Slipped Away

Part 50

June 10

This girl came into the shop today and I swear she looked just like Ginger! Same cinnamon colored hair and face. I suddenly became homesick again and I wished
I could go home. Ginger and everybody must be terribly confused about why I left again and sometimes I wonder if there wasn't a better way. I just wish I knew
that that bastard ______ was out of the picture for good. I just got tired of hiding all the bruises and having to come up with lies for them all the time. Diane
says she went through something similar when she was 12 and that she's been on her own since she was thirteen. She's sixteen now and has some friends that
help her from time to time. She told me her story. Her parents split when she was eleven but even when they were married they were humping other people and
always fighting. Her dad took off and she stayed with her mom, who eventually re-married but continued to screw around anyway. Her stepfather used to have
his friends over for card games and football, and her mother would take off and leave Diane at home. When she turned 12 her stepfather started raping her every
chance he got and eventually turned her out to all his friends. He kept it up until she was thirteen and she decided to run away. She stayed with a couple she met at
a bus depot. It was fine for a few weeks but then they both turned her out, pumped her full of drugs and passed her around to their friends at parties. Later
on she found out they were getting money from the people that had screwed her. She eventually split that set-up and has been on her own since. We get along
good and we look out for each other. She thinks if it wasn't for her stepfather raping her all the time she'd be a different person but she's not sure that's even true.

(?)

Diane and I went to a party this girl was giving that Diane knew from another shop not far from ours. She must have been from Ireland or something because
when ever she spoke she had this accent, and I thought of shamrocks and I don't know why. Anyway we arrive there and after a few minutes I suddenly laugh and realize it's not just her voice but this whole set-up. I immediately lit a stick and took a long drag and held it in, blew it out. Then I took a hit of coke and chased it down with the
vodka I was drinking. After awhile I started to feel sick and said I wanted to go but Diane wanted to stay. So I left and as I was walking home I must of had another flashback. I was in my room back home but the whole place was pulsing with color and every cell in my body was on fire. Then I was flying and before I knew it I was back at Diane's in my bed. Life is an endless train of disater and I desperately want to get off.