...Read the Chinese fortune cookie that I had cracked open after finishing my chicken hot-plate. My sister and I sat and ate at the low-class "China Buffet" resturaunt - one of the few remaining locations of our local, poverty-ridden mall. Wal-Mart, with all the power of being a huge monopoly, pretty much destroyed all local business, replacing practically every store for every possible need.
After finishing, we returned to the Tennessee DMV where my Father was getting his license back. (His license was initially taken from him over 6 years ago for driving under the influence...too many times.) We then learned that our trip was for naught since we needed to go to the Knoxville DMV, which is an entire city away. Afterwards, my aunt called and wanted to be picked up from the hair salon. Shortly after picking her up, her misery began to cascade upon us all like a raging river... For about 15 minutes, she complained non-stop about her situation: Her husband left her, her underage daughter is getting married, she doesn't have a car, she can't pay her bills. It is as if she wanted to burden us with her suffering simply because it was too much for her to deal with alone. After arriving at the trailor park that she lived in, we dropped her off. At this moment, when we finally thought the day was over, the skies began to fill themselves with dark clouds, and it began to rain. All of the troubles of the world were pouring down on top of us, drop by drop, like a dark, corrosive vitroil of suffering, eroding our stone-cold souls, as we drove down the badly-paved, post poverty streets of Carreville.
A couple of hours prior to this, we were sitting in line at the DMV... We became rather bored, so we took a walk around the mall. Pretty much everything was out of business, including the only place that I seemed to find entertaining, "Gale's Cards & Collectables." All that remains is a brick wall which was paved over the entrance gate. There were, however, some really old arcade games scattered around here and there. So my sister and I decided to play Dungeons & Dragons: The Tower of Doom. Unfortuntely, an oderus kid approaches us just as we starting playing and commented on everything that we did. As if that wasn't distracting enough, hardly any of my buttons worked, so the game's enemies made very quick work of me.
As we drove to pick up my aunt, there was a car accident. Today was rather busy since everybody recieved their disability checks. It was the same spot that my sister had gotten into an accident before... The very accident that still costs her yet. It seems that our twisted justice system thought she should spend several years paying off a woman for the damage dealt to her already junked-up car. All of this was before insurance, selt belts and child seats became a neccessity by law. As if it weren't bad enough that some people could barely even afford to pay for the high gas prices...
Earlier that day, or should I say yesterday, I had decided to sleep in because I didn't even feel like living through the day. However, around 10 PM, I woke to the sound of my sister prying my doorknob off. It seems that there was something so urgent that she had to get into my room. She claims to have knocked, but I did not hear her. She has actually pryed my doorknob off several times in the past. I have had to replace it at least twice.
Once I was up, obviously, I could not go back to sleep. Insomnia is an all-too-common problem for me. So I sat up the rest of the night, trying to find something new and exciting to do on the internet... No such luck.
Around 12 PM, my sister knocked on my door. My aunt had called her because she was stranded at a gas station. However, there was a problem: My uncle, the very uncle who tried to molest my sister, was outside, fixing my Mother's car. My sister was too afraid to go near him, so she begged me to drive her to pick up our aunt. I complied, not knowing ahead of time what sort of misery the day would bring...
Now I sit here holding in my hand a tiny slip of paper with a simple fortune on it, surrounded by two smiley faces. Is this insignificant message of hope supposed to magically make my life better? As I sit here, listening to the melancholy harmony of "A Song for XX", holding in my hand a piece of paper which contains a message of insignificant hope...I wonder to myself, "Why?" Not "why" anything in particular... Just... Why everything.
Now, after having been up since 10 PM yesterday, I feel like indulging in a much-needed comatose state of sleep. Although I am aware of the usual nightmares that will haunt me, I embrace them, knowing that they are not nearly as cruel as the nightmares I have to endure in my reality.