Sense of Reality (Alan Ashby)

And When Yourself Is All You Have Left

Now that I was stuck on the bus with nutcase, she joyfully hopped off about half an hour later and started skipping home. Yes, literally skipping. We had had a few halted conversations on the bus. One about our daily makeup routine after I complimented her eyes. I had recalled one of my mum's tips on how to make friends and being nice and complimenting were majority of the lengthy list. Afterwards it had moved on to hair routine, in which she spent a few minutes miming how she straightened the other side of her head. The left side was no problem for her, but her right side forced her to turn into a contortionist. I laughed as Jessica twisted her arm around, trying to reach the back of her head, from near the roots to the ends. I told her that I would show her how to straighten her hair at her house. Jessica had nodded at this, her eyes still sparkling.

'Hey, which one is yours?' I called out to her. I gestured to the houses along the street. They were very fancy, with neat picket fences and roses bordering the fence line. Neat stones paths wound their way through extravagant gardens. I would have never guessed for Jessica's family to be this wealthy. Jessica skipped around the corner, seemingly stopping suddenly when her shoes couldn't be heard any more. I turned the corner a few seconds after her. She was standing on grass since there wasn't a path. Behind her, ramshackle, beaten down houses spotted the gravel road.

'This is my home.' She said slowly, trying to gauge my response. I said nothing about its appearance.

'Care to show me around?' Jessica's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. I walked forward, my bag bashing my side. She watched as I walked to her door. I took in the surroundings.

What seemed to be her front garden was overgrown, with a few weeds poking out from under the house. One of her front windows was broken, but covered with a heap of duct tape. Covering the others, possibly in an attempt to brighten them up, were a few floral bedsheets. Her door's fly screen was falling apart, also duct taped in the hope it would stay together.

'I don't want to be rude and just enter your house. You have to go first.' Jessica, looking like a stunned mullet, cautiously walked forward and twisted the door knob, let the door protest as it swung inwards.

'That's a ghastly sound.' I commented, smiling at her. She gave a weak laugh.

Into the house, the carpet was ripped and very worn, while the paper on the walls was peeling and yellowed. Despite the lack of home maintenance, it was very clean. There was not a cobweb nor speck of dust in sight. Pictures obviously painted or drawn by younger children covered the walls. Some in frames, the majority not. The couch in her lounge room seemed very comfy. It looked soft and bouncy, and had been covered with a few pillows and blankets to 'stop the cat from pulling the stuffing out.' I met Jessica's cat in the next room, where she was washing herself. She looked at me thoughtfully, then ran past, her tail high in the air.

We finally entered Jessica's room. Her walls were covered in posters and there was a cat-shaped dent in her duvet cover. She threw her school bag into a corner and chucked her shoes near it. There was a desk with papers filled with notes under her own sheet-covered window, and a bedside table stacked high with library books and a lamp almost toppling off it. Jessica was standing looking at the ground. She curled her toes and played with her cat's tail as it walked past her.

'You've been awfully quiet.' She said simply. Her cat brushed her legs, sliding around them. I looked up at her and smiled.

'I love it.'

'Really?' I nodded. 

'This place is so comfortable and homey.' Jessica seemed more at ease as the words left my mouth. 'So, do you want me to show you how to straighten your hair?'

We trouped off to her bathroom and she plugged in her hair straightener. I untied my hair and quickly did it, swapping hands for the opposite side of my head. 

'Wow, that's really smart.' Jessica said, accepting the straightener from me. She proceeded to re-style her hair, almost burning her scalp when she swapped hands. It took her about ten minutes to do the other side, which left me in fits of laughter at her first attempts. 

-  -  -

I checked the time. I had to go now or I was going to miss the bus back.

'I've gotta go now.' I said, walking back to her room and picking up my bag. We had just been swapping different childhood memories. I told her about all the batshit crazy things Jay and I used to do, while she told me about her primary school years. I caught the bus going back towards school and, recognising a street that was a few blocks from my house, hopped off and walked, my bag banging against my hip. 

A/N

Title cred: If It's Dead, We'll Kill It - Motionless In White

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