𝘑𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘦
_______________
𝘏𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘳, approaching the distorting pleads. She reached the room's doorway, seeing her Mother's bloody body in the bed, with her Father pleading for his life to the gunwoman. His eyes moves to Joule, following by the gun held by the assailant, pointing directly at her.
"RUN! Don't stop running. GO!"
She tried lifting her bare feet and achieved what her father commanded, but they were stuck to the floor and she watched bullets shoot into her father's body, killing him. She screamed as the glove covered hand holding the gun shifted to her and the loud shot rang with the bullet flying out the barrel and piercing into the middle of...
A loud gasp filled the bedroom as Joule lifted up sweaty and breathing heavily. Joule raised her right hand to her chest to feel it was still in one peace aside from her nightmare.
"Are you okay?" The question made Joule recoil and turn to the light coming in her dark room to find Chloe standing at the doorway of the bathroom between their bedrooms. "I...was using the restroom and heard you crying."
"I-I'm fine..."
Chloe sighed softly. "Wash up and meet me on the roof."
Joule watched her red-head foster sister leave the door open and turn and walk back to her bedroom through the bathroom. The other door shut and she released a deep breath. She reached over, double tapping her iPhone screen and seen the time—5:15AM.
Knowing school was in just another three hours, Joule sighed in exasperation aware of her not gonna be able to fall asleep again. She threw off her cover, going to shower and remove the night sweat off her body. Afterwards, Joule slipped on a tank top dress and super slouched socks and in Chloe's room, feeling the early morning breeze in from her open window that blew her curtains. She went over, looking out the front-facing window to Chloe sitting on the roof wrapped in a small blanket.
Joule climbs out, not missing the all-to-familiar smell. She sat out on the roof and Chloe hands her another blanket and she covered up with it. "You sit up here every morning?"
Chloe released a breeze of smoke from her mouth, "Sometimes; when I have nightmares. You smoke?"
Joule peered down at the blunt in between her fingers. "For fun back home," she accepted the blunt, "I'm sure Big Mama's gonna smell it."
"She will. Her window's next to mine." Chloe told her and the look on her face makes her laugh, "She's okay with it. Just can't smoke it in her face like "we grown" as she calls it. Just keep it out her face, away from the lemon trees and the shed, and we good. Plus she knows it helps me; my anxiety."
Holding the blunt between her index and middle finger, placing it to her mouth, and sucking in gently with a long steady intake into her lungs. She pulled the blunt off her lips, holding there for a second before exhaling the smoke.
"Well, look at you!" Chloe grinned proudly, nudging Joule. "Talking about 'for fun'. You a pro."
"Wouldn't say that." Joule chuckled, taking another pull before passing it back to Chloe. She let out the smoke and says, "You mentioned you have nightmares.."
Chloe coughed a little. "Yeah. . I, uh, came here when I was fourteen and I had a horrible life with my Mother; she was hard on heroin, even while she was pregnant with me. The doctors say that's why I have bad anxiety. I was on meds for it but the marijuana helped best. So I actually do have a card now once Big Mama realized it settled me. My mom used to sell her body for it. Every night was a new guy. One night one of her john's raped her. I... woke up to it happening. I can still to hear her. My nightmares are me being anything, but the coward I was when it was actually happening in real life. I was in bed covering my ears because I knew if I would've helped, my mom would've blamed me. I was always the blame."
