But Brooke pushed the voices away and walked quickly to the street corner to meet up with a group of mostly juniors and seniors, with the exception of the HOT James Tyler, who Brooke wanted to date more than anything in the world. Their group had taken a liking to the young girl when they learned the she was intelligent yet innocent to the ways of a real high school party life. They introduced her to the practice of sneaking out and coming home drunk and the art of smiling to the cashier so you don't get carded and how to roll the best blunt and methods for putting on eyeshadow and everything else a teenage slut needs to know. Brooke relished in this knowledge. But at least once or twice during the week she slipped away from everything to visit Sherwood Park to relax. She still considered this haven a private place and almost feared having any of her friends invade her privacy by coming there or even knowing she went there regularly.
The group noisily welcomed her and they slowly made their way up the street to Casa D' Waffles, where everyone unanimously agreed to go because they were STARVING from the munchies. Just as they reached the restaurant, someone yelled "Hey! Let's go to Isabella's cafe!" As everyone turned and walked across the street, Brooke's heart skipped a beat. She knew it was the time of night when unsightly things would be happening inside this crummy establishment, because it was the city's famous strip club. And her little conscious yelped This is where it all started! PLEASE don't go back! But she opened that door and strutted through like it was a runway. Some girl on stage winked at her, and the battered digital sign above her read "Evelyn." Someone ordered margaritas and 2 pitchers of beer, and the night began to blur. Faces ran together. The music got louder and louder. Evelyn started dancing to a techno remix of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and everyone laughed at their fun free lives, so close to the edge of danger but not close enough to fall. James whispered in her ear "The stage is free. You should get up there." And without a second thought, she jumped on the stage and danced.
That is, until the bouncer bodily threw her over his shoulder, carried her across the room, and tossed her out the back door. She landed in a puddle of dark muddy snow and heard a sickening crack as her face hit the pavement. Brooke reached up and realized that her forehead was gashed to the skull and bleeding profusely. Her stomach twisted, and she vomited, a feeling that used to sicken her but now was just another sensation she was dead to. She slowly peeked in the window of the door she was thrown out of, and saw her friends. They were laughing and drinking. No one noticed the altercation, and no one noticed she was gone. Not even James.
Brooke laid back down, in the vomit and mud and tears, for hours maybe. She grew colder and colder as the snow continued to fall. Until she realized that she needed help. Slowly, she made her way to the free clinic, where the receptionist Rosa took several tries to properly pronounce her name, and smiled kindly at her as she was called into a room to be seen. "You be good to your momma now, okay sweetie?" said Rosa as she thought of her own relationship with her mother when she was that age, and Brooke smiled tiredly back. As she sat in that doctors office, Brooke thought about her mother, and what she would think of this life she'd been living for the past few weeks. A tired middle-aged nurse stitched up her wound and said "You've lost a lot of blood. If it had been and hour or two more, you might have been unconscious."
Brooked shuffled home, clothes stained and ripped, thinking about her mom. I've been an awful daughter. I have become an awful person. But do I have the strength to stop? These were the kinds of thoughts that occupied Brooke's mind as she crept back up the stairs and through the door of her Apartment. Dreams of a former home life and the woods surrounding her old house crowded her mind.
She awoke with a start, at 6 AM. Even though she'd only had 1 hour of sleep, it was enough to rejuvenate her tired soul. She grabbed her cell phone and a mason jar full of change, intent of redeeming her soul by helping the poor blind man she had seen a few weeks before. After only a short time, she found him, in front of the place where EVERYTHING had happened, wearing tattered Santa garb. How could she not remember him from only a few hours ago? She ignored this thought, and dumped her entire jar into his Salvation Army bucket. He croaked "Thank you." Then "He puzzled and puzzed till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. Maybe Christmas, he thought... doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps... means a little bit more!" Brooke grinned and said "Gee, thanks mister! Christmas does mean more!" She walked home, while calling the radio station 100.4 until finally the friendly radio broadcaster Leon Van Damme answered with a prompt "Helloo? This is Leon Van Dammen with 100.4, taking Christmas requests for the holidays. What do you want to hear this morning?" Brooke spluttered for a moment, not expecting to make it through to such a popular station, then requested I'll be Home For Christmas. Leon promised to play it, and Brooke ran home & up 4 flights of stairs to turn on the radio. As she did, Bing Crosby warbled out "And I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams..." Brooke sat down on her tattered couch and dozedly dreamed of a perfect life, with her perfectly happy mother & her perfect father back from business engagements and the perfect Silvia providing hot chocolate for their perfect 4-person family.
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