(OOC : The sequel to "Saving Raven". Or possibly just a bit of scene-setting. I don't know.)

Kahlen Wolfe Ormen, lesser-known sister of Regan Wolfe Robbins aka. Raven Comatose, was on her lunchbreak. Well, lunchbreak for most employees .... Kahlen, as usual, ran over to the other side of the road, and hid in the tall grass. She opened her purse, got her stash (almost empty, she thought, and reminded herself to go out tonight and stock up) and started to roll her spliff. It was more than just "recreational drugs" as they called it - Kay couldn't get through the day without smoking pot. It had become a need.
"Kay."
As she lit up, she heard a voice she recognised. Stu, the only other employee - and only other person, in fact - who knew about her pot smoking, was sitting with her. Stu smoked pot too, giving them a strange bond, but as good as any other "hobby-based" friendship, thought Kay. She trusted him with her life.
"What is it, Stu?"
"Smoke that quick. Boss wants to talk to you."
"Huh?"
The "fat-cat" boss of the gas station, just outside Blythewood, South Carolina, wasn't interested in Kahlen, just like he wasn't interested in Stu, or anyone else behind the counter, stacking shelves, or doing any other job in the shop or at the gas tanks. Fat-cat didn't give a damn about any of them.
"I know," Stu continued. "He'll probably give you a pay rise."
"Pay rise? Bullshit!"
"C'mon, Kay. You've been working here longer than any of us. You deserve it."
"You can have this," said Kay, handing the spliff to Stu.
He winked. "Wouldn't refuse. Good luck."
Kay ran back over to the gas station. For a moment, Kay thought she might actually get more money ....

.... no such luck. After her 20-minute walk home in an ominous storm, Kay met her mother. She didn't say hello, or look at her.
"Good evening, Kahlen!" said her beloved mother, Renée, smiling as always. "How was work?"
"I got fired."
"What happened?"
"I .... was selling too many cigarettes to kids. Not my fault they're getting taller."
Kahlen looked at the floor - if she looked up at Mom, she might see the lie in her face - and stomped off to her bedroom.
Renée, getting on with dinner, so badly wanted to hug her daughter, find her another job, a better job. But at the same time, though she cursed herself for thinking this, she was happy that she might see her middle daughter more often. She never saw Regan now she lived in the UK and only ever came to the USA on tour, and now that Yasmin had gone to college, her only daughter living at home was Kahlen - and she was always at work, at a party, or in her bedroom. Always a worrier, she wondered what was really up with Kahlen.

Kahlen hadn't been selling cigs to kids. Her bitchy, snitchy superior, Nancy, had told the boss that Kay came into work smelling of cannabis, almost every day. Why stupid Nancy had been sniffing her, she didn't know, but either way, she was never going to get enough money to move out if she didn't have a job.
She opened the window - Renée wouldn't recognise the smell of cannabis, but if Kay's father ever came in here, he would - and searched her purse for more pot. She remembered that she had to stock up. Dammit! She looked around her room in case she'd left some in here, with no luck. But under her bed, she found a needle, half-full of skag. The day came back to her - Stu had come over, and convinced her to try some. For her first dose of heroin, she only did half the shot, and hid the rest.
Kay knew that it was a harder drug than pot, but it would have to do. She needed something right now.
"This is to you, Nancy, and you, fat-cat," she said, holding the needle to her arm. "Look what you've fucking done to me. And you too, Regan, Raven Storme, Mrs. Comatose, lucky bitch, whatever your name is today. I'm as talented as you, if not more so, you're just fucking lucky. FUCK YOU REGAN!"
She held the needle to her arm, and injected - as she shot up, a million thoughts of her brother/sister's fame shot up through her head, along with a million angry responses.

Edited by user 31 October 2009 04:18:59(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified