The Other Side Of Life

Adam

Adam

The school bell rang startling me from my daydream; it had been another long night, my parents shouting kept me awake until the early hours, my conscience kept me up for the rest.

“Adam you coming?”

 I blinked and looked up at Matt; he stared down at me impatiently. I nodded silently and got up from my chair. Slinging my schoolbag over one shoulder, I followed him from the room.

When we exited the building I stretched in relief; I hated the feeling of being cooped up all day… especially days when I had double maths. Still, it was better than being at home. I checked my watch and grinned to myself; 3:20 they wouldn’t be back for at least another four hours or so. Plenty of time to get my biology essay done in peace, and order some takeout for me and my little sister Sarah.  

Waving to Matt I walked to the school car park, and headed to my old beat up Volvo. It wasn’t much but it was the best I could afford having just passed my test a couple of months ago. I frowned at a piece of paper on the windscreen, a flyer? Carefully peeling the damp paper off, I was confronted with the boldly printed title;

MISSING, HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GIRL?

I sighed to myself; it seemed that posters like this seemed to cover half the town at the moment. Every day on the news you hear of some new crime that’s happened. Was there no normal, decent people around anymore?

My thoughts were interrupted by a shout from back near the school. I looked up to see Rebecca Starnes waving at me enthusiastically as she headed in my direction. Half-heartedly I smiled back before hurriedly getting into my car and turning the key.

Ever since an incident in year 8, she’s followed me around like some sort of devoted puppy. Sometimes it seemed that wherever I turned there she was posing in front of the lockers, or smiling suggestively next to an empty desk…  but the fact was, I just wasn’t interested. I didn’t care that she was one of the most popular people in school (or at least she thought she was) I didn’t care that she was the head of the cheerleading team, and I didn’t even care that she was dying for me to ask her out. There was just something about her that seemed far too… fake.

I shoved the piece of paper into my jacket pocket without a second thought. Now I was late to pick up Sarah from her primary school. Great.