It started out as a quiet evening for Trista. She worked all day and wanted to come home and eat her dinner without her parents barking orders at her from the minute she walked through the door. She opened the front door and saw her mother sitting in her chair.
"Your dinner is on the counter." her mother said. "Okay, thank you." Tris said as she set down her bag on the couch. "When you're done eating, could you check the mail for me. I didn't get a chance to check it today. I've been too busy." her mother said. "Sure." Tris replied. She didn't feel like walking in the cold just to check her mail, but if she said something other than yes, her mother would have lost her mind.
She walked outside in the chilly 60 degree weather to her mailbox in her driveway. Her neighborhood was full of old people, and every time Tris walked outside, she knew that one of her nosy neighbors was staring at her. But this time, she felt different. She felt as if someone was watching her, but not one of her nosy neighbors. She felt a strange feeling in her gut like someone was watching her very closely. She got to the mail box and stopped. She looked around her but she didn't see anyone. Not even any of her neighbors. Tris then opened the mail box and pulled the stack of normal bills out from inside. But this time, she pulled out a letter. A letter that was addressed for her. Trista never got mail. She had no friends and kept to herself all the time that way she would never feel judged by anyone.
"What is this?" she thought to herself. She looked for an address on the front of the envelope to see who it had come from. All it had was her own address and something a bit more weird. The front of the envelope didn't just say her name and address, it had where she spent most of her time nowadays. It read, "Trista Jones, the girl in the red room." and her address was underneath it. She wondered how anyone knew her room was red, and why they would put that on the envelope. On the back, the envelope was sealed with wax with the engraving of what looked to be a school crest. Trista had never seen this crest before and didn't know where it had come from. She was about to open the letter when she realized she was still standing in the chilly weather outside.
She quickly went inside and opened the door to see her parents standing right in front of her. "Give me that letter." her mother boasted. "Wha- how did you know I have a letter?" Tris asked. "Doesn't matter, just hand it over." her mother said as she snatched the letter out of Trista's hands. "Hey, that's mine!" Trista said. Once the words escaped her mouth, she knew what was to come next. Trista's mother had managed to connect her palm with Trista's face in a matter of seconds. Tris fell to the ground from the impact. She was still standing in the door way and the door was still open.
Tris sat there for a second slowly touching her face from where her mother had struck her. Her eyes were filling up with tears and her vision was blurry. She looked in the distance and across the street she saw what looked to be two tall figures in the distance. Both similar in height and both had bright red hair. Ginger hair. Her eyes were still blurry with the tears pouring down her face. As she was looking at the two tall figures, she noticed how one was trying to make his way over to her while the other one was restraining him from behind. She thought she was hallucinating so she sat up and wiped the tears from her face, noticing they were gone. "Up to your room young lady. And watch how you speak to me next time." her mother said. Trista then stood up from the ground and made her way up the stairs and into her red bedroom.
She sat on her bed curled up in a ball in one of her oversized hoodies. She sat there with a million things going through her mind all at once. Trista Jones wasn't your normal version of a teenage girl. She was socially awkward and had anxiety. She's been homeschooled her whole life and didn't know how to interact with people her own age. She's quiet and keeps to herself. "No one likes the shy girl." she told herself in her mind everyday. All she wanted to know is why life seems to hate her and why was she so different and weird.
The sun started to set when all of a sudden a bang came from her window. She jumped from the sudden noise and walked over to her window to see an owl flipped on his back. She assumed he flew into her window. She wondered why an owl would be at her window. Owls were rarely seen where she lived. She opened her window and noticed that the owl had something in his beak. It was a letter. With wide eyes, Tris took the letter from the owl and her heart skipped a beat. It wasn't just a letter. It was the letter she had earlier before her mother snatched it away from her. "How did you-" she said to the owl but realized that he had already flown away. "What was an owl doing with a letter in his beak? and why was it the same letter she had gotten earlier that day? What was so important about this letter?" Tris thought to herself. Now it was time to open the letter, and little did Tris know that this would be the beginning of some of the greatest moments in her life.