Amy

Written by Aries aka Stephanie

(3,436 words)
Amy Mackenzie believed that it was her destiny to be a rich and famous musician. Since she had, barley had any money for all of her life she wanted it all, a life of luxury with a boyfriend that was totally devoted to her. So far at eighteen, she had a band with her friends Jason, Skeet and Mark, a job that paid her minimum wages and a loser boyfriend.

When her sister, Angelic questioned her about the bruises she simply said, "He can't afford a punching bag so he uses me instead.

Angelic always told her the same thing, "Dump his sorry ass."

Amy would nod her head and then Angelic would go back to her college life, to busy with thesis' to worry about her sister's problems. Amy's mother worked three jobs and was barely home so it was easy to hide it from her mother, and since teenage boys don't notice anything unless you cry or shave your head it was easy to hide it from her friends too. Most people would notice if they came close and saw the large amount of makeup Amy used to hide the bruises or wondered why she wore long sleeves in July. But Jason, Skeet and Mark were her only close friends, and no one really takes the time to wonder why people in bands dress the way they do, so Amy kept spackling on the pounds of makeup and no one noticed.

But nothing goes unnoticed for too long. Soon Amy would have had to put plaster on her face for no one to notice. Skeet and Mark didn't ask, they weren't the asking type but Jason did one night when they were playing at a bar in Middlebrook. It was a lousy dump and the owner didn't even care that the members of the band he hired where underage.

"I got into a fist fight." Amy said.

"With who Angelic?" Jason questioned sarcastically.

Amy nodded her head and walked away from Jason toward the bar, it was on that
night she first met Gavin. Sure they were in the same math and Spanish classes
but they had never talked. Gavin was turning twenty in one month. He should
have been in college but he was still a senior and he was in danger of failing
once more.

"Sit with me Amy." He said to her and she did sit with him.

"Vodka." He told the bartender who turned and looked at Amy.
"Same for her, I'm paying." He smiled at Amy and handed her the drink.

"I've never had a drink before." Amy whispered.

"It's okay, you look like you could use one to. So, heard you talking to Jason, I was in Angelica's class for a year and I knew her well enough to know that she would never hit you. But Brandon would."

Amy jerked her head up and looked at him when he said this. "It's okay I won't say anything to Jason or anyone else, why don't we have a drink again tomorrow after you're done?" he flashed her another smiled and handed her another drink.

Amy liked it, she felt calmer, less tense after having just one drink. She nodded and took the second drink from Gavin's hand.

"Good." Gavin said and smiled again.

"You guys notice the black eye Amy had?" Jason remarked to Skeet and Mark while they were backstage packing up their instruments.

"Yeah, she said she got into a fist fight." Skeet replied with a shrug.

"But here's what I don't understand, who would Amy fight with? I mean everybody likes her, even my dog and he doesn't even like me." Mark said with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Her mom would never do it, but maybe . . . " Jason stopped mid-sentence. Mark and Skeet both looked at him and he finished by saying, "Maybe Brandon would."

Amy did meet Gavin for drinks the next night, but this time she had a new bruise and he had something more than Vodka for her. Cocaine. Amy shook her head and got up to leave and Gavin grabbed hold of her arm.

"It will make you forget all about Brandon. And the first one is free." He said putting his fingers on the bruise on her arm. Amy took the vile from his hand. Gavin smiled at her, "Atta girl." He said and patted her on the back.

Amy went into the bathroom and snorted it, Gavin was right, when she first got high all of her problems melted away into the darkness

Gavin didn't give Amy the cocaine out of the goodness of his heart. He saw what Brandon was doing to her and he knew that one hit would not be enough. He knew, her type and he knew that she would come back for more. He would sell her the Cocaine for a while and then he would give her the more expensive stuff and then he would be sure to get her hooked on that.

"You stupid ugly bitch! What the hell do you mean you forgot! I'll show you what happens when you forget, whore! Fuck you!" Brandon screamed at Amy. He hit her and hit her again.

"Please, ..... I'm sorry." Amy whimpered.

"Good, bitch." He hissed slamming her head into the wall.

Brandon left as Amy crawled on her hands and knees into her room, leaving a trail of blood on the carpet. She reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out the vile of Cocaine. She snorted some and then more, but her head still hurt. Amy then dragged herself into the kitchen and pulled open the liquor cabinet, she reached for a bottle and drank. Amy wasn't sure how much she had drank because she began to feel very dizzy and passed out cold on the kitchen floor with the bottle in her hand and blood on her face.

"She should be home." Skeet said ringing Amy's doorbell. Skeet, Jason and Mark had just arrived for practice and were puzzled that Amy didn't appear to be home.

"Hey look, she is home. I can see her jacket on the floor through the window." Mark cried.

"Amy!" Skeet yelled pounding on the door.

He rattled the knob and to his surprise it opened. Jason went upstairs, Mark down the basement and it was Skeet who found Amy in the kitchen.

"Oh my God, guys get in the kitchen quick!" he yelled.

"What is . . . holy shit?" Mark said.

"What happened to her?" Jason whispered his face as white as a ghost.

"I don't know. Amy, wake up." Skeet yelled shaking her limp body.

Jason picked up the bottle and looked at it, "Is she drunk?"

Skeet looked at her closely and then picked up her wrist. "Jason call an ambulance now, she doesn't have a pulse......."

At the hospital they pumped Amy's stomach to get out the liquor, but what the doctor was more concerned with was who had beat her up. He assumed that with the combined effect of alcohol had caused her to pass out.

"You can see her when she wake up. If you can find out who did this to her, you're her friends she'll probably tell you." Said the doctor walking away.

Mark was on the phone trying to get Amy's mom but that probably wasn't going to happen since her boss had answered the phone. Skeet and Jason went in to see Amy, Skeet and Jason had both known Amy for a long time. In fifth grade they were madly in love with her and even beat each other up so Amy would go out with the one less damaged. Skeet had long forgotten his crush on Amy, but Jason hadn't and he hated to see her in a hospital room like this.

"Oh my head. Skeet, Jason what happened?" Amy groaned.

"We found passed out on your kitchen floor, they had to pump your stomach."
Skeet whispered.

"Amy the doctor wants to know who beat you up." Jason said Amy closed her eyes
tight, "I don't remember." She mumbled softly.

Jason and Skeet exchanged glances and Jason was more convinced than ever that Brandon did it.

"Sorry Amy, your mom can't come, her boss won't let her." Mark said walking into the room.

"Go figure. I'm sorry, now we're going to have to cancel our gig." Amy said with a sigh.

"Hey don't be, we'd rather give them back their money than lose you." Mark said.

"I'm afraid you'll have to leave now, but you're welcome to come back tomorrow." The doctor said sticking his head in the room.

"Bye." They whispered to Amy who offered them a small smile. She waited until they were gone to role over and cry.

"Never, under any circumstances drink anything after snorting Cocaine." A voice whispered in Amy's ear the next day.

She looked at Gavin's face and smiled when he handed her flowers. "I didn't want to feel how much my head hurt anymore, and I have to snort more and more to get high now." She whispered.

"I know, I should have told you. I've got something better for you when you get out. And you don't have to snort it. It's free too." Gavin whispered to her, running his fingers down her checks.

Amy smiled at him and whispered, "Thank you, I need it."

Brandon called Amy several times and begged for her forgiveness, Amy agreed but told him that if he ever hit her like that again she would tell.

"It'll never happen." He swore.

Not Amy's mother, the doctor or her friends believed that she had no memory of what happened especially not Jason. But unless Amy told them who did this no charges would be pressed and Amy was far too afraid of Brandon to press any charges against him.........

Amy's friends threw her a big party when she finally came home from the hospital and along with presents they presented her with her homework and a time for their next gig. But it was Gavin who gave her the present that she really wanted after her friends left and her mom was at work. He produced a needle from his jacket and presented it to Amy.

"What is it?" she whispered.

"Heroin, if you're scared then I'll inject it and believe me it will make you feel great." Gavin said and Amy nodded as she extended her arm.

She squeezed her eyes shut as Gavin injected the needle, "Remember the first one is free." He said.

A loud knocking interrupted them, "Amy... it's Brandon I want to talk to you." He called. Brandon was a big guy, star of the wrestling team and Gavin was terrified that he would kill him for even talking to Amy.

"Back door's unlocked." She whispered to him and Gavin ran out of there.

Jason was walking past Amy's house when he heard a bloodcurdling scream. He ran up the steps and banged on the door.

"Amy!" he screamed.

"Jason help me, it's unlocked!" she screamed.

Mark and Skeet weren't far behind Jason and when they heard the yelling, Mark paged Amy's mom and called the cops on the cellular phone he had "borrowed" from his older brother. Jason opened the door and there was Brandon fist raised toward Amy. He ran and jumped on Brandon back, tackling him to the ground which was amazing because Brandon was much taller and stronger than Jason. Amy ran into the street limping on her hurt ankle.

"Skeet!" she half screamed, half sobbed when she saw him.

Skeet threw his arms around Amy and they stood back afraid to go in her house.

Mark looked at Skeet, "Jason was right all along." He whispered.

At that moment a cop car pulled up, "Please help our friend." Amy begged.

"What's his name?" a heavy set cop called to her approaching the house cautiously.

"His name's Jason." Mark called to him as he and Skeet sat on the curb with their arms around Amy who was still crying.

The next few minutes where a blur for everyone, they heard a shot, another shot, a scream and instantly Skeet, Mark and Jason knew that Brandon had shot Jason and the cop had shot and killed him. An ambulance arrived and took Amy and Jason to the hospital, and the cops to Skeet and Jason to the police station to get their statements on record. As the ambulance drove away many thoughts ran through Amy's head and one of them was, "God... I hope Gavin will give me another hit for free.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Amy's mother said to her at the hospital.

"I'm sorry Mom. I knew you'd want me to press charges and I was too scared." Amy said as the doctor bandaged her ankle.

"You could have told my son." Jason's mother said.

"I know, he even asked me but you don't. You can't understand just how terrified I was of him. I wanted to tell Jason, he's my best friend." Amy said and broke down into tears again.

Both mothers put their arms around her, Amy had been in trouble and they thought it was over. But thanks to Gavin a whole mess of problems were just about to unfold.

"Hey Amy." Mark said coming up behind her. They stood with Skeet and Jason's mom in the waiting room, wondering how his surgery had went.

"This is all my fault." Amy sobbed.

"What? How?" Mark demanded.

"He . . . He was trying . . . to help me." Amy said in a barely audible whisper.

"Amy, Brandon could have killed you. You're lucky Jason came, otherwise we might be getting ready to go to you're funereal." Mark said.

Skeet smacked him in the head. "Dumbo, don't say that to her." But they all knew that it was true.

The minute school was out Skeet, Mark and Amy ran to the hospital. School had been horrid, people blamed them that Brandon was dead, forget that he almost killed Amy, and shot Jason. When they got there, Jason was awake and the doctor let them see him.

Amy ran in and flung her arms around his neck. "You saved my life." She whispered in his ear. Jason smiled and returned her hug.

"What did I miss at school?" Jason asked.

"You're being greeted by a herd of tomatoes thrown at you, and being called whore, bitch or asshole and fucker. Their blaming us for Brandon being dead, especially you and me." Amy replied gloomily.

"When do you get out?" Skeet asked.

"Tomorrow, and you had better have a huge surprise welcome home party planned for me. I got shot remember." He said knotting his fingers through Amy's.

It was then he, along with Skeet and Mark noticed the track marks on her arm.

"Amy, what's this?" Jason said. "

"Oh that. Well, they gave me painkillers yesterday when I came in." That was the first of many lies that Amy told.......

Amy's friend were worried about her again. They noticed how the track marks never went away, how slowly her C.D's disappeared, how much time she spent with Gavin, her moodiness, how sick and tired she often looked like the Calvin Klien models that were compared to Heroin addicts, how she never wanted to practice any more and making it as a musician had been so very important to her once.

"Jason we can't just walk up to her and say, Amy we think that you're a Heroin addict." Skeet said shaking his head.

"Well, what do you want to do wait until she ODs, she almost died once already and I think that was enough." He said.

"For her or you? Look Jason we know you have a thing for Amy but we need to be really cautious about how we approach her with this. Amy is our friend, we don't want to watch her to die either." Mark said softly.

MEANWHILE BACKSTAGE . . .

"Please Gavin, I need a hit bad." Amy begged.

"Amy you already owe me $800. If I give you this, I want your watch." Gavin
said.

"Fine, Fine, take it now give me the stuff." Amy reached out and grabbed the
needle from him.

Gavin then noticed the bottle of Vodka on the table. "Amy have you been drinking that?" he asked her.

"Yeah so?" Amy said taking another drink.

"Amy, you're drunk. If you shoot up, you'll overdose. I'm telling Jason." Gavin said running out of the room.

Amy slide in the corner and a few moments later Skeet, Jason and Mark rushed in.

"Give me the needle, Amy." Jason said extending his hand toward her.

"No way, I need this Jason." Amy groaned.

"No, you don't need it, now give me the needle." Jason said kneeling down
beside her.

"Why the hell should I! No don't feed me any of your bullshit Jason, I've had so much shit dumped on me that I can't see straight. I have no father, Angelic is never here, hell no mother since she's at work so damn much, and you three are my only friends in the entire world. Jason, I need this. This is the only thing that makes my sorry life livable these days." Amy said as she began to cry and two mascara black trails of tears ran down her checks.

"No, you don't." Skeet said as he and Jason came closer.

"Amy." Jason said. She looked from his face to Skeet's, to Mark and back to Jason's.

Amy threw the needle out the window and cried. "I'm . . . I'm so sorry. How did this happen?" she cried and the three of they wrapped their arms around Amy.

Boy did the kids at school love Amy when she got back from rehab. Not only was she the whore who killed Brandon, but now she was also the school druggie. And they loved Skeet, Mark and Jason for saving her. "You should have let the bitch die." They would say to them. Skeet, Mark and Jason were happy to see her, they always were, but that was it. Amy tried to ignore all the names and eyes staring at her. Especially Brandon's brother Josh. He hated Amy, he not only thought it was unfair that she was alive and his brother was dead, but how dare she use drugs and not overdose? Hatred is a horrible, horrible thing. It can drive people to do awful things that they will regret and that will change other people's lives forever.

Months passed and things were better. Amy was fine, Gavin was in jail and the band was making money. Jason still hadn't told Amy that he was in love with her but he was going to, really. "Yeah sure." Skeet would say to him. Everything was going well . . . until it happened.

It was just another ordinary Friday night and they were playing a gig, there was no way that they could have known that their lives would change forever tonight. The place was packed. The crowd begged for and encore. No one paid any attention to the man in the front row in the black sweatshirt. They should have. That man was Josh and he had a gun. He just stood up during the encore aimed at Amy and fired. Then he left like he had done nothing and no one tried to stop him. Amy fell and Mark caught her. "

"Someone called an ambulance!" Skeet yelled.

Jason knelt in front of Amy. She touched his face with the tips of her finger getting blood on him. The ambulance arrived and they loaded Amy on the stretcher. Jason leaned close to her kissed her hand and whispered, "I love you Amy."

Amy looked at him and half smiled. "I love you too." She whispered as they took her out of the club.

Skeet and Mark walked over and stood near Jason. Together they all watched the ambulance drive away. It was the last time that they ever saw Amy again, she died at the hospital. That was also the last night that any of them picked up an instrument again, they didn't want to be in a band without their best friend. Skeet, Mark and Jason left town for good that summer. They wanted to forget everything about it, but as the years passed there was on thing that they never forgot about and that was Amy.