Evergreen

When I finally got home, I found my dad on the floor, completely passed out drunk. Sighing at the sight, I walked around him, plopping down the couch that was covered in plastic. I dropped my head in my hands, wondering why was I bestowed with a drunk father? I guess I should be thankful by the fact he didn't rape or physically abuse me. He probably was too drunk to even realize he had a daughter to take care of. I raised my head, gazing at my father's body, lying seemingly lifelessly on the cold ground. I knew I could do better then stay in this place, but where would I go? ...I guess I'd find out. I decided to take a chance and dashed to the other room, gathering as many clothes as possible and stuffing them in a suitcase. I glanced around the small bedroom, looking for anything else I could take with me. There was a framed picture of my mother, her puffy hair sticking out in all sorts of directions. A bright smile spread over he lips and her brown eyes shined.
I quickly snatched the frame. My dad didn't need it. I doubt he was sober enough to remember he even had a wife. I quickly opened the jewelry box that protected my mother's old jewelry. I tenderly grabbed a box that held my ancestor's pearls. It had been in my family for at least two hundred years. I gently cracked the velvety box open to gaze at the white string, each tiny pearl glittering in the fluorescent lights. I snapped the box shut and threw it all into the suitcase. I quickly dashed outside, still trying to figure out where I could go, when I accidentally ran into the old diner. It wasn't like it was to far. The stupid trailer park that I was forced to call home was somewhere around the woods anyway. I gently opened the door and walked inside, noticing that the scent of burgers still clung to the diner air. At least I was away from the beating rain for a moment. As I turned to run out from the diner, I noticed Sandy was still there.

"Hey, you okay?" she asked in a worried voice.

"No, I'm not okay... I have no place to go," I admitted, dropping my suitcase to the tiled floors.

"Oh well, you can stay with me. Don't worry. You don't have to explain anything to me," she said, her Jimmy's uniform still intact. For the first time ever, as I walked closer to her and hugged her tight. She let me sit and dry since it was her turn to close up. Once the task was complete, we got into the car. Sandy and I were never the best friends in high school. Actually I think she didn't even like me. She was a friend, but she didn't seem to treat me like one. I ignored it though. It seemed like she changed because she was acting like a friend now.

"Um, okay so I have a spare room there... and you're free to basically do whatever you want except for parties. Absolutely no parties unless I am invited," she said, smiling at her own joke.
I just couldn't laugh. I was still shaken up by what I just did. I finally left my father, but what was I going to do?

"Hey, you okay?" She nudged me with her elbow. Her hands were still on the wheel, but her focus was on me.

"I'm fine now that I have somewhere to stay.... I can't thank you-" She cut me off with a wave of her hand. I smiled a little bit even in the middle of a rainy backdrop.

"Back in high school you didn't like me much, did you?" I asked, my attention still on the window. she turned the radio down, her blonde hair in a sleek ponytail.

"No, not really... because I was jealous," She said, shifting in her seat.

"Why? You had no reason-" She cut me off again. I couldn't think of any reason why she would be jealous of me. She had a father who loved her and didn't pass out drunk. She didn't have to rush after school to the diner so she could pay the bills her father was to lazy to do.

"I mean, have you seen yourself, Annie? You're beautiful, and you were one of the most popular girls in school... and not because you were rich. It was because you were nice to everyone. If someone asked you to do something that was pretty much harmless, you would do it. I mean every guy in the whole school wanted you and you didn't want any of them... and not because you were playing hard to get, but because you really didn't seem interested. Do you know what I have to do to get a guy to notice me...?" But she stopped there. I already knew the answer to that. I knew that people called her a slut, but she didn't seem to care even though I defended her.

I looked down, surprised that of all the people, she would be jealous of me. I turned to her and smiled warmly. We have already reached to her "small" cottage house, which, to me, was pretty big in comparison to my trailer home. Her father bought it for her since he was the third richest man in Evergreen. It was a small brick cottage with big grand windows. There was a nice, quiet porch with small benches. It was beautiful, and I knew that her father pays for it too.

"Thank you for taking me in and telling me that... for the record, I was jealous of you too," I told her. She took my suitcase from my hand, leading me into the house. It was even bigger then I thought it was. There were auburn leather couches to the right with a dark brown coffee table in the center... both facing the grand fire place. The plasma TV hung on the wall above the fireplace. To the left, there was a marvelous kitchen. The sight excited me because I loved to cook more then anything in the whole world. If my bastard father could get off his ass and work, maybe I could have gone to cooking school. Beside the kitchen was the dinning room with a round mahogany table. The stairs were fairly big for a small cottage. The room had soft blue walls and the kitchen had golden tiles. The dining room had soft green walls, and wooden floors lay underneath a round, blue and green striped rug. I followed Sandy to the upstairs. She showed me the bathroom, which, like the rest of the house – huge. Her bedroom was connected to the spare room. There was a huge doorway connecting the two so I could go in her room if I ever needed anything. Her bedroom had lavender colored walls just like the spare room. I smiled at the sight of the large windows. I always liked the sun waking me up.

"It's really beautiful," I told her when we were in the kitchen getting a bite to eat, both dressed in our pajamas. She heated up some mac and cheese. We were gonna pop in a movie.

"Thanks. I guess daddy pays off," She said, and I smiled.

"So anyway tomorrow there is gonna be this party, and I would like for you to go with me," she said, and I looked at her. I was off yesterday so I guess I could.

"Yeah, sure," I told her. I walked to the living room, popping in Titanic.

"Good... you need some party time and maybe you could find yourself a guy," she said, walking into the living room with the mac and cheese. Geez, to think I totally forgot about the male species.

"Uh, I don't know," I said.

"Oh please! You're gorgeous. You can have any guy you want," She said. I nodded.

"Yeah but...." She cut me off.

"But nothing!" I shut my mouth from there and watched the movie.

When the movie was over, we went to bed. The bed was comfortable, and I slept easy.

Later that night, I went down stairs to get something to eat, just a late night snack, and opened the fridge. I reached for an unopened carton of Ben and Jerry's. As I closed the fridge, I saw red eyes staring me down. I only saw shadow so I couldn’t see who it was, but his eyes came closer and closer. I gasped, dropping the ice cream. I picked up the carton, and I felt my back hit something sharp, the red eyes still burning into mine. Suddenly I felt pain in my neck. It was like something was ripping my flesh off. I screamed in pain, but it was as if no one could hear me.

My eyes flickered open. I held the covers on me tightly in my sweaty palms. I was sweating like crazy, my hair wet and damped. My skin felt burning hot. I ripped the covers off of me and eased myself back to sleep