Then I Met Her

One

(Pictures of Characters at bottom)

My sketchbook hit the bed with a thump as I looked up at the clock. It took me an hour to do a random charcoal sketch, and after that, I had 10 minutes before I had to pick up my sister and go visit Michael, our dumbass father.

Before you freak out on me for disrespecting my father dearest, I believe I have the complete right to call him any degrading thing I want. However, I'm nice, so dumbass is good enough for me.

When I was three, my father was sentenced to prison for life. He had murdered my mother, while my unborn sister was still in her womb. Luckily, Jayda was still somehow alive when the body was discovered. She was sent to the hospital and I was sent to the pound orphanage. My grandmother adopted my sister and I soon after Jayda was released from the hospital and to the orphanage. She would bring us to the prison the first Saturday of each month to see Michael, as if it was her way of reminding me I still had a father - we used to be close before the whole murder thing. Gram passed away a few months ago, but we still live in her old house, and still go to see him every month. I take care of myself, and Jayda cooks for us every now and then, but normally she stays somewhere at a friends house or something.

Anyway,

I threw on my leather jacket, quickly fixing my hair and adjusting my new lip piercing before dashing downstairs to slip on my combat boots.

Yes, I'm one of "those" people. Whatever the hell that means.

Locking the door behind me, I made my way to my black 2010 Mazda3 and soon afterward pulled out of the driveway. Before picking Jayda up from her Saturday club activity thing, I stopped by the bakery, grabbing a few donuts for the three of us. It reminded me of when Michael would take me there... Dumbass had to screw things up.

Pulling up next to the sidewalk, I watched as Jayda exited the building, waving to her friends, and climbed in.

"Hey Jass!" She said with a smile. I could only grin back.

"Hey." I said, already cruising down the interstate. Jayda's prep school was right across from the entrance ramp. Made it a lot easier, actually, because fifteen miles down, the prison was right off the interstate.

"So... How was your day?"

"Fine, I guess. You?"

"Great! Today we ..." She started explaining, launching into a full account of her fantastic day. Not really listening, I let her ramble on, adding in only a few words here and there when necessary. Jayda continued talking until I pull into the parking lot of the criminal ward.

"Do we have to?" She mumbled.

"No, but we should."

"He scares me though... I mean, he could have killed me Jasper!" I understood why she was frightened, and it's not like Michael didn't know that Mom was pregnant when he attacked her, but that was years ago. Michael had been trying to tie new bonds with Jay and I, so that's why we still went.

"Don't worry about it, you're fine now, and he can't do anything. We've had this conversation every time." I grumbled, getting out. Jayda reluctantly followed, and we entered the building. The guard, Phil or whatever the hell his name was, immediately buzzed us in. We'd been doing this for so long that they'd allowed us to sit in a separate room, with a little metal table and a couple of chairs - obviously monitored and guarded - but still, its better than it used to be with the stupid phone thing.

We sat in the meeting room, and I handed Jayda her doughnut just as Michael stumbled through the door.

"Jassy!" He hollered.