widened as she crouched down and placed the open flame near to the bush under the window. A few leaves caught and her eyes lit up devilishly. She then ran about six feet away and watched her masterpiece spread. "What have you done!? I can't believe you! We're gonna get thrown in jail for this!" I shouted at her.

"Would you shut the fuck up? We're gonna get caught if you keep yelling like that!" she hissed covering my mouth with her hand and dragging me back to the road. "Hopefully we don't get caught, and no one sees us," She sucked in a breath.

"Hopefully? HOPEFULLY! What do ya mean, hopefully? Of course we're going to get caught" I yelled frantically.

Kami turned and looked at me like I was mentally retarded. "Look Cor, i'll just let it sizzle for a minute or two and then I'll go stomp it out. No worries. I wouldn't let it go TOO far. I don't want to get caught, my parents will disown me if I get into trouble with the law."

"You should have thought of that before you went and set fire to our principal's house! It's already gone too far Kami! You'll never put it out now!" I screamed turning to look at the house, which had erupted into flames. We could already hear the sirens wailing. "OH SHIT!" we both screamed and took off at a dead run.

As we ran, Kami burst into tears, "Coralynn, please help me. I won't have no place to go if they catch me. Oh please Cor what should I do?"

I didn't answer. I just kept running, keeping my focus on the light coming from my house up ahead.

A couple of days later it turned out that our principal had been in the house at the time and suffered from severe burns. The police already knew there were two suspects involved, both female. I had this sinking feeling in my stomach, a guilty feeling, and I didn't even do anything! I stewed in my thoughts, "If Kami get's caught, she could go to jail! So could I! But her family cares more about her. My Mother's a drunken bitch who couldn't give a rat's ass about me. What should I do?"

So at the end of the day, I decided to go to the station. I turned myself in and explained what "I" did and that I had no accomplices, just me, myself and a lighter. My turn in earned me a year in jail. I put myself in jail to save my "best friend". How stupid am I?

End of Flash back

Ahhh, well that's my stupidity. I had to play the hero and look out for my friend. Now, I'm on my way to Tulsa, Oklahoma. A place I've never been to. I have no idea what it's going to be like. A strange place, with strange people. I'm on a hunt. More like a search. To find someone I haven't seen in five hard and boring years.

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