Beauty & Her Bruises

Chapter Twenty-Four

Are you sure you want to do this?" Dustin asked as he pulled up to my house. I nodded my head yes and looked at his car. He didn't necessarily give me everything but since he didn't write a will, I was taking as much as I could. I knew that I was taking the car.

That was the first thing I did. I went over to his car and just started walking around it. It wasn't a terrible car but I wasn't sure what I would find inside. I was just hoping it didn't smell like alcohol and didn't have any bottles inside of it.

I opened the door and when I sniffed the inside of it, I didn't smell anything. It had a smell of the car but I couldn't place my mind on what it smelt like. The specific smell was gone from me and I wasn't sure about if it was a familiar smell or not.

"So when am I going to teach you to drive this?" Dustin asked, sitting on the driver's side. I shrugged my shoulders and just at in it for a moment. Dustin sat quietly with me and didn't dare interfere with my thoughts.

I barely smiled when I began searching the car for any indication on who father was when he wasn't hitting his kids. When I searched the side pocket, I was a little disappointed to see that there was nothing in there. I looked towards Dustin so he would check his door pocket too and when he did, he only pulled a chocolate bar wrapper out. He gave me a sorry face but I wasn't going to give up. I attempted to open the glove box but was meant with it resisting to open. I knew that it must've been locked but I didn't care much about it. I banged on it until I broke it open and saw the contents of what was inside.

The first thing I noticed was a can of alcohol inside. I took it out of the compartment and I could feel Dustin's eyes centered towards the can. I opened my door and threw it out of the car. It didn't break open but I did see a little bit of the liquid begin to spew from inside of the can.

The next thing I pulled out was a cell phone. I looked at Dustin but all he did was shrug his shoulders. When I turned it on, it barely started up before it shut down. I didn't know what to think but since it was cold out, I assumed that the battery was dying and it needed to be charged. I didn't have a charger so I just gently placed it on the armrest next to me.

I watched Dustin examine the phone before his face brightened. He reached inside of his pocket and what he pulled out was a phone charger. I was surprised when it fit in the phone slot but knew that he couldn't charge it out here yet. I didn't have the key yet so I couldn't start the car to charge it.

"When we're inside the house, I know the perfect charging position," I said. Dustin nodded his head and put the phone and charger back in his pocket. I smiled weakly and at him and reached in the glove compartment again.

This time I pulled out a set of keys. There were four keys on the chain. I could only think of three places where a key was necessary though. The garage, the refrigerator, and the car. As I attempted to find the key to start the key, Dustin was the one to say that that key wasn't on this chain. I only nodded my head and wondered to myself what the last two keys were for.

When I reached out to the compartment again, there was only two things left. The first thing I pulled out was a baggie full of white stuff. The first thing that went through my mind was that father was either a drug dealer or a druggie. I assumed he was a druggie which explained why he was always passed out with the alcohol. He had gotten more violent around me and the beatings have been more frequent. I simply tossed the baggie towards Dustin and when he opened it, he smelled it. I wasn't sure what he was doing but he just nodded towards me.

"Cocaine."

I didn't care what it was but I didn't say anything. I was thankful that Dustin even decided to come over so early in the morning before school started. He tossed the baggie on the road and I knew that someone else would find it and use it for their personal issues.