Sun's Up

Yay, California

Cindy Dawson ☆

"I swear to god Cindy! Get your ass back here right now!" My older sister screeches as I fly out of my house, jumping over our fence and bolting down the sidewalk. I hear her throw the door open and scream after me, "You fucking bitch! That was my last bottle! I hope you get hit by a bus or something!" I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face like a plague, I had dumped bleach in her last bottle of her fancy, special detergent because she had 'accidentally' taken my personal notebook to school and was reading it out to her prissy popular friends.

Karma's a bitch, but not as big of one as me.

It's not like I had to be that extreme with my payback, but it was funny and I did get my point across, the week's worth of crying myself to sleep because of what she did was worth the look on everyone's faces when she shows up to school with bleach-stained clothes.

I get to a crosswalk and hit the button, hunching over and panting while I wait for the cars to stop speeding across. Once the walk signal is on the other side of the street I quickly jog across, adjusting the bag on my back as I do so. I know that my sister wouldn't chase after me, but I also know that it's safer to not go home for a few days until she cools down. Of course, that means I need a place to go, which is where my boyfriend's family comes in. The Hoovers are... well, dysfunctional, but nowhere near as bad as my family is. My boyfriend's -- Dwayne's -- mom, Sheryl supports her children to the best of her ability, my mom couldn't give a damn less if I was dying in a ditch because she's too busy with a new guy every night. Richard, Dwayne's stepdad, is a dick, he's super into his 9 steps to not be a loser, but I guess he doesn't realize what an unhealthy mindset he's forcing onto his family. My dad is not here, literally the stereotypical 'went to get milk' shit. Olive, Dwayne's little sister, is a cute ball of positive energy and ambitions, my sister is The Mean Girl that my mom basically worships. Dwayne's grandpa is a drug abuser, but he's not an absolute ass, he's blunt yeah, but not a completely horrible person. My grandpa's a pedophile and he's serving 3 life sentences in jail (none of them for pedophilia -- go figure).

I walk down the streets until I get to Dwayne's block, and then it hits me, I'm going to miss my therapy appointment tomorrow. But then I remember, oh yeah, I don't like my therapist. Nevermind, doesn't matter. I go around back to get to Dwayne's window, knocking on the pane. I grin cheekily as the face of Dwayne Hoover pops out of the window he had opened, he smiles at me and my grin grows wider, "Hey, can I crash?" He nods and reaches down to grab my bag from me, then after setting it down inside his room he reaches back out to grab my arms, pulling me as I walk up the wall.

I hear Dwayne writing in his notepad as I begin 'unpacking' my bag, making myself at home, he taps me on the shoulder and I turn, reading what he wrote, "My Uncle Frank's going to be staying in my room, he tried to kill himself, so if you wanna stay w/ Olive, you can." I shrug, giving him a smile, "Nah, I don't mind, I'll be on my best behavior for him, besides, I get what that's like." Dwayne nods and puts the notepad down on his nightstand, tossing the pen too.

I lay down on his bed, grabbing my iPod out of my bag and looking through the songs I had, Dwayne filled the space next to me, pulling out his book and beginning to read. I decide to listen to Deftones album Around the Fur, I offer one of my earbuds to Dwayne and he puts it in his ear, I rest my head on his shoulder and begin to read along.

ᓚᘏᗢ❁

Around thirty minutes later, I heard Sheryl come home, she called out in the house if anyone was home before making her way down the hall with another person, who I'm assuming was Dwayne's Uncle Frank based on the heavy shuffling footsteps. Sheryl knocks on the door as she's opening it, "Dwayne.. and Cindy, hi guys, Uncle Frank's here." Dwayne sits up and hands me the earbud back, I pause the song and sit up next to him, analyzing Frank's appearance. Stark white button up and pants, heavy eyebags, disheveled hair and oily skin, bandaged wrist and hollow eyes. That was definitely the appearance of someone who tried to kill themself a day or two ago, I would know.