"Come on, baby, don't die on me yet. Just a few more feet...", Haley begged her 1994 Toyota.

With a sickening grunt and a puff of smoke it made it into the driveway. Thank you, she whispered silently to no one in particular. She removed the key from the ignition and rubbed the aching muscles around her neck. Another day in paradise, she thought to herself with a groan as she made her way home. The concrete steps creaked underneath her 115 pound frame and she fumbled with the key in the door. She opened it and was greeted by the smell of stale smoke. The TV was on but so was the radio as an old Hank Williams Jr. song blasted in the background. It smelled funny, a cross between old food and cigarette smoke. No matter how many times Haley had cleaned that place spic and span, somehow by the time she returned home it was always cluttered again and she would have to end up kicking a trail from the living room to her bedroom.

"Mama, you okay?" Haley asked as she saw her mother lying face down on the sofa. "Mama, come on. Get up. Sit up for me, please."

Cindy James dragged herself to a sitting position and rubbed her eyes as she blindly reached for her cigarette pack.

"Hey, darlin'. What time did you get home? I was just taking a little nap, didn't even hear you drive up."

The smell of hard liquor hit Haley square in the nose. She couldn't even remember a time coming home after her parents' divorce where her mother hadn't smelled like a brewery.

"Did you eat yet, Mama? I can fix you a..."

"I didn't eat yet", said a voice from coming from the master bedroom. "I'm real hungry. What are you gonna fix me to eat?"

Haley sighed and put a protective arm around her mother. After her father left, she had seen some characters in the form of her mother's boyfriends but Ricky took the cake. They had been together for almost a year and he was practically already moved in. Every time she looked at his roving, sneering eyes, it was hard to escape that sickening feeling that formed in the pit of her stomach.

"Ricky, hey, baby", Cindy grinned as she laid a big kiss on her lover's lips. "I missed you."

"And I missed you, too. How about a kiss for your old man?" he asked, arms outstretched and his lips curled into a smirk.

He came closer and Haley quickly backed away, just enough to avoid him but still mask her growing fear of him.

"You are not my old man", she said in a quiet but firm voice.

She retreated to the kitchen and whipped up a couple grilled cheese sandwiches. As much as her mother drank it did make Haley feel a little better to know that she had some food in her stomach.

"Here, Mama", she said, placing the plate down. "I'm going to bed. Knock if you need me."

Without waiting for a response, Haley made her way to her bedroom, closing and locking the door behind her. Throwing all the stuffed animals and dolls off the bed, she sank down relishing the first time she had been off her feet all day. Feeling something underneath her she rolled over and quickly picked up the white business sized envelopes. There were bills and although she had only recently started to pay them, she had been writing them out for her mother for the longest time. A worried frown crossed her face as she made notations on the calculator. Pretty soon Cindy's unemployment check would run out and there weren't enough miracles in the world to make Ricky go out and get a job. One day at a time, she breathed, a scowl forming on her pretty face as a familiar odor seeped up into her nostrils. An asthmatic since birth, Haley had always been sensitive to cigarette smoke. Not that that had ever stopped her mother before from smoking in the house or even when she was pregnant with her. And ever since Ricky had come into the picture, marijuana smoke had been added to the fumes from the Marlboro Reds. Stuffing a towel under the crack of the door, she quickly slipped out of her jeans and tee shirt and changed into comfortable bedclothes. She was tired and not just the physical exhaustion from working hard all day. She was mentally and emotionally worn out from her life and the only thing to do was to go to bed and wake up the next morning only to repeat the same old suffocating routine.

"Now I lay me down to sleep, I praise the Lord my soul to keep. If I shall die before I wake, I praise the Lord my soul to take. God bless Mama and Pop and Granny. Bless my family and my friends. Bless everyone. Amen."

After praying on her knees as she always did before bed, Haley stood and turned back the covers. Slipping into the comfort of her bed since childhood, she turned and faced the wall. A small smile crept to her lips as the moonlight shone in and she could stare up at the visible and perfect face of Nathan Scott. When he had first debuted in the NBA along with his brother, she had purchased a Sports Illustrated magazine that was featuring an article on the duo. There had been a beautiful and perfect picture of the guys and she had cut it out and taped it to the wall. Now in a sense she got to sleep with Nathan every night. The very thought made her melt as she wondered what that might be like in real life. Surely Peyton Sawyer must have known. It was a rumor that Nathan had taken her virginity freshman year and seeing the exclusive couple that they were, Haley had not been the least surprised. A little envious perhaps but not surprised. She grinned again as she often had when she laid in bed awake thinking about Nathan or what it would be like to be his girl. Then her thoughts drifted back to Peyton. Peyton really was a nice girl and she, like no one, deserved what had happened to her. Haley felt bad for what the girl was going through and even worse for Nathan whom she knew loved her so much. Sometimes life just wasn't fair.

"God bless Peyton", Haley quickly added as her eye lids grew heavy and took her to dream land.