A chilly midnight breeze sweeps over me. The stars shine brightly against the pitch black sky. I lay in bed, eyes wide open. I hear a scream. Sitting up in bed I don’t dare make a sound. My mom runs into my room. Drops of sweat are on her forehead, her eyes are red.
“Annabelle, stay home. Your father and I have to take your sister to the hospital immediately,” she tells me in between breaths. Hair in a messy bun, throwing a jacket on, she runs out of my room.
I run downstairs, catching a glimpse of Jade’s limp body in the arms of my dad. I hear the car door shut and I lock the main door.
What is going on? Images of Jade flashed through my mind. Flashbacks came back to me. Every memory of her is vividly playing in my mind.
The big grandfather clock in the kitchen stares back at me, the pendulum swinging back and forth. The clock strikes 2, my calls are being ignored. I am alone.
I walk back to my room, leaving the lights off. Just laying in pure darkness. I take my iPad out of my night shelf and play a relaxing playlist as I cry myself to sleep.
“Annabelle, Anna, wake-up,” says a manly voice.
My eyes snap open, “Oh, it’s you, hi uncle, what are you doing here?”
“You’re staying with us for a few days,” I have no room to argue so I obediently pack all my belongings and exit the house. I lock the doors behind me, clutching my phone in my hand I walk to the car.
“No word from your mother or father yet,” he tells me.
I lean my head on the car door and watch the flashing lights whoosh past. Flashing right past me. Memories rush back.
“Wow, Annabelle! Look at these pictures, they turned out amazing!” I run over to my big sister Jade as she shows me the Nikon screen with slow motion flashlight pictures.
“My turn! Jade stand where I was, I want to try,” she runs to the empty dark wall as I get ready to take the picture. I set the camera on a table as I get ready to draw with the flashlight. Dark walls surround us as we look at the amazing results on the tiny screen.
The lights hypnotize me into another timeless nap.
When I wake up, I’m in a bed. But it’s not my bed.
I look around the room, trying to remind myself of the events that have been happening. So it is real. This is really happening.
I look at the ugly green wallpaper and the same ugly green curtains which make me want to puke. I look over at the digital clock, its only 4:47.
The light peers in through the curtains giving me just enough light to walk over to the door and switch on the lights. I see my bag lying in a corner and I go over and look through everything I packed. I take out my laptop and make an attempt to connect to the internet but I fail.
My stomach growls and I quietly open the doors. I look at the empty hallway and tiptoe out of the guest room. After 20 minutes of walking around in endless circles, I found the stairs. Holding my phone in one hand and holding my laptop in my other hand I try to go down the stairs as quietly as I can. I’m down the first flight of stairs when I notice, that’s it’s not over, I look down and notice another 9 stairs ahead of me. I sit in the living room trying to find the internet router. No luck. I finally get a glass of water and walk up the painful 18 stairs again.
I walk back to the room and sit on the bed. I try to go back to sleep but the room is too bright. I sit on the window ledge and look out at the light blue-gray sky, I can still see the moon over the horizon. A layer of frost covers the freshly cut grass.
Light midnight breeze, picnics in the garden, summer. Mom, dad, Jade and I, all of us wrapped in blankets, sitting in the garden. Midnight strikes, mom and dad leave to go to bed. Jade and I stay outside, just like old times. Laying down on blankets, waiting till’ it is pitch black outside. No talking. Just looking at the beautiful colors fade into darkness, watching the stars shine brighter, hoping to see a shooting star. Sipping warm tea, listening to sounds around us.
The thought lingers in my mind before my eyes close again.
I wake up to the smell of waffles and my aunt yelling my name. I look at the digital clock. 7:42. Oh great…. I throw a pair of black jeggings on and a oversized hoodie and run down to the kitchen.
“Good-morning Annabelle, how did you sleep?” my aunt asks in a fake, happy voice.
“I slept perfectly, thank you for asking,” I faked a smile and spotted my cousin in the seat across me.
We had an awkward 2 seconds of eye contact but both of us quickly looked away.
I look at all the fruits and food laid out in front of me. I decide on an apple and a yoghurt. Not really in the mood for waffles. I eat my breakfast in complete silence not socializing with my “family” at all. I look at the clock hanging on the wall. 7:55. School starts at 8:45.
“May, I be excused?” I ask politely.
“Yes darling, your uncle will take you and Jake to school at around 8:20,” my aunt replies.
“Okay, thank you.” I drag my feet up the stairs and fumble through my bag looking for my toothbrush. I find the nearest bathroom and go in, locking the doors behind me. I look at myself in the mirror. Black circles under my eyes, messy hair, no color in my face. This is not me. I apply a layer of foundation on all over my face. I find some concealer and mascara in the bathroom and before I know it, Im applying layer after layer of makeup on my face. The black circles are barely visible. I leave my toothbrush in the bathroom and walk out.
I look through my school bag and make sure I have everything for my six classes. I put one strap on my shoulder and I walk down the stairs.
“Uncle! Im going to wait outside for you,” I yell across the hall as I put on my black converse.
I walk out into the garden with my bag hanging on my back. I can feel the water seeping into my shoes as I walk across the dew-covered grass. I look down at my feet and decide to take my phone and try to contact my mother once again. No answer.
I sit on the side of the road watching birds hop from branch to branch. I hear footsteps approaching and with a swift head turn I stand up. I look back and see Jake and my Uncle walk towards me. His shaggy brown hair resembled the same color his father had.
The two of them look almost like brothers walking next to each other. My uncle takes the car keys out and he unlocks the door. I quickly jump into the backseat making sure no one else sat there. Luckily no one did.
I see the school come closer into view as we drive. Great… another “fun” day at school.
I put on my fake smile and get out of the car. My backpack hanging loose off my shoulders. Anastasia spots me and walks towards me.
“You ok? You look a little sad, everything alright?” Anastasia asks.
“Yeah yeah, i’m fine. I’m just really tired,” I reply.
First class starts in 5 minutes, I don’t even stop at my locker to put away my things. I go straight to first period, which is math.
Standing in front of the math class, I look at my watch. 8:50. I’m already 5 minutes late, I’m probably already marked absent so why bother anyway?
Before I know it, I am running away. I run away past all the lockers, past the 8th, 7th and 6th grade hallway. I run all the way to the high school area without anyone noticing me. I open the doors to the bathroom on the top floor of the high school and lock myself and start crying.
I hear students in the hallway, I stand on the toilet seat and try to stay as quiet as I can. One class down, five more to go. I can’t just stay here the whole day. There are 10 minute breaks in between classes. I wait until the clock strikes 9:45 before leaving the empty bathroom. The noise outside fades away. I climb off the toilet seat with my acid wash jean jacket and backpack still hanging loose of my back. I look at myself once more in the mirror before turning around and walking out the door.
I run away past all the lockers. I run past the high school. I run past the middle school. I run to the back gate of the school. Trying to avoid all the cameras I easily climb over the fence. I look at the abandoned road ahead of me and start walking. I make my way to a nearby McDonalds and buy some food.
I stand once again in front of the depressing sad house. I see my aunt’s car parked in the driveway and decide to sneak in the house instead of getting noticed and having to explain. I walk around the garden and find the ugly green curtains. I see a shadow behind the curtains and the curtains waving back and forth. I run to the back door and let myself in. Footsteps are approaching towards me and I run to the nearest bathroom on the bottom floor. I hear my aunt singing to herself as she walks down the stairs. What a weirdo… I hear the doors to the garden slide open. Yesssss, this is my chance. Without thinking, I sprint upstairs to the guest room
Standing amongst all the ugly green in the room, I look at the bright screen of my phone. No calls from mom or dad. I decide to try one more time. No answer. I look at the time on my phone. 2:37. School is out at 3:45. I have one hour and eight minutes to kill.
I walk around the house trying not to get noticed. I decide my first stop would be Jake’s room. I open the doors and a nice smell of roses wafts in the room. I look around and notice white walls decorated with posters of different bands. A nice wooden white table stands on one corner of the room. His room is surprisingly clean and organized. I notice a skylight and a nice hammock hanging right under the huge windows. I lay in the white hammock looking at the gray clouds and drift off to sleep.
“What. Are. You. Doing. Here.” I wake up to the sound of Jake.
“Oh, you’re home,” my cheeks turn red and I look for and explanation. “I, I was just, I was just looking around.”
“Oh ok, by the way, the principal at school called my dad in to talk about you,” he told me. “Where were you anyways? We couldn’t find you.”
“Um… I, I was sick and um I decided to come home earlier,” I stammered.
“Don’t worry about it, I used to do it all the time,” he told me.
“Jake, do you think my sister will be okay?” I ask him. Even though we aren’t close and haven’t been it feels nice to have someone to talk to.
“I don’t know Anna, I really don’t. I don’t know what to tell you. Remember Dylan? It feels like everything is just repeating itself.”
“I hope not, how are you holding up?” I asked him remembering what happened to his brother a few years ago.
“To be honest, everything sucks. Life sucks, school sucks, my parents suck, I just want to disappear,” he tells me. I can see tears forming in his eyes. “My parents look like the happiest people on Earth but they really aren’t. I haven’t told anyone this,” he lifts up his sleeve and I notice a huge bruise.
“What happened? Jake, you need to tell me right now. Was it them?” I frantically ask him.
“It happened the night before you came, I was arguing with them and things got so bad,” I notice scars on his neck. “Im sick of this, I am done with everything, I’m done with my parents, I’m done with school, I’m done with…”
“Let’s run away. Just you and me. I know exactly how you feel. I am so sick and tired of my parents neglecting me, ignoring me, I am done.” I blurt out the words and before I know it, we are talking about running away.
“Where would we run to? Anna you have to be realistic, where are we going to get the money? Where are we going to sleep? What are we going to do with the rest of our lives?” he asks me.
“I have a credit card with enough money to start us off, don’t you have a credit card as well? We should have more than enough money to get us going. We will run until we can’t run anymore and we can both get a job.” I tell him, ideas are flowing into my mind and soon we have a whole plan sketched out.
That night, we both don’t say anything at the dinner table.
We look out the window and back at the watch on my wrist. 23:59. Without having any second thoughts, we run out, we take one last look at the dark gloomy house. Our bags hang loose on our backs and we run. We run hard. We run like the flashing lights. Flashing past everyone. Soon becoming just a memory. Escaping forever.
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