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Ok so this is chapter #2... in my opinion its not as good as the first but i guess im not the best judge of that... enjoy =]
Sixteen Years Old
“Happy Birthday dear Jenny, Happy Birthday to you ” All the kids sang. I blew out the candles on my triple chocolate ice cream cake and silently made a wish. Sixteen years old. It felt like a lot longer than that.
“So what did you wish for?” one of the little girls tugged at my sleeve. It was Danielle. She was eight. She came to the orphanage three months ago. She had been beaten by her father. I grew especially close to her. I was very protective and guarded her like a mother lion.
“If I tell you, it won’t come true. It has to be a secret.” I explained.
“Oh, ok..” she said and turned a pretend key in her mouth and threw it behind her. I laughed.
“Yeah.” I smiled back at her, after putting my finger to my lips. She ran off to play with the other kids. Someone flicked me on the back of the head.
“Happy birthday loser.” Rikki chuckled. I shoved her and laughed.
“Thanks moron.” She hadn’t changed much since we were twelve, except the clothes got a little bit tighter and the language a little more crude, of which I’m taking the liberty of leaving out of this story.
“So what are your plans for tonight birthday girl?” she asked, sitting in the chair next to me and putting her feet up on the table.
“Rikki, you know no one is gonna let us go anywhere. Besides, it’s a school night, that just makes it even harder to get out.” As soon as you got to the highschool level, you started attending public school again. Me and Rikki had gone in bravely, and I had barely survived the mocking and bullying. Apparently, most kids find humor in kids being abandoned and being sent to live in an orphanage. But every time someone was bothering me, Rikki was there to scare them off. I didn’t mind being defended, it was nice having someone sticking up for me who wasn’t being payed to do so. We had made a few friends at school, the kind of friends most people would call “bad influences”, but they were fun to hang out with. These were the people Rikki wanted to go out with.
“Oh come on ” she pleaded, “The guys have got a whole thing planned for you, and besides, its your birthday. No on here is gonna make you stay here and read. Come on ” I sighed and furrowed my brow.
“Oh, alright.” Rikki squeaked and clapped her hands. She grabbed my arm and starting pulling me upstairs. “But so help me God, Rikki, if any one gets drunk, I’m out of there.”
“Yeah, yeah, sure.” she reassured me. She dragged me into the room and locked the door behind her. For hours she brushed and sprayed my hair, somehow managed to get make-up on my face without having to call in reinforcements, and picked out outfits from the clothes I had bought with the money I received for my birthday. By the end of the ordeal, I had no longer looked like Jenny the orphan, but instead I looked like a girl ready to do some serious clubbing. In between all of the styling and applying creams and powders on to my face, Rikki had managed to transform herself as well. It was about eleven o’clock by the time we were ready to get out of there. Rikki undid the latch on the window, and started to put her foot through when there was a knock on the door.
“Girls, are you still awake?” It was only Becky. She was the youngest woman working at the home. She might be cool with this.
“Come in ” Rikki called. The door opened and we were both standing in front of the mirror pretending to fool with our hair.
“Well don’t you two look nice. And where exactly are you planning on going tonight?” she questioned.
“Well,” Rikki volunteered, “Since it’s Jenny’s birthday , we thought that we’d go out and have a little celebration. You know, sweet sixteen?” she gave a little innocent shrug.
“And what kind of things will you be doing at this celebration?” Becky folded her arms and cocked one eyebrow. I stepped forward.
“We were just going to chill with some of the girls from school. We were thinking about seeing a movie or something.” She eyed us suspiciously. Rikki held, waiting for her answer.
“Ok, I’ll let you go. But be back in time for breakfast tomorrow, and If anything not entirely legal should occur don’t tell me about it and I’ll be fine. But if I should find out about it, you two are dead, got it?”
“Yes of course. Thank you, thank you, thank you ” Rikki replied jumping up and down excitedly. Becky rolled her eyes and left the room. Rikki locked the door, and ran to the window and started hoisting her self out. “Nice save, Jenny ” Being more experienced at climbing out of windows, she went first. She used the bricks as footholds and slowly lowered her self down. When she was safely on the ground, she held up her arms to catch me if I fell, which I had done multiple times before. But luckily this time, I had reached the ground with no injuries.
We silently ran down the street to the bus stop, where we each payed a dollar to ride to some dance club where our gang was waiting with fake ID’s and money to get in. The ID’s were supplied by one of the guy’s older brother, Rex. He didn’t tell us where he got them, and we didn’t ask. The bouncer standing at the door let us in without question. The inside of the club was too cliche for me. Bright colorful strobe lights were everywhere and the smell of sweat and alcohol blended together and filled the building. There were too many mini skirts to count and even more guys looking at them. The dance floor was packed with people jumping around awkwardly, not seeming to realize how ridiculous they looked. At once my group of friends, my comfort zone, dispersed to various parts of the chaotic mess. I lost all feeling of security and felt a wave of anxiety crash over me. The room started spinning, more than it was to begin with. I was dragged back into reality by Rikki’s hand pulling me in the direction of the bar.
“Rikki, no.” I pleaded. The bartender started fixing drinks for us. “Rikki, I told you-“
“Come one, you only turn sixteen once ” she argued, handing me a glass full of a cloudy liquid, “Live a little ” I stared at the glass with a certain hatred that I couldn’t identify. I hesitantly raised the glass to my lips. I swished the drink around in my mouth a little before swallowing. Everything that had occurred after that is a bit of a blur. I remember having more drinks, and eventually ending up in someone’s apartment. I opened my eyes and the room faded into focus. Six of the original party members were sitting in a circle on the floor, beer bottles scattered around them. Rikki was sitting next to me, caught up in a drunken fit of laughter. I looked at her hand. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I realized with a look of horror that Rikki was holding a needle in her hand. She clumsily tried to plunge the needle into the crook of her elbow. Every time she missed everyone in the group who was still conscious would start laughing again. Repulsed by what I was seeing, I looked down at my own hands to see a swollen puncture mark on the inside of my arm. The room began to spin and all of the noise stopped. I looked up to see why everyone had stopped laughing but I could still see their mouths moving. Rikki was still struggling with the needle. One of the guys reached over to help her. The last thing I saw before I lost grips with the world was the needle sliding into her skin...
I awoke in my room, face first on my bed. I was still in the clothes from the night before. My hair was bedraggled and I felt dirty. I sat up and looked for Rikki. She was already showered and ready to continue the day as if nothing had happened. I rubbed my eyes and looked at the alarm clock. It read seven thirty in the morning.
“Good morning, sleeping beauty Its about time you got up ” Rikki tossed some jeans at me. “Hurry up and get dressed, we can’t miss breakfast. Becky would kill us.” She went back in the bathroom. “And don’t forget, long sleeves.” I glanced down at my arms. It was red and sore. I was hit with the realization of what I had done. I felt nauseous, and panic started racing through my head. The headache and the hangover made it all the more worse. Dumbly, I dressed my self and ripped a brush through my rat’s nest of hair. I pulled a tattered sweater over my head. I turned to walk out the door, but Rikki stood in my path. I gasped.
“Don’t sneak up on me like that, Rikki ” She laughed a little.
“I was standing there the whole time. I guess we had a little too much fun last night, eh?” she tilted her head back and squeezed drops into her eyes. She handed me the bottle and I did the same. She seemed a little too experienced at this. I grabbed her arm.
“Rikki how many times have you done this?” I asked, very calmly. She sighed,
“Oh come on Jenny. Why does it matter?” she pulled her arm free.
“Rikki? ” I pleaded, the urgency apparent in my voice. She rolled her eyes.
“See this is exactly why I didn’t tell you I knew you were gonna flip out like this.” she grumbled.
“How many times, Rikki ? ?” I cried, shaking her by her shoulders.
“About half a dozen Get a grip, Jenny. Its not like you’re all innocent. You’ve done it too.” she said, brushing off my grip. She shoved passed me to the door. Her words sunk in. She was right. I had become the very thing I had hated my whole life. But somehow, my body craved more. The intense yearning I felt made me sick to my stomach. I collapsed to my knees, heavy with guilt. The tears started flowing and I couldn’t stop them. My life was never going to be the same ever again. The very thing that ruined my life was now coursing through my veins, pulling me into the dark. Every inch of my body became numb. I foolishly stood up and followed Rikki out the door.
Everything started to change. Rikki started getting in trouble in school more and dragging me into it. Every where we went we were defying authority. We became a nuisance to everybody at the home. Rikki’s patience was beginning to wear thin. She began threatening to run away if they didn’t treat her with respect. No one took her seriously, except for me. They brushed it off as a phase, which she would eventually grow out of. They all thought of her as a silly teenager who didn’t understand what she was feeling. But I understood, and I knew she did too. One day, I came back into our room and saw her packing a bag. She was angrily stuffing clothes into the tattered black backpack the she had had since I first met her. I hesitated, my knuckles turning white clutching the doorknob. “Rikki? What are you doing?” I asked. She ignored me. “Rikki,” I repeated, a little more demanding, “What. Are. You. Doing?” She threw the bag to the floor.
“They are gonna kick me out. The bastards are gonna send me to a different home.” She planted her feet and looked me in the eye.
“Wait. What?” I inquired, “What do you mean?” I still hadn’t let go of the doorknob.
“I heard Donna and Michael talking. They said they can’t handle my ‘attitude’ anymore, and they are going to transfer me to some home for ‘Troubled Youth’.” she returned to shoving everything she owned into the tiny sack.
“What?” I stood dumbly in the doorway. “But they can’t do that ” I protested. She slung the bag on her back.
“Oh, but they can.” she explained. “They can do anything they want with us. We are property to them. Nothing but property.” She pulled on her shoes. I couldn’t grab a hold of this. I kept reaching for something to grasp but it kept slipping away. They couldn’t do this. They couldn’t take her away from me. I wasn’t going to let them.
I darted for my bed and pulled out my own back pack from underneath and followed Rikki’s example. “What the hell do you think your doing?” she snapped ripping the bag from my hands.
“I’m coming with you.” I got to my feet and planted them firmly. Rikki started to laugh.
“Seriously Jenny? You wouldn’t stand a chance outside of here.” she folded her arms and grinned smugly.
“And what makes you think you’re so well equipped to live on your own?” I folded my arms and matched her stance.
“Who said anything about living on my own? Tony has an apartment and im gonna go stay with him.” Tony was the nineteen year old Rikki had been “dating”. She never talked about the details of their relationship, and I had never asked. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to know. She picked up her bag and stood by the window. “Forget it. You’re not coming.”
“Well...” I searched for a something to bargain with, “You know, if you leave they are gonna call the police.” I said. Rikki cocked her brow.
“What are you trying to say?” I shrugged my shoulders very nonchalantly.
“I don’t know. I was just thinking that if you go missing they are gonna ask me about it, and if I just happen to let it slip about Tony’s apartment...” I shuffled my feet trying to look innocently guilty.
“You wouldn’t ” she became very defensive. I folded my arms once again.
“Oh, I would So maybe you should let me come with you.” she tried to stare me down, make me vulnerable so I would let her go, but I stood my ground. I was asserting my dominance. She sighed in a very irritated manner.
“Fine. But I don’t wanna hear you crying that you wanna come back.” She helped me shove the rest of my things in the bag. We climbed out the window and for the first time, I managed to land nimbly on my feet. A car was waiting by the curb, well hidden by a few shrubs. As we were running towards it the door flew open and we dove in. It peeled away with a screech. The driver was a little irritated that there was an extra passenger that he wasn’t aware of ahead of time, but relaxed when Rikki told him I was cool. It took about an hour to reach the rundown apartment in Harlem. We climbed the creaky stairs to the fifth floor where Tony, who I had only met once before, met us at the door. He lead us into the apartment. The paint was peeling of the walls and there were a few odors I couldn’t identify lingering in the air. Four other people were sitting on the floor, stoned out of their minds, while one couple made out like they were going to die in a half an hour. Rikki took our bags and threw them on a couch. She sat on the floor and held a beer out to me, summoning me to join her. I sat next to her cross legged and took it. A guy with ginger hair reached over and popped the cap off for me. I sat staring at the bottle for sometime before I tipped the horrid liquid down my throat. After a few sips, it started to taste bearable, and after a few more it wasn’t so bad after all. I hadn’t even noticed Rikki joining in on the drugs. The one who opened the beer for me now held out a needle that I stared at with a certain level of confusion. I clumsily grasped it in my hand and sat there dumbly, the alcohol affecting my judgment skills. “Don’t worry, its clean.” I heard someone say. I tried to pick the voice out of the room but gave up when it became too difficult. I pointed the needle at my arm. I looked around for help, not sure of what I was supposed to do next. But everyone was sprawled all over the floor showed no interest in moving. So I swallowed, and plunged it into my arm.
tell me what you think =]
 krystal_coyru · Tue Apr 28, 2009 @ 10:32pm · 0 Comments |
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