Turn It Off

It should have been me. Why? I can’t explain. It wasn’t her fault, I just…
I miss her.

I woke up in the same room I had nearly every weekend since I was three, I could never become jaded being here. The same faded red tattered curtains draping to the floor comforting the same old pink walls which held onto my handprints that raced towards hers slender prints. We’d decorated her bedroom when we were six, every time I thought of that day a slight smile slipped to the side of my face as I remembered the days when we were younger. I rolled over to see Scarlett my best friend of thirteen years carefully plucking at her eyebrows. I giggled quietly to myself as she cursed inwardly at herself for causing herself uncalled for torture, it was very… Scarlett. She was obsessed by her looks. I remember the day she started to wear make up, we were 13 and since then every day was like a mask. I’d only seen Scarlett without make up once since then. Everyday she had her perfect porcelain skin, with her smoke covered eyes and the same shade of her scarlet red lipstick. Her flaming crimson hair was prepared to perfection, never the same for more then a day, as if she was that uncool. Today was important though; I drowsily stumbled out of my cocoon and popped up behind her at the mirror.

“Woah! You terrified me!” Scarlett exclaimed nudging herself in the process
“Ha! Sorry, you’re up early aren’t you?” I enquired, I was curious at this strange change.
“Not really…” Scarlett replied sheepishly shrugging off the inquiry
“Urm, it’s just about to turn seven, are you ill?” I jokingly answered with a cheeky grin
“Shut up, I’m just excited that’s all. I mean I’ve been waiting for this for fifteen years!” Scarlett carried on slowly and carefully plucking her eyebrows
“Urm, do you really think you were waiting for this when you were like four?” I sarcastically retorted
“You know what I mean! A long time basically, and you better hurry up we’ve got to be at the hairdressers to get our hair done in an hour and a half and I will leave without you!” she shoved me towards the door
“Okay Little Miss Stressy, I’ll go shower and you can finish getting rid of your monobrow” I cheekily commented
“Leave. NOW!” she angrily shoved harder at me, I decided to leave her to it and ran off to go clean myself up.

We got to the hairdressers ten minutes early, just as Scarlett insisted we must, just in case at some strange coincidence there was another party of people who wanted to get their hair done at twenty past eight in the morning on a Saturday. I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone spend so much time on my hair, not even me! Scarlett’s Nan, Heather, had decided to treat us to getting our nails and make up done at the hairdressers as well. Scarlett had live at her Nan’s ever since I’d known her, if anyone ever asked it was just a simple

“I prefer it there” or “My mum travels a lot”

But I’d known her too long, she couldn’t lie to me, I admit she only told me the truth about five years ago but even before that I could tell she wasn’t always telling the whole truth. Whenever I asked her pure blue eyes seemed to glaze over slightly, as if hiding something from me. Scarlett’s eyes could tell you a thousand stories; each one would bring a tear to your eye, her dad died when Scarlett was a year old and as she would say, and ‘From then on it was down hill’. Her mum went through men like I went through crisps after Scarlett’s dad died, I don’t know why maybe some self esteem issue but Heather refused to let her look after Scarlett and obviously social service’s agreed so Heather got to look after her and she’s been there ever since. Heather was and always has been amazing to her, and had always taken me in like another Granddaughter.