Hey Sunshine - C. Chambers //discontinued//

one

hi guys! i've revamped hey, sunshine to my current style of writing. lowercase is intended. the story is also gonna be completely different.

damn. life sucks.

yes, the windowsill is broken. it's been like that since my dad broke it when my mom left. talk about a broken home. fuck.

yeah, i'm only 12 and a half, but i've seen some serious shit. to top it all off, everyone at school thinks i'm a waste because i wear pants and smoke cigarettes. a lowlife. there were some other kids like me, but my older brother would never let me hang around them. that might be another reason why people don't like to be around me. ace merrill.

i fucking hate my life.

"y/n, go fetch me some cigarettes. i'll give ya a buck." my elder brother called out to me. he decided to come in my room. i was sitting on my windowsill, back turned towards him. "c'mon biscuit."

i turned towards him. "give me the fuckin' dollar. the sun's goin' down for christ's sake."

ace scoffed at me and held out a whole dollar for me. i wondered where he might've found one. yet, i wouldn't dare ask. ace was always out with his buddies doing illegal shit.

i hopped out the window and was on my merry way. it was only mid-june, but it was hotter than elvis presley outside.

---

outside of the convenience store, it was nearly dark out. it had cooled down a little bit, to the point where i wasn't sweating anymore.

i hope someone fuckin' kidnaps me so ace learns to run his own errands.

i walked down the street, whistling. kicking rocks. y'know. the average summer walk home. there was a small sliver of sun left, leaving me with a little light to make it home.

"hey, you." a voice called from behind me. oh shit, am i actually being kidnapped?  i didn't respond.

"y'know it's rude to ignore someone, y/n."

i know his voice. someone my age. a sweet voice. he was looking to do no harm. someone like him was expected to do someone much harm. but, he wouldn't do a thing to hurt anyone.

"sorry, chris. if ace catches you talking to me, he'll skin you." i turned to face him. chris and i had much in common. our home lives sucked, most people hated or were scared of us, and we were both genuinely nice people.

"i know, but i'm sure ace is with my brother right now. wouldn't want you to be at home alone." he looked me in the eyes. he was only a bit taller than i, but he still had to look down to look me in the eyes. "me and my buddies have a treehouse that we hang out in sometimes, if you can even call it a treehouse. it's mostly just made of scraps from the junkyard, but it fits at least 6 guys in it."

i nodded slowly. scraps from the junkyard didn't seem safe, but it held as far as i'd heard. it worked.

"take me."

---

it was dark now. chris took me to what was his treehouse. there was light coming from inside, assuming there were others within. chris climbed up the ladder.

"c'mon up, y/n."

i climbed up the ladder myself. once i reached the light, i saw three awestruck boys. they were all in shock as to see that chris chambers had brought a girl into their sanctuary. that girl also had a brother who could kick all of their asses singlehandedly. whoopee.

"uhm, hi. i'm y/n merrill." i looked down at my hands.

"no shit. chambers really scored a run with this one." teddy duchamp, the boy with a burnt ear and thick coke-bottle framed glasses smirked at me. "so, how'd he manage to sneak you away from that sweet little window that you always sit on?"

"i was buyin' cigarettes. he happened to catch me as i was leavin'." i explained.

"boy, you sure are prettier up close." vern tessio sat in awe looking at me. i smiled at him. i had never been complimented like that before. vern seemed like the type to not see women up close.

"that, she is, vern." chris chipped in with vern's comment on me. could people really be so nice? am i dreaming?

gordon lachance had sat in a corner quietly throughout my time in the treehouse. he seemed as though he didn't want to talk to me. gordie had been rather quiet since his brother had been killed in a jeep accident in april. he always wore that yankee's hat after the ordeal. maybe dennis was just that likeable.

"hey, gordo. you're rather quiet today." chris addressed his friend with concern. gordie just nodded his head and picked up a notepad. "gordie's one hell of a writer. maybe he'll tell you one of his stories one day."

"i think i oughtta go. ace might be home." i said sternly, and opened the latch. i climbed down and ran home.

---

luckily, nobody was home. i set ace's cigarette carton on his bed and ran into my own room. there was an empty winston carton on my desk. i set it up, since it had been knocked over. i put the unopened carton face down on my desk and sat on my bed. my window was still open from when i had left to go run errands.

it was cool in my room. there was a slight breeze. it was almost poetic.

a dark, cool room with empty cigarette cartons on the floor.

empty stomach, empty heart.

yet the universe still orbits.

most people could only come up with such things on drugs. i didn't need them. i was so lonely that they came to me. substances were not needed.

sometimes i wondered why people took substances. my dad. ace. my mom, even.

"i drink 'cause of her. momma. she left us behind to do god knows what." was ace's reasoning

"FUCK YOU, WHORE." was my father's.

my mother's reasoning was unknown. i think she was mentally ill. depressed, maybe. i barely even remembered her. ace had trauma blocked the bad things out. all he could remember was the happy moments, when she wasn't drinking. when she cared about us.

if she ever did.

---

i finished this a long time ago but never published it. here you go, sunshines <3

-cass