Fighting For Life (published)

Act

Aubry's POV-

I was excited, too excited. Just the aroma of the place was making me salivate. It had been too long since I had a proper meal, and foo in general was so hard to come by in my situation. So who was I to turn down free food.

Everyone was talking about their plans. Everyone was going to be with family and fill up on food during Thanksgiving, just as they should. I had even finally pried it out of Aiden that he was going to see his grandparents a state away to spend a day or so there with his family to celebrate. Although he seemed kind of glum about the whole situation, I sure as hell didn't make the mistake of asking him why though.

I was just as glum. I didn't want to be a hypocrite and ask for answers that I wasn't willing to divulge either. Still, everyone was asking me about my own plans. It was very sad, I just came up with open-ended answers and left it with a smile. A fake smile could hide a whole lot.

The truth is, my family hadn't ever celebrate holidays. Birthdays were never really a thing for us either. There was never really anything for us to celebrate... so we just didn't.

Even when my mom was alive, we didn't do anything like that. Of course, it didn't help that for as long as I could remember, both of my addict parents would get extremely high and/or drunk most nights. My dad would always pass out or get angry and abusive. While my mother would go out and be with whatever man she wanted to be with during that night for a quick fix. Marriage didn't mean anything to that woman... especially when the men she was with would give her the drugs that she needed.

The moment my parents discovered meth was the moment that they quit being parents. They quit giving a crap about anything except when their next high would be. They left my eight year old sister in charge of me, a little three year old. She was just a little girl having to raise me. No wonder she wouldn't even speak to me after she left for UCLA. She had to grow up being the mom to a kid that she didn't even want... she was supposed to be the sister, not my mom.

I was sad, really sad. Thinking of Kelsey and the family that I never had always made me sad. It always got worse right around the holidays too. Not to mention, that I didn't even have a home for thanksgiving that year... it was just a sad situation.

The food came and it was like heaven. It had been too long. Unfortunately I had only taken a few bites when disaster struck... The loud door made me look up, and when I looked up I saw the junkie from the town square that I had a run in with a week or so before. His eyes met mine before I got a chance to look down. I saw the recognition in his eyes even before I lowered my head and tried to hide myself as much as possible.

Too many questions raced through my mind as he walked up to our table. I held my breath as he stopped. I felt all eyes on me, but I didn't dare look up.

"Well, well, well if it isn't the liar in the flesh." I stayed silent, not wanting to give into his little games. "Guess who I saw a few nights ago little girl!" Panic ran through me, but I still tried to be silent. "Sunny and frank..." He continued to goad me, but I wasn't having it. I really didn't want to cause a scene in front of everyone, though he was giving me no choice in the matter.

Suddenly, he got tired of my dismissals, and grabbed my face rather forcefully making me look up at his ugly face. "Look at me when I'm talking to you, little bitch."

Aiden was simply trying to help, but I really didn't want him involved. Not because I thought that the man could over-power him or anything... but because I didn't think he belonged in that type of situation. I didn't want him to have to deal with the creepy junkie, simply because it was apart of my life. Aiden didn't belong there in that type of situation. I, however, had been dealing with it for my whole life.