On Sleepless Roads The Sleepless Go - Chapter 27

Hey guys,
I realise I haven't updated for, like, a month, but don't worry; I haven't neglected those of you who are still reading completely!
Here's the next chapter, folks.
As always, happy reading!

‘It’s probably better if you don’t leave the room,’ Luke told Karen as they entered cabin W12. ‘I just don’t want any of the counsellors finding you and kicking you out.’
Karen stared around the cabin dubiously and dropped her bag on the floor. ‘As long as I have a place to stay where I’m not dying, it really doesn’t matter. Can’t be worse than living in a public bathroom for ten days in winter, can it?’

Luke was slumped against a grimy wall next to an off-white toilet bowl. His hair was long, almost shoulder-length and so oily it was sticking to his face. Karen was leaning against him, her hair also greasy and her face drained of life and replaced with a greenish tinge.
The stench of the public bathroom was so potent it was suffocating, and a fluorescent light flickered threateningly above them.
‘This place is disgusting,’ Karen croaked.
‘Just go to sleep,’ Luke whispered, pulling an itchy, moth-eaten blanket tighter around them. ‘The sooner we sleep, the sooner this nightmare will be over.’
‘Why couldn’t we just go to a shelter?’ she complained.
Luke shook his head. ‘He’d find us. He always does.’

Luke grimaced at the memory and walked to the beds in the corner. ‘Since Ritchie’s gone, you can have his bed,’ he said, pointing to the now vacant space that once belonged to alcohol-abusive Ritchie.
The door flung open, banging against the wall beside it. Cam was standing at the entrance, his suitcase standing beside him and his hands thrown into the air. The sun was shining from behind him, creating a bright aura around his frame.
‘Lukester!’ he said excitedly, leaping forward and hugging him tightly.
Luke stiffened.
‘How’ve you been, buddy?’ Cam asked, releasing him and patting his shoulder roughly.
Luke nodded. ‘Not bad,’ he said slowly. ‘My sister’s –’
‘You know, you’d think it’d be absolutely shithouse, coming back here,’ Cam rambled, striding into the room and wheeling his suitcase behind him. ‘But it’s really not that –’
He spotted Karen sitting cross-legged on the bed, wearing a tattered oversized jumper. ‘Who are you?’ he asked.
‘Karen,’ she introduced herself. ‘Luke’s sister.’
Cam’s face took on a look of shock. He looked at Luke and then back at his sister. ‘What?!’ he exclaimed.
‘It’s a long story,’ she muttered, tucking her blonde hair behind her ears.
‘So, are you…?’ Cam said slowly.
Karen shook her head quickly. ‘No,’ she laughed. ‘I’m not here for rehab…’
‘She’s only going to be hiding out here a little while,’ Luke said.
Cam shrugged. ‘Yeah, that’s cool. We’ll sneak you food and stuff from the Lunchroom,’ he told her, grinning.
She gave him a small smile. ‘Thanks.’

On Sleepless Roads The Sleepless Go - Chapter 26

‘Carol!’ a deep, scratchy voice called out.
‘Shit!’ Karen hissed. ‘It’s Ron!’
‘What?!’ Luke exclaimed.
‘We have to get out of here!’ Her face was white with panic beyond the tears streaming down it, but she grabbed the open bag on the bed and ran, barefoot, past Luke, hissing, ‘Let’s go out the back door!’
Luke sprinted down the hall, snatching his bags from the front just as Ron turned the door handle.
His steel-toed boots thundered on the dusty hardwood floor as he entered the house.
Karen turned the handle of the back door. Its hinges creaked as it opened.
‘Carol! Are you here?’ Ron bellowed. ‘I can hear the back door!’
She winced. ‘Shit.’ She threw the door open and jumped outside. Luke flew after her.
They ran as fast as people can run while carrying duffle bags, a mixture of adrenaline and fear propelling them faster and faster.
‘Jess’s house is just around this corner,’ Karen wheezed, her bare feet making gentle patting noises on the concrete.
They stopped running on the rough front lawn of a small house, the paint of which was off-white and pitted.
Karen threw the duffle bag over a fence by the side and motioned for Luke to follow her as she climbed over the fence.
Once on the other side, Karen hammered the back door, the flyscreen rattling under her fist.
‘Jess!’ she called out. ‘Are you here?’
A girl with matted chestnut-coloured hair cut at her chin opened the door.
‘Hey Karen,’ she said. ‘Are you okay?’
Karen nodded, running a hand through her blonde hair and rushing past Jess. Luke followed.
‘What’s going on?’ Jess asked them.
Karen’s eyes glazed over again and she rubbed her nose. ‘Ron’s back,’ she gasped.
Jess glanced concernedly back and forth between the brother and sister. ‘Are you guys okay? Did he hurt you?’
Karen shook her head. ‘We left just as he came back.’
‘So what did this guy say to Mum?’ Luke asked suddenly.
Karen sighed, slumping against the wall of the laundry. ‘I don’t know. I came home from school and that note was on the table and she was gone.’ She paused. ‘He’s never done anything to her, but you know the types of guys she dates. It’s only a matter of time before he tries to kill one of us.’
Luke stared at the ground. ‘How long have they been together?’
‘Almost six months,’ Karen answered. ‘They got together, like, right after you left.’
‘Listen, you guys can stay here, but only for a week because my parents are coming back from their trip on Friday,’ Jess told them. ‘Do you have somewhere else to go?’
Karen looked at Luke. ‘The Rehab Centre,’ she muttered.

On Sleepless Roads The Sleepless Go - Chapter 25

When Luke opened the door to his house, he was greeted with the familiar smell of home, which one generally becomes accustomed to over time, but knows like no other scent. However, simultaneously, he was greeted with the sight of open empty cupboards and a few unnecessary items – cans of food, pieces of clothing, and a sheet of paper – scattered about carelessly on the ground.
Luke dropped his bags and picked up the note on the ground.
It read:

Karen,
When I tried to break up with Ron, he threatened to kill us both. I can’t stay with him so I’m leaving town on my own. I can’t tell you where I’m going because I don’t want him to find me. You should try to leave too, sometime by the end of this week. I’ve left you some money.
Don’t worry, we’ll be together again someday.
-Mum.

At that moment he heard a sob somewhere in the house.
Luke entered the house, leaving his bags at the entrance and carrying his mother’s note with him.
Karen was sitting on a bed next to a duffle bag, her head in her hands. The room was empty and although there were no curtains on the window, there was little light. The bare shelves were dusty and clothes were carelessly strewn across the bed and floor.
As Luke sat down next to her, she lifted her head. Her face was streaked with blackened tears and her cheeks were flushed.
‘Luke,’ she whispered. ‘You’re back.’
He shook his head. ‘Only for a week.’
She wiped the tears from her face and stood up quickly. ‘We have to get out of here.’
Luke lifted the note. ‘Who’s Ron?’
Karen started crying again. ‘Mum’s boyfriend.’ She began frantically grabbing things and shoving them into the bag. ‘He’ll kill me if he comes here and finds me!’
‘Karen.’ He took her hand. ‘Listen, everything is going to be all right.’
She wrenched her hand away from him and scoffed, roughly wiping away her tears. ‘Sounds like rehab’s doing wonders for you,’ she droned sarcastically. ‘Wake up! This is us, remember? Our family? Nothing is ever going to be “all right”.’

‘But I have a family to look after! I mean, look at my kids! You can’t evict us! We have nowhere to go!’
‘Sorry, Miss,’ the landlord, a burly man with rotting teeth, greasy hair and a snake tattoo on his arm grumbled. ‘You can’t pay the rent, you can’t stay here.’
A young Luke and Karen hugged their mother tightly.
‘Where are we going to go?’ she wailed.

‘The Rehab Centre,’ Luke whispered.
‘What?’ Karen asked angrily.
‘Come back with me, to the Centre,’ he said.
Karen shook her head. ‘No,’ she protested. ‘I don’t need you to look after me.’
Luke sighed. ‘Karen, you’ve got nowhere else to go.’
‘Yes, I do,’ she rebutted.
Luke folded his arms. ‘Where?’
‘I’m sleeping at Jess’s.’
‘For how long?’
‘Just this week.’
‘And then what?’ Luke demanded. ‘You’ll just move from friend’s house to friend’s house until Mum decides she’s going to stop running and come back? You could be doing this for years. Have you completely forgotten that we were raised by some old lady for three years after Dad left?’

‘Mrs Lieberman!’ Their mother rapped loudly on the peeling paint of the front door before them.
Karen and Luke stared up at the door as it opened and a frail old woman stood behind it.
Their mother pushed them inside. ‘Could you please look after the kids? It’s just for a week or so, I swear. Just until I can get enough money to start myself up again.’ Then she turned around and ran down the street.
Mrs Lieberman turned to Luke and Karen. ‘What happened?’ she asked.
‘Daddy took all our money,’ Karen lisped.

Tears began to well up in Karen’s eyes again.
A key clicked in the door.

On Sleepless Roads The Sleepless go - Chapter 24

‘Test Release,’ Cam said through gritted teeth. ‘Goddamn fucking Test Release.’
He shoved open the door marked W12.
‘How was it?’ Ritchie queried excitedly over the bunch of clothes in his arms.
Luke shook his head slowly.
‘Test fucking Release,’ Cam answered angrily, crumpling the piece of paper in his hand.
‘Whoa, dude, calm down,’ Ritchie said. ‘What happened?’
‘We both got Test Release for next week,’ Cam replied grimly.
Luke went to sit on his bed.
‘Oh,’ Ritchie said slowly, staring at the ground. ‘Don’t worry about it. I mean, isn’t Test Release one step towards being released?’
‘But you didn’t even do Test Release!’ Cam exclaimed, throwing his hands up.
‘Cam,’ Luke said slowly.
‘No!’ Cam yelled. ‘I’m so fucking sick of this place! They don’t know anything! I don’t have a “problem”! I burnt down a house one fucking time! And I’ve been here almost a year! And fucking Test Release twice… You know what? I’m so fucking tempted to burn this fucking Rehab Centre to the ground!’

On Sleepless Roads The Sleepless go - Chapter 23

Shafts of sunlight shone through the stained window, breathing warmth through the torn curtains that clothed it.
Luke stirred in his bed. He rolled over to look at the clock on the bedside table. 12:30pm. His head hurt from the night before as he dragged himself slowly out of bed, rubbing his eyes.
Suddenly the door was thrown open and Cam stood at the entrance grinning. ‘Good morning, New York!’
‘Wha - ?’ Luke mumbled, staring at him.
‘Hungover?’ Cam asked him, grinning.
Luke rolled his eyes. ‘You can’t even imagine.’
Cam laughed. ‘I’m pretty hungover myself.’
Luke frowned at him. ‘No you’re not.’
‘Seriously, I am! I’m just ignoring it. It is a good day.’
‘Why’s that?’ Luke asked, staring at him.
‘Ritchie just came back from a meeting with Wellner,’ Cam explained. ‘And he got released!’
‘Really?’ Luke asked.
Cam nodded excitedly. ‘That’s not all,’ he continued. ‘Wellner told Ritchie to come get us because he wants to see us! Do you know what this means?’
‘Not really,’ Luke croaked.
‘We get to leave, man!’ Cam took his shoulders and shook them.
‘Please,’ Luke said, gingerly, ‘I might throw up on you.’
Cam immediately let go of him.
‘What are you talking about?’ Luke asked him, his voice still croaky.
Cam breathed in slowly. ‘Ritchie got called to see Wellner. He got released. We’ve been called to see Wellner, so…’
‘We’ll get released,’ Luke realised slowly.

On Sleepless Roads The Sleepless go - Chapter 22

Luke threw open the door of the girls’ bathroom, ran into a vacant cubicle and let his insides empty themselves. He leaned over the toilet bowl and sighed, staring into the yellow-green mess he had made.
His mouth opened again. More mess.
‘Ugh…’ he moaned. His hands slowly slid off the toilet seat and he lay on the ground, his head spinning.
After what felt like a day, he got up slowly and went to the sink. He turned on the tap and felt the cool water on his hands. He cupped them and threw some on his face and neck. He stared at himself in the mirror. There were two of him, both with bloodshot eyes, messy hair and a mouth hanging open. He turned away from his double reflection and left the bathroom.
He stared at the ground as he made his way out of the toilet, and straight into another cabin, where he could just sit and rest.
He was wrong.
Tori was on the bed with Penelope.
‘Luke!’ Tori exclaimed.
Someone cleared their throat from behind Luke. ‘And what, exactly, is going on here?’
The three turned around to see Mr Wellner standing at the doorway.
‘You are in a rehabilitation centre!’ he bellowed them. ‘It is five hours past your curfew! Go to bed, now!’
Luke stumbled out of the room.
‘You two, I want to see you both in my office tomorrow,’ he scolded the girls after Luke had begun walking down the hallway.

On Sleepless Roads The Sleepless go - Chapter 21

Luke’s eyes were bloodshot and he was leaning on the bar. Cam was screaming the lyrics to a pop song and banging the surface of the bar. Luke laughed weakly.
‘Hey, Cam,’ Luke said to him, drunkenly.
Cam continued banging the bar.
‘Cam!’ Luke yelled, grabbing his arm and shaking it, and then, when Cam gave him his attention, ‘I heard you talking on Christmas Day.’
‘Hmm?’ Cam asked him, his eyes wide.
‘I heard you talking about me.’
‘Oh. Oh yeah, that. Are you… Are you mad, dude?’
Luke shook his head. ‘I just wanted to say…you know…thanks. Or whatever.’
Cam grinned. ‘No probs. Always willing to help out a friend in need. I love you, man. Now, do you want to celebrate the New Year or what?’
Luke grinned. ‘Here’s to that,’ he said, raising his beer bottle.
The music suddenly stopped. People began cursing in whispers, ducking under beds and behind tables, bottles in hand.
‘Relax, family!’ came a voice.
Cam and Luke turned around. Behind them, with a plastic cup in her hand, they saw the girl that was supposedly hosting the party, Penelope. Two girls were standing behind her, and another was standing next to her. Luke and Cam both blinked when they realised it was Tori, holding a cup in one hand, and Penelope’s hand in her other.
‘Everyone, it is almost time for the countdown to New Years!’
Applause erupted around them, and Luke and Cam joined in, clapping and yelling.
‘So are you guys ready?’
More yelling, more applause.
‘Okay…’
‘TEN!’ the crowd called in unison, ‘NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!’
‘Happy New Year, Lukester,’ Cam said, raising his beer bottle so it met Luke’s. ‘Do you want to try shots again?’
Luke nodded, before drinking the last drops of his beer.
He took the tiny glass from in front of him and brought it to his lips, throwing his head back and draining it quickly. He repeated this action several times, as Cam ordered more and more liquor, and shelled out more and more cash to pay for it.
‘Hey, bartender!’ Cam called to a skinny pale acne-ridden 16-year-old behind the bar, who was clearly not the bartender. ‘One more round, please!’
‘Cam,’ Luke began, his speech slow and slurred.
Cam laughed loudly. He held up one finger. ‘One more, Lukester.’
Luke shrugged. ‘Okay.’ He drank the shot quickly and felt his stomach lurch. ‘Hey, man, I need…the bathroom.’
‘Yeah, that’s fine, dude! Don’t fall in!’ He was laughing so hard he keeled over and fell right off the barstool.
The “bartender” stared at him, his brow furrowed. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked.
‘Yeah, I’m fine!’ Cam yelled as he lay on the floor, laughing. ‘Are you okay?’