Those Worse Off Than You

In the morning, the first hour of the day was spent arguing with a secretary. She told me Ace was still too unstable to leave the hospital and there was nothing she could do about it. I explained his possition numerous times before I finally got fed up and attracted a bit of authoriy, who were able to pull some strings.

The next hour was spent calling my angry father to come pick us up, pick up Angel and drive us to the mall. It took a bit of convincing, concidering he was still mad at me for leaving home to visit Ace.

When we picked up Angel, I got Ace to stay in the car while I went in to get him. He was playing xbox in the main lobby when I finally found him. When I did, he got to jhis feet quickly followed behind me, stuffing cash into his jeans pocket before he sat in the car & looked over at Ace with a worried expression as my father started driving once more. "Dude- what are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you after 2 weeks too," Ace replied, glancing out the window once more. I was glad I was sitting between them- they sounded like children in the middle of a strife.

"I didn't mean it that way- I just... I didn't think they'd let you out after... what happened."

Ace turned sharply to him & stated, "I'm leaving for Ohio on Monday!" I noticed my dad look at the three of us in the backseat in the mirror.

Angel glanced across the backseat in confussion and shock. "What?"

"You heard me."

"Why?"

"Ask Jeff. I have no idea. I don't have a legal guardian here."

"Listen... Sorry man, I didn't know..."

"Yea," I know," Ace said more calmly, not changing his glance from the window.