✔️Soundtrack to My Youth (18+)

Wonderwall

I snuck out of our room early Sunday morning, making Bridget lock the door behind me and only opening it when I gave her the signal that it was me. Carson's door was closed and I could see his car parked in the driveway as I crept my way into the kitchen to make myself a coffee and put some toast on for Bridget and I.

There was a note on the table from Mum indicating that she had been called into work and wouldn't be home until after 5pm. I could forgive her for leaving us to take on an extra shift, she had bills to pay and was also supporting Carson, who was too lazy to get off his arse and get a job himself. What I didn't like was that Bridget and I were essentially trapped here for the day now.

If I had my car then we could escape but a punctured tyre ruined that plan. Unfortunately the coast had one of the worst transport systems too. There were the trains but they only stopped at our station every two hours on a Sunday and went nowhere near the mall or entertainment places like the movies, the buses didn't even run at all on Sundays, it had something to do with the council trying to save money by restricting all government run departments to working Monday to Saturday, therefore freeing up money in their budget to throw into a giant football stadium...that fewer fans could get to when games were played on Sundays. I ran Sim City better than what the government ran these small, coastal towns.

I smeared peanut butter on the toast and placed it on a plate, made my coffee from the ground up dirt powder that my Mother kept in her house and made my way back to the bedroom, knocking once and announcing to Bridget that it was me. She opened the door, peering out into the short hallway before stepping aside to allow me in.

We sat on her bottom bunk, the plate of toast between us as we each grabbed a piece. I was starving after only consuming a small bag of potato chips for dinner.

"Carson's home" Inform her, her eyes go wide as she squirms on the bed, "It's alright, he's still in bed but we will just stay in here today and if you need to go out there then move fast but quietly." She nods her head, she knows the drill well, I really don't have to explain it to her anymore, this is normal for us here.

"I have a lot of homework to do anyway so I could use a day locked away from the world" Bridget says sadly, making the best of the bad situation.

~~~

I lay in my bed all morning listening to my Blink 182 CDs while reading Looking for Alibrandi, even though I had read it many times before, reading it as a study for English made it a different read this time. By the time I had reached the end of chapter 10 my stomach had started growling, I knew I could get by with the snacks that I had packed but I felt I needed something a bit more substantial, plus Bridget would need more than potato chips to push through and finish her Commerce assignment.

I pressed stop on my Discman and leaned over my bed, peering down to Bridget's but she wasn't there. She must have snuck out to the bathroom without me even noticing. I climbed down from my bunk and opened the bedroom door at the same time a loud thud came from the dinning room followed by Carson screaming and Bridget crying. I grabbed my phone and bag in case we had to make quick escape and ran out of the room, towards the dinning room.

"You went in my room you fucking little dyke" Carson screamed at Bridget. He had thrown her down on the floor and was standing over her.

"No, I didn't" Bridget sobbed, terrified.

He pulled back his foot and swiftly ploughed it into her ribs and she cried out in pain as it connected but he didn't stop, he just kept kicking into her as she lay there defenceless against him.

I ran up to him and attempted to pull him back from her. He turned his attention from Bridget on the floor and threw me up against the wall, holding me in place with his thick fingers wrapped around my neck. My bag dropped to the floor.