overtaking

Chapter 1

Leena

I look out of the car window as the rain is pouring down, I begin to shake my head to drown all the thoughts and bad memories away.

Along with my brother and with my dad, I'm headed to a new chapter in my life.

After I got out of juvenile detention I just wanted to get away from everything and start over.

I also couldn't face the people that hurt me for another year.

I just couldn't.

I, with a little desperation, couldn't help but check my phone again for just one message or maybe even a missed call.

Just one sort of sign to show me she still cared.

But what was I thinking?

Of course mom wouldn't write me.

I don't even know why I ever thought or even hoped she would though.

Who am I even kidding?

It's not like she ever bothered to care, why would she now?

"You okay, Lee?" I hear Benjamin, my brother, ask me.

I turn my head to face him and see him looking at me.

A knowing look being displaced on his face.

He knows me too well, there's no point in hiding.

"Yeah, I don't know why I thought she would change." I tell him honestly.

"It's alright. Don't worry about that okay? We've got each other and we're headed to California. We're basically living the dream darling!" He jokes.

I laugh at his silliness and start looking out of the car window again.

He's right. We're moving and this could actually be the best thing for me. I'm glad we're going to be living with dad.

He always cared for us, but after the divorce we couldn't really stay in touch as much.

He moved to California and because he lost the custody battle, we had to stay with our "mother".

But after they separated she just started to drown herself in her work and career, leaving little to no time to take care of me and Ben.

He coped with it pretty well, or at least it looked like he did.

He was always the best of all his classes, joined the football team and started making many new friends. Even skipping a grade.

While I... I just stayed in his shadows.

I on the other side, didn't take the divorce very well.

Though it was for the better, i just couldn't help but feel so sad about it.

Even when they were always yelling or fighting, sleeping in other rooms or just not showing any affection to one another.

I thought that they could, I don't know, maybe fix it still? That we could all just be the happy family that we once were.

But that thought died with their marriage.

And with their marriage died moms love for me.

I was 16 when they divorced. I wanted to stay with dad, we both did. But mom won so I had to move in with her and stay here in Oregon.

She barely showed me any support or any care in the world.

At first I always wondered why she fought so hard for us. But she eventually made it clear that she only did it to hurt my father.

I struggled a lot in school. I mean my grades were fine, but I didn't make any friends.

I was always sitting alone and the only thing that was keeping me company was my loneliness.

I also got bullied quite a bit. And however I could stand up for myself just fine, Ben was always there to save the day.

Whilst he was a year younger than me, he was already very popular.

My mental health also declined after their divorce.

I mean there was always just this dark cloud above my head, even when they were still together.

But after? After it was just a whole ass thunderstorm.

I never wanted to do anything anymore, ate when I really had to, hurt myself and also started taking pills.

Not having any friends also didn't really help.

I hated opening up, but just wanted someone to notice my pain and maybe just talk with me about it.

Mom didn't.

Ofcourse she didn't.

Ben did.

Ofcourse he did.

We talked about everything that was bothering me.

Well.

Almost everything.

I knew that if I told him about the pills he would flip out and try to take them from me.

I just couldn't risk that happening.

That and music had become my comfort. The music made me feel less alone.

The pills made me not feel all the pain inside.

The confrontation with all the pain I buried is too much. I've ran away from it a very long time.

Much pain was bound to overtake me. And I wasn't ready for that to happen yet.

So I kept swallowing.

And I kept on running.

But then..

Something happened.

They happened.

But most importantly,

He happened.

____________

This is more of an introduction to the story. It gives you abit of background about Leena. Hope you enjoyed it so far!!!