Lost in You ~ Dallas Winston

First Chapter: Hailee POV

My name is Hailee Mabel Odelia. I have been living in Tulsa for 4 months now, which is a big change from living in Miami since I was 6. I never understood the system here. Everyone is divided and loud and it's all just chaos, all the time. I'm what people here call a Soc (which - I assume from my neighbors - is a shortened term for 'Socials' or something similar). I dress nice and usually keep my hair maintained. I dyed it red 3 months before I came, and now I think I'm the only Soc who ever dyes their hair. Someone said it was 'such a greaser thing to do.' I don't even understand it.

I have shoulder-length, uneven hair. It's naturally a bleach-blonde color, but I dyed it black, and then my underneaths red. It's naturally curly so it's harder to maintain - it seems to be something that other female Socs don't have to deal with, so there's another difference between me and them. When I get ready in the summertime, I usually go for a skirt or shorts and a t-shirt. But since most of my wardrobe was changed due to the awful weather here, I now usually wear a sweater vest and a skirt or cool jeans. I never considered myself to dress up, besides the occasional dress for church (which I rarely go to). I stopped going when I was 10, I'm 16 now and I'm turning 17 next month.

My mother died when I was only 10. Me and her were in the car together when it happened. She had a red pickup truck with only 3 seats. Damn, she loved that thing. But she loved me more. The middle seat could pull down to be a cupholder, so we normally only had two people in it. I thought it was cool, but my father thought it was "outrageously inappropriate for a woman to drive let alone be in." I never understood that, either. Maybe one day it'll hit me, but until then it will wander in my mind.

"Mom, is there anything you wouldn't do?" I asked her gently.

"No, I don't think so.. What's troubling you, love?" she looked over at me briefly before looking back at the road, her hands firm on the newly padded steering wheel.

"Well, I was just thinking.. When I'm older, can we get tattoos?" I asked, a bit more excitingly than I anticipated.

My mother's soft chuckle echoed in the car. "Maybe one day." She smiled at me, and to that I returned a smile.

I felt a sense of fear suddenly arise in my stomach and chest. And then, just like that, I saw it. She was going too fast, and the driver ahead slammed on their brakes. And just like that, just in that split second, she was gone. The pole from the driver's rear- mind you, this is illegal to do in Miami - went straight through my mother's chest. Our car slammed into the truck and I got stuck.

Within minutes, police and firefighters and ambulances came rushing to the scene. I slowly woke up to the sound of their sirens, looking forward at my legs crushed under the dashboard. I knew I was paralyzed because I couldn't feel anything below my stomach. I looked over to my mom in panic, and just to reassure my fears, there she was. But this wasn't my mother, oh no no no. The wound around the pole bled and bled, and I felt as if I might hurl, but I couldn't. I felt extremely sick and weakened, and I reached for her hand. Just barely able to hold it, I took the bracelet off her broken wrist and slid it onto mine. I then let myself sleep, and to that I slept for days.

I had woken up days later, 5 to be exact. I missed a bunch of school on my way to recovery, but I held the bracelet close to me every day and night just as I still do. I spent 5 months working on moving my toes and legs ever so slightly, day by day. I felt the pain in my chest every time I couldn't do something, but maybe that was just the realization kicking in that my mother wasn't going to be there with me on my way with recovery.. but I still knew, deep down, that she was there. She was always going to be there now for me, and I still believe that today. I cried, days for days, but I still made the time to figure myself out.