BROKEN

Chapter Two

I took Chocolate Chip back to the barn, and Holden was standing there. I hopped off the horse and led her by the reigns. I tried walking past Holden to put the horse in her stall, but I soon found myself face-to-face with him, and he had an annoyed look on his face.

“The next time you want to take my horse out, maybe you should ask.” He snapped.

“I'm sorry, you told me before that I could take her out whenever I wanted without asking.” I said quietly while dropping my head to look at the ground.

“Well that was before I realized that I didn't want a slut riding my horses. Chocolate Chip is Erica's horse now, so stay away from her, and stay away from me!” He shouted right in my face.

With that, I dropped the reigns and ran back to the house. I couldn't stay in a house with someone so mean, and I couldn't leave my daughter there either. I ran up the stairs to my room and packed a bag of stuff for both Madelyn and me. I wiped my tears and went to find Mrs. Larson.

“I want to thank you for everything that you've done for me and Maddy, but I can't stay here anymore.” I broke down crying and explained how Erica and Holden had been treating me.

“Oh honey, I'm so sorry. I noticed the tension between you two, but I didn't realize it was that bad. Honestly, Margret and I haven't been getting along that well either and I can't expect you to stay here, but I can't send you out on your own either. Let's stay here for the night, and tomorrow we will pack up my new car and leave together. I think it's time we make a new life somewhere with new identities. I'll do some thinking tonight, and tomorrow we will get it all worked out.” She pulled me into a hug and sent me up to bed.

The next morning, we loaded up the car and pulled away from the house we had lived in for a year and a half. We drove for a few hours before stopping in a small town and getting a motel room. I fed Madelyn and gave her a bath while Mrs. Larson went to the store. When she came back, she explained that if we were going to be living under new identities, we should change our looks. She helped me dye my brown hair to a light shade of blonde, and had me cover my bright blue eyes with green contacts. She cut my hair that had been touching my waist into a cute bob that grazed the top of my shoulders.

Mrs. L changed her grey hair to a dark blonde and covered her naturally brown eyes to green as well. She said that I needed to start calling her Grandma and we were going to have to change our last name. By the time we pulled away from that small town, we were the Jansen family. There was my grandma Sally, I was Jasmine, and Madelyn was now my baby sister. My new grandmother said that life would be much easier for me if people thought that Maddy was my sister instead of my daughter. Our story was that my parents had been killed in a car accident shortly after Maddy was born and our grandmother took us in.

We drove out of that town and straight out of Montana. We spent a year traveling around the country before settling into a house in Maine. Mrs. Larson, or “grandma” had been home schooling me on the road, but once we were settled into our new house, she went to the local high school to get me signed up. They made me take tests for each subject to see what grade to put me in. I was a month away from turning eighteen, so they put me in all senior classes; most of them were advanced placement classes.

Two birthdays had passed since we left my parents’ house in the middle of the night, and I had refused to celebrate them. I knew my eighteenth wasn't going to be any different. I didn't want to celebrate. My parents didn't believe in birthday parties and I had asked them to throw me one when I turned twelve. I was beaten black and blue, and ever since that day, I refused to mention my birthday.