Any Minute Now

She clenched her fists,hardly feeling her nails dig into her palm deep enough to draw blood.
She kept her eyes on the clock on her dresser,even as her leg bobbed up and down impatiently. Any minute now,she told herself. Any minute now and she could finally leave. She got up suddenly, her feet pushing away from the bed as she walked on unsteady legs towards the window across her room. Her cold fingers fumbled with the latch, before she finally got it open, pushing the window up, letting the chilly November air in. She could barely feel it though the biting wind though.

Hmm. Any minute now.

She looked out the window, down at a street light that flickered once,twice, thrice and then went out. She stared for a heartbeat more before turning around and walked back to her bed. She passed the big suitcase that she had propped up against the wall earlier and paused to trace her fingers across her names carved on it. Riley Cameron. She had already packed everything so that her mother wouldn't have to.

She sighed and sat down on her bed.

She glanced at the clock again. Any minute now and she could leave.

She opened the drawer next to her bed and pulled out a small leather bound book. She smiled. She should have given it back to Parker when she had broken up with him last month but hadn't been able to. It was the only thing she had of him and she wanted to take it with her. She pocketed it.
Parker Cane. Sweet,happy, beautiful Parker. How she'd hurt him. He loved her. He loved Riley and would have done anything for her, even leave her when she had asked him to.
When she had started pulling away from him, after that damned day a month ago, he had stubbornly refused to let go. He still hadn't. Which was why she needed to leave so that Parker could be happy again.
Beautiful, happy Parker. She didn't deserve him He should be someone who wasn't so...broken.So dirty. So incapable of getting clean. It was good that she was leaving soon.

Any minute now.

Somewhere outside,a cricket chirped.
Riley sighed, finding the sound oddly comforting. She leaned back against the pillows, looking up at the glow in the dark stars that her father had glued to the ceiling when she was eight. He was a good dad. A good parent. So was her mother.They loved her and she them, which made leaving all the more difficult. Her mum would miss her. She wished she could tell them why she had to leave, to run away in the middle of the night. But she was scared that if she did, they would...she was scared that she would see the disappointment in their eyes,the disgust.

Riley rubbed her cheek absently. She should have showered again, before she left. She should have showered, put on cleaner clothes. But all that didn't matter because no matter how hard she scrubbed, no matter how many times she bathed, the filth wouldn't wash off.Well, it didn't matter anymore. Soon, she would leave.

Any minute now.

She looked at the clock, just a little longer. She stretched out on her bed. No reason why she couldn't be comfortable while she waited for her ride to get there. She smiled mirthlessly.
Would it be a car that would pick her up? Or maybe, it would be a bus. Surely there would be other people like her, waiting their turn to board. Hmm...it would be a bus, she decided. Although, she would have like a nice car, a Mercedes perhaps.
Either way, she didn't give a damn. As long as she could just leave. Why was it taking so long?
Riley was getting impatient. She was eager to get going. She had waited for so long to be clean and...ah. Finally.
Riley smiled The Smile. It was here now,her ride. She could feel it, it was almost there. She took in a whisper of a breath and smiled when she tasted the cold, crisp and deliciously clean air. Hmm, yes. She was there now. Almost. Just a few more seconds and she would finally be clean. She could feel the pungent odor of her shame, he anger, his sin, his lecherous lust, her dirt wash away.She closed her eyes as she felt the clean air envelope her.
Any minute now.
The cricket stopped chirping.

X----------X

" Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say goodnight till it be morrow"
-Shakespeare