SUDDEN CHANGES
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Sitting on the steps always made Jimmy think clearer thoughts. There was an argument going on inside his house between his mum and dad and to escape it all, he grabbed the thickest book he could, and walked out on them. "Where d'you think you're going young man?" his mum said, still trying to argue with his dad.
Jimmy had simply been blunt but to the point; "To sit on the curb while you two sort out your petty differences." He calmly walked out of the house and pulled the door shut behind him. He could hear his mother cryiing from frustration while his dad kept on giving examples of sorts. It had been like this for three now. Non-stop arguments.
Jimmy, quite frankly, had had enough, and wanted to escape. He was sixteen years old. He could move out, but unfortunately this was not the as easy as he thought. He was still a minor in the adult's eyes, and probably would always be a minor to his parents.
He thought about Holly, his girlfriend, and how he wouldn't allow her to come over these past few days. It embarrassed him. He'd go over to see her, and joke with her parents and watch television, while back at home his parents were starting on the best China. It did more than embarrass him. He thought that the arguments would continue for at least another four days, by the end of which one of his parents - probably his dad - would decide to leave the other.
The thought sent a chill through his whole body, but he knew a word that would send a chill through both of them.
Suicide.
If these arguments didn't get any better, then that would be his only alternative to living a life of hell. As much as he hated his mum and dad shouting all the time, he still loved them both dearly, and would never wish for them to be seperated and fight over him. But if it was his father who moved, he doubted that he would see him at all. This was why he felt so hopeless.
Jimmy and his father had an understanding. One probably not understood by the mothers of this world. It becomes a new kettle of fish when there are sisters involved, however. So Jimmy was thankful for that. But there had been times when his cousin Casey stayed over, and she lived with just her mum - her father had died when she was just two years old in a car accident. You could see that her mother - still single - had moulded her.
She was a typical girl, not just to Jimmy, but the fact that he had been raised by his father made him more aware of it. He was no Sigmund Freud - just a kid who was warned to tread carefully around his mother and other women. It was probable that Casey had seen her uncle in Jimmy, the same way that see saw small fragments of her aunt him, owing to the fact that he lived with both his mother and father. There were times when his dad would go away for weekends, and that was when his mother had treated him like the "Man of the House".
But these things did not make it any easier for a sixteen year old boy, living in the nineties, with problems between his parents. He was thankful that they didn't blame their problems on him (although there were some odd occassions when he got the blame for burning his parent's money on clothes). He'd never been abused by his parents - never slapped when his dad was mad and never beaten by his mum when he said a "BAD WORD".
His life had been happy until two years after starting secondary school. He'd met Holly and at once it seemed to be a curse. He found a nice girlfriend whom he got on well with, and then his parents began to fight, so he was never the happiest he could ever be. He so dearly wanted to leave home and live by himself, by his own rules, wthout listening to his parents argue non-stop. Without their worries of caring for him.
As he sat on the curb, a VW estate drove past. He hardly noticed it until the sound of the engine roared from one ear to the next. It pulled over to the side of the road and a tall blonde woman got out. Jimmy first saw a pair of beautifully, stocking clad legs, followed by a slim waist, then a buxom cleavage. He face was very plain, but also incredibly pretty in its simplicity. She reached into the car for her purse, then slammed her door shut with authority. She put on a pair of sunglasses, and walked in Jimmy's direction. She pulled her shades down a bit to regard Jimmy, then walked past him. Jimmy turned to see where she was headed.
She went to his house and calmly and politely knocked on the pane of glass in his front door twice. His father answered the door, still shouting at his mother, and when he saw the young, attractive woman stood on the step, he became quiet and just looked at her. "Pamela..!" he said with a shocked voice. Then the woman - Pamela, apparently - struck him hard in his left cheek with a strong hooked fist. Jimmy saw this, and stood, stunned. The woman then turned and returned to her car, looking at Jimmy again on her way. She opened her door and slid into her seat, her long legs the last thing Jimmy saw. He was totally perplexed.
"Pamela?! Who's Pamela then?!" He heard his mother screech from the house. "Another one of your so-called clients, eh?" He heard his front door slam and turned to look. He saw the distorted figure of his father through the frosted glass, and then he was gone. Back inside to continue arguing, no doubt.
Jimmy turned back to watch the tall blonde woman start her engine, do a one hundred and eighty degree turn, and then drive off the way she had come.
He sat back on the steps, trying to comprehend what had just happened, his book lying on the path beside him. It was a book called Nightmare High: The Silent Cry, written by a woman called Kimberly Barrow. As the thoughts filtered through his head, it suddenly occurred to him that his father had just been punched - in the face, of all places - by a woman at least half a foot smaller than him. Jimmy stood to walk to his house and heard more arguing,
"I've had enough of this, Paul! I'm going to stay at my mother's!" he heard his mother shout. He'd never heard her this angry before. He thought it was best not to go home at the moment. He turned on his heels and began walking in the oppoisite direction, following the road to Holly's house.
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