For Your Life

Chapter 1: Road To Nowhere

Tuesday, November 12, 2012. 1:30 in the afternoon. Harvelle's convenient store in Duluth, Minnesota.

Jo stood there at the front counter bored as ever. The place was a ghost town and frankly she just wished that clocking out and leaving was an option, but sadly there was no way in hell that she'd get away with that. Especially with her mother in the back room watching the security camera religiously. She sucked in a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair a few times, as if doing so would pass the time somehow. When in actuality, it probably made the time go by slower.

At least she was comfortable as she just stood there alone. She had on her favorite pair of bell-bottom jeans, a fitted gray t-shirt that seemed to ride up her torso everytime she moved even the slightest bit, and the sneakers she'd boughten with her first paycheck over five years ago. She was probably the simplest girl you'd ever meet, that is until you got under the surface of her plain-jane exterior. But, hardly anybody did, so she remained the girl that worked at the gas station with her parents and had a knife collection under her bed. It was her normal.

She leaned over onto the counter with her face cradled in her left hand as her elbow held her up off the speckled, gray-blue linoleum surface. This is about the time of the day in which she would find herself day dreaming about leaving Duluth, and traveling across the country on meaningless adventures. She'd never been outside of Minnesota except when she and her mother went down to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to spend Christmas with her "Uncle" Bobby. But unfortunately, that trip had been cancled the past couple years since her dad and Bobby had had a sort of falling out over something that she still didn't even understand.

There were places that she had seen in movies, ones that she could only dream of visiting someday: Virginia, Arizona, Washington, California, even Missouri. But, honestly, what person didn't want to leave Duluth as soon as possible? The answer to that question was easy. Her dad. And he'd be damned before letting her leave town to pursue something so stupid as traveling. It was easy for him to say since he was gone for weeks at a time anyhow.

The sound of the 'back room' door slamming shut brought her back out of her day dreams. She leaned up from the counter and watched as her mother was walking out with a couple boxes of styrofoam cups and coffee creamer. Those two items were things that they would all-too often run out of around there. Sure it didn't make much sense for those of all things to run out as quickly as they did, but they always did without fail.

"So, Jo... What we day dreaming about today?" Ellen shot Jo a knowing smirk and a quick wink of her left eye as she walked around over to the soda fountain machine.

Jo rolled her eyes and just gave her mother an overly sarcastic 'ha, ha'. It was completely normal for her mother to be this way with her. The whole teasing-mother-daughter relationship that the two of them had wasn't something you found to often. Ellen was the woman that you either loved or hated. There was no in-between with her and, if you let her, she could be a royal bitch or the mother you wished that you had.

Ellen dropped the boxes to the floor and then squated down in front of them before wipping out her pocket razor and slicing through the tape that kept the cardboard sealed around the items inside. She began pulling out the stacks of styrofoam cups and expertly loading them into the despenser. Then without a second beat she had done the same to the box of coffee creamers and started tossing handfulls into the empty basket beside the spouts of coffee. If there were an olympics for restocking merchandise, she would win the gold medal in every event no doubt.

"Man, it really is dead in here today, ain't it, honey." Ellen's eyebrows furrowed. Causing her forehead to wrinkle like it had been for the past fifteen years now. "How about we close up a little early today? What do you say?"

There was something a little off with her mom suddenly and Jo knew it immediately. She had lost count of how many times she had asked if they could close up the place early, but the answer was always the same. A big, fat no. So when she heard her mother say these words, she wasn't sure what to say except for the obvious question that hung silently in the air.

"What's the occasion? You never like to close up early." Jo slowly made her way from around the counter and over to where he mother stood. She couldn't think of one thing that would cause this kind of attitude from her mom. Unless, of course, there was some little piece of information that she happened to be missing. She was sort of betting on the later possiblity.

"Hey, if you don't wanna close up early then-" Ellen threw her hands up in surrender as her words trailed off in response to her daughter's question.

"No, no! I was just asking. Closing up early sounds terrific." Jo chuckled lightly at her mom's reaction. She shook her head as she began to wonder why she had for even a second questioned her mom's motives. Ellen always had seen the world a little different and had always had her own perspective on things; this just so happened to be one of them apparently.

"Great. We'll close at 9:30 tonight then." Ellen picked up the empty boxes from the floor then and looked back at her daughter with a slight grin. Then in the next second she was retreating for the back room again, but this time it was most likely because her soap's would be starting any minute now. That was the other thing that she seemed to watch religiously. Specifically, Days of Our Lives. "Oh, by the way.. Dad's coming home tonight and I'm making meatloaf." The slam of the back room door ended that conversation immediately.

Jo was surprised at the way her mother just seemed to quickly slip in that last piece of information before retreating into the back room. Her eyes widened at just hearing the news and she was increasingly nervous all of a sudden. Her dad had been gone for at least a month now and before he left neither of them were speaking to each other.

"Oh, joy." Maybe it was time to start believing in karma because tonight's turn of events was a definite sign that it was not some joke to be messed with. Karma was a bitch. And tonight was going to be awkward.

9:45 in the evening. A closed Harvelle's convienient store.

Jo was on edge as she awaited her dad's unexpected arrival. Her hands were shaking and she hadn't even stopped pacing long enough to roll up her apron and count the register. Before her dad had left on his last business trip they had gotten into a big argument about her leaving to travel like she wanted. Of course, Bill, her dad, wouldn't have any of that. He wanted to keep her on as short of leash as possible and keep her under his roof for as long as he wished. He would never admit to it, nor would Jo or Ellen, but he was an abusive man. Bill had hit Ellen for as long as Jo could remember and continued to take it even now. Jo however got treated a little differently; one minute she could be daddy's little princess and then the next minute she was the little blonde bitch that did everything wrong. It was part of the reason she was willing to do anything to get out of Duluth and hopefully Minnesota in the same trip.

10:02 in the evening.

Ellen is busy cooking her 'imfamous meatloaf' over in their little trailer home across the parking lot. They never could afford a real house or apartment with Bill's lack of salary and the little profit that they they tended to make off the gas station. Jo had finally found it in her to stop pacing and just grab a section of linoleum and sit behind the counter with her knees bent up against her chest.

Bill finally pulls up out front in his red, '68 Mustang Fashback. Also known as his pride an joy since he'd build her from the ground up with scrap pieces from 'Uncle" Bobby's salvage yard. He cut the engine out front and pulled out the keys with liughtning speed as he then proceeded to get out of the driver's seat and slam the door behind him. He was pissed off already; he never did take to liking the way some people had the audactiy to cut him off on the highway. Bill was after all a very short tmpered man.

Ellen and Jo both heard the car door slam like it was a fire alarm. They knew what was coming next and neither of them were prepared to cushion the several blows to come. Not necessarily hitting, but yelling mostly.

Ellen quickly pulled the now cooked meatlof from the small oven and set it down on the table with a cloth to keep the heat from scorching the fake wood that was the dinner table. Bill walked inside within seconds of the dinner being set out. He sucked in a deep breath and turned his gaze on his wife.

"Hey, hun... Miss me?" He asked with a cocky, crooked grin that only lasted about two seconds. He then went to the fridge and grabbed a beer.

" 'Course I did. Nothing's the same without around." Ellen actually meant what she said, of course, she didn't mean it exactly how it sounded either. Nothing was the same when he was out on business. It was quiet and usually peaceful. "You want any meatloaf with that beer?" She raised her left eyebrow curiously. Ellen always did know how to joke around with her husband and most of the time he even laughed. But when he was royally pissed off all she heard was yelling. Luckily he was still in a semi-good mood for the time being.

"Where's Jo?" He asked with pensive eyes, although he really didn't care all that much as long as she was actually still 'inside the perimeter'.

"Counting the register. We closed up a little early tonight so that I could make you some dinner. She should be in here in a few minutes."

That's when Bill got up from the plastic chair he had been sitting in and walked right back out the door without a word. He was walking straight for the store. Bill had never taken to liking the way Jo tended to count the register, and of course h didn't trust her with his money to well either. He was always afraid of her pocketing a few hundred and running away to God knows where. Where he couldn't get to her. He burst through the glass double door in seconds whilst taking another swig from his beer.

"Dad.. Hey." Jo jumped up from the floor, startled as she suddenly heard and saw her dad walking through the door.

"Hey kiddo. Is all my money still in there?" Bill didn't waste one second before getting straight to the point he was trying to make. His eyes were serious. Even scary if you hadn't seen that look before.

"All two-hundred dollars. Check it if you want." Jo stepped back away from the register with her hands raised in surrender. She then looked at the doors again as Ellen walked inside.

"Bill, com'on. Jo ain't gonna steal from the store. I'm sure if she wnted money she would have gotten some by now." Ellen decided to play the 'stupid card' to try and save her daughter's ass. Little did Jo know, but Ellen had caught her stealing twenty bucks from the register just last week; thankfully she had replaced the difference as soon as she found out. Ellen knew for certain that if Bill ever found out that little truth that both of their asses would be up a pole.

"Yeah, dad. Rufus down the street has been checking me out a lot in the last month. I'm sure he'd appreciate a little-"

"Alright! I got it, I got it..." Bill cut off Jo's words as soon as he knew where she was going with them. He'd heard the same spiel over and over from her and frankly he knew she's never do anything like that anyways. Humoring her just seemed to keep her quiet for a while, so that's what he did. "Now if you'll excuse me. I've got meatloaf and beer waiting for me at home." With a huff and grumble of something under his breath he walked back out of the store and headed for the trailer again.