INTERLINKED {Chris sturniolo}

TRAIN TRACKS

June 26th 2002

I woke up to the sound of a kid crying next door
I slowly sat up looking around my room.
It was grey, old. With a few posters around my room some of David Bowie some of other bands.
I looked over at my sisters Rachel bed and saw her sleeping heavily. I don't even remember waking up when she came home, and as usual she slept in her heavy makeup.
Her hair was a mess and under her was a pile of clothes covered in mud? I think

I sighed as I looked at my clock next to my bed and saw it was only 6am.
I could go to sleep, since school starts at 9 but I thought I could have a early start to the day.

I slowly got up feeling the freezing air on my body as soon as I got out of my blanket.

When I stood up one of the wooden planks cracked
"What the fuck?" Rachel groaned as she turned around in her bed
"Sorry." I apologised took my bag with my hygiene stuff and left the room quietly closing the door.

I walked past the long corridor, and next to our parents room was the bathroom.

I looked at my reflection in the dirty mirror the atmosphere in the bathroom was a combination of blue and grey. It made my dirty blonde hair look almost grey.
When I looked in the mirror I almost felt ashamed of myself. I promised that I would work on myself. That I could hold a job for atleast half a year. But they ended up firing me the first month.
Was I gonna end up like my parents?.
While I was brushing my teeth, my mind was torturing me with negative thoughts.
Suddenly my thoughts got interrupted by a knock on the door.

I quickly cleaned the sink , grabbed my stuff and opened the door.
When I opened the door I saw Chris standing infront of the door.
"Hey Chris. I see you're up early?" I said walking out of the bathroom with a smile
"Yeah that kid screaming woke me up. I'm guessing it woke you up aswell." Chris answered looking down on me

"Yep." I said. It was silent for a few seconds until Chris finally spoke
"Wanna meet up infront of the house in 10? We could go school early, or something." Chris asked holding the bathroom door waiting for me to reply
"Yeah sure. Let me do my makeup and I'll be downstairs" I smiled and quickly turned around to leave.

While I was walking back towards my room I heard the bathroom door close.

When I walked back to my room I saw Rachel sitting on her bed, a cigarette in her hand using a cup as a ash tray.

You could smell the scent of the cigarette all around the room .
My eyes widened and I quickly ran towards Rachel taking the cigarette out of her hand and threw it out the opened window next to her bed.
"Rachel!" I yelled
"What? You smoke aswell." Rachel said rolling her eyes putting her head back on her pillow
"Yeah but not in the house! Mom could catch you for fucks sake!" I said walking towards the table in our room where I had my makeup. I sat down and started applying some mascara.

"I don't understand why mom can know you smoke, but she can't know about me." Rachel said

"Because. You just turned 17." I gave Rachel a death stare. It was like she wanted mom to dislike her more then she already does.

"Last time I checked mom started smoking at what age... 14?. Yeah we're doing pretty well Cora." Rachel got up and patted my shoulders

"Rachel were those mine?!" I yelled as she closed the door

I loved Rachel. But she really knew how to get on someone's nerves.

When I opened the front door I felt the morning breeze hit my face, it was sunny outside and I could hear the birds singing in the distance.
I sat down on the barely standing stairs and took out a pack of yellow camels.