Changing Places

Invitation

Okay! New story, just an idea that popped in to my head :) May need editing at a later date.

Let me know what you think... May not continue it if it's no good!

I remember singing ring a ring o' roses and fighting over who got to be Barbie when we played Barbie and Ken. I remember sharing teddy bears and crawling into each other's bed at night when we didn't want to sleep alone. These are the memories I cherish the most in life.

I haven't seen my twin sister in six years. I haven't spoken to her in two. I would blame it on my sentence to juvi and the lack of social interaction I was able to have over my luxury year stay, but we lost contact long before that. The foster system first split us up when we were eleven. Before that, we were basically the same person, we thought the same as well as looked the same. We talked on the phone at least twice a week for the first two years, fervently promising to visit each other soon. By year three we'd started to settle into our separate lives and in turn grew further apart. Our conversations became short and awkward, our lives and personalities so painfully different. We never did visit each other, I in Oregon; Jessica in Alabama. The phone calls came less and less, and although we'd spent the first eleven years of our lives stuck to each other's side, by age 15 the phone calls finally stopped.

My adoptive family was nice enough; Margret a timid housewife and Jack an elementary school teacher. They provided me with the things I needed and we got along well in the beginning, but I never felt like they were family and I think they felt it too.

I first went off the rails not long after I lost contact with Jessica. I started drinking, smoking and getting in with the wrong crowds. I'd skip school nine times out of ten and cause fights wherever I could. Margret and Jack were patient at first, thinking it was only a phase I was going through. After about a year, my behaviour had got worse, I was on a downward spiral, only coming home to shower and change.

Margret and Jack had had enough; we had an intervention of sorts in the kitchen. I remember it as clear as yesterday, broken glass covering the floor from the window I'd thrown the kettle through in blind rage and their shocked faces at the poisonous insults spewing from my mouth. Margret had cowered in a corner sobbing her heart out while Jack screamed at me to get the hell out of his house.

I'd gone to my current boyfriend's after that, thinking we'd run away together or something equally as stupid. I found him in bed with another girl and something inside of me finally snapped. I can't even really remember setting his car on fire, just the lingering smell of smoke clinging to me as I sat in the cell they threw me in after. I'm lucky that the explosion from the car didn't cause any other damage. I'd have been looking at a lot more than one year in juvenile hall.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not proud of the things I've done. Juvi gave me A LOT of time to think things over; I sobered up, got the drugs out of my system and realisation of the situation hit me like a ton of bricks. I was finally ashamed of the person I'd become. Margret was traumatised by the whole ordeal and Jack swore that I'd never come near them again. I tried getting in contact with them while I was in juvi, desperately trying to apologise for the things I'd done, but they wanted nothing to do with me.

After I'd served my sentence I had nowhere to go. Seventeen and fresh out of juvi, nobody would take me in. It was decided by the higher powers that emancipation for my last 6months of being a minor was the easiest solution. I had no intentions of finishing high school so I got set up with my own small flat and started looking for a job.

I'm not sure who informed Jessica I got sent to Juvi, or if she even knew about all the bad things I'd done. I don't even know where she found my address but precisely three days ago, I received a letter.

That same letter is the reason why I'm currently sat on a bus, sandwiched between a window and a fat bolding man who smells like feet, flying down a highway somewhere in Alabama. I stared down at the letter in my hands for the thousandth time, trying to ignore the loud snores coming from the man on my left.

Dear Brielle,

I know we haven't spoken in a while and for that I'm so sorry, I regret loosing contact with you every day. I heard about juvenile hall and I'm sorry I wasn't able to get in contact sooner. So many things have changed since we were younger and it's obvious we're not the kids we once were. I do miss you Brielle, I always have. I'd like you to come through to Alabama, I think you'd like it here even more than me.

Love Jessica.

The letter came along with a plane ticket from Oregon to Alabama, an address and a check for $1000 - which I assumed was to be used for other travel expenses. I wasn't surprised that Jessica had been able to get her hands on that kind of cash so easily, the family that had adopted her were very wealthy and spoiled Jessica rotten. When I'd first received the letter I sobbed my heart out, wondering why it had taken my act of arson for us to get back in contact. Sorrow soon turned to anger and I considered on many occasions to shred the letter along with the plane ticket and check.

I shoved the letter deep into the pocket of my jeans and rested my head back on the seat, staring out the window. The scenery pasted in blurs of brown and grey and I soon found my eyes fluttering shut.

"Miss?"

I groaned.

"Miss!"

I opened my eyes to a very agitated looking bus driver hovering over me, "I'm sorry I must have fallen asleep." I wiped the bit of drool from the corner of my mouth. Wow, real attractive Brielle.

The bus drive still looked pissy, "You need to get off the bus Miss, this is the last stop."

I looked around, noticing the deserted bus for the time and started to scramble for my duffle bag in the overhead compartment.

The warm sunshine hit my shoulders as I stepped off the bus, heating my skin and reminding me that I hadn't had a drink since my flight over 8hours ago. Licking my dry lips I looked around spotting a diner across the road, "Mandy's Diner" stood out in bright neon pink. I heaved my bag onto my shoulder and made my way over.

The strong smell of coffee and grease filled my nose as I walked into the diner. Bright pink leather booths lined the windows while an old wooden bar ran across the counter. I didn't plan on staying long so I opted for a stool at the bar, that and all the pink was beginning to give me a headache.

A blonde girl with a smile the size of my head popped up from under the counter like a jackinabox, "Hi! What can I get you today?"

I couldn't stop staring at her teeth, "Just a lemonade please."

"Okay dokey!" She said, plonking a tall glass in front of me.

As I sat there sipping on my lemonade, I couldn't help but let my mind wonder to the last year of my life. Wondering if I'd ever be able to make up all the bad things I'd done. Margret and Jack were definitely never speaking to me again, but maybe I could build some bridges with Jessica and finally start to rebuild the life I'd so epically fucked up.

I was so caught up in my own little world I didn't even sense anyone creeping up behind me until I was fully eloped in a backwards bear hug.

Just what the hell?

My captor finally realised me and I came face to face with a tall Brunette with an even bigger smile then the waitress.

I was just about to ask her what the hell she thought she was doing when she cut me off, "Jessica! Thank god you're back! Where have you been all summer? You're mum's been ringing me none stop babe seriously, you need to talk to her."

"Look, I'm not –"

"Ooo new hairdo? Not sure about the colour but the cuts nice."

"Just sto-"

"Anyway babe I gotta run, see you at school Monday? Love you!"

With that she turned and all but ran out of the diner. I sat there with my mouth hanging open, wondering what had just happened.

And wondering the most important thing, where the hell was Jessica?