Shelter in the Jungle (COMPLETED)

Chapter Seven: Awkward Phase

"Winters tears turn toys to rust, can't play those games no more.
I went to sleep without a care in the world,
And woke to find dreams gone."
-From "Eyes of Child" sung by Ramin Karimloo

Amy came home after work. She told Laura about her plans with Jeff. Laura seemed to up a bit then.
"My husband's baby sister is going on her first date! I've got to help you pick out your outfit and everything!"
"The date isn't until tomorrow! GEEZ!" Amy groaned. She went into her room and closed the door.
Amy looked around her room; the dresser and mirror with some of her stuff, the Beatles poster on the wall above her bed, her small library of books; both actual books and comic books.
Amy looked at her two most prized possessions; her geisha dolls. She remembered being seven years old and obsessed with anything Asian. Mike had saved up his own money and bought a cheap one from the Asian quarter of downtown for her birthday and the second one from an antique shop for Christmas. She named the dolls Machiko and Akiko. Amy would put on Ellen's silk bathrobe and play tea party with them for hours. Now the dolls were on the dresser in their stands where she had left them six years ago. Had it been that long? Every year she debated on whether to put them away in the attic. And every time she decided to have them up on the dresser a little longer.
I'll put them away after Mike gets back.
If and when he ever came back. Amy fought the sudden need to cry. She didn't ask for this responsibility. She was only doing this because she loved Mike; she owed him that much for keeping them together when they were kids. With him gone, she was trying to be responsible; going to birthing classes with Laura, getting a job, buying the groceries. She had even put off plans to get a car.
Feeling a need to forget her troubles Amy put on a Beatles record, flopped on her bed, and read a comic book; Spider-Man. When that did work, she tried writing in an old school composition notebook that she had. After dinner, she was still feeling upset. She opened the window by her desk and crawled out onto the roof, still warm from the fading sunlight. The stars came out, and she imagined, just briefly, that she was floating through them.