A Very Dangerous Place

Dustin stayed at our house for a couple more days until his aunt came down from Veronville to pick him up. Those few days seemed to go by so quickly. With Angela occupying all of Dustin's time during school and at home, the only time we had to spend together alone was right after school in the playground and nights when I would sneak downstairs. We'd stay up talking about the most random things. We'd talk about how much we hate school, what we thought about our futures, and our parents. Those conversations would sometimes last all night so I'd have to pretend I had gotten up early to finish homework or something. And my parents would be so busy getting ready for work that they actually believed me. The good ol' days. But now Dustin was leaving and it felt like I would be saying goodbye to my best friend. He was going up to Veronaville to live with his aunt for a while until things cooled down between his mom and him. Who knew how long that would take? With Mrs. Broke being pregnant now, and having all those hormones, she would probably never cool down and let Dustin come back. Angela was a total wreck about the whole thing. She kept hugging him every time she looked out the window and started bawling when the car pulled up in the driveway. When my dad opened the door an incredibly beautiful woman walked in. Dustin's Aunt Clara was a tall, thin blonde with blue eyes and high cheekbones She spoke in a very soft voice, similar to one of those princesses from storybooks. Judging by her features I figured that she must have been Dustin's aunt on his dad's side. And then I remembered that Brandi hated the woman.

I remember my parents talking about it a few years ago when Mr. Broke, or Skip, as he told everyone to call him, died. They had disliked each other for years just because Clara 'didn't want Brandi's kind to be associated with their family'. Skip met Brandi at a NASCAR race when she was sixteen. Skip had just graduated from college at the time and was twenty twoyears old. She was the most excited little thing Skip had ever seen. At first, because of the age difference, he wasn't sure if her parents would be okay with their relationship. When Brandi brought Skip home for the first time, her parents immediately accepted him. They hoped that since he was older then Brandi that he could guide in the right direction for her future since he was a college educated man and came from an uptight, but wealthy family. Brandi's family was very poor and could barely afford to keep a roof over thier heads so they also encouraged Skip and Brandi's relationship in the hopes that he would one day give her a better life than the one she was born into. Brandi was a true southerner who loved to go "muddin' and have tailgating parties. She learned to shoot a buck when she was eight and could open a beer bottle against a window pane. But on Skip's side, it was just the opposite. His family wasn't exactly rich, like the Goth's, but were certainly not poor. Skip and Clara had been to private schools their whole lives and had their college paid for out of pocket because their father had been in the military. Skip's father adored Brandi and accepted her from the moment that Skip told his parents they were dating. But the women in the family, his mom and sister, treated her so badly. His mother almost had a heart attack when Skip announced his engagement to, by then, eighteen year old Brandi. The first question his sister asked was if he had 'gotten into trouble' with her. But Skip would never say anything because he knew how they would react. On their day of the wedding, Brandi was about six months pregnant with Dustin, and Skip's family had a fit because she wore a white dress. This upset her so much that day, she didn't even want to get married anymore. She sat in the back of the church with her head in her hands and refused to move even after The Wedding March had been repeated three times. Skip had to run and find out what was wrong. When he saw how beautiful Brandi looked in that dress he told her it didn't matter to him what color it was as long as it meant she would be married to him for the rest of his life. So Brandi and Skip were married and as much as Skip's family hated it, they couldn't do anything about it.

Skip's dad offered to buy them a house and a honeymoon is Europe as a wedding present, but Skip refused. He said he wanted to build his own family up from the bottom with his own two hands. So Brandi and Skip bought a small, one bedroom, one bathroom starter home and never looked back. Skip's mother and sister still hated Brandi, but when Dustin was born they had to be nice so they would be allowed to see him. The whole family adored Dustin and spoiled him so much that for many years he didn't know that his families were fighting. Dustin loved his Aunt Clara and would spend many of his summers with her. When Skip died of an aneurism that caused him to drown in their pool outside, Brandi believed that his family blamed her. She got into a huge argument with Clara about seating at the funeral because she wanted her family on one side and his on another. Clara wanted the families to sit together so she could sit near her nephews. Brandi didn't like that one bit. She thought Clara would be telling the kids lies about her. She told Clara that she couldn't come at all unless she sat where she was told to sit. Clara said she was okay with it but on the day of the funeral she snuck a seat next to Dustin while Brandi wasn't looking. Brandi was too upset at the time to notice, but after to funeral when Dustin slipped up and mentioned it, she decided to hate Clara forever and didn't allow Skip's family to see the children anymore.

On holidays, they no longer received a card or a picture. Dustin felt like it was his fault that he would never see his beloved aunt anymore. But one day, when he was walking home from school, she pulled up next to him in a shiny black Mercedes and told him it was his when he got his license. Of course, he knew his mother would flip if she suddenly saw a new car in her driveway. His aunt then gave him another choice. She told him that if he came to visit her like he used to, then he could drive it as often as he wanted. She handed him a birthday card and inside was a twenty dollar bill and a number he could reach her from. And two years later, here she was.

She grabbed Dustin and almost lifted him off the ground when she saw him. I could tell that she must have really missed him. She complimented how tall he had gotten and asked which one of us was his girlfriend. I told her it was the psycho sobbing in the corner. She whispered to me that it was too bad because I seemed like more fun. Angela stood and tried to clean herself up before introducing herself to Clara. It was so hilarious to me that I started cracking up and had to turn my head so I wouldn't laugh in her face. Angela hung her head into Dustin's chest for a minute and he whispered to her to calm her down.

"Don't worry. I'll call and text. It won't be for that long." He kissed her on her forehead before she grabbed him into another hug. Then he turned to me. I had to try my best to be as nonchalant as I could.

"See you, Lilith." That was all he said.

" It's been real." That was all I said.

He went outside to the car, the same Mercedes from two year ago, and they were gone. I went upstairs to my bedroom and was pretty bummed out for a while. But not nearly as upset as Princess Angela. She went to her room and continued sobbing the entire night. I figured she'd be too upset to even go to school the next day.