MASCARA,LIPSTICK,ANDLIES
chapter 5
“Pick up, pick
up, pick up” I murmured walking back and forth.
“Hey this is Braden leave your n-”
“UGH!” I exclaimed in frustration. It was Sunday
and he hadn’t answered me at all. I plopped down on
my bed, and drifted in and out of sleep. I drifted in and out
to hear sirens, the occasional sound of my mom cleaning, my dad
watching tv, and my 6 year old sister tossing and turning.
Around 3 am, I heard someone entering my room.
“Knock knock,” Anne whispers.
“Anne! What are you-”
“Murder on my street” she shrugs. That explains the
sirens.
“What?!”
“Parents thought being here was safest, your mom
agreed” she said sitting on the bed.
“But our neighborhood is the safest in the city” I
thought.
“Well one crime in the last 20 years, not too big”
she said.
“BUT FOR A MURDER?! Sure if it was a robbery
wouldn’t be too big..but..a murder?” I was
confused.
“Just rest your head to bed” She said as she went
to the closet she knew the mattress she always used was
stored.
I shook my head and fell back asleep.
------
The alarm clock.
It can shatter dreams.
I hit the snooze button. “Anneee wake up” I said
while stretching.
“asjfhfkd” she said with her head in the pillow. I
went to the bathroom, let my hair be its wavy self, and put on
some jeans with a tank top, and baby blue sweater.
Anne was still asleep. I stuck my foot in her face.
“Wake up, or else I’ll get the bucket”
She snapped up with squinty eyes. “I’m
awake”
I walked downstairs. The news was on.
“Planned murder.” “Two adults killed.”
Mother and father” I thought how sad it must be for the
girl who lost her parents.
She had found them dead.
---
At school, everyone was murmuring. The girl was apparently a
cheerleader.
“She wasn’t too popular, even though she was
co-captain, she was humble. Hardly anyone knew her
though.” said Emerald before school. I stood there
listening.
In every school there is a gang or two.
Who steal. Do drugs. Theft. Fight.
And I saw them across the courtyard threatening Aimee. Even
her, as the head cheerleader, didn’t do anything.
Every year, someone got killed because of them. It became a
part of life.
We locked eyes.
You could tell she was on the edge of crying.
One of the gang member grabbed her chin, and broke our gaze.
Her hand went across Aimee’s face.
She fell down, but no one helped her. They knew not to mess
with them.
The bell rang
----
It was awkward in Geometry. Finally I turned around.
“Braden-”
He got up and went to sharpen a pencil, never meeting my gaze.
I sighed and asked for permission to go to the restroom.
-----
I heard a girl crying, as I opened the door.
I saw Aimee. She looked toward me, and rushed to me.
I gave a big hug, partly in shock.
“It’ll be ok” I said.
“S-she told me….T-they want to…blame
me” she said between sobs.
“For what?” I ask.
“For someone’s murder” she says.
My hands drop. “What?” I say.
“Who’s?!”
“They say someone they are planning to kill, I
don’t know who!” she sobbed.
“Ray is coming by Wednesday” she said. (Ray was the
one who’s parents were killed.)
“I’m the one who decides if she stays here, or goes
to foster care somewhere else”
“What?” I ask confused.
“If I tell her she should stay she stays, but if I
don’t..she leaves.”
“And…?” I ask.
“They, as in the gang, want me to tell this to her”
she hands me a paper.
“No b*tch, leave. No one cares if you leave. I never
liked you, and have been waiting for this my whole life”
I murmur as I read.
“Aimee, I don’t know what to tell you..”
“I think I know what has to be done though.I can’t
have a death on my hands!” she starts walking out.
She stops. “We never had this conversation,” she
hissed.
