Pulse

13

When I wake up, the house is silent. Im surrounded by the ruins of the living room, and there's no sign of life anywhere. My parent's still aren't home, so I figure they just got wasted and stayed the night somewhere else.
When I check the time on my phone I realize that going to school today is futile. It's already one in the afternoon so I make literally no effort to get up.
There's four messages on my phone from Mike but I don't see the point in answering them. They all ask the same question; 'where are you'.

The bile aftertaste of cigarettes and morning breath stain my mouth and I've been wearing the same clothes for at least two days, so I decide to take a shower.

In the bathroom, I strip down to nothing after turning the nobs of the shower and adjusting the temperature. Mikes hoodie lands on the floor with the pile of my black clothes. It looks so natural and right, but at the same time it appears entirely out of place.

I step into the shower and allow the searing hot water to wash away all my sins and flaws. I scrub away all my downfalls and rinse out everything I don't want to remember at the moment.
The steam gets really thick after about ten minutes, and fog gathers on the glass shower door and bathroom mirror.

When we were little, we were small enough to both fit in the shower at the same time so we wouldn't fight over the hot water.

I dump shampoo all over my clumpy black hair and realize the bottle is almost empty. I'll have to buy some today.

****

Almost every cupboard in the house is completely empty, and so is the fridge. I haven't had much to eat since I visited my brother, besides popcorn.
in fact, the house seems to be low on everything.
I guess mom opted out completely. Speaking of That, neither of my parents are home still.
Which in a way is relieving... But also horrifying.

You probably killed them too.

I guess I could go to the convenient store. it is near my brothers house but its the only one that isn't crowded.

My car is covered in snow and I have to scrape my window shield off and pry open my frozen door before I can even begin to warm it up.

The drive to the convenient store is long and mind numbing. My car doesn't have snow tires so I end up driving about 20 Mph the entire way. My car still slides, regardless.
In the convenient store I buy a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread. Remembering that the cashier almost never cards anyone, I grab a 24 pack of full throttle (yes, a 24 pack. They have those,) And a bottle of light pink fruity alcohol. I doubt I'll drink it, but why not get it just in case?
When I bring all the items to the counter, the cashier eyes me with an amused smirk on his face.

"What's a pretty girl like you needing alcohol for?" He asks. I look up at him. His name tag says "Charlie". his messy black hair isn't brushed and he appears to be somewhat high. He's really attractive, in a hipster sort of way. His eyes are bright green like seaweed And he has a black lip ring. He must be at least 19 or 20.

"im using it to get sober." I say sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

Charlie chuckles and rings up the items while looking at me cautiously.

"You aren't 21, are you?" He asks.

I stair at him suspiciously and an awkward amount of time passes before he continues speaking.

"well?" Charlie says. "How old are you?"

I glance up to the security camera behind him and he laughs.

"Don't worry," he says. "They're broken."

I smile at him slightly while he continues bagging everything I grabbed.