Black and Blue

Chapter 1 Bruises

   One, two, three, four, five. I count in my head. Two purple, three blue. Total of five. One arm.

   I lift my head up to look at my face in the mirror. One black circle. I squeezed the bottle of pale, white foundation on my finger. Then I gingerly applied it to the black circle.

   Upstairs I hear the throwing and crashing of beer bottles, or some other type of glass. But he usually throws beer bottles. With every sound of shattering glass, I flinch.

   I duck into my bedroom and throw on my big sweatshirt and dark jeans.

   I walk over to my window and open it. Popped out the screen. This is one of the advantages of living in the basement. I can get out undetected, one less bruise to avoid.

   I crawl out of my bedroom with my backpack in tow. I turn around and close the window, just leaving a crack open, and speed walk across the brown, dead grass.

~~~~

When I make it to a Seven Eleven, I leave my backpack out next to the entrance. I don't want them to be suspicious of me, thinking that I might steal something. I will, but I don't want the police after me. Well, it's not like they would notice me.

   I head inside of the store. I casually look at the items, waiting for the right timing.

   An old man dressed like a biker says something to the cashier, some middle aged man with a bad comb over.

  Perfect timing. I thought.

  The cashier turns around. I grab Sun Chips. He unlocks the case. I run to the refrigerators. The cashier picks up the Camel cigarettes. I clutch the door handle and open the door. He turns back around. I put the soda and Sun Chips in the pocket of my sweatshirt. When he hands the cigarettes to the biker, I continue to browse through the aisles, as nothing has happened.

   I go around the store for about twenty seconds to resist suspicion then I leave, pick up my backpack and head to the one place that is in second place of worst places.