Sapphire Eyes ~ 10 Chapter Challenge

Four Years Before the Letter ~ Part 1

Pathetic Lies ~ Mirna

The bus comes to a hard stop, and I rock back and forth in my seat. Tequana grabs my arm to keep me put, while all the passengers shuffle past to exit the bus. Drunks, bums, crack heads, the usuals of the community bus crowd.

I need someone to tell me we don't fit in here, but the only people who ride this bus are the people who have to. I guess this is where we belong, so why ask for a lie?

"'Kay, go." Tequana nudges me, and I grab my bag and hurry down the aisle. The bus driver turns sideways to watch us. Why do we have to be last off, with the creepy driver?

He gives us one of those sleazy grins. My heart pounds. Get me out of here! I squeeze by and jump down the stairs and out of the bus, which hisses, squeals, and pulls away. The line to the soup kitchen is so long it's trailing outside of the building, all the way down the block. My stomach twists with hunger. I pull my bag onto my shoulder and heave a sigh. It's going to be a long wait.

"Hey, Miri." Tequana points across the street at a McDonald's. "Feel like a hamburger?"

"Uh, we don't have any money."

"But all we need is a bit of luck, and some acting skills." She tilts her head. "Come on, I'll show you."

I follow her to the crosswalk, across the street, and inside the building. Holy cow, it smells good.

Instead of going up to the line, Tequana turns and goes through the bathroom door. I follow her in. She goes up to the sink and starts digging through her bag for something.

I go into the first stall to pee, then unzip my bag, pull out the empty bottle of pills to read the label. Dilantin: 30 mg, Take one capsule three times daily with food or water.

I don't know why I kept this stupid bottle. I ran out of pills last night. If something hasn't happened by now, then maybe I never needed them. Maybe the seizure was just another lie, like the rest of my life. All one big pathetic lie.

I toss the pill bottle into the tiny trashcan on the side of the stall, flush, and go back out to the sink to wash my hands. Tequana looks like a completely new person with her hair up in a ponytail and a baseball cap. She's wearing a nice clean short-sleeved shirt. She takes off her old dirty jeans and puts on a clean pair that doesn't have holes or frayed edges.

"What's with the wardrobe change?" I ask.

"This is my poor stranded middle-schooler getup."

"Um, okay?"

"Here." Tequana holds out a brush and a hair tie. "Fix your hair. Got any clean clothes?"

I take the brush. "Not really."

She digs inside her bag as I run the brush through my long hair, picking out the snags. Lucky me; my hair is so dark it almost looks clean just from putting it up into a ponytail.

Tequana hands me a light blue t-shirt, and I pull it on over my old dirty tank top. She nods at me. "Should work. Just follow my lead."

We grab our bags and go for the lines. Tequana waits for a while, and then chooses one of the longer lines. We get behind a lady in a nice leather jacket. She looks about forty, well off.

The line moves pretty fast. The lady in front of us orders something to go and stands in front of her receipt on the counter.

Tequana steps up. "I want a number two, large, and a sundae to go." She jerks her head toward the guy at the register.

"Um, I'll have the same thing," I say, following her lead.

The man rings us up and says, "Fourteen sixty-two."