The Bittersweet Life of Amy Clark(EDITING)

Chapter Four

      There never seems enough time when you sense happiness on its way. When you become close to snatch it and it slips through your fingers at the last moment you look back and think “if only I moved sooner”. You never know what you have lost until it is gone. I am still learning that message even now, but then as I sat on that bed with her the world and its problems, my problems, all ceased to exist. For just that time, I was someone and with someone special. It might not have been sexual, but it was still meaningful. That was why when I caught sight of the time my heart sank. The soft purple glow seeping across the horizon only confirmed it.

      Through a phony smile I explained how I must leave before it gets too dark. It wasn’t as if I was afraid of the dark. The rule around Jessie’s domain, or one of many, was I had to be back before seven o’clock. Once in a while I managed a nine o’clock arrival without him even taking notice, but I didn’t want to push my luck. It was just common knowledge to never wish for death around him because he would surely be glad to give it to you if you piss him off enough.

     I hurled the backpack over my shoulders and thanked her for letting me visit. As I bowed out the door and raced down the hall and stairs, a nagging question popped up again. What if tomorrow things were different between us? What if everything I told her was some sort of evil plan of hers to turn against me? I spilled my darkest secrets to her, well maybe not my darkest, but still secrets no one else knew outside the family. I wondered and wondered some more as I closed the door behind me and fresh air hit me in the face.

     I didn’t want to think she was capable of such a malicious thing, but people are unpredictable. I always tried to keep that in mind. They might be your friend one day and then the next… It was a complicated life. It shouldn’t be. Walking under the wash of orange streetlamps I lowered my head. It wasn’t a simple thing to consider when discussing the aspect of human nature. Goddamn we are a species unworthy of thing planet and… I shook my head and snorted. I was going through Alice withdrawal and the thought made me chuckle.

     Maybe if I had been someone else things would be different. I have to believe that. If my father hadn’t have been the abusive dude my mom claimed him to be, maybe we would still be in Wyoming living in a small trailer and on social services. I slowed and frowned. That view did not seem at all appealing. You always hear about people bitching about people living off the system. Well if you ask me the system is corrupt. In my town the makeup of said system consists of the very criminals behind bars. In fact, the rumor circulating is the local social services here had a baby market scheme going on. Apparently social workers would show up unannounced at a home and condemn the parents as being unfit, snatch up the babies and set them up for adoption. It worked well for many years. There is no telling how many homes were torn apart.

      Those jerks, I thought. Jerks like that deserve to have their clits burnt off and their cocks shoved up their noses. And forget about the policemen. The chief of police is a drug user himself and a supposed seller of the white stuff. The whole force is under suspicious of various crimes. And the police who keep their noses clean, no pun intended, get transferred. It makes you wonder how a town as corrupt and loathsome could possible manage to survive.

      So then why did Alice want to move here of all places? You would think her parents would know better. I mean when a person asks another where a nice place would be to move I doubt they would say this hell hole. This place doesn’t even have a clothing store unless you count the thrift store. And one grocery store that shall remain nameless even sells something they label “discount meat”. Now this “discount meat” is usually past its expiration date, sometimes by a day or so, but most often longer. The meat under the plastic is gray and smells like unwashed pussy.