A Beautiful Soul

Chapter 3: A Snowy Encounter

I slammed the door and stepped out into the cold lare of the night. The freshly landed snow crunched beneath my feet. Iris, my stepmother was yelling abuse at me from her bedroom window. Or should I say my parents bedroom window.

My parents spilt when I was five and when was ten my father married Iris. It was no mystery that she hated me. Even before my dad married her she had it out for me. I was too much like my mother, I was too much of a reminder of what she had to live up to. My mother was very beautiful, with silky straight, golden blond hair that fell below her shoulder. Dark green eyes that frightened people at a first glance. Pale, peachy skin that was flawless from every blemish and a long curved nose. I looked exactly like her, except for the nose, I had my father's nose. A small buttoned one with freckles speckled on it.

My dad and Iris never had any kids. Probably because the house was pretty full with me and Iris's two sons, Devin and Connor. Not my biggest fans either! My mam was always traveling because of her job, so I spent a lot of time with my dad, which meant spending a lot of time with Iris.

About two years before my parents died they started spending a lot of time together. This really annoyed Iris, because she thought my dad was cheating on her. But of course he wasn't. Him and my mam were setting up a trust account for me, for went I turned 18. My parents weren't rich but were well off. My dad was in politics and my mam was manager of a department store. But I wasn't going to tell Iris that's what they were really doing. I was enjoying her pain too much.

Me and Iris had had another fight. It was over something completely stupid. She complained that I didn't put any fabric conditioner into the washing machine when I was doing the laundry and told me that I must of put something else in because her blouse stunk. I ensured her that I used plenty of fabric conditioner and that it was her own natural stink that made the blouse smell so bad. Well she didn't like that comment at all, she snapped, yelling at me how disrespectful I was and that I was grounded. So naturally I stormed out of the house.

As I walked the impact of the cold hit me. I hugged myself, regretting not grabbing a jacket on the way out. I was wearing a light, baggy, peach, woollen jumper with tattered, black leggings that had at least five holes in them. I had already washed off my make up and thrown my hair into a messy bun. I turned the corner but I could still here Iris cursing and screaming at me. She will kill me when I get back. Devin, Iris's oldest son will probably back me into a corner and threaten me. But I don't care, I'll be out of there in two years.

I didnt plan on leaving the house again, if I did I probably wouldn't of worn my slippers. My feet were soaked and icey cold. My whole body was freezing. But I didn't mind the cold. Being cold meant being numb, and being numb meant not felling pain, and the only thing I feel is pain and misery. But I wear a mask that hides all my problems, and the only people who know about them are my two best friends Bonnie and Reece. I spend all my time with them and usually sleep in one or the others house, to avoid Iris. Iris doesn't care what time I get home at, or if I even come home. So if I have a fight with her I don't have to stick around.

I glanced into the woods that ran along the side of my house and stretched about two miles before stopping outside the town at the post office. The woods surrounded Ballygrove, making the town a circle shape. Most house's in Ballygrove had their back to the woods, but a few houses, like Bonnie's were in the town. I'm scared of the woods. Every time I pass them I get a shiver that crawls through my body. I haven't been in there since my parents death. I also haven't seen that boy since my parents death. But I sometimes think I see his strange blue eyes watching me. I often wonder how the boy found my parents. And why I didn't tell the guards that my parents didn't die in a car crash because some boy showed me them dead in the woods. He could be the killer for all I know. But I don't think he's the killer. I don't want him to be.