Ashley Needles

Author's Note: *From here forward what you will be reading will be both fact and fiction. While before only some details were slightly off most things were quite accurate. Unfortunately, alone, without a memory trigger, I cannot remember clearly the exact unfolding of events. I held onto Lee memorizing the feel of his arms around me and drowned in the dark spicy scent of him. Eternity could pass and I would have been content to remain just like this. A brown low riding car with a tan top pulled into the drive. Lee withdrew stepping forward protectively. He eyed the vehicle like a threat. Chelle came out, the screen door banging behind her. Her eyes passed over Lee and for a moment her face brightened with some thought or emotion. I glanced back to the car and noticed the knife in Lee's hand. To anyone else the small lip of metal that protruded from his palm would have been insignificant. Lee had naturally hidden the rest of the encasement beneath the sl...

Lee led me down the hall. His bedroom was the last door on the left. He held it open. Inside was a thin mattress on the floor, a few items of clothing stashed in a corner that needed washed and a pair of shoes. Hung limply in the closet a modest amount of threadbare clothes, many of which showed holes. I thought of all the tantrums I'd thrown about getting my sisters' handy downs and all the clothes sitting my closet I didn't wear because of floral patterns or some other nonsense. For the first time in my life, I realized I was a brat. I grew up in the wealthiest part of town. Our house had a striking view of a pond and a golf course. It was two stories with rooms to spare. My mother, a bit neurotic when it came to cleaning, kept it immaculate. Lee didn't know all this and I was grateful. It crossed my mind that where I lived and what I had, might have been part of why my classmates hated me. Lachelle's home and mine differed greatly, in her house there ...