Heartbreak, Sunnyside Up
Issue 11

Lily Roach works as a waitress in a local diner. She's married to Phil, a mechanic. They lead mundane lives in a small town, and make small talk at each other. Lily's daughter Tina ran away from home aged only twelve, and hasn't been heard of in the four years since. Lily is visited at work by Agent Graves, who tells Lily a story.

The story Graves tells isn't a happy one. Tina ran away to the city where she ended up being pimped in a tenement hotel. She was regularly beaten and became addicted to heroin. A year ago she was picked up by Robert Corley, who's idea of a good time was to cut Tina up with a razor and burn her face with cigarettes. Whilst in Intensive Care, Tina was diagnosed HIV positive. Disfigured, she was rejected by her pimp and soon back on the street. She died through HIV associated illness in an all night Porno Cinema a week ago. When the police discovered her body, someone had stolen her shoes.

Lily breaks down, today would have been Tina's sixteenth birthday. Agent Graves gives Lily a case, containing a photograph of the man responsible for Tina's death and the usual 100 bullets. Lily returns home from her late shift where Phil is asleep in the chair. She first points the gun at her own head, but as Phil wakes up she tells him of her encounter with Graves, before emptying the gun into Phil. As she reloads, she shouts at Phil's body recounting how he had sexually abused her since the age of seven. Agent Graves walks past the house as Lily continues to empty clips into Phil's dead body.

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