The Extraordinary Tale of Nicholas Pierce by Alexander DeLuca

Author:Alexander DeLuca [DeLuca, Alexander]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Court Street Media
Published: 2011-12-25T16:00:00+00:00

TWELVE

"Okay fine, I'll tell you." Jessica sighed, looked up at the car’s roof and shifted the neck the guitar resting across her lap.

Nicholas and Sergei had been teasing her about her unspoken past. Sergei asked Nicholas about his adoptive parents, and Nicholas in his uncertainty and mild annoyance with Jessica made a joke about her refusal to give details that Sergei quickly mirrored. At the time of their teasing, she seemed pained to tell them, which Nicholas felt badly about, but he reminded himself that she was a stranger from the side of a road, and she had been monopolizing attention as of late, increasing his feelings of resentment towards her. He frankly did not approve.

"Go on," Nicholas pressed.

"I'm just worried I'm going to scare you guys away," she said. It was uncharacteristic of her to "worry" about anything. Nicholas' hand went straight to his eyelashes. He just knew that something was off with her, that she was somehow not the ideal candidate to pick up by the side of the road. She continued "but I guess you should know". His pulse quickened with anticipation when she continued, "...I'm in sort of a tough spot right now. I told you guys that I ran away when I was sixteen … that’s when it all started . I actually came back home... after a while. I never stayed long though. My stepdad, well, he was very aggressive. He had a very big anger problem." She paused, looking for the correct words.

"He hit everyone in my family, my mother, my brothers... me." Nicholas shifted uncomfortably. "Anyway, at about eighteen I finally built up the courage and ran away for good. I told them I was never going back to Michigan again and I would never speak to them again. I believed it at the time, too. My mother, despite being abused, defended the bastard. My brothers buried the trauma and just turned physical themselves, beating up kids at school and dropping out of high school before graduating. I don't even know where they are now. It's such a shame, they were both really smart boys.

"I told my mother it was me or him, She had to pick. Her response was to hold up her wedding ring in my face, like a giant diamond 'fuck you'." She sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

"So, I hitchhiked out of there and made my way to Chicago. I tried to get work and went from one fast food chain to another, earning just enough to rent a room and fuel my budding drug habit." Nicholas glared at this comment, but Jessica brushed off his judgment ."Thankfully, I never became an addict, it never destroyed me, but it ate away at my money enough that eventually I added panhandling to my resume. I'll tell you right now there is nothing that shatters the spirit more than asking strangers for money. Even sleeping outside is less embarrassing than begging. I was terrible at it, turning red in the face with every request.

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