This is Life

Wearing out my Welcome

Inside the trailer was dark. I flipped on the main light in the living room and walked down the picture-lined hallway to the computer in the game room. I sat down in the black swivel chair and pressed the "on" button on the CPU. Waiting a few minutes the screen loaded and I clicked on the "E" for Internet. When the blank page popped up, I typed in anamiafriends.net into the address bar and waited patiently for the site to upload.

When it finally did I scrolled down to the overweight button and double-clicked. The page following instructed to: type in your age, height and weight. I entered 14, 5'3'' and 103 pounds. The old black keyboard was noisy when I typed on it. The loud tapping could be heard on the other side of the trailer. After pressing proceed, the newest screen appeared. In bright, bold red letters "7 pounds overweight" flashed across the screen. I gasped, almost not expecting it. Three years almost to the day I had been dealing with anorexia. I had dropped nearly 40 pounds, and I still had 7 more to go. It seemed hopeless to get my body perfect.

The sharp squeaking of the screen door made me snap back into it. I turned the monitor off and walked out to the main room. "Ehvie?" James's voice was coming from the kitchen. I stepped over a small pile of clothes and continued to the kitchen. I stood in the open doorway and watched Jamie quietly as he dug through the refrigerator. "Ah hem." I cleared my throat jokingly, causing his head to jerk up. "Oh, Ehvie, there you are." he let his held breath out and set a red apple from the fridge down on the kitchen counter. Walking up to me he grinned and pulled me in for a kiss. "Who were you expecting?" I asked when he let me go. "Shut up," he laughed, "I've only got about 5 minutes till I've gotta head back to work."

I leaned back on the counter. "Robbie told me I couldn't f*** you till you were 18. Ha!" He grabbed the apple from behind me. "Yeah he told me the same thing. I don't know, he seemed pretty serious. I don't wanna get you in trouble." I said. "Nah!" He said taking a bite, "He won't do nothin. But hey!" he said with a mouthful of apple, "I gotta get going." He leaned over and kissed my cheek. "I'll check ya later baby."

"Jamie?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you know Zek lived here now?" I asked.

"Of course."

"Well I'm going over there this afternoon."

"Okie dokie sweetums." he smiled, "I'll see ya, mwah!" he blew a kiss to me and walked out to his car.

I took a well-needed nap until three. My alarm screamed at me, until I knocked it on the floor accidentally, while I was searching for it with my eyes closed, and got up. Outside, I got on the old rusted blue bike leaning on the trailer and rode off. Greenwich Court was only about 15 minutes away.

As I rode up in Zek's driveway I saw him walking down the end of the street. He didn't seem to notice me, so I took the opportunity to scare him. I dragged my bike into to the bushes by his porch with me and hid. It took about five minutes for him to finally walk up to the steps and pull a cigarette out of his pocket. "AHH!!' I screamed and jumped onto him from the right side. "AH shit!" he yelled. I busted out laughing as we fell on the ground. "What the hell?!" he shouted. He looked over and started laughing as soon as he realized it was me. "Oh screw you Ehvie!" he laughed. He was embarrassed about how he screamed and freaked out. But to be honest, living around there, I would have done the same thing. He got up and brushed himself off, then reached down and pulled me up with no effort.

"Come on in." he said. I smiled and followed him through the door. Two of his little sisters were laying belly down staring up at the TV. They were both blonde. It was hard to remember which ones they were because Zek had 8 siblings in all. "Hey I've got a few people you should meet. Some of my friends. They'll be here in a few minutes,” he said walking back to his room. He returned with a purple plastic bong. He set it down on the table next to the couch and came over to me. He threw his arms around me and shook me from side to side. "You doin okay?" he asked. I nodded silently. He backed up a little and looked me in the eyes. "I don't believe you. But you'll feel better eventually babe." he kissed the top of my head.

There was a knock at the door, and the two little girls got up and raced to the door, tripping over each other to answer it. Two girls around my age, and a tall guy stood in the doorway. "Hey guys." Zek said. They walked in and the littlest of Zek's two sisters hugged one of the girls. "Hi Kara!" The girl patted her head, "Hey sweetie."

"Ladies, Steven, I'd like you to meet my lovely sister, Ehvie." he said. Zek walked over to the guests and placed his hand on top of a short blonde haired girls head. "This is Kara." He scooted to the right and placed his hand on top of an even shorter brunette girl's head and said, "This is Ashley." Then finally, wrapped his arm around a tall white kid with a bandana on and introduced him as Steven. "They all know James." Zek said.

"Oh. Ohh! This is Ehvie!" Kara spoke. She came over to me and threw her arm around my shoulder. "Well any friend of James is a friend of mine." she grinned, throwing her other hand in front of us for me to shake. "So uh, are we gonna get high?" Steven asked. Ashley smacked his chest. "Is that all you think about?" she asked, obviously aggravated. He just chuckled.

Zek picked the bong up and handed it to Steven. "You hungry Ehv?" he asked me. I shook my head, "Not too much." Kara laughed. "Well ya will be after you smoke! Steven's always got good weed."

We spent the whole afternoon getting to know each other. Smoking and hanging out, just sharing stories. I learned a lot about all of them. Especially Kara. She grew up with just her Dad and little sister, and they were both physically and sexually abused for several years before the teachers at their school found out and got them both pulled out of the house. Both her and her sister were put in foster care, and eventually placed in separate homes.

At 10:20 Uncle Robbie called my cell phone. "Where the hell are you Ehv?" he asked when I answered. "I'm at Zek's house. Do you want me to come home?" I asked. "Yeah. That'd be nice,” he said sarcastically. "Get your ass home!" He hung up on me before I could say anything else. I hugged Zek and told him I had to go. Kara and the others had been long gone. "Be safe babe." He said.

When I got to the trailer the lights were off. "Ohh...Oh f*** Robbie!" I heard a girls voice moaning down the hallway. "This must be Gina." I thought to myself. Uncle Robbie's new girlfriend. He had told me about her. She was a lot younger than him, being 21, eight years his prior, and she still lived at home, while going to college. I heard Ryan call him a cradle robber. The moaning turned into short lustful screams. I walked past his room as quietly as I could to no avail. "Ehvie!" Uncle Robbie yelled, "Get your ass in here!"

I groaned, really not wanting to see Robbie with this girl. I cracked the door open and stepped in. A small girl with dark hair was sitting up next to my uncle in bed, trying to cover herself with the sheets. I was beginning to question myself as to whether she was really even 21 when he broke my train of thought. "Just where the hell were you at?" he asked. He sounded really angry. "Zek's." I said standing in the doorway. "Ehv, I told you to be home at ten didn't I?" he asked harshly. I just stood there.

"Well?!"

"Y-yes..." I stammered.

"Go the hell to bed!" he shouted.

I walked out and shut the door behind me. Within minutes they were back at it again.