Purple Nitro

Prologue

Time- 2013 Age- 10

My eyes opened to a blurred image of my bedroom. I emerged from my blanket and felt a whisk of cold air pass me as I stretch my arms and yawn so loud it could be considered a roar. Finally my body finds it's strength to get out of bed. As I walk out of my bedroom door I hear a deep heavy snoring sound from across the hallway. I tip toe across and peep around the doorway. My shirtless dad lies tangled up in sheets and blankets snoring. I sigh and walk downstairs. The first thing I meet is my mother in the kitchen sliding folders and books into a backpack. "Did you finish your reading homework last night?" My mum asks my 7 year old brother, Isaac. "Urghh yes" He groans while he globs some jam on his toast and spreads it around. I bounce over to the kitchen as mum and Isaac's eyes draw over to me. "Morning Honey, how was your sleep?" Mum grinned. "Good thanks" I reply grouchy and tiredly "Why is dad still in bed?" I ask. My Dad usually leaves for work at five in the morning since he works out in the city center. "You know how drunk he got last night Phoebe. Yes I know he usually fights through his hangovers but today he feels to tired and sick. He's staying home from work." She says casually. As I enter the kitchen mum grabs my arm. "Phoebe, just so you know I am getting very sick of your dads drinking. He is doing terrible at work and he is risking losing his job. Then we will run low on cash. I am very disappointed in him. And for your safety, you and Isaac needs to stay out of his way when he gets drunk. We never know what danger he might cause, even to his own children." Mum explains in a more serious tone. "Yes Mum."

After I get ready I sling my purple backpack and walk out the door. "Bye Mum" I wave. She places her tea towel down and walks over to give me a hug. She pats a kiss on my head as I walk out the door. "Bye Phebes" Isaac calls. I walk out my driveway to the chaos of morning traffic on my street, which is a highway. I stand out side my driveway and wait for a couple minutes until Nick appears. Nick Striker is my best friend and lives a couple houses down from me. His blonde sandy hair brushes across his forehead. "Hi Phoebe, ready for our last day?" He beams and shakes a little bit in excitement. "Well we still have one more year of primary so pretty fine." I smile back. We start walking down the street at nearly complete silence apart from the cars swishing past us each second and the often crunch of the rustic autumn leaves beneath our feet. "So you ready for the school sport we do at the end of every year?" He asks starting a new conversation. "I guess" I say "What do you think it'll be?" He asked. I shrug. I do wonder what it could be. I love sport, but I had a terrible sleep last night due to the fact my drunk psycho father bashed around the house, so I wonder how I will do? 

We then arrived at our school, Twin Peaks Rural Elementary School. We wondered through the rusty blue metal gates and approached our classroom. I hung up my bag and pulled open the door to the class. All eyes in the class set on me and my shoes clicked across the wooden flooring. "Morning Mrs Durby" I smiled over to my teacher. "Morning Phoebe, dear. It's sports day remember?" She says. I nod. "Would you mind going to the girls changing room and putting on your sports kit?" Her white teeth shone through her bright red lips as she fiddled with her round purple glasses. "Sure thing." I said placing my homework folder on her desk. When I got outside to my bag I spotted one of my best friends, Bailey. "Hi Bailey" I yelp over to her so she hears me. She spots me too and smiles. "Hey Phebes, O.M.G sports day!" She jumps. I join in with the excitement. "Yeah, I'm just popping in to get changed." "See you later" She beams.

When I get back to class I plonk myself on a chair next to Nick. "So hows life" He scratches the back of his head. I think of what to say. "Meh, my Dad was drunk last night" I lowered my voice so no one in the class could hear. Nicks eyes widened and he gave me a sorrowful look. I thought about Dad last night. Mum just sat down and watched TV, like she didn't even notice all the beer he got down him. At one point he even came in my room and muttered some random words I couldn't hear, then started picking up random things from around my room and saying "That's cool" and "I wish I had one of these". It was slightly funny and I held back my laughing and just pretended to be asleep the whole time. The real thing I'm worried about is if he starts being mean to Mum. I think he did say some insulting things last night (and other nights when he has been drunk) but that's really the least he can do to hurt his own wife when he's drunk. I suddenly popped back to reality when the bell for period one rang. First we did some work in our math textbooks. It was really chilled and easy, I love math sessions like this because maths is definitely not one of my strengths.