A/N: Hey guys! I'm baack! Sorry for the long break from my other stories, but I really needed it; anyways, this is a little diddy that I dreamt up this morning (the 23rd), and it's been stuck in my head ever since. Hope you like it!
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The wind whipped rain in my face, and I pulled my heavy coat tighter around my small frame. The dark of the night nearly engulfed me, and was broken only by the dim streetlight that I hovered under. I glanced down at my feet, seeing only cracked sidewalk under them, and a small puddle of water beginning to form. I heaved a sigh, and skimmed my surroundings for the guy I was meeting; my eyes were met only with shady-looking buildings and a dumpy car across the street. I swore under my breath, resolving that if my costumer didn't show up soon, I'd take the damned pills myself. I ripped my right arm away from my body, glaring at the face of my cheap watch- it was just after three. I reached into the pocket of my faded brown coat, and withdrew the small container therein. I rattled it, enough to hear tapping of chemicals inside of it, and stared at it, tempted. Ahh, but two of these would wipe my troubles from the face of the earth- two more would wipe me from the face of the earth. I decided not to risk it- I was infamous for my total lack of self-control, and this would just add to that dirty reputation.
The rain, seeming to sense my forlorn thoughts, picked up, and I loudly swore again. Fuck this idiot for not knowing that three o'clock sharp meant fucking three o'clock sharp! I turned to go home, pissed that I'd have to go hungry another week to pay the damn rent. If my sister weren't a full-time student in college, I'd get on her ass every day about getting a job, but seeing that she was, I didn't bother her too much. In return, she pretended that I worked at a movie theatre, and was such a good employee that people tipped me… a couple hundred extra. I rolled my eyes at the thought of my only family, and meandered slowly down the abandoned road. The morning wind bit at my face, and I cursed myself for even getting out of bed yesterday. I growled, when I got my hands on this motherfucker, god help him-
"Yo, Quag! Quag- QUAGMIRE!" I spun, still pissed, to see my costumer with some chick at his side. It was Jerry, who was a senior at my high school. By his side was Lisa, a whore whose reputation was almost as shoddy as mine. I sent her a smirk, along with a long examination of her thin frame- no tits, no hips, but on the plus side, she had awesome legs and a flat tummy. I glanced back to Jerry, who at the same time looked annoyed that I was checking out his girl, and guilty for being late. I shot him a glare, holding out my hand for his cash before I gave him what he wanted.
"Now, c'mon. Don't be like that, Quag. Me and Lisa just got a little… ya know. Distracted." I rolled my eyes at the excuse, yet I knew exactly what he meant- it wasn't like I'd never been late to a deal because I was fucking a hottie. I nodded, and loosened up a bit. He handed me a wad of bills- about a hundred and fifty dollars- and I pulled out the bottle, tossing it to him. He grinned, and gave me a mock salute as Lisa giggled, and I smiled back at them before waving and heading in the other direction.
It was a good deal- I bought drugs for cheap from people who were way too shady to sell them, and I gave them thirty percent interest from the sale. The rest went towards rent, and food money. I separated forty-five dollars from the rest of the stash, and roamed lazily to my source's house. It was a ways away from my deal site, but at least the rain had let up a little.
Washington was a shitty place to be in the fall- between the snow and the fucking rain that wouldn't let up, you'd think that no one wanted to live here. But lo and behold, I was born and raised in this hellhole, and my sister- Gracie- decided to stay. I sighed, wishing for the thousandth time that she'd followed my advice and gone to California. I turned onto a main road, where a maximum of two cars drove past. When I was younger, I heard that people in California never slept- that it was nearly always warm, and it rained about three times a year. If only. I remembered my uncle, telling me that the instant I graduated high school, I should move there, and take Gracie with me. He said Cali would have better prospects for us. I heaved another sigh, and continued in my trek, speeding up slightly. Gracie always worried when I was late, and on nights when she didn't have tests to study for, she'd wait up for me… or fall asleep trying.
Around thirty minutes later, I arrived at a rundown house that was buried somewhere in the suburbia that seemed to be everywhere. I kicked at the dirty door, and it creaked open. I rolled my eyes at the obvious state that the meth lab was in, and made my way into the living room, stepping over piles of dirty clothes and mud on my way in. My source, Andy, was passed out on the couch, as usual. I nudged him with my foot, and he raised a skeletal hand to wave me away. I bent down and shook him, and he finally opened a red-rimmed eye, upset at being woken up. I waved the money in front of his face, and he grabbed at it greedily. He looked up at me, bleary eyed, and gave me a smile that was missing quite a few teeth. I shivered before backing out of the house- I never wanted to be like that slob.
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I opened the door to our small apartment slowly, afraid to wake Gracie up. I looked around the tiny living room, noticing that our lamp was on, and on the couch slumbered my sister. She snored a bit, and I held back a chuckle before taking a step to the left and arriving in the kitchen. I stuffed my earnings into a jar titled "RENT" before turning and tiptoeing back into the loft. I grabbed a moth-eaten blanket off of the side of the cheap couch and threw it over Gracie's rather large form before heading to my room and passing out on my bed.
The morning came too fast, and then Gracie was pounding at my door, telling me that I'd be late for school. I let out a groan, and rolled off of my soft haven before pulling on some clothes and jogging into the kitchen. Gracie was at the table, setting down frozen waffles and orange juice for me, along with coffee and some sugary cereal for herself. I mumbled a quick thanks and scarfed down my food quickly, chasing it with the juice.
"Slow down there, Glenny, you'll choke!" chuckled Gracie, sipping her coffee lazily and staring down at this morning's paper. I looked at the header curiously for a moment, before heading to my room to grab my backpack. "Have you read this?"
"Nah. Why?" I slipped on my sneakers.
"Says here, 'Two teenagers killed in car accident, found with drugs'… this isn't you, is it?" I let out a gulp, and turned to see her in my door way. She was quite formidable, when I thought about it- built like a linebacker. I took a step back and sat on my bed.
"Yea," I tried to keep my voice straight, but it came out as a whisper. She sighed, sitting next to me on the bed. "Yea, that's me."
"Sometimes, I just don't know what to do with you, Glenny. Can't you get a normal job, like other kids?" I turned to her, boiling- I could feel my cheeks getting red with annoyance and anger. Did she seriously not understand?
"Look, Ms. I-Have-To-Go-To-College. Other kids only need pocket money- other kids don't have to pay their own damn rent, because other kids have fucking parents to take care of that. So don't you fucking chastise me for keeping food on the table or a roof over our heads, got it? I do what I gotta do, and regretting it is a waste of my damn time!" By now, the angry tears were at my eyes, and I rubbed at them, embarrassed. Gracie pulled me into a tight hug, rubbing my back with a plump hand.
"I get it, ok? Don't worry… I get it," she mumbled into my hair, and I sighed. "We can get through this. Ok? I'll graduate, and get a job and then when we get enough money, we can go to California. How does that sound?" I nodded, my forehead pressed against her soft clavicle, and I relaxed into the embrace. Sometimes- though I hated to admit it- my sister knew how to calm me down better than anyone else.
"Oh," she said, startling me out of my reverie, "you'd better not go to school today, either."
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The cake said "It's Your Birthday!" and was obviously one of the cheap ones from the grocery store, but I appreciated it, none the less. Gracie stood in front of me, a dollar store camera in hand, and snapped endless photos. I smiled wearily up at her, and then looked down at the purple graduation gown I wore; this morning, I was sure that I'd have a stain on it by the end of the night, but I'd luckily kept it spot-free. The past two years of struggling through the usual torments of high school- with a shady gig to add to it- for what? A cake, some ceremony, and some pictures? Gracie said it would help me get into college easier, but I didn't care about that- I had all the money I needed, and would stay with her for the four more years that she was in school so that she would as well.
But I merely smiled and nodded as my sister chatted on about how proud of me she was and how my life would only get better from here on out, blah blah blah… When the cake was finished, and the dishes were cleaned and at least twenty pictures were taken of me, I headed off to bed, collapsing on the wobbly frame and passing out instantly.
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Gracie worked double time, along with school, to get the cell phone when it first came out. Honestly, I didn't know what the big deal was- it was merely a giant piece of plastic, and what was wrong with the house phone? She didn't answer, merely dialed a number and squealed when the other end picked up.
"I finally got it!" she cried, and whoever was on the other end chatted with her for a while. During their conversation, Gracie's face grew as grim as I'd ever seen it, and she spoke in low tones. She glanced nervously at me a few times, but I ignored her and turned up my walkman radio, napping on the couch. I woke up, about an hour later, to see her still on the phone. I heaved a sigh, and headed out the door to Andy's house.
His place was as shitty as ever, and I heard sounds from the inside, mainly girly moans and a few yelps. I slid inside the front door, quietly because he got pissed when I disturbed him when he was fucking someone. There were more people in the house than I had ever seen- about four, including me and Andy. The two girls were obviously high, and in their panties. Andy wasn't even with them! He was standing above the chicks, holding a video camera and taping them while they writhed about on the ground. I chuckled, and he looked up at me with a smile, before motioning for me to hold the camera. I did so, and he disappeared into another room of the house, before emerging with a bottle for me. I grinned, paid him, and handed back the camera.
Heading to my usual spot, I waited for a while. Before too long, my client showed up, obviously inebriated. I smirked, taking the opportunity to scam some cash off of him, telling him that the drugs were much more expensive than they really were. He nodded, as though it made sense that pills were ten times more expensive if the buyer was high, and paid. I watched him go on his merry way, and then headed back to Andy's house.
It was quiet, and as I pushed open the door, I saw the two girls on the floor, passed out. Their clothes were completely off, and Andy was on top of the curvier of the two. I threw the money at him, and he stopped me before I left. Gesturing to the lone girl, he said, "Want some?"
I stopped for a moment, then grinned- the biz didn't leave much room for me to get any.
"Don't mind if I do."
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Sometimes, I could swear that Gracie could smell slut on me. The instant I walked in the door, she took one look at me and pounced, dragging me to the doctor and chastising me about the risks of sleeping with anything that walked. I rolled my eyes, and dragged my feet.
"Yes, I'm afraid you have Syphilis," it was casually said, but I felt a lump in my throat and my face was hot. Fuck! Fuck me for sleeping with anything with a pulse, and fuck Andy for tempting me with that slut! "Fortunately, it is only Latent, and so you will have no symptoms."
"Is there anything I can do, doc?" I was desperate, now, pleading. The guy seemed to take pity on me. "I'll write you a prescription for Penicillin, how's that? Don't worry, lad, it's early. You might just make it." This last was said with a twitch of his mustache, and then Gracie had me whisked away to the pharmacist before I knew it. The all-too-familiar pill bottle was shoved into my hand, and then we were walking home, a large umbrella in my sister's hand.
I stayed home for a few days, completely and fully paranoid that people would be able to smell the STD on me. I knew I had to pay the rent, though, and the jar was frightfully low on cash- though not empty. I heaved myself up, and tromped through the never-ending rain to Andy's house.
The curvy girl that he'd fucked was still there, tied up and apparently fully sober. I smiled and gave her a little wave before paying Andy and getting the hell out of there. I didn't want to dabble in such messy business, especially since Andy was constantly high and therefore didn't make the best decisions. I went to my usual corner and waited there.
To my surprise, it was my neighbor who came- Brian. He was a middle-aged man with a wife and about fifty kids, but he seemed happy with his lot… guess not. He paid, and swore me to secrecy, and I promptly handed him the key to happiness. He ran off, eyes shifty, and I headed home, forgetting about Andy- it's not like he noticed whether I paid him or not, anyways. I quietly opened the door, worried that Gracie would be asleep, but she was curled up on the couch, talking on the phone in that hushed voice that she always talked in. I wondered briefly if she had a lover, then shrugged the thought off. I did manage to catch some of her conversation with her mysterious partner (I was sure that she was constantly talking to the same person). She was muttering something about a 'safe place', about 'freedom to be who you are, Hun', and such. I decided that I didn't care, and so meandered into my room. I sat on the edge of my bed, looking around at the cluttered mess of clothes that closely resembled Andy's place. I shuddered at the thought, then crawled to the center of my bed and stayed there.
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The morning came, then passed, and the afternoon came. I lumbered out of bed, rubbing my eyes as I stumbled into the kitchen to sneak some of Gracie's coffee. She was in the living room- again- on the couch and on that damn phone. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the newspaper from where she'd left it on the counter. I sat at the table and nibbled the frozen waffles Gracie had left out for me, and lazily skimmed the front page; bank robbery, rich guy's daughter runs away from home, family of eight dies in a fire… the usual. I sighed and threw the paper back onto the counter before finishing my meal. Gracie chose that moment to leap up from the couch and grab her car keys. I stared at her for a moment, and stood up from the table to clean my dishes. She paused and glared at me.
"Now look, Glenny. We're gonna have my friend stay with us, alright? I don't want you making her feel uncomfortable in any way, ya got that? She's away from home, and she's a bit afraid to be on her own, so you and me are gonna make her feel safe, ok? This is gonna be her safe place." I shrugged, secretly pleased that I had finally got the answer to the mystery of who she'd been talking on the phone to constantly. And if she was giving me this much of a warning, the girl must be hot, right? Finally, some action!
The rest of my day was filled with anticipation as I waited for Gracie to get back from picking her friend up from the airport. I was excited to see this chick- and obviously if she was rebelling from mumsie and daddy, she wouldn't mind some drugs, or maybe some sex with the Master Quagmire. I smirked, and prepared something cool to say when she came in that would totally seduce her. Of course, I didn't really have much trouble in that respect- when I had the time for sex, it was constant. Ladies were practically jumping on me, and why not? I had little to no standards, and therefore was an ego-boost to fat and ugly chicks. I chuckled at this last thought- once I had this new babe, I knew there wouldn't be any going back to my other horrendous bedmates. It was an exciting prospect.