Sing!

Dead!

Catherine Wright knew she had a pretty pointless life. Was that a depressing fact to admit to? Probably, but hey, a girl could at least be honest with herself right?

Today had been another bad one. But at lest she managed to drag herself out of her one bedroom apartment long enough to make a trip to the convenience store. Nothing like a craving for twelve hour old hotdogs and nacho cheese to get a shut in up and off her butt! Since she was out, she also decided to grab a few other things too, making it unnecessary to leave the house again for another few days. Not until she had to go back into work at least.

Catherine worked at this very convenience store, as a matter of fact. The only reason she had the week off was that she had to cash in her mandatory days off before the annual cycle started again. Come Wednesdays she would be back behind the counter, avoiding eye contact with every person who wanted gas or scratch offs. Still, at least it was kind of like socializing... sort of. Better than being a complete and utter hermit at least.

"See you in a few days..." Sighed Rick, the current cahier working the store. He was a young guy, working the weekends to save up for a car. He complained a lot and didn't have the best attitude, but at least he was motivated, which was more than Catherine could say about herself.

She waved a hand over her shoulder in acknowledgement as she exited the shop, the 'ding' of the door echoing in the crisp night air. Winter was coming pretty fast and the streets were mostly empty. Not a big night life mid October on a Sunday night. Too cold and most people had to work in the morning.

Catherine rubbed her hands together in the cold, the flimsy plastic bag crinkling with the motion. She had left her gloves at home, not wanting to back for them when she live just three minutes away. She started speed walking through the packing lot, dodging a red car as it pulled up to the pump, the older woman behind the wheel giving her a dirty look for the trouble.

She had just been fantasizing about the rather nasty hotdog swinging in her hand when she heard a muffled shout up ahead. She froze on the sidewalk. Up ahead, just on the edge of a flickering street light, was a small group of people. Catherine avoided other human beings most days if she could, but theses guys were right in her path, and she would look like a complete tool is she crossed the street to avoid them.

She had been debating what to do while slowly walking in their direction when she realized what she was looking at. There were three men- thugs really considering the aggressive stances they were in- surrounding two young girls. If Catherine had to guess they were late teens or early twenties and dressed like they had been on their way home from a bar or club perhaps. Probably collage kids getting one last night of fun in before the grind started again the next day. 

Clearly the thugs thought these girls had dressed up just for them. The girls were going from irritated to afraid pretty quick and Catherine could see that they were in over their heads.

Catherine had always been a 'nothing', and she thought about that now, as she debated what to do. She got poor to average grades in school, never went to collage, had one boyfriend in her life whom she married less then a year after meeting. They never had kids, but Catherine saw that as a blessing, it made the eventual divorce far less complicated. Now she was a thirty year old woman with no family, no worth wild job, and no ambition. 

It was not the life she had dreamed for herself when she was young and still idealistic. She had always wanted to live a life worth living. Its not like she wanted to be the main character or something, but she did want to be a useful and needed part of society. But poor life choices led to depression, and a crippeling anxiety problem did not help. Now she wasn't really living a life at all.

But, as she shuffled toward the group, she felt, once again, the need to be needed. Maybe it was a small thing, but right here and right now, she was needed, even just a little.