Section 1

There’s a tiny house right on the corner of Elwood Avenue. It’s small and dark and the windows are closed up by boards of wood. It’s a decaying piece of brick and mortar that used to be abandoned. A couple moved in, but never renovated the place. Suspicious people always come in and out of that tiny dark house. A seemingly lonely girl sits inside, a ratty grey blanket around her frail body. Her pale face is blank of expression, lost in thought.

She sits there, dreading the time when he will get home. She hears a key being inserted and twisted, opening the lock. There’s only a lock on the outside…

“Baby I’m home!” Jordan shouts, even though she is not even twelve feet from him. A giant frown increases on her face as he looks at her. “Misty, baby, what’s wrong?”

Misty shakes her head and shows him a fake smile. “Nothing honey, I just missed you.”

“Aw come here, gumdrop.” She slowly walks her way over into his giant tattooed arms. Jordan gently kisses her head and gives her a big hug. “So what’d you do all day?”

“Nothing… Just some chores… Took a nap.”

“No boys I hope?”

A menacing look quickly flashes across her face. He’s always accusing me of talking to other boys...How could I do that when I don’t even have a phone? You took it and smashed it against the wall last month! “No boys.” She says tightly.

“Good girl.” Jordan walks into the kitchen. Just a moment later there’s a loud sound like a fist being banged on a countertop.

Section 2

When Misty was a young girl she was very outgoing with beautiful green eyes and a heart warming smile. Anywhere Misty went, her shining personality grew on others. Though she was happy in the outside world, her home life didn’t reflect her perfect nature. Her mother and father weren’t the ideal couple. The only things on their minds- drugs. Misty’s dad did what he could for her as he watched his wife sink lower than him. A couple days before Misty’s 8th birthday, her mother had an overdose and died. Her father made a vow to clean himself up and be a protecting father, but sadly never had the chance. He was in a car accident on his way home from work one night. A drunk driver hit him head on and he died instantly. In less than 3 months, Misty had lost both of her parents.

A couple weeks after the incident, a close friend of her father's got custody of her. He was filthy rich and provided Misty with everything she desired. She soon learned to be very dependant on him. He was quite conservative and always believed the man of the house will provide for the family. He didn’t have a wife or children of his own, so he doted endlessly on Misty. She loved the attention and priceless gifts she received, not having a care in the world except to tidy around the house. Little did she know, her dependency on others would cost her greatly.

Section 3

Misty flinches at what she hears and hugs her blanket close to her body. Jordan slowly comes around the corner, pure anger on his face. “Why is there CAT THROW UP ON THE FLOOR??” She jumps back at the boom of his deep voice.

“I...I don’t...I-” Misty squeaks.

He walks closer and lowers his face to hers. “HUH?”

“It-it must’ve just happened… I cleaned the kitchen today.” She says, barely above a whisper, tilting her head away. His hot breath of cigarettes and Red Bull hits her cheek. He backs up and crosses his arms.

“So what’re you gonna do?”

The now emotional girl slowly turns her head to face him. “W-what?”

“What are you going to do ABOUT THE PUKE ON THE KITCHEN FLOOR?”

At this point, Misty is shaking and in tears. “I-I’m gonna clean it up!”

“That’s right. Go.” He points to the kitchen. She quickly makes her way around him, grabs a couple of paper towels, and bends down to clean the mess. Her body makes involuntary shudders as tears fall from her eyes.
A sigh from her boyfriend as he sits on the dusty couch calms Misty just a bit. She throws the paper towels away, washes her hands, and wipes her  eyes. Jordan hates it when I’m an emotional wreck. She peeks her head around  the corner and a second later her body follows.

“Baby come here.” Jordan says softly, reaching out his arms. He pulls her in tight, sensing her resentfulness. A small moan of agitation escapes her lips. He spoke gently,“ You know I don’t like a nasty house.”

Misty was distastefully amused but kept it to herself. “I know baby, I’m sorry.”

“Hey, I think I know what’ll cheer us both up” Jordan scoots up to the edge of the couch and pulls out two syringes filled with brown liquid. Misty’s eyes widen and she pushes away from him.

“What are you thinking? I don’t care if you sell drugs but we are not using them!”

“Sure we are. Give me your arm.” Misty shrinks back and pulls both her arms close to her body.

“Come on now, don’t be a wuss.” he jokes.

“No, Jordan. I’m not taking that.”

His big smile turns into a snarl. “Yes. You are.” He quickly reaches over and snatches her arm. Misty screams but is silenced with a hard slap to the face. Whimpers escape her as he flips her arm over to expose the veins in her porcelain skin. “You ready, pumpkin?”

Her face turns into an ugly distortion of despair. “Please don’t. Please.” She begs.

“Shut up.” He takes the syringe and jams it into a large vein in her arm. A loud screech frees itself from her throat and Misty leaps back before he can drain the rest of the heroin. Jordan reaches to grab her again but she kicks him hard in the chest. He groans and kneels on the ground. Misty leaps to the door and yanks it open, not looking back. She squints in the sunlight and races to nowhere. Everything is a blur as she races past houses and trees. Even though she’s afraid, she’s never been more free; more alive.

After what seems like hours of running, she stops by a beautiful stream  just outside a deep wood. How nice. Misty jogs over, scaring a mother doe and her baby. Oops. She laughs as she gently wades into the cool stream. The water is silky on her skin and there’s a warm breeze in the air. She looks down at her arm and notices the dirty brown liquid seeping out. As she stares into the water the ripples seem to multiply in a misty haze. She squeezes her eyes shut, shakes her head, and opens to a still world. Okay we’re good. She stumbles her way to to the bank an sits on the sandy dirt. Everything is calm. Birds are chirping, wind is whistling. Jordan has never let me out of the house for this long before… I hope he’s ok. Misty leans over to pick herself up but instead of standing, her whole body goes stiff and she falls on the ground.

Jordan sits on the couch, a Red Bull in one hand, a cigarette in the other, watching Misty convulse on the floor.