Snippet #2340680

Friday Night

In the back of the greyhound bus sat a sulking teenager. Pink hello-kitty ear buds signified that she had no interest, at all, in talking to anyone. Her pale blue hues glared out the window at the dark world, as though if she had the power to set the world ablaze through just staring at it, half the East coast would be gone by now. She sat with her knees to her chest, chin to her knees, and arms around herself. As they pulled into the town she tried so hard to escape from, she couldn’t help but feel that it was bittersweet. On one hand, she had her friends back, but on the other… The bus came to a slow crawl, and finally a stop. Everyone around her jumped up like the bus was going to burst into flames, and if they loved their families they had to get off right now. Lizzie calmly stood and straightened out her pink jogging suit. It was her attire of choice when traveling for long periods of time.

Hitler was waiting for her when she stepped off the bus, headphones still in place. Hitler being Josh, her brother. She ignored his smile and went around to get her zebra print suitcase. “Welcome home, baby sis!” To anyone around, it might have looked like a heartwarming expression of love, but Liz could hear the poisonous undertone. Annoyed, she shoved her suitcase at him and continued walking towards his truck. It was new, she noted, but just looked like an updated version of the last one. Josh tossed her suitcase into the back, without care for anything breakable that might have been in the bag. He was trying to bait her temper. Refusing to play his game, she silently opened the passenger door and pulled herself into the truck.

If this is what being a dealer can buy you, maybe I’ve been on the wrong end of drugs.. she thought bitterly to herself, ignoring him as he comented on how ‘retarded’ she looked dressed that way. “When are you going to start acting your age, Elizabeth? I mean, really. You look like you’re fucking twelve years old!” Oh please. Twelve year olds couldn’t work these heels if they had to. She turned the volume up on her favorite song and tried to drown him out. Looking out the window she couldn’t help but smile. She was passing all of her friend’s houses. “Don’t even think about it.” She turned her hues towards the driver seat and raised a thinly lined eyebrow. “No way, Liz. You aren’t getting back in with that crowd. Mama’s got plans for you.” Plans? That can’t be good. The massive vehicle came to a stop in front of her childhood home. She should be happy about this, she mused. So many memories. Memories. Yeah, like the time Josh put her head through the bathroom mirror… or the time her mother caught the living room on fire because she fell asleep with a cigarette in her hand… or the time she locked herself in the bathroom and tried to swallow as many pills as she could, hoping she would just die. Yeah. Home sweet home.

Luckily her mother was asleep when she arrived, and Josh was going to stay with his girlfriend which meant she had the house to herself. She took her suitcase to her room and locked the door behind her. Nothing had changed. Looking around the room at the walls, with the many different collogues of her friends made tears suddenly swell into her eyes. She had missed them so, so much. One particular picture stood out to her, of all of them together. She smiled and walked over to the wall, tenderly touching the photograph. Jay, Brik, Trist, Avery, Kaleb, Maddie, Mordi, Kite…. Her mind whispered their names as her fingertips passed over the glossy image. I’ve missed you guys.. Exhausted from her trip, she walked over to her bed. Not bothering to slip out of the jogging outfit, she simply buried her way under the blankets. In the middle of the night, a drunken Josh came home. She heard him fumbling around with the door, and it woke her up. Fear gripped her. Within moments he had pushed his way into the room, as the lock as not a complicated lock. “The fuck you have that door locked for you little slut?” he practically yelled.

Liz retreated further up onto her bed, rubbing her eyes and trying to wake herself up. “I- I was sleeping, Josh.. It’s my room, damn, why the hell are you yelling?” Wrong response. In three quick steps he was on her, grabbing her neck and slapping her with the other hand. “You think you can talk to me like that, you little whore?” Liz would have responded, but he was pressing so hard on her throat that it was hard to breathe, or even think. He was yelling all sorts of things at her now, but her eyes just glazed over and went somewhere else. She had been repeating this process with him since she was in middle school. A part of her now just learned to disconnect from her body. When his raging was done, she had a bruise of a hand grip on her fair skinned throat and a broken door. She lay in bed for a while, just crying. What had she done to him that was so wrong to make him hate her so much? Her body took over at some point, and put her to sleep, because the next thing she knew, it was time to get up again.

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Saturday

Lizzie was always an early bird, but the travels from the day before left her a little more tired than usual. Due to this, she wasn’t up at her usual 8am mark to start on her makeup and hair. When she awoke, it was already ten in the morning. Frustrated with her internal alarm clock, Liz made her way to the bathroom connected to her room. The bathroom was done out in zebra print and teal decorations with the smell of hair spray heavy in the air. Multiple different styles of flat irons, curling irons, crimpers and blow driers lay sprawled out over the bathroom counter, and she knew that in the drawers below she would find hordes of makeup and hair accessories. Despite the occupants of her house, it was nice to have her stuff back. Luckily Josh and her mom were huge procrastinators and despite the amount of time she had been gone, they had yet to bother packing anything up to send to her. Maybe they knew the whole time that it would never last… but how could they have known? The thought of Josh made her pause and look into the mirror. Another bruise. She’d need concealer and extra foundation for that. Without warning a vicious nausea wave swept over her, and she collapsed to the floor in front of the toilet, throwing stomach acid into the bowl. Flashbacks of the many nights she spent with the porcelain king came to mind. The thought would have made her smile, if she didn’t feel like her body was trying to push her stomach out of her body. The wave passed, and she slowly pulled herself up to the sink. “Not today.”

Not today is Lizzie’s favorite saying, from one of her favorite shows, Game of Thrones. In the show, a sword instructor tells his pupil that there is only one god, and that is Death. ‘And there is only one thing we say to death—Not today.’ The reference made her smile a little and she pulled her strength together. She was going to have a great day. She’d see her friends, and they’d numb the pain, and make her forget. At least for a little while.

She made quick work of her morning routine, of showering and all the other hygienic things she needed to do, then all of the cosmetic things she needed to do. She went with a light smoke eye to compliment her outfit and teased the short layer of her hair into a nice volume. The bottom, longer, part of her hair she straightened to perfection. To complete her look, she put in her Marilyn Monroe silver stud ball and glossed her lips. She decided against wearing her colored contacts today, but did opt for a pair of thin fake eyelashes to add to her own for a little extra volume.

Once she was satisfied with her look, she made her way out of her room and down the stairs. She didn’t want to text anyone just yet. She wanted it to be a surprise. Who to go see first? She could have taken her car, but decided to walk the neighborhood instead. She was very used to wearing heels, and was comfortable enough to walk miles in them, but today she just didn’t feel like walking all that far. Summer’s it is! Since Summer lived closer than everyone else, aside from Tristan who lived in the house next door, Lizzie made her way there. Why wasn't she going to see him? She just couldn't not right now. Not alone. What would she say? She looked over her shoulder as she walked, almost longingly to Tristan's house, before she forced herself to look where she was going.

When she arrived, it didn’t look like anyone was home. She rang the doorbell, and didn’t get an answer, so instead of going inside, she decided to sit on the porch. It was a cloudy day, a gloomy day, but Summer would bring back the sun. She always did. Summer was like everyone’s happy pill. She always knew what to say, and do, to make everyone feel better. Jay was like that, too, in a more hard to love sort of way. Lizzie sat on the porch, watching the cars go by. Maybe I should have made a sign or something? she thought to herself as she toyed with her piercing. Deciding that would have been stupid, she shrugged off the idea. Where the hell was Summer?