Clichéd Dreams, a General fanfic

Don’t ask why. New story, new style. SERIOUSLY need CC. Review?

Work fascinates me. Seriously. I can sit there and look at it for hours. Especially when there’s a deadline and I know I’ll be kept behind and yelled at for the umpteenth time this week. I’m not lazy… I’m not a slacker. I know hard work benefits you in the future. I just… I don’t know. I’m rambling, I think.

I should start with my name, shouldn’t I? It’s Roxanne Corsten. No connection to Ferry Corsten, unfortunately. I am only four months from my eighteenth birthday… and I don’t have a clue what I’m going to do for it. I have an older brother who’s twenty; Tony. And a little brat of a sister, Lu, who’s nine. Well. Half-sister, if you want to be precise. My dad’s little girl.

I live with him most of the time, I see mum most half-terms. Sometimes at Christmas, sometimes not. Tony and I have always been pretty close. He’s always looked after me, helped explain exactly who Lu was when she came along. But he’s off living his own life now and I’m stuck here, in this two-bedroom ground floor flat in the dingy end of town with my dad and Lu.

Dad gets the big bedroom, Lu the little one… and I sleep on the couch. Which is fun. Now it’s just gone eleven-thirty at night, I have three essays to write, due in first thing tomorrow morning… and I cannot do a thing about it.

It’s not my fault! Dad’s in the middle of a Poker game with some old friends in the kitchen. I swear they’re all high and pretty soon they’ll all be wasted. Great. Don’t want Neil to walk in on me when I’m getting changed again. Pervert, I swear he is! I can hear their laughter, I can smell whatever it is they’re smoking. It’s not even weed… probably something Dominic grew himself. Home made stuff. Between you and me, its good, but that’s beside the point.

Dad’s “gang” arrived a few hours ago. I can’t concentrate with all their shouting! Lu isn’t much help either… silly girl. I have to “be the mother to her,” as dad put it, since her mother buggered off. Not my fault. Not my problem. She was an alcoholic. So Tony told me, and Tony knows everything.

“Roxanne?” The quiet, soppy-sounding tune of Lu drifting through the room caught Roxanne’s attention.
“What is it Lu? I’m working!”
“No you’re not. You’re just looking,” Lu replied, equally angered.
“What do you want?” Roxanne asked again. She flicked her hair out of her eyes, irritated.
“I wanted to say goodnight,” the little girl mumbled, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot.
“You should have been asleep ages ago!”
“Dad’s friends kept me up.” There was for a moment, and Lu glanced over her shoulder at the closed kitchen door; smoke seeping through the crack in the middle of it, caused once when dad had lost his temper.
“Goodnight, then.” Roxanne turned back to face her work, the blank sheets of paper staring back at her. Lu remained silent, before leaving her sister in the front room, and retreating back to her own small bedroom.

After ruffling through some old files, she gave up. “It’s no use. I don’t care. I’ll do it tomorrow morning before college.” She huffed, shoving the loose sheets into an untidy pile and heaving the load to the corner of the room. Standing up, Roxanne peered at her reflection in the dingy mirror above the T.V. Dark brown hair framing blue-grey eyes stared back at her. Long silver dangly earrings hung either side of her cheeks, glimmering faintly in the low light. She took out her earrings, placed them on top of the T.V., and changed quickly into her pyjamas.

Roxanne crept down the hallway, past the closed door of Lu’s bedroom and the kitchen where her father and his friends were, and into the bathroom. After brushing her teeth and splashing her face with cold water, she closed the seat of the toilet and sat down. She allowed her eyes to drift to the crudely tiled bathroom, the dirt and grime clearly visible in the cracks between the tiles. ‘Pearl Grey,’ they were supposed to be. “More like muck.” Roxanne exhaled, resting her head in her hands. “Why’d we have to move to this dump? You can’t get hot water unless the oven is on… the heating breaks every other day… it’s filthy no matter how much I clean….”

Her bare feet on the bathroom floor caused her to shiver, the chill running up her legs and through her body. Unable to stay in the position of rest for long, she decided to move. Roxanne got up and checked her hair one more time in the mirror on the medicine cabinet before heading back to the front room.

Raucous laughter could be heard all the way down the hallway and followed Roxanne into the front room. “At least he’s winning. Better than losing.” Roxanne muttered to herself, getting into her make-shift bed on the sofa, and setting the alarm on her phone. As she put it on the floor beneath her, it vibrated. The words, ‘Incoming call - Tony,’ flashed brightly on the screen, lighting the room slightly. “Tony… why’s he calling me at this time of night?” She stared at the phone for a good twenty seconds before she thought to answer it.

“Hello?” Roxanne whispered, holding her phone close to her ear.

“Roxy? That you?” a male voice screamed down the line.

“Yeah, its me, what’s up, Tony? What’s wrong?"

“Oh, Jesus Christ, Roxy! I’ve been trying to get hold of dad, he’s not answering his phone, what’s going on? You guys okay?”

“Uh… yeah, we’re fine. Everything’s cool, why wouldn’t it be?” She peered at the closed kitchen door.

“Oh, good. That’s… good.” Tony sighed, sounding relieved.

“Dad’s got some mates round; Dominic, Neil, Russell, some of the others. Poker.”

“Oh, yeah, of course. Right… I thought… I gotta get going now.”

“Everything okay, Tony? Talk to me!” Roxanne said, not letting him get away.

“No, no… don’t worry. I just… you know… if you’re okay that’s fine.”

“Tony!” Roxanne raised her voice as loud as she dared, without fear of disturbing her father’s game.

“No, it’s nothing. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?” Tony mumbled, pulling the phone further and further away from his mouth.

“Tony! Talk to me now! What’s going on?” Roxanne tried again, but he’d hung up.

“What the hell?” She asked her now quiet phone. “Jesus. He sounded so… afraid….” She put her phone back on the floor and lay on her back, the thoughts of her conversation swirling around in her mind. “I won’t call him back, he wouldn’t pick up. Jeez, what was wrong?” She tossed and turned for a while, her mind making no progress, and only adding to her frustration. Rolling over, and getting into a more comfortable position, Roxanne pushed thoughts of her brother as far away from her mind as she could, and patiently waited for sleep to come.

Really not my best writing. I mean seriously… reading back through that… its SO clichéd… and… ugh. But I’ve got to post something. Apologies. I’m just so out of practice!! Still, read n review, please – CC!! Till next update!