"I'm home!" I shout as I open the door to my house and step in. My home aint exactly huge but it's big enough for my three-person family, formerly four. My dad, Grandpa, and me all live in the house currently but my little brother used to live with us. A year ago, he ran away. He was 14. That time of my life was very hectic because at the time, Grandpa had to have surgery for Cancer and that was when I started to talk to Kelli about her home life. Then Joel, my little brother, ran away but things calmed down. Grandpa got through surgery fine. Joel never came back and we've never heard from him but, I try not to think about all the bad things that could be happening to him, rather I think of him getting along fine and coming home soon. "Ah, Lexy. You're home." My grandpa, I love him so much. He is a very kind man and just trys to make other people happy. He moved in with us after Grandma died two years ago, "How long have you been back?" I laugh and hug him. He is kind of hard of hearing and he bought a hearing aid awhile ago but is much to proud to wear it, "Not long." I say, "Dad aint home?" He shakes his head, "He called and said he had to work late tonight." I sigh. Dad's never home anymore. He's always working at the office or out on a date or something. "I should have known." Grandpa pats my shoulder, "Come now. He's only trying to do what he thinks is best." "Whatever." I say exasperantly and turn to go upstairs to my room, maybe give Kelli or someone a call. My grandfather stops me, "Wait a second. Did you go to the pharmacy?" He asks, scratching the little bit of gray hair he has. I mentally kick myself. 'Shit!' I think to myself, 'I dropped the medicine at that store!' I smack myself on the head, "I think I left them somewhere. I'll go get them, okay?" I run down the stairs and out the door quickly, hoping above hope that no one took them. Jumping in my car, I turn the ignition quickly and the car roars to a start. I glance behind my and fly out of the driveway of my house and into the street, I quietly thank God that there were no cars on the street at the time. I take a moment to shift gears then speed down the street towards the pharmacy. It only takes my about ten minutes to come upon Rite-Aid and I drive behind the pharmacy and park my car in the parking lot of the grocery store behind it. The car door sticks sometimes so I have to kick it to bust it open then I climb out of my Honda and run into the Sav-A-Ton. The store is just as empty as it was before and I try to remember what aisle I met that woman in. I end up searching the entire store, no bag of medicine or capsules of pills. 'Someone must have picked them up.' I think with a rather loud curse. A Sav-A-Ton clerk must have heard my outburst and comes around the corner to find me. He comes up to me with a look of puzzlement, "Is something the matter, miss?" He asks politely. I look at the pudgy clerk and read the name tag, Joe. "Uh, yeah. By any chance might someone have found a mag of prescription medicine in the store? I think I dropped it." Joe shakes his head slowly, "Nope. Is there anything I can do to help?" I curse loudly in my head but thank the kid for his help then excuse myself from the store. "What now, genius?" I ask myself out loud. I come to my car and lean against the hood in thought. 'Who would take a bag of meds?' I think, 'Well, thats an easy question, druggies.' I sigh and open my car door and climb in. The car starts without trouble and the radio comes on immediatly. I frown at the song and turn the radio off. 'God Must Hate Me' by Simple Plan had been playing. "You bet..." I say to the radio and drive off into the street. There wasnt much else to do but go home and tell Grandpa what happened. I drive slower on the way back in hopes of thinking of something to do but nothing comes to mind and I find myself pulling into my driveway. Stepping out of my car, I march up to my door and walk in, not noticing the unfamiliar car parking next to my Honda. As I walk in the front door, I hear my Grandpa talking to someone. I search for my Grandpa and go through the kitchen, his medicine is sitting on the counter. "Who the..." I trail off as I enter the living room and see my Grandpa sitting in 'his chair' talking to a woman. They both look up at me as I enter and my grandpa smiles, "Welcome back, Lexy. Didnt find the medicine, huh?" I look at him strangly and shake my head but then nod it instead, "Yeah. Apparently it was in the kitchen the whole time." They both laugh and Grandpa stands up slowly, "You're friend brought it to me. Said she found it on the floor of some grocery store?" I look at the woman and recognize her oriental features, Karen something-or-other. I smile and nod to her then turn back to the 77-year old man standing in front of me, "Yeah..." I think a moment, not wanting to tell him about the police business, "I saw some of my friends in that store and went in to say hello. I guess I dropped the bag sometimes while I was in there." I stealthily wink to Karen who returns the gesture. "Really?" He glances at the visitor and gives me a peculiar look. Karen stands and walks over to me and places a familiar arm around my shoulders, "Yeah. I met her when she came in and saw her drop the bag and, luckily her address was on it so I just ran it over." She laughed, the nervous one again. Grandpa nods, apparently taking the answer as the truth, "Alright. Well, you couldnt have done it at a better time 'cause it's time for me to take some of these happy pills." I roll my eyes at the name and and he laughs and walks out of the room. I turn to Karen and smile, "Thanks, you've saved my butt again." The woman nods with a smirk, "Always happy to save it." We laugh, "It's fun getting out outta trouble." I push some hair out of my face, noting to myself to cut the damn bangs later. "I bet." I cross my arms, "How can I repay ya? I cant let two good deeds go without proper thanks." With a laugh included, Karen shakes her head, "Nah, it's alright. A simple 'thank you' is fine." I prepare to protest but she puts a finger to my lips, I'm slightly taken aback by the gesture and step away slightly, "Well, I wont bother you and be on my merry way." He turns around and picks her jacket off the couch. I step foreward, "Wait a minute. The least I could do is offer you a drink or something. Want a soda or something?" She smiles at me, sweetly actually and shrugs. I dont think she really wants to but she is just to get me to leave it alone. She looks thoughtful a moment then looks down at me, "Do you have any tea or coffee?" She asks hopefully, I just notice the dark bags underneath her slanted eyes. "Um, I'm not so sure 'bout tea but, we probably have some instant coffee somewhere. That okay?" I turn to get the beverage as she nods and seats herself back down on my couch. I enter the kitchen and note that Gramps probably went upstairs to take a nap, his 'happy pills' caused drowsiness. I turn to the coffee maker sitting on the kitchen counter then at the can of brand name coffee next to it. I've only brewed coffee a few times and I have only tasted the bitter crap once, I hated it by the way. I go through with the making of the coffee and shout to Karen that it will be a few moments. After it's done, I pour the liquid into one of my dad's coffee mugs and carry it in to my guest. Karen takes it with a silent thanks, "Do you have any cream and sugar?" "Oh, yeah." I say, remembering that my dad always said coffee didnt taste good unless it's full of a couple spoon fulls of sugar. Running back into the kitchen, I gab the sugar from the counter then rummage through the fridge for some cream, I only succeed in finding a empty can so I'm forced to return without any cream, "We got sugar." I say happily, "but we're all outta cream, sorry." She takes the sugar and scoops out two or three spoon full then lays the sugar on the desk sitting next to the couch. I take a seat across from her in my grandpa's recliner. Well, it wasnt his per say but he sat in it all the time so it was dubbed 'Grandpa's Chair.' Crossing my legs, I watch the woman drink her coffee and I quickly avert my eyes when she looks up at me. "So, how old are you?" I hear her ask. Looking back up at her, I answer quickly, "Seventeen." She nods and takes another sip of the beverage then lays it down on the desk, "Good age." I take the time and ask her age, "Twenty-One." She says with a smile, "I can now get drunk legally." We laugh. "So, you're a... Senior?" I nod, "Yep." I say chipperly and curse silently, I always seem to sound 'preppy' when I talk to people I dont know well, "I graduate in one Semester." "Thats good." She says and I notice she seems to be thinking about something but she quickly snaps out of it and picks up her drink but notices it's empty. She looks up at me, "Well, I should probably get going." She stands. I stand as well and take her mug, "It was nice talking to you." I reach down and pick up her jacket for her. She turns and takes the coat, her hand brushing mine for a split second before she pulls it away. I lead Karen to the front door and wish her goodbye before she leaves. I yawn and decide to head upstairs to my room, maybe give Kelli a call or something. My room is just as I had left it. The bed was made rather messilly and there was a book laying on the floor as well as a glass that was still half-full, as I saw it at least. I leave the things alone and climb onto my bed and reach for the phone and dial Kel's number. The reciever rings four times before I decide to give up on contacting my friend. I dont even want to think about what may be happening at her house. I sigh boredly and try to think of someone else to call. Burg would be in his garage with his band. Joey and most of my other guy friends had football practice. I dont even want to try calling Laura because she never answers her phone and Tamara, I dont even want to talk to her. None of my friend's like Tamara and I dont even think she likes us. She only hangs out with us so she can flirt with Burg. I sigh and reach beside my bed and pull my backpack up with me. Inside, I get out my English homework. The assignment was kinda dumb. I had to write out, in depth, a description of the last person I talked to. Then, it clicks. The last person I talked to was Karen. Now I have to describe someone I've only met twice. I sigh, 'I could just lie and say the last person I talked to was Grandpa or Dad but... Ah, screw it.' I open my notebook and search around in my backpack for a pencil. Finding one, I begin on the description. Two Hours Later... "Done." I say brightly as I hold up the piece of paper. It was only half filled with words but who cares, it had depth and a description so Mrs. Mitch a.k.a Mrs. Bitch would have no reason to count any points off. This was actually kinda fun to write. For some reason, I really enjoyed writing about the woman, Karen something-or-other. She was actually a very pretty woman but looking back at the paper... I made her sound down right gorgeous. I scratch my light brown-ish hair and sigh. "This sounds like something Kelli would write to make Bitch mad..." I shrug and put the paper away. I look over at the clock: 7:00. Rolling out of bed, I walk back down the stairs and into the living room. Grandpa is sitting in his chair watching 'The Price is Right.' I wave to him and lay down on the couch and briefly watch the game show as the white-haired host Bob Barker congradulates a elderly lady on guessing the correct price on a bottle of Crest toothpaste. I briefly listen to my Grandpa, "Ya know, that Bob has a pretty good life. Heck, he's older than I am and he's surrounded by beautiful woman and money." He chuckles grufly, "Him and that Hugh Hefner, they're my idols." I laugh offhandedly but I know he's kidding. Gramps is actually a very religious man who would never date another woman, not after Grandpa. He has been a devout Christian since his teenage years and he and Gram served a year or two as elders at their church. After grandma died, he became even closer to God, something I admire him for. His Faith. Slowly, I drift off into a dreamful sleep on the couch of my living room and slowly the dream comes on. I dream that I'm walking down the street in some unknown neighborhood. I'm joined by Kelli walking next to me on the long, seemingly endless strip of concrete. I look across the street and see a dark figure walking parrallel to us and I think it's Burg. He is soon joined by several other dark figures that I cant make out. Looking foreward, I sense another presence and soon Kelli changed into another female. Karen. I stop and look at her then she starts saying something. At first the sound is inaudible then I can make it out. She's saying, "Alexia. Alexia." Over and over then she says sometihng else, "Wake up!" My eyes slowly flutter open and I'm awarded with the image of my grandfather standing over me saying my name and telling me to wake up. I smile to him and sit up, "What time is it?" I ask with a yawn. "10:30." He says and turns away from me, "You'd better get to bed. You got school tomorrow. Night." He walks away from me and I shout a 'night' after him. I stand and stretched, my leg cramps up probably from the position I was sleeping in. I trudge up stairs and into my room then I turn into my 'pjs' and crawl into bed. With a yawn, I click the light off on my nightstand and snuggle into bed. Finding myself not sleepy, I begin to ponder my thoughts. First I think about the dream and what it meant. It was really strange even though most of it was very blurry. My thoughts soon turn to the Lucas party then to Burg's intentions. I eventually leave the question alone and find myself drifting off to sleep as I continue with my thoughts. My last thought before sleep overtakes me is my new female friend, Karen... Tanimoto! Her last name is Tanimoto. That is the last thing that crosses my mind as I fall asleep. This time it was luckily a dreamless one.
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