"What's wrong with her?" Her mother questioned the doctor as he pressed the stethoscope to her daughter's chest.
"Well... nothing, ma'am." He said, finally pulling his instrument away.
"Then how do you explain that-" she paused and eyed her equally confused husband, "That thing that happened..." She whispered.
"Well... are you sure your daughter was the cause of your power outage?" He questioned them again, struggling to speak past his thick German accent.
"Yes!!" Her mother exclaimed, before the father put his hand before her.
"It happens whenever she throws a tantrum... at first, we thought it was... a coincidence... but it just kept happening. Every time she screams, all of the lights in our house- boom!" He explained. The doctor seemed shocked, but mostly thoughtful.
"Well... there's not much I can do to explain this... let alone treat it... but to keep her from, erh... screaming, again... I do know about a program for emotionally unstable children." The man walked across the room and went through his drawer. He pulled out a card and handed it to her mother.
"Call this facility in the next twenty four hours. It's a directional behavior institute. They should be able to correct her outbursts." He told them. Her mother looked down at her daughter with a look of judgement. Y/n frowned, letting her head fall as she stared back at her.
"What an incredibly flawed child..." She mumbled. Y/n was only four years old, but her mother's words stung like a freshly cut wound. Her father took her by the hand and lead her out of the doctor's office.
~•Three Years Later•~
Y/n bounced down the halls of her huge house in her big, fluffy, pretty-pink princess tutu. She wandered into the kitchen where her full-time nanny, as usual, was making a new batch of cookies.
"Hello, darling!" She sang in her gorgeous German accent when she saw the young girl tumble in.
"Hi, Ariel!" She chimed, coming nearer to her warm, familiar face.
"You're just in time! How many cookies would you like?" She questioned the child. Y/n eyed the tray, which was full of nearly a dozen chocolate chip delights.
"All of them!!" She cheered, making the older woman laugh.
"Of course, my dear!" She said, handing her three to start off with.
By the end of the day, the tray was empty. Y/n was playing with her dolls in the living room as her mother entered the door. She paused in her tracks, looking down at the crumbs on her daughter's face in disarray. She suddenly stormed into the dining room.
"Ariel, what did I tell you!?" She shrieked, snapping Y/n from her focus as worry flooded over her. She heard her Nanny's indistinct English stuttering from the other room.
"Enough, enough!! How many of those things did you feed her?! Look at her!!" Her mother came back and snatched Y/n by the wrist, yanking her to her feet.
"Diana... it's just baby fat, dear..."
"You call this baby fat?! Ariel, this is childhood obesity!! You've got her stuffed like a starving pig!! Look at this!" She pinched the fat under Y/n's arms, "Look at this!!" She lifted her dress and pinched the fat on her stomach.
"Diana... I think you're overreacting a little, dear..." she mumbled.
"I am not overreacting!! This is my daughter, and you're turning into- into- some disgusting creature! She's already messed up enough, what with her freakish mental outbursts! We're trying to correct her, not fucking ruin her even more!!" Her mother screamed. Ariel had nothing to say. Diana squeezed Y/n's wrist and came close to her face.
"Look at you, little miss piggy! You just needed ever last little cookie, didn't you?!" She yelled. Y/n's eyes filled with tears.
"Mrs. Huckabee, please-"
"Ariel, you're fired!" She snapped.
"M-Mrs. Huckabee, I-I-" Ariel was shocked.
"You! Little miss Piggy, you're getting on a dietary program tomorrow. You're losing this weight, and you will be my perfect sized little girl. Go up to your room, and don't even think about asking for dinner!!" She screamed. Y/n ran to her bedroom bawling her eyes out. She threw herself on her bed and began to do her calming exercises. As she tried to control her emotions, her room lights began to flicker. She took in some long, deep breathes. After a while she finally fell asleep.
~•About One Year Later•~
Y/n stepped on the scale, as she had every week for the past 9 months of her life. The numbers flickered on the screen, landing at 25 kilograms.
"Well, look at that, Miss Pi-"
"Diana." Her father interrupted her Mother's cruel nickname. She gazed at him for a moment before looking back at her.
"Great job, Y/n." She nodded, folding her hands out in front of her.
"Yes, wonderful job indeed, honey! You reached your goal weight!" Her father clapped his hands. Y/n didn't say a word. She stared blankly down at the number between her tiny feet.
"That's nearly ten kilos since last year. I'm impressed with your dietitian." Her mother nodded in approval.
"Now, Y/n, you're still a growing girl. A healthy weight for next year will be about 27 kilos! So don't worry too much, okay?" Her father patted her head before he walked off. Y/n let out a long sigh as she stepped off the scale.
"Next year, Y/n. Try not to gain that weight back in a day, huh?" Her mother instructed before placing a kiss on her head. She followed her father out of the room.
~•Two Years Later•~
"Drew, honey, help me lift my bag, will you dear?" Diana said, dragging her fifty pound bag to their first-class seats. Her husband sighed as he tossed the bag into the compartment above their heads.
"I don't see why you couldn't have left these things with the hundreds of other boxes we're taking with us." He complained.
"Oh, honey, these are my most precious clothing garments and make-up! I don't want it getting lost with all of our furniture!" She told him.
"I suppose not," He rolled his eyes, "You forget, dear, that we have insurance covering every item on this plane."
"Oh, hush, it's one piece of luggage. You're lucky they didn't let us bring my other four bags. I need to have something to keep me distracted while you're off at war for the next year and a half-" She insisted.
"Alright, Alright, enough of that." He said, checking the flight tickets in his pocket.
"Take a seat, Y/n. This trip to America is going to be a long one. You remember when we lived in America, don't you?" She smiled at her. Y/n shook her head. Up until now, she could only remember living in Germany. She even picked up a slight accent from her school mates and language classes.
"Well, honey. Last time we lived there, you were only two. I supposed it's alright if you can't remember clearly." She said, guiding her to the window seat. They all sat down and buckled their seatbelts as the flight assistant scanned the aisles. Soon the plane began to start down the runway. Y/n stared at the cement as it sped by. The plane began to rumble loudly.
"Don't worry too much, darling. You're mother gets nauseous next to the window seat. You'll have to be brave today, okay?" Drew smiled at her.
"Okay, Daddy." She nodded. Minutes passed and they were in the sky. Y/n watched as the green scenery below turned into a deep, dark blue. She grew tired as she watched the ocean waves, thousands of meters below them. Her eyes eventually sealed shut, and she fell asleep.
She woke up to the violent rumble of the plane, followed by screams from the passengers in second class. She looked at her father as he gripped her wrist.
"What's going on??" She yelled over the aggressive turbulence. He looked down at her and didn't know what to say.
"Drew- Drew what's happening?!" Diana questioned in terror as the lights flickered out. Y/n couldn't help wonder if it was her fault it happened.
"I-I don't know- The pilot just said about twenty minutes ago that there was an engine problem, he said he didn't think it was that serious-"
BOOM!!
The plane hopped as if it hit a huge boulder in the sky. Y/n held her breath as she felt her stomach began to rise to her chest like she was on a huge, deadly elevator. The plane was dropping out of the sky like a stone in water. People in the entire vehicle were screaming and crying for their lives. Children, women, and even men. They started to spin like a frisbee, and the bags in the luggage compartment went flying, hitting people in the heads. Diana screeched to the heavens that grew farther away. The plane began to dive like a rocket plummeting to Earth.
For a long time, Y/n's eyes were squeezed shut. Her hands were gripping so hard into her seatbelt that it was cutting her skin. For a split second, she opened them and looked ahead. She was so dizzy. Her world was a blur. She turned her gaze towards the window, and in flashes she saw the open ocean growing closer. She had never experienced fear like this in her entire life. She finally started to let out a pitiful cry as the giant metal machine crashed into the blue abyss. She passed out.
"Y/n... Y/n!!" She heard her Dad yell as he desperately shook her awake. She took in a sharp, deep breath as she stared up at him. She couldn't move. She looked around at the few people rushing around the aisles. The people up front, covered in blood and debris, looked like they were knocked out, but she had a feeling in her stomach that they were a little farther gone. Even she had a nose gushing with blood, and although her body was shutting down enough to prevent her from feeling the pain, her leg had been mangled from the force of the seat before her.
"Y/n, come on, sweetie- We have to get on the rafts!" He said, finally unstrapping her seatbelt and pulling her out of the chair. He carried her to the emergency exit, Diana close to follow, and they put on their life vests and slid down the shoot together. Y/n watched as they drifted away from the wreckage. The lifeboats scattered out into sea, and she was packed in with her parents and a handful of strangers like a can of sardines.
The plane burned, and after a few hours, they watched it sink down into the water.
Three days had passed. The pain of Y/n's leg grew worse by the day. She cried and groaned so much that it was driving people nuts. There was a nurse on the boat. She was able to snap it back into place, which was so agonizing, Y/n passed out again, unable to handle the anguish. She woke up to a splash of salt water in her face by some random old man, and her leg being splinted by the kind professional woman. Although they had no access to pain medication, it started to get better.
People were getting stir crazy, and rations were already low to begin with. Someone on the boat said they were going to die here, and that terrified the young girl. Y/n watched two men she didn't know get into a violent fight, which was bad enough, let alone having it happen on a crowded raft. It ended with someone getting thrown off. Luckily though, the people helped him back into the boat and ridiculed the man who did it.
At long, long last, a helicopter found them from the sky above. Just in time, because her father said it looked like a storm was on its way. The women and children were escorted up, and eventually another one was there to carry the rest of the boatload. They landed in America, as they had planned, but not without a traumatic scar that would haunt them for the rest of their lives.
~•Four Years Later•~
"Simon?" She turned around and smiled at her boyfriend. They had been together for five months now, and she was absolutely in love with him. She had been sitting at the meet up spot near the lake for almost two hours.
"Uh... Hey, Y/n." He said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. She giggled as she stared at his soft, curly hair, and perfect jawline. His lips were the softest, and she melted whenever they kissed. He was her first real boyfriend.
"Where were you? I was starting to think you weren't coming..." she giggled nervously.
"Uh... I stopped at Jason's house..." He said. She frowned. Whenever he went to Jason's he usually couldn't help himself but to play games with him for a very long time. She was surprised he didn't stay longer.
"Oh..." She said, "Well, now that you're here... what do you want to do?"
"Uh..." He sighed.
"We could go swimming. I brought my swimsuit! I know how much you like it when I wear-"
"Uh- I didn't bring my trunks." He interrupted her.
"O-oh... well, that's okay... we can do something else. We can go for a walk... Or we can try to skips stones again! I'm getting way better at-"
"Listen, Y/n. I need to talk to you about something." He said. She paused and stared at him.
"What is it?" She asked. He was quiet for a while, staring at the ground.
"I just... don't really think I like you anymore." He shrugged, forcing back a cocky smile. She blinked heavily, stumbling back a little as if being shot by an arrow.
"...What?" She questioned him, "W... why...?"
He shrugged again.
"I don't know. I just don't like you anymore." He said.
"Why?!" She suddenly yelled, making him flinch, "That doesn't make any sense! What did I do?!" The tears began to stream from her face immediately.
"Nothing...!" He said.
"What do you mean, nothing?! If I didn't do anything then why don't you love me anymore?!" She said in a panic.
"Look... Y/n... you said you were moving again in a few months, and... I just don't like long distance relationships." He explained.
"My Dad said he'd let me visit you! Every month he'd let me visit you! We have the money!" She cried in desperation.
"I know..." He sighed.
"I'm not even moving for a while! Why can't we stay together until I leave?!" She questioned, taking a few steps closer. He stepped away from her, making her heart shatter in her chest. He watched her sob into her hands for a few moments.
"I just think it would be better if we saw other people-"
"I let you touch my boobs!!" She screamed, making him pause again. Her face was bright red, and snot was running down her lips.
"I let you kiss me- and touch me- even when I told you I wasn't ready! I let you do it anyway because I thought you loved me! You made me touch you too! I let you finger me in your brother's bedroom!!" She wailed.
"Y/n I'm... sorry..." He mumbled, averting his eyes with his hands up defensively. Her back hit one of the trees and she slid to the ground with her hands muffling her cries. He watched her and awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
"Look... it's just... the other night when we were at Amy's house... when you got drunk and freaked out, and you started yelling at her, and the T.V. exploded... And you just ran away like that? It just... really creeped me out." He said. She stopped crying for a second and looked at him.
"You... you did kiss her... didn't you?" She hiccuped.
"What...?" His eyes widened.
"You kissed Amy!! That's why I was yelling at her that night! Denise told me you kissed her! Three times!!" She screamed, stumbling to her feet again, "Don't lie to me!! You can't fool me anymore- I'm not stupid!!"
He sighed, furrowing his eyes at her. After about thirty seconds, he looked away.
"Yeah. I did kiss her." He said in a low voice. Her stomach dropped, and the truth left her speechless.
"Actually. We fucked too. While you were in the other room. You wanna know why? You're too fucking scared! I don't know what your problem is! Why is it so hard for you to just have sex!?" He said. Her eyes squeezed shut and she sobbed rather silently. She wiped her arm across her soaked face and sat down again.
"It's not just... having sex to me..." She mumbled.
"Tsk... whatever... You're such a tease, Y/n. Try finding a guy who would actually stay with you for a year without wanting to fuck. Just see how long he ends up staying with you." He spat at her before walking away. She glared at him, boiling with anger, and drowning herself in her own rivers of grief. She couldn't even do anything to stop his torture. It wasn't about him staying with her anymore. It was about relinquishing this deep feeling of betrayal. She'd never trust anyone ever again. She felt so helpless and so fucking defeated.
She watched him strut away. He felt freedom, and she was forced to suffer in a raging resentment. He was golden with each of his perfect features. His perfect chest, perfect back, perfect body. Those perfect legs... she wished they would snap underneath him. She began to shake, wishing she could leave him stranded here in these woods, feeling just as helpless and tormented as she did. She wished he would just... fucking...
CRACK
"Aaagghh!!!" She stared in surprise as his legs collapsed underneath him. She scurried to her feet again as he started to groan. He looked down at his legs, which were bent and broken in disgusting, inhuman ways.
"AAgh- AAAGGHH!!!" He screamed as the pain began to sink in, "H-Help! HELP ME- Y/n-" He began with a cracking voice. They locked eyes, and his breath shivered as he stared at her. They both knew how willing she was now, to ever even dream about helping him at this point.
"Y/n... Y/n please- I-I don't- I don't know what happened! I don't know how this happened!!" He began to cry. Y/n dried her eyes and scowled at him. She began to walk around him towards the town, keeping a good distance from him without averting her gaze.
"Y/n- no!! Don't leave me here! PLEASE, Y/N, DON'T FUCKING LEAVE ME HERE!! PLEASE!! PEASE!!" He begged her as she began to run. She no longer felt upset. She felt vengeance. She knew it wasn't right, but she didn't care anymore. She could hear his screams as she fled farther out of the forest.
"Y-Y-Y-Y/N-N-N-N!!!!"
She didn't hear from him for weeks.
~•One Year Later•~
"Y/n, we're moving." That's how Diana decided to answer her daughter's question about having a sleepover for her fifteenth birthday party. She stared at her in shock.
"Seriously?! Again?! When??!" She yelled.
"Y/n, calm down! You know what happens when you get too emotional!" Her mother told her. Since they've been in America, they've moved to at least seven different states, including boring old Wyoming, where they were settling now.
"You're father's been planning it for weeks." She said, draining a pan of boiled kale into a strainer.
"Mom, why don't you guys tell me these things as soon as you plan it?!" She said, "Don't you realize I have a life?! You don't know how hard it is to make a new group of friends in a brand new school every six months!"
"I'm sorry, Y/n, but your father and I hardly talk about it ourselves. You know how busy he is, and he's never home, we don't have the time to talk about it! Besides, he usually takes care of everything himself anyway, the moving trucks, buying the house, the finances-" She explained.
"Moo-ooom!!" Y/n exclaimed, covering her ears.
"What is it?!" She said, finally turning to face her as she pulled the chicken out of the oven.
"I don't want to move again... I just stared getting comfortable here...!" She said, getting choked up as she finally softened her voice a little. Her mother sighed, placing the tray of chicken on the stove.
"I know, honey... But your father said- well... things are changing this time around." She explained, taking off her oven mitts.
"W... what do you mean?" She questioned.
"Well... I think he's wanting to retire from the military." She explained in a sigh. Y/n's eyes lit up.
"What..?!" She questioned.
"I don't know the details, I didn't want to talk about it. He's coming back to town in two days, but if you want to talk to him about it, you can try calling him tonight." She sighed.
That very night she rang her Dad about four times with her fingers crossed. He finally answered her by the fifth call.
"Hello?"
"Dad?!" She exclaimed.
"Hey, sweetheart." He laughed.
"Dad, are you really retiring from the military?!" She questioned.
"Well... yeah, sweetie, it's been something big on my mind lately. Me and your mother have been having problems... You've been going through so much these past few years. I think it would be good for us." He said.
"That's great!" She grinned, "So... we don't have to move again, right?" She asked him.
"Well... let me put it this way... we only have to move one more time." He said. Her heart dropped. She was silent for a long time.
"Dad... but..." She began with a scoff.
"I know, sweetie, I know. But I'm not very fond of the state we're in. We're only living in Wyoming because I'm on duty on the military base near Cheyenne. I wanted to move somewhere that hits a little closer to home for me. We're going to be in living a small town in Colorado." He explained.
"I think it's okay here!" She said.
"...Really...?" He asked after a long pause. She rolled her eyes.
"No..." she answered, making him chuckle.
"Don't worry, honey. This will be the last time, I promise. I'm investing in a few houses, they're very cheap down there, you know. We can renovate them and resell them. I'll be buying out a downtown brewery. Things are going to be different. It'll be good! And I promise you'll get settled in soon enough." He told her. She sighed and closed her eyes.
"Okay, Dad." She agreed.