Paradise on earth.

Chapter two.

ASH

There's a loud buzzing noise in my ear, the sound you hear when it's silent- static.

My body aches like I've been sleeping on a brick floor, I open my eyes to Alex franticly looking around and pushing JJ up off the couch.

"JJ move your ass I need to get the keys for the car!" she shouts, a bit too loud for me given my state.

JJ just gives her a thumbs up and a groan and falls back asleep, she grabs the pillow from under him and whacks him right in the face, "You're a fucking idiot!"

She turns to me sees I'm awake and waves her phone in a patronising manner "12:00 pm" it reads.

I don't see the problem with that?

Why does she need the keys for our banged-up car?

Our dad was always too high or drunk to drive, so he gave it to us to share. It was a red beat-up pickup truck which looked like it had been a participant in plenty of car crashes. DRUNK car crashes.

How did I end up on the table?

Last night was wild i'm pretty sure I had tequila, I'm sure it was Big John's let's just hope he doesn't come back from being MIA to get us.

"Hello?!? Ash, I'm talking to you?!?" Alex says.

I must have zoned out, "Yeah no, sorry I agree!" I blurt out pretending I heard her to keep her calm.

"Agree with what? I said mom is pissed she doesn't know where we are and we need to go home. Do you know where the car keys are?"

I shake my head and she continues looking for the keys. The room is shaking and spinning like it's a hurricane.

Alex turns to me in confusion "Are you going to help?!".

That's her kind way of saying, "Move your ass you lazy bitch before I give you a reason to move."  and that's my cue to do as she says.

"Got them!" Alex shrieks from John B's bedroom I don't know how the fuck they got there but I'm in no state to question her.

"Good I think we should head home so mom doesn't kill us."

We gather our pitiful amount of stuff and say goodbye to everyone's passed-out bodies.

"Bye Kie!" Alex shouts into the bathroom I hear a grumble in reply.

We both walk out to the car and Alex throws me the keys to drive.

"I drive like a 9-year-old in Mario Kart, I am not driving Al.", I reply to her dumb as fuck actions.

"Well looks like we aren't getting home then" she bitches back, again I am in no state to argue back.

Alex isn't normally this ratty seems like someone has fallen out the wrong side of the bed this morning.

We both get in the car and start our 10 minute journey back home.

The interior of our car is questionably designed and is a mesh of both of our personalities, I of course added the many high school musical stickers over the dashboard and Alex sort of contributed with a broken bobblehead of the Pope that she found on the side of the road.

When we were first "gifted" the car, well I say gifted with caution more like bestowed the burden of having the car, there was a sort of stench that is masked by the billions of "new car scent" air fresheners we bought from Heyward.

"I didn't see Tom at the party last night are you guys ok?" I say cautiously not wanting to strike a nerve.

Tom has been Alex's boyfriend for almost 2 years now, at the start they were inseparable during the "honeymoon" phase but now I hardly ever see him.

"Yeah he wasn't, we're fine I think he's been like distant lately and the only occasions I see him now is when we you know.." she replies a lot nicer than I expected.

"Hook up... Al you are literally his booty call" I laugh.

She gives me a death stare as if I've just said something unforgivable.

"Sorry," I grumble out "wrong time".

It goes silent most of the way home, I feel really bad I've said something to upset her.

It's almost 12:30 as we arrive home of course our mom isn't home, she's a nurse and works a lot for barely a decent pay.

When she was younger she busted her ass off getting good grades and doing all her jobs to provide for her family, she got pregnant with us at 16 but that didn't stop her.

She became a single mom at 17 and finished her degree at 22.

She's my inspiration and I'll do whatever it takes to make it out of the cut and not return, and luckily she wants that for me and Alex. She doesn't want us to stay forever in the cut, it's like a cycle you can never escape.

When we got inside Alex stormed to our room.

I had definitely struck a nerve. A few if not one.

Our house isn't shabby or run down, it's a homely bungalow that we have all put effort into making ours.

Just as I was about to open the cabinet to see if we have anything to eat, I get a message from Ryan our dad.

dad 🙂

12:42 pm
you and alexandra gte a secnd
6 pck ftom the store gt a few buds
coming over.

He's high of course I can tell by the awful spelling, he didn't stay in school but he's not that stupid.

Once he left our mom and us we never really cared, until we were 11 and he got in contact again "claiming" to be clean.

He was for a while but all good things come to an end.

After he started using again we still saw him a bit, he moved into a trailer with a younger guy called Barry and became a dealer.

Mom wants nothing to do with him and said we can do what we want but to keep her out of it, so we have.

Every week we take some money from our wages  (we both work at The Sunken Ship a local kook restaurant) and put it towards groceries  for him, we hate him for leaving us but he's our dad.

I have to admit if Alex had a choice she would have stopped doing it a long time ago, but I force her to, I honestly believe if he could quit he would- for us.

/

A/N

another short chapter, not going to lie just re-found this and I think I'm gonna start writing it again! I'm so sorry for the first two chapters they are so bad and cringe.