Kristina Smith
Location: Building 7 (Rec Center)
Kristina gave Niesha a slight nod, she at times didn't understand some of the philosophical stuff Niesha said sometimes but she was still there and did her best to try and understand what Niesha said at times.
"We aren't the same people from four years ago." Kristina said softly and shrugged ever so slightly. She definitely knew that she wasn't the same sixteen year old girl growing up in high school enjoying her life as much as possible back then. Kris looked at Niesha for a moment when she continued to mention the thing that she had found out earlier in the day. Kris ran a hand through her hair looking up at the sky as well, she could understand why Niesha didn't want to tell her, it was most likely something that was pretty personal.
"I wont budge on it then." Kris said giving Niesha a soft and friendly smile, she started to gently rub her arms for a moment looking down at her dress, she never thought she would actually wear a dress or become a bridesmaid until today. The day was great, and felt like that the apocalypse never happened. She looked at Niesha gently laying a hand on her friend's shoulder, deciding that it was getting a to cold for her.
"Did you want to head back in?" Kristina finally asked her friend, wondering if Niesha needed some more time alone or not. Kristina watched as Ray made his way back to the Rec Center she gave him a friendly wave she turned back to her friend to see what she wanted to do.
Meghna Kumar
Location: Building 7 (Rec Center)
Meghna turned her attention over to Amelia and couldn't help but laugh at Amelia's reaction to her question about Riley and Amelia being a couple. Seeing her reaction though her question was pretty much answered they weren't dating yet, but she thought for a moment and smiled they really did look cute together. "Well you should ask her out sometime then." Meg suggested as she started to eat more of her food and ran a hand through her hair giving Amelia a friendly smile. "The worse she could do is say no." Meghna started to take another drink letting out a relaxed sigh.
"Don't worry Amelia I wont tell her anything, you are when you feel the time is right." Meg stretched slightly, as she looked over at Tatiana and Jack where they were sitting they seemed to be having a great time she also took notice of she watched him from a distance, she also saw Jim leaving the Rec Center and another member of security taking his position as the bartender. She then turned her attention back over to Amelia. "So any plans after the reception?" Meghna asked Amelia. "Are you and Riley going to get it on tonight?" Meg asked her friend teasing her, just to see her friend's reaction.
Raymond Mendoza
Location: Building 7 (Rec Center)
Raymond made his way back to the rec center, he had enjoyed the talk he had with Tiffany and really happy that she felt the same way, he slowly made his way up to the front door. Ray gave Kristina and Niesha a friendly smile as the two of them talked when he entered the rec center everything seemed to be the same still Jim walking past him to do whatever duty he was asked to do. Ray started his way back over to the table that they all had been sitting at earlier. Ray saw Beatrice still there at the table by herself, he made his way over and pulled his seat back and flopped down.
"Thanks for watching my food." Ray said giving her a friendly smile as he quickly went back to eating his food, luckily he didn't fall on his ass again on his way back to the Rec Center. He leaned back in his seat turning his attention back to Beatrice.
"So did I miss something while we were gone?" Ray finally asked curious if anything interesting did happen while he and Tiffany were talking to one another outside.
Chloe & Riley
August 1995: Grimm, Indiana
It was the summer before their last year of middle school. Their younger brother, Kyle, had gone off to a Christian summer camp, leaving the girls with the house virtually to themselves. Their father was off at work and their mother volunteered at Vacation Bible School, after all. And while they weren't explicit about it, it was heavily implied that Chloe would be in charge. Already, the Ridgeways had decided which child to invest more time and energy in. They didn't have enough love for more than one.
Chloe was currently in the middle of her parentally enforced two hours of violin practice time. Concentrating on the notes on the page, she played with a mix of clumsiness and grace, going through rhythm after rhythm. But as she pressed the bow down, intending to end with a nice flourish, the strings on the violin snapped. She hadn't snapped a string in ages, and Chloe stared at it, her expression a mix of shock and horror. Their parents had already shouted at her over the expense of replacing the strings--she imagined the screaming and yelling to come, and Chloe closed her eyes tightly, as if she could vanish and appear somewhere entirely else.
Riley sat in front of the TV with her scruffy looking
cat named Midnight on her lap. She found him a little over a year ago sitting in front of their front door, Riley despite how strict their parents were towards her managed to convince her to have him. On the other side of her was a bag of Cheetos next to her, lazily leaving a cheesy looking mess on the white couch's fabric. Riley ran a hand through her cat's fur while also listening to Chloe playing on her violin, their parents did try and force her to play it as well. But she was never as good as her sister would and Riley did of course get very jealous over Chloe and Kyle since they were praised more then she ever did.
Then Riley heard her sister's playing coming to an abrupt end, pulling herself up and turned around facing backwards looking over at Chloe's face, Midnight climbed off the moment Riley moved. The look on her sister's face said it all as Riley noticed one of the strings had broke during Chloe's finish, it had been a really long time since Chloe broke one. Riley licked away some of the powdered cheese off of her fingers and started making her way over to the room that they had set up for Chloe's violin practice.
"What happened?" Riley asked sounding concerned for Chloe she then started looking at the one string that was now dangling off of the violin's neck.
Chloe very slowly set the violin down, looking at the violin string with a tear in her eyes. She could attempt to fix it herself, but the instrument wouldn't play the same way. She closed her eyes again, shuddering for a moment as she took a deep breath. She heard the cat sauntering off, and she slowly turned, her hands fiddling with her hair as she did so. It was pulled back in a ponytail, with the classic and ever-so-popular hairband that all the middle school girls were in love with topping off the look.
"N-nothing," Chloe replied, forcing a smile. She was the quietest of the Ridgeway siblings.
"Just a broken string, that's all," Chloe squeaked.
Riley looked over at the violin feeling bad that Chloe would end up facing the verbal wrath and abuse from their parents for breaking the string.
"We could try and fix it together maybe?" She suggested, knowing that tuning it would take awhile to get it to sound how it sounded like earlier.
"I can take the blame this time if they find out." Riley hated seeing Chloe being verbally abused by their parents, but it didn't happen as much to either Chloe or Kyle unlike Riley. She started making her way over to a nearby drawer where they kept spare strings for Chloe's violin, finding the opened box their parents wouldn't notice one missing. And if they tuned it right then hopefully their parents wont notice it out of tune either.
"No, I can't let you do that," Chloe replied, finally seeming to get over the momentary trauma. Her sister tended to take the majority of their parents' anger and rage, and while there had been occasions that Riley covered for her, she'd only feel guilty afterwards. She pulled the broken string off of the violin, and brought it over to Riley, looking at her twin sister. She'd never strung the violin herself before--her parents or the owner of the local music store tended to do it.
"Are you sure?" Riley asked looking over at her twin sister when she said she would be the one to take the fall this time, she set Chloe's violin down on the table. She slowly started to unravel the string looking at it over Riley had no real clue what she was doing, other then seeing some people at the music store being forced to wait there while Chloe did her practice there sometimes as well.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Chloe asked nervously.
"Nope, not really." Riley said softly, she looked down seeing a ball at the end of the string and looked down at the tail end of the violin. She started to aligned it through a small notch and made sure that it was tightly secured, Riley then slowly started to pull the thin end of the string forward finding the peg with a hole in it. Riley started to slowly twist the peg making sure that the new string was straight and tight enough, once she was done she looked over at her sister and handed it over to Chloe.
"Try it out." She said, she had seen a high schooler doing the same thing to his guitar awhile back and assumed it was about the same thing with a violin.
Chloe nodded and picked up the bow, putting the violin in the crook of her neck. Pulling the bow across the strings, the sound wasn't all together that bad. She let out a sigh of relief--it'd just sound out of tune, and that was something she could fix later. She tuned every other day or so, so there shouldn't be too much of a question by their parents.
"Thanks, Rye," Chloe said quietly, putting the violin back in its case carefully.
Riley leaned up against the table as she watched Chloe bringing the violin back up, hearing her running the bow along the strings it sounded a bit off tune to her as well. Once Chloe set her violin down Riley gave her sister a loving hug, hopefully father wouldn't notice a thing she hated seeing Chloe getting yelled at by him.
"No problem at all sis." She said happily before letting her go and took a step back looking over at the mess on the couch from the Cheetos she had been eating. Looking over at the grandfather clock in the room they had about another thirty minutes before their father came home from work.
"Should probably go and clean up my mess." Riley said softly as she started to head into the kitchen and grabbed a wash cloth, then quickly went towards the sink running it under some water. If their father came home to see the mess she would get in a lot of trouble as she came back scrubbing down the cheesy mess she had made.
Chloe nodded. They didn't have much time before their parents would come home, and in Chloe's experience, it was usually best to be out of the house. She tended to walk to the park herself and climb up a tree, and sit there with her journal. If there was anything Chloe enjoyed to do, and while she never told anyone--nor did anyone ask--it was to write stories. Her parents may have decided that she would be a surgeon, but that wasn't what Chloe wanted in life. She wanted to write. She adored shows like Saturday Night Live and pictured herself as one of the writers one day.
Riley couldn't help but slightly panic, she was scrubbing the wet cloth over the couch the stain was pretty hard to get out she looked up at Chloe as she moved over to the kitchen. Seeing Chloe grabbing some baking soda and water, seeing her mixing them together to make a paste Riley didn't really pay much attention to class especially when it came to math class or science. Her mind always went to other places, while Chloe liked to play violin she always imagined herself picking up a guitar someday and becoming a singer. That is where she really wanted to be when she got older, she shook her head slightly when Chloe came back looking at it for a moment.
But it wasn't the time for fantasies. They had reality to deal with.
"Here," Chloe offered, having run into the kitchen and grabbed the baking soda. She mixed it with a little bit of water and made a paste, before hurrying over to the couch.
"It'll remove the stain," Chloe explained, before applying it to the slightly orange areas.
"Just wait a few minutes and then remove it. Should do the trick." "Thank you Chloe.." Riley said softly as her sister started to apply it to the stain, she grabbed the bag of Cheetos that she had been eating and quickly rolled up the opened bag making her way back to the kitchen, setting it into one of the cabinets where they had all of their snacks and candy. Riley slowly made her way back towards Chloe rubbing the back of her neck slightly, she sat down looking at the stain for a moment then back at Chloe.
"I need to start paying attention in class more.." Riley had always been struggling to get good grades, and usually they were pretty bad and their parents would sometimes beat her if they weren't good enough.
"You don't need to thank me," Chloe said quietly, knowing the thoughts running through her twin sister's head. But what were they going to do about it? It wasn't Riley's fault that she struggled in school. Some people just didn't have the skill set for it, and Chloe wished that she could protect her sister, though she knew that she was powerless to do so.
"...Maybe instead of school, do something you like," Chloe suggested. School wasn't for everyone, after all. Perhaps there was something else that would fit Riley better.
"Mom and dad would kill me if they saw the mess though..." Riley said as she sat back and waited for a few more minutes thinking that it was long enough, she started to scrub the wet cloth over the baking soda like paste seeing the stain slowly starting to fade away. Riley closed her eyes letting out a soft sigh, the crisis was averted now. She looked at Chloe when she mentioned doing something other then school, that she liked doing.
Their parents cared more about Chloe and Kyle they were the more successful ones of the family, and already pretty much wanted to have their paths laid out for them. While she was left to struggle more, she thought for a moment what she really enjoyed doing Riley enjoyed music a lot. But it wasn't the violin or any sort of classical music that Chloe played, she would secretly if their parents were gone she always would have MTV or VH1 on TV, and the only subject Riley truly enjoyed was music class.
"I do really like music."
October 1999: Grimm, Indiana
The Ridgeway sisters were barely seventeen years old, enrolled in their junior year of high school. Their school was much like any other--divided by cliques and ruled the by the so called royalty, the preps. Chloe had grown into the role of bookworm, while Riley belonged with the freaks. As for Kyle, their brother? They spoke to him less and less, and he had recently decided that his calling was to become a missionary, much to the excitement of their parents.
It was a little past nine in the evening and it was already pitch black outside. Chloe sat on the same white couch, thumbing her way through an SAT prep book, with an MCAT prep book sitting on the table next to her. In the words of her mother and father, it was never too early to begin studying for medical school. Her entire schedule was consumed with studying and clubs, to the extent that she usually stayed up well past one working, and then woke up by five, in order to get an early start. She didn't enjoy the grueling schedule, but the prospect of disappointing their parents had far larger consequences.
Mr. and Mrs. Ridgeway sat on the couch next to Chloe, watching reruns of
Jeopardy! on the television, as they waited for Riley to return home. Mr. Ridgeway frowned and glanced over towards the door. "Chloe, where the
hell is your good-for-nothin' sister?" he barked, pumping his fist in the air. "What is China!" he shouted at the television set, startling Mrs. Ridgeway.
"I'm sure she'll be home soon," Chloe said quietly.
"Her sorry ass better be," Mr. Ridgeway grumbled.
Riley sat in the back of Alicia's car, they became very close friends ever since she started high school they had spent the last several hours in band practice. Though they were just starting at the time, and performed at school events Riley had been dreading coming home pretty much every day now and decided to come home later then usual. She also started to have feelings for other women, and her family pretty much being deeply religious Riley was always terrified of either coming out to them or them finding out that she was gay. Only a few of her closest friends knew that she was, Riley didn't even tell Chloe yet either.
"Hey, you okay there Ri?" Alicia asked, she had been quiet pretty much the entire car ride they had gone out to dinner and met Anthony there another of her bandmates also another close friend of Riley's. She turned her head slightly to look at her friend letting out a slight sigh and gave her a slight nod.
"Yeah, just dreading being home." Alicia frowned slightly and gave her friend a pat on the shoulder. "You are more then welcome to bunk at my place ya know." Riley gave her friend a slight nod.
"I know, and thanks." Alicia's car parked in front of the Ridgeway household. She did from time to time go Alicia or Anthony's house to crash if things did get really bad with her family at home, and usually relied on them for comfort as well.
"I'll see you tomorrow at school Ali." Riley said as she got out, and grabbed her guitar case she slowly started to make her way towards the door she looked through the window. She saw Chloe sitting and studying, and their mother and father sitting in front of the tv watching
Jeopardy! taking a deep breath Riley opened the door, hoping to sneak in and get upstairs before they could see her.
Chloe locked eyes with Riley as she stared through the window, desperately hoping that their parents wouldn't notice Riley. She felt horrible for her sister and the way she was treated, but she also had decided she was powerless to stop it. All she could do would be to study even harder, to attempt to win more of their parents' happiness, and distract them from unleashing their rage on Riley.
"Riley Marie Ridgeway!" Mr. Ridgeway barked, pausing
Jeopardy! as he spotted the younger twin entering the house. "What in God's name do you think you're doing, being out so late?" His eye twitched slightly, the rage hardly held back. "I ain't raising a whore, goddamnit!"
Riley's eyes met Chloe's when she entered the house, it slightly annoyed her when Chloe didn't stand up for her at times just as Riley did her best to quietly close the door behind her Riley threw her head back letting out a very loud groan when her father noticed her coming in.
"For fucks sake..." Riley muttered to herself, she then clenched her fist when he mentioned her being a whore for coming home so late.
"Why the fucking hell do you care where I come and go? You give a damn more about Chloe and Kyle then me!" Riley instantly snapped back at her father as she took the strap of her guitar case onto the floor. It was usually a very bad idea swearing in front of them, it always turned out bad she looked over at her sister Riley crossing her arms over her chest turning to look at her father.
Chloe wanted to curl up into a shell and hide, but with the prep books, as well as her parents right next to her, she couldn't move a muscle. She knew that this wasn't going to end well--and that Riley's swearing likely hadn't helped matters, as much as she wished the situation would just vanish and go away. But of course, Riley was right--their parents didn't give a shit about her. They played favorites from the day they came into this world.
"Damn straight I do--they give me shit to be proud of!" Mr. Ridgeway growled, slamming his fist on the end table. "They aren't fuck-ups like you, Riley! All I've ever done is provide for you--I pay for your fucking food, I own this fucking house, and you don't do
shit for this family but give us lip, what with your fucking stupid music and your lesbo friends." Mr. Ridgeway took a deep breath, his eyes narrowing dangerously. Chloe looked like she was on the verge of tears, watching as the screaming match went down.
Riley started to clench her fists even tighter her nails digging even tighter into the palm of her hand breaking the skin ever so slightly, her lip started to tremble ever so slightly of course he always called her a screw up and a fuck up. Riley flinched slightly when her father slammed his fists onto the table.
"All you ever fucking do is give me fucking god damned bruises!" Riley was really tempted to throw something at her father's head. She looked over at Chloe, the ever quiet one Riley sometimes wished her sister would help her out and stand up for her sometimes, then her father insulted her friends calling them gay.
"I like my fucking music, that's the only thing that keeps me happy, I dread coming home every fucking day to deal with your fucking shit! And I do shit for you, I fucking clean up after you fucking lazy asses every single fucking day, I got a damn job at the fucking grocery store just to make you damn happy!" Riley slammed her fist on the table by the front door glowering over at her father, while her mother just sat there by Chloe their mother absolutely did nothing to stand up for her either as well.
"And don't you dare call my friends gay, because I am!" Riley then instantly went quiet with a terrified look, she looked over at Chloe for a moment. Riley did her best to try and hide her sexuality from her family, knowing exactly what their views are on homosexuality.
Mr. Ridgeway went quiet, staring intensely at his youngest daughter for a moment, before he rose from the couch without a word. His hands were clenched into fists and a vein in his head looked to be on the edge of bursting. For a moment, it looked like he was going to strike Riley, but he instead grabbed his wallet from the table, and pulled out a five dollar bill. He handed it to Riley, before walking over to the front door and opening it.
"That's enough for a bus ride out of here," he said, his voice filled with a quiet rage. "Don't come back. You ain't no daughter of mine."
Riley took a step back as her father started to approach him, she quickly averted direct eye contact with the man she remained very quiet and started to tremble fearing that he might hit her again just as he was about to search through his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Riley flinched slightly when he shoved a five dollar bill into her hands, and then she heard the door opening once more. His next words made her heart sink, tears started to go down the sides of her face. It was something she was terrified of, being disowned by her own family she looked up at her father's eyes for a moment.
"Can I at least get some of my clothes and other things?" Riley asked him, she would then look over at Chloe her sister was still oddly quiet during the entire argument between her and their father.
"Please say something Chloe.." Riley's voice cracking doing the best to not breakdown or make the whole situation even worse.
Mr. Ridgeway nodded once. It was a reasonable enough request for the unreasonable and painful situation. "Don't take too long," he warned, clearly wanting Riley to be out and on her way. Chloe, meanwhile, was in a state of shock, with tears dripping silently down her face. All of the studying couldn't have prepared her for a situation like this. She had always suspected that her sister was gay, that she was different from the rest of the family--but she never dared to ask. It was too dangerous.
When Riley asked her to say something, Chloe opened her mouth, wanting to stand up for her sister--wanting to confront their parents and exile herself along with Riley. She wanted to shout and to scream for her sister, to protect her the way Riley had always protected her. She wanted to tell Riley that she loved her and that she was so incredibly sorry for everything that had happened--but she couldn't make a sound. Her voice refused to function and silence reigned.
"Get on with it," Mr. Ridgeway said gruffly.
June 2005: California Institution for Women - Level I, Chino, California
While Chloe's friends were busy with internships and summer courses at the medical schools of their dreams, she was clad in prison orange. She had been arrested for use and possession of a controlled substance, as well as vehicular theft and reckless driving, just over a month ago. Since then, she had been sentenced to two years--a relatively lenient sentence, courtesy of a good lawyer who was friends with someone she went to high school with.
But even then, her accomplice had gotten off with community service, and she, she had spent her time thus far in the Secure Housing Unit, left to detox apart from the rest of the community. The food had been inedible, and without a single human being to talk to, there were moments when she felt insane. When they removed her from the cell that morning, and brought her into a private room--one often used for interrogations--she wasn't sure what to expect. She had no knowledge that her sister, by then famous across the country, had arranged for a visit.
"Inmate 51434-499, you have a visitor," the correctional officer announced as he entered the room, stepping aside to allow someone else to enter the small and desolate room.
Riley stood just outside of the interrogation room, she managed to pull a few strings with some people to help arrange a meeting with her sister, it was six years ago since she was given the boot by her family. The last year of high school was really tough on her, still the struggles of high school as well as having to find places to crash every few months. But after high school she mainly focused on just her music, and working odd hours, before finally getting a record deal which instantly made her famous.
She was shocked when she first heard the story of her sister being put into jail, something she never expected Chloe getting in trouble with the law. When her producer and manager found out she was going to visit her sister, he suggested not to go but that didn't stop her at all she held a bag of fast food for Chloe and herself. Which was checked before hand, and okayed by the officers when the door opened Riley took a step into the room looking at her twin wearing prison orange.
"Thank you." Riley said to the officer, he nodded and left the room leaving the sisters to their reunion she slowly walked over and then pulled Chloe into a hug. She at first held the longest grudge against Chloe since the night she was kicked out, but after awhile she started to forgive Chloe.
"How have you been?" Riley finally asked her sister as she set the bag of food down on the table and sat down across from her twin.
Chloe couldn't help but be shocked, and it showed on her face, the moment Riley came into the room. Her eyes were wide and for a moment, they were filled with happiness, rather than fear and sadness. The guard didn't stay too far away, just on the other side of the glass, able to jump in at a moment's notice. She shuddered slightly as her sister pulled her into a hug, before hugging Riley back fiercely. It was the first physical contact she had had since leaving isolation.
"...Not that great," Chloe admitted, smiling uneasily at her sister. There was so much that she wanted to say to Riley, so much that she wanted to tell her, but she felt like she was at a loss for words. She hadn't properly spoken to Riley since their parents disowned her--and Chloe figured that she had been disowned as well by now. Neither sister had ultimately met their parents' standards.
"...Everyone back home knows, don't they?" Chloe asked. Her sister was a famous rockstar, after all--her trial had been well publicized from that.
Riley couldn't help but feel bad she at one point thought the roles would have been reversed, she being in prison and Chloe coming in to visit her. Riley bit her lower lip when Chloe asked if everyone at home knew, though Riley never stayed in contact with their family she came to the conclusion that Chloe was now in the same boat as her now.
"I think so I haven't talked with mom, dad or Kyle since I was kicked out.." Riley said softly, she stayed in contact with a few people back home mainly classmates and some friends that still lived back in Grimm.
Riley then opened the bag of food and handed Chloe over a wrapped cheese burger and some fries as well, figuring that prison food always tasted awful.
"I thought you might be hungry, beats the hell out of prison food right?" Riley asked, it felt good to actually talk with her sister she did miss talking with Chloe after being disowned. There was so much Riley wanted to ask about her since she was kicked out of their house, in high school she was still so angry she didn't want to talk with her twin at the time.
Had Chloe not nearly been starved in isolation, she would have eaten the food slowly, and maintained a conversation with her sister as she did so. Instead, she quickly unwrapped the cheeseburger and took a large bite into it, her eyelashes fluttering as she tasted the glorious, greasy food. It was a bit impressive how much she managed to get in one bite, and she blushed slightly at her sister.
"Yeah...They make cafeteria food look gourmet," Chloe joked, chuckling a bit.
"I think my dinner last night was actually just a big piece of rat shit and some expired milk." She took another bite into the cheeseburger, trying to savor it a bit more this time, knowing that she'd never get something this unhealthy but delicious again in prison.
"They have this thing they like to serve, they call it loaf...If you throw it, it sticks on the ceiling." Riley watched as Chloe quickly unwrapped the cheese burger and taking a large bite out of it, which made her chuckle back ever so slightly it was more from her reaction she felt bad Chloe didn't have the greatest tasting food in the world.
"So whats worse food from high school, or the food in here?" Riley asked with a smile as she took out her own and started to unwrap the burger and started to take a bite out of it, she then stopped for a moment and leaned back slightly in the seat across from Chloe.
"What happened the night I got kicked out?" Riley finally asked, since that night she had no contact with their family, and she was curious why her sister never spoke up.
"The food here, for sure," Chloe replied instantly, without having to think about it.
"I'm hoping it gets better when I'm put into gen. pop...but I'm not too hopeful, y'know? Probably gonna be more shit on a stick." But when Riley asked her about what happened that night, Chloe took a final bite into her burger, chewing it thoroughly as to buy herself time. She remembered that night vividly--it wasn't something she could easily forget. She remembered hearing her mother sob after Riley left, and she remembered the sounds of her father beating her mother until she quieted down.
"I don't know what happened," Chloe said, half lying, half telling the truth. She ate one of the fries, before looking back up at Riley.
"I'm sorry. I should've...I should've done something." Riley took another bite out of her burger while Chloe took a moment to answer her question, she looked down when Chloe finally answered her she bit her lower lip for a moment when Chloe apologized for not doing or saying anything to help her that night. Riley had a feeling Chloe wasn't telling her everything, after she left.
"It's fine, after that night I really did feel alone.. I mean sure I had Alicia there her family took me in, until we graduated." Riley said rubbing the back of her neck slightly.
"But I guess it was a good thing, I didn't need to have my parents approval and just focused on my music and what little I could for school as well." Chloe nodded, finishing off the french fries as she tried to think of something else to say. Her own life had become a train wreck and all of her mental energy was on the possibility of appeals, on the chance of parole. She was supposed to be entering medical school in the fall, she was supposed to have the approval of their parents. And instead, she felt directionless, and wasn't able to answer a simple question from her sister honestly.
"I'm glad you're doing well, Rye," Chloe said honestly, as the guard wrapped twice on the door, signaling that their time was running out. Chloe made a bit of a face at the guard, out of a force of habit more than anything else, before returning her attention to her sister.
Riley gave Chloe a soft smile looking over at her.
"Thanks Chloe." Riley said softly as she started to eat her fries, she turned her head slightly seeing the look Chloe was giving towards the guard. She started to return the same look at him as well, Riley did really want to spend more time with Chloe even if it was just for a little bit longer.
"So when do you get out, and do you have any hearings coming up?" Riley asked, she started to hope that they could have that same relationship like they did while they were kids.
"Once you are out, maybe we could have a relationship like we did when we were kids?" Chloe's face fell at the mention of hearings. She hadn't been able to speak to her lawyer since sentencing, but she knew that the outcome wasn't likely. She had gotten a fairly lenient sentence as it was, mostly due to character witnesses who claimed that she was a good kid who just spiraled out of control. The judge easily could have sentenced her to five years in maximum security, if not more. And while she knew her short sentence in minimum security wasn't that bad, prison was prison. Nothing would change that fact.
"I don't know, Rye...I haven't been able to talk to anyone since I got here," Chloe admitted.
"...Well, there was this one bitch I talked with through the vents in the SHU. She's cool, in here for kidnapping or some shit. Think she got transferred about a week ago or so but...Time's hard to keep track of in there. They leave the lights on constantly...But I haven't seen my lawyer in ages, so I wouldn't know if I did have anything coming up...It doesn't look likely." As to Riley's other question, however, Chloe smiled softly at her sister and nodded.
"Yeah, I'd like that." Riley looked down for a moment, seems she hadn't had any contact with the outside world since she was sentenced biting her lower lip for a moment.
"I could get you a better lawyer or try and pull some strings, if you want." Riley offered, she could get in contact with some really good law firms. She then smiled softly when Chloe did agree to restart their friendship once Chloe was released from prison, Riley then turned her head as she heard a knock on the door once more to signal that their visiting time was done.
Riley closed her eyes letting out a slight groan, before taking out a small piece of paper and quickly started to write down her cellphone number and slid it over to Chloe.
"Call me, if you need anything." Riley said to her sister, as she stood up and moved over pulling Chloe into another hug.
"I love ya sis." Riley said as she stepped away looking over at her unfinished food and handed the rest over to Chloe, the guard opened the door she gave Chloe one last smile.
"I'll try and set up another meeting." Riley said to her before being escorted out of the room.
May 2007: Alpine, Arizona
The sun had barely risen and the small group, crammed into two cars that functioned as both shelter and transportation, had been on a rotating watch system for a while by then. After leaving Los Angeles and narrowly escaping the bombings, they found that the outbreak wasn't just a local issue--it was pretty much everywhere. And beyond the plight of walkers, there was the threat of supplies being looted by other survivors, as everyone struggled to make it to the next day.
On first watch was a fiery redhead, with multiple tattoos and piercings. She pulled a small plastic bag out of her coat pocket, revealing a white powdery substance. The girl, an ex-con called Tuesday, had found it in the pocket of a walker a few days back, and hidden it away. Tuesday opened up the back and stuck her finger inside, taking out a little bit of the powder, and then placing it on her tongue. Almost instantly, she threw the bag on the ground in frustration, and she then kicked it as best as she could. But being a small plastic bag, it hardly moved an inch.
"Fucking sugar. God fucking damnit," Tuesday growled, as she frantically searched her pockets for anything to smoke. She came up empty and the look of desperation on her face would have explained to anyone what was going on. Chloe Ridgeway, a small-time drug smuggler with the nickname
Tuesday, had run out of drugs and was in dire need of a hit. The ginger groaned before scratching at her wrist frantically, as if that would serve as some form of substitute.
"Kill me now," Tuesday muttered under her breath.
Riley slowly opened up her eyes letting out a slight yawn and stretch as she slowly got up from sleeping in the back of her
car it had been about two weeks or so since they had left LA. She slowly pushed aside the front car seat pulling herself up to the front seat. Riley grabbed her knife that she kept in the front seat and opened the front door, Riley stretched slightly letting out a slight. Across from where her car was a
black SUV there was a
man and his family.
Riley gave them a slight nod and smile towards them, she started making her way over to Chloe, hearing her sister growl and muttering letting out a sigh. Riley dug through her pocket and pulled out a quarter carton of cigarettes and a liter tossing it over towards Chloe, she also handed Chloe a bottle of water.
"When was your last fix Chloe?" Riley asked looking back at the family they left LA with, making sure that they weren't in ear shot, Riley knew that her sister slipped back into her addiction for awhile now.
It still felt a bit odd to Tuesday, hearing people call her by her old name--
Chloe. Riley and she had decided that it'd be for the best to introduce her as Chloe, and if possible, to keep her past a secret. They didn't need anyone getting spooked at the prospect of sharing quarters with a convicted felon. Catching the cigarettes and the water, Tuesday quickly lit up a cigarette and enjoyed the taste of nicotine that came with smoking the thing.
"Too damn long ago," Tuesday sighed. She hadn't had a proper fix in over a week, with the last of the small stash she'd brought with her all used up.
Drinking a bit of the water, Tuesday felt a bit queasy. The cigarette helped some, but it didn't hit the spot like something stronger would. And with the happy-go-lucky family they were traveling with, she doubted they'd have any of the hard stuff on hand. They didn't even know Tuesday was an addict.
"Fuck, even some Mary Jane would be heavenly right now." Riley watched as her sister quickly lit up one of the cigarettes, she leaned up against a nearby bench for a moment.
"You know I always thought i'd end up becoming the addict and you looking after me." Riley said jokingly to Chloe, she let out a slight sigh looking over at the family for a moment. Then she pulled out a folded map of the area and spread it open, Riley looked over at Chloe for a moment and pointed out there was a ranger station in the town.
"There is a ranger station nearby, maybe they have some drugs, maybe weapons, and gas." Riley suggested, she knew that Chloe needed to be wined off of the drugs slowly, one of her band members was a drug addict and the withdrawal never turns out pretty at all. She also pointed out to two restaurants and a café in the small town as well.
"We could also hit these stores, maybe the town hasn't been looted yet?" Riley said, they were running pretty low on food already as well as gas.
It didn't take Tuesday incredibly long to finish off the cigarette. She lit up another one a moment later, and nodded at the map, perking up noticeably at the prospect of hitting up the ranger station. While she understood the need to get food and water, as well as more weapons for defense, her brain always placed drugs on a slightly higher pedestal. It'd be deadly and dangerous, but she
needed another hit.
"That sounds good," Tuesday nodded, before abruptly dropping her cigarette to the ground, She took a moment to stomp it out, before lurching forward a few feet. She dropped down to her knees, her forehead sweating, as she proceeded to empty her stomach. The puke-extraganza lasted for a few good minutes, before Tuesday crawled to her feet, and uncapped the water Riley had handed to her. Drinking a good portion of it, Tuesday wiped off her mouth.
"Sooner rather than later might be a good idea." Riley quickly moved over to her sister's side laying a hand on Chloe's back as she vomited onto the ground, biting her lower lip for a moment as she did her best to comfort her in some way. Riley looked at her sister with a concerned look as Chloe stood up once more, letting out a slight sigh it was dangerous they managed to park in an RV park just outside of town.
"Are you sure you are well enough to travel around a bit?" Riley asked as she looked over at the man and his family.
Tuesday shook her head.
"Either the drugs will kill me or the detox will, so I'm fucked both ways," Tuesday sighed. She wasn't sure how much she'd be capable of doing, her mind unable to recall medical knowledge at the moment. All she knew was that she had a serious need, and the longer she went without it, the more she felt like one of the walkers shuffling their way around the country. Sometimes, she wondered if she had hallucinated the entire apocalypse, and that she'd wake up in a shiny new cell in maximum security the next day, beginning to serve the twelve year sentence the judge had given her.
"We are going to go out on a run see what we can find in town." Riley yelled out to them, as Riley moved over to her car and opened it up, waving for Chloe to get in. The man started to head over to the gate that was to the entrance for the RV park, so that they could make it out and make the short drive into Alpine.
Tuesday climbed into the car after smoking up another cigarette with impressive speed, the carton almost empty. She brought the carton and the water bottle with her, having two shivs in her shirt pockets as a means of protection. The man they were traveling with had owned a gun range in Los Angeles, and while he had been teaching the Ridgeway sisters to use a gun, Tuesday still preferred the makeshift weapons of prison.
"Rye, promise me something," Tuesday said, as she sat shotgun in the car.
As soon as Chloe climbed in and closed the door Riley started to pull out of the RV Park the man closed the gate behind them, she started to drive down the road.
"Sure whats up?" Riley asked as she looked over at Chloe while still paying attention to the road, seeing a few walkers in the background.
"If I ever get too sick to travel and it's too dangerous to stay put, fucking leave me behind. You got that? I don't want your death on my conscience." However, her request was cut short, as she rolled down the car window, leaned out, and wretched again. There wasn't anything left in her stomach at that point, with it mostly amounting to dry heaving. Each day, she looked a little worse.
Upon hearing Chloe's request for leaving her behind Riley couldn't help but stop the car right then and there after her sister finished her heaving out through the window.
"No, fuck that shit there is no way in hell I am going to do that!" Riley said looking over at Chloe, deep down Riley knew that Chloe was right each day since Chloe's last use her sister started getting worse and worse. Riley sighed and shook her head, she didn't want to lose her sister again and it would feel like she would be the one killing Chloe if it ever came to that.
"I don't want your death on my conscience either Chloe." Riley said, as they finally made it to the Ranger Station. Riley parked her car in the parking lot and started making her way towards the door looking through the glass window before trying to open the door.
"It won't be," Tuesday protested.
"I'm the one that made some piss poor choices and this is my karma. This is how I'm paying for all the shit I did--I deserve this after I let the stupid ass Bible thumpers toss you out!" She sighed a bit, pulling a shiv out of her pocket. Her hands were trembling, not from nerves, but from illness. The last time she detoxed, it had been within the relative safety of a prison cell. But now, she'd be
lucky if the detox killed her and a walker didn't.
"Let me have this--let me make shit right." Riley moved over towards the door, letting out a sigh when it was unlocked she opened the door to the Ranger Station taking a step inside the building itself looked like it had seen better days. Papers were strewn across the floor, and a body of a dead forest ranger laid in his seat causing Riley to cover her mouth getting a slight stench from the body. When Chloe protested Riley turned around giving Chloe a slight glare, she was still blaming herself for being kicked out all those years ago.
"Chloe, you know I forgave you a long ass time ago for that." Riley said as she gently laid a hand on her shoulder.
"You are the only family I got left, we will get you through this okay?" Tuesday ran a hand through her hair, before nodding at her sister. And as much as she wanted to believe Riley that she'd make it through this, the odds were stacked against her. She was living on borrowed time.
"Alright...Let's go steal some shit, then," Tuesday joked, laughing slightly before heading deeper inside of the police station.
Location: South on Lagrange Street
When Chloe turned around Riley noticed her sister's eyes were getting red and puffy, was she crying for some reason? She was surprised that Ryan wasn't there usually he was close to Chloe for the most part.
"I saw you walking off with Ryan, not that I don't trust him with you or anything I was just concerned." Riley said as she took a step closer to Chloe she could hear her sister's breathing was shaky looking at her with a concerned look.
"Did Ryan upset you or something?" Riley then shook her head slightly, as much as she wanted to go back and enjoy the party itself she wanted to check up on Chloe, she didn't see her sister this upset since the day on that run back in Alpine Arizona when things started to get hectic. The run ended up getting worse when a herd came in, they managed to lock themselves in a nearby café. She noticed Chloe still didn't answer her question if she was alright or not
"You know you didn't answer my question, whats going on why are you alone?" Chloe took a deep breath, contemplating how to answer Riley's question. Every turn of phrase she could use seemed inadequate or cheap, hardly touching the heart of the issue. Eventually, she made herself stop scratching her wrist, and look her sister in the eye.
"It's nothing, we both said some shit and it reminded me of what...well, what the guards'd have us do in exchange for a favor." She shook her head again as she looked away, having found just that little explanation incredibly hard to vocalize.
"I'm nothing more than a used up piece of shit," Chloe sighed.
"Hell, I'm ruining your night with Amelia, nixing your chances of getting laid." She rubbed her eyes a bit, finding more and more random things spewing out of her mouth.
"It's almost like in high school...I tried to convince myself so. fucking. much. to crush on Marc, but I couldn't. And Ryan is super sweet and he--usually-gets me but...I just can't. I can't like him like that, and I feel like shit about it sometimes. He fucking said he's celibate because of me..." "You aren't a piece of shit Chloe." Riley said as she moved in and pulled Chloe into a hug, hearing her sister mention of what the prison guards would do to her sister for something made her slightly angry at them.
"You changed since then, you got yourself clean now you aren't the druggie four years ago. I know you can be the person before the drugs. Hell you were way better then I was when you and I were kids, I was always the fuck up." She smiled slightly and shook her head when Chloe mentioned Amelia and ruining her chances with her tonight.
"Don't worry about me and Amelia." She said gently laying a hand on Chloe's shoulder when she mentioned Ryan, was obviously no secret he did like her.
"It's Ryan's choice to not get his fucking dick wet and that's on him, don't let that get to you and pull you down. The two of you are good friends and you two get along and you two have stuff more in common then I do with you." Chloe nodded a bit, hugging her sister back. The tears continued to come on and off, along with a glorious case of the sniffles. But she still couldn't believe Riley that she was a better person than she was when they were kids. Riley had always known what she wanted in life--Chloe never knew. She still didn't know what would make her happy. Working in medical didn't put a smile on her face--not even the internships she held at hospitals in college had brought her joy.
"Everything gets to me," Chloe admitted, laughing sadly.
"I act like I'm tough as shit, but...but I'm not. I'm still that scared little girl who couldn't take it when Dad'd yell." Riley smiled softly as she hugged Chloe tightly.
"I guess you get the tough act from me then huh?" Riley said jokingly gently running a hand through Chloe's hair. Back in high school she was always getting into fights constantly with Simone and the other bullies back in school, for the most part she rarely ever took shit from anyone.
"What did you want to do while we were growing up? Aside from whatever the fuck our mom and dad wanted you to do with medical school?" She asked. Riley knew growing up that their parents practically dolled Chloe up to go into the medical field, she was pretty much the prodigy of the family growing up. They never asked her what Chloe ever wanted to do with her life truly after all.
Chloe shook her head slightly. She had never even thought about anything else, growing up. It had always been decided for her, so she hardly saw the point in imagining other things.
"I don't know," Chloe said quietly, her voice cracking a bit.
"I didn't even want to be a smuggler--I don't even know why I did it." She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to think of something that would give her life meaning and purpose, but she was still too caught up in memories of the past. Her demons wouldn't let her go.
"Theres always time to find something you like doing now, its not all about trying to survive and work around town." Riley said she still had time to just simply write more music in her spare time. Though she knew that her performing days were long gone by now, tonight though felt great just standing in front of others and singing again.
"I could maybe help if you want. And help you find something that you are passionate about." She said giving Chloe a soft smile, she shivered slightly at the cold for a moment, ignoring it as best she could.
Chloe had stopped crying for the most part, nodding again at her sister. She knew that there had to be more to life than simply surviving, as it lacked a point otherwise, but sometimes it was hard to see that. At the prospect of figuring out what she actually enjoyed to do....she wasn't all too hopeful. She had spent most of her life pleasing others or rebelling against others to the extreme--the odds that she could find herself, somewhere in the middle, seemed to be slim.
"You should go back to the wedding," Chloe urged.
"Work your magic on Amelia and all...I think I might call it a night." Riley bit her lower lip for a moment looking over to where the Rec Center was and then over at Chloe as she told her she should head back, and be with Amelia blushing ever so slightly.
"You sure you don't want to go back with me, and enjoy the rest of the evening with us?" Riley asked looking at Chloe, she was still concerned for her for the most part she just wanted to make sure that her sister was alright and didn't want to see her twin being alone. Riley did imagine that they would be bringing the cake in pretty soon, and the dancing would start fairly soon as well once the cake was there as well.
"Yeah, I'm sure," Chloe replied, giving her sister a final hug.
"Go and have fun--I mean it." Alright then, just come by if you want." Riley said softly as she returned the hug she gave her a slight smile and then started to turn away making her way up Lagrange Street, and back over towards the Rec Center giving her sister one last friendly smile before turning up a corner.
