In the Absence of a Good Life

(9) Mummy Told Me Not to Talk to Strangers...

One Half of the Comedy Duo (A.K.A The Sarcastic One - Shelly):

I was walking Mel home after our massive shopping spree. To be honest, it only consisted of Mel dragging me round all of the different shops, spending massive quantities of money where ever she went, and me just moaning the whole way.

As you can tell, it really was my idea of fun (note the sarcasm).

I said goodbye as we reached her front door. Her little brother annoyed me to no end, so there was no way in hell that she was going to get me past the threshold into her house. I could already feel a migraine coming on from just thinking about that irritating little twerp. I was so glad that my brother had left before he became too overbearing. It was just like being an only child. Happy times.

Mel lived in one of those residential estates. Her family weren't exactly well-off, but they certainly weren't poor either. Though, at some times, I did find myself wondering where on Earth she managed to acquire all of the money that she'd been spending at random intervals in the year. The answer was always the same.

'But Shelly! They're my life savings! You know that!'

As the door closed, I turned away and began the journey to my home. It was way out in the isolated and secluded countryside. I had to take a total of one train and four buses to get from the centre of the town, to my house. Luckily, the school I went to was on the outskirts of the town, and was therefore, a reasonable distance to travel to.

To say that I hated where I lived would be an understatement. I mean, the house itself was gorgeous! It was like those stately homes that you go to visit when your parents drag you round the historical places around your area. The kinds of houses that they always dreamt of living in, but couldn't. Well, it was like one of them. Simply awe-inspiring, but not somewhere that a girl of 17 with other, and frankly, more important things to think about, would want to live in.

It was away from all of my friends, the signal for phones and Internet connection was appalling and my believing-in-traditions family were so eccentric that it made me physically gag at times. Don't get me wrong, I loved them to pieces, but there had been occasions where I'd fantasized about killing them all in the most brutal way possible.

Maybe I would like it more when I'm older. Then again, maybe not.

But anyway, back to the matter at hand.

I turned the street corner at the end of the road and pulled out my iPod to start listening to my music. This was going to be a long journey. Though, as I was choosing which song to listen to (Paramore's Misery Business, or Green Day's Walking Contradiction? I know, it was a tough choice), I managed to prove once again, just how geographically challenged I was. Yes, I walked into someone AGAIN...

'Still haven't gotten those eyes of yours tested yet?'

...and curse my luck, it was the same 6foot 3inches tall, abominable snowman that I'd manged to walk into before. Though this time, I had somehow managed to keep my balance. I stepped back to steady myself and immediately wished I hadn't.

CRUNCH

'Shit!' I said before covering my mouth with my hand and apologizing. I didn't want to offend the guy stood in front of me, he could literally snap me in two like a biscuit if he wanted to! (Biscuits are much more easy to break than twigs, and they give off a nice crunch too...)

I looked back to what I had stepped on and confirmed the worst. When I had bashed into Terrance, I had dropped my iPod. I had then stepped on the poor thing. The screen blinked pathetically at me as it uttered it's last few shreds of life. Bits of the glass had broken off of the surface, enabling me to see the hardware inside.