Hi guys! I am finally back. It has been a really long time since I have written anything, but I am ready to get back into my passion. I have also decided to rewrite this book. I get messages daily from you guys asking me to make a new chapter, but I feel like the writing style from back when I first wrote it just isn't me anymore. I wanted to start fresh with better and longer chapters for you guys with an even better story line. Thank you all for the people who have kept this book in their libraries for years and have not given up on me. I hope you like it <3
~*~
I wake up on the soft leather couch of my living room with a horrible headache. The couch leather crunches below me as I stretch my arms out, trying to wake up. I can feel every pound my head makes as I try to stand and get off the sinking couch. "Woah." I breathe out to myself. I try to steady myself against the cold wall. My vision goes blurry for a second, but it eventually fixes itself on the ugliest face I have ever seen. Frank. Or should I say "Father." I groan.
His face morphs into a scowl. "You look disgusting." He spits out.
I roll my eyes and cross my arms over my chest, ignoring the pounding of my head. "Are you looking into a mirror or something, Frank?" I retort.
He completely ignores my comment and looks around at the trash around us. "You did not ask me if you could have a party."
I walk past him and start heading to the kitchen. The hardwood floor feels ice cold against my feet. "It was my birthday last night." It's not like he remembered anyways.
He ignores me again and kicks a beer can with his foot. "This shit better be cleaned up before I get back." He says as he slams the front door behind him.
I immediately jump from the loud smack of the door. "Fuck." I grunt, clutching my head. I open the fridge and embrace the cold air that radiates out of it. I grab a cold water and some medicine from the cabinet. I definitely over did myself last night. When I was little, I remember being so excited for my eighteenth birthday. I wanted to be an adult so bad.
I would give anything to go back.
I sit down at the kitchen table and try to chug my water, but I get interrupted by my phone dinging in my back pocket. I open my phone and squint at the bright screen.
I am flooded with happy birthday messages and calls from my friends. I scroll through all the messages hoping to find one from the only person I really wanted one from. My mom.
I click my phone off and slide it across the table in disappointment. I lean back in my chair and sigh. She forgot again. Her and Frank are really amazing parents as you can tell.
Frank has always been a shitty father, but my mom was always the one who was there for me during my childhood. I never really understood why she stayed with him when I was younger. She was so pretty and sweet. She did not seem like the type to date a scumbag who treats her kid like shit. But then one day, I could tell she had enough. Her and Frank got in one of their nightly fights that included screaming and things being thrown across the room. I remember listening to it from my bright pink ballerina themed bedroom.
The fight this night seemed different. The tone in my mothers voice was off. She finally snapped.
She left that night.
She came back a couple weeks later with divorce papers and a truck to put her stuff in. I tried to go with her, but she kept saying how she would need to get a better job first so she could take care of us both. Thankfully, she did end up getting a better job, but that job ended up being across the country. And she didn't take me with her.
But enough with the sob story. I am officially eighteen today. I am considered an adult. And I am ready to get out of this hell hole.
I slowly have been saving money from my job as a waitress and finally have made enough to where I can get my own studio apartment. I have a friend who lives in California and said I could stay with her until I get the apartment and get settled with another job. I graduated from High School last week, so I am ready for a new chapter. One that does not include Frank.
The party I had last night was a birthday party of course, but it was also a goodbye party to all of my amazing friends I have made in school. I will miss them all, but they knew how bad my home life is here and they knew I had to get far away. I can not have Frank finding me.
I chug the rest of my water to wash down the pain killers and head to my room. I packed one huge backpack yesterday of everything I would need on the road. Thankfully, I don't live too far from my friend, so the trip won't be too long. It sucks that I have to leave so many of my things that have sentimental value, but I don't have room in my bag for them. I'll be taking a buses and don't feel like carrying everything around.
I throw the rest of the stuff I need in my bag and change into comfier clothes. It's July right now, so I put on a pair of shorts and a comfy t-shirt. I just know the bus Is going to be so sweaty.
I shove my bus ticket in my pocket and brush my hair and teeth. I look at myself in the mirror and you can just tell how painfully hungover I am. I have purple bags forming under my green eyes, and my skin looks so pale I could probably be apart of the Cullen family. I shove my toothbrush in my bag and take one more look around at my room. I thought I would be more sad, but this room is just full of bad memories and regrets.
I sigh and decide to yank one of the pictures down from the wall of my best friends and I on our graduation day. Our smiling faces shine bright from the picture and I could tell how happy they were in that moment. I softly smile and think about all the memories we had together our senior year. I fold the picture with care and put it in the pocket of my bag.
I knew Frank would be gone at one of his meetings today, so this is the perfect time to leave. I thought about sneaking out overnight, but he has too many security cameras with motion lights that I just could not avoid.
I step over the beer canes and red solo cups from the night before and decide to grab a piece of paper and a pen. I should probably write a goodbye note to Frank.
I quickly scribble the words "Fuck you. I'm leaving. Don't look for me." on the paper and a hand giving the middle finger next to it. As you can tell I am a very sentimental person.
I head over to the front door and grasp the cold metal of the door handle. I clench my hand around it tighter as I give one more scan of the place I called home for so many years. "I hope I don't have to see this place ever again."
I slam the door behind me.
~*~
The bus hitting a pot hole wakes me up from my nap. I put my dirty blonde hair behind my ears and sit up in my seat. I look around and it is still daylight out, but it has to be around six.
My stomach starts to rumble with hunger and I know I am definitely getting something to eat at our next stop.
I groan and throw my head back on the seat with boredom. I had to toss my phone so Frank couldn't track me, so now I have nothing fun to do on the trip. I got one of those little flip phones at the store to keep in contact with my friend In Cali, but I can't even play Tetris on it.
I know that Frank has definitely read my note by now. I wonder how mad he is. He's probably even more mad that I didn't clean up the mess from the night before. That's what he gets for forgetting my birthday for the fifth year in a row.
I look around and make eye contact with a baby from a couple seats across from me. I smile and start making funny faces at it to make it laugh. This goes on for about 5 minutes until his mom wakes up and gives me a weird look.
I quickly pretend like I wasn't doing anything and look out the window secretly smiling to myself.
Another hour probably passes and I spend the time reading a book I picked up at the store where I got my flip phone. It's one of those cheesy cliche romance books, but I can't help but love them.
The screeching sound of the brakes on the bus snaps me out of the love scene I was reading. I immediately jump out of my seat to get off the bus. I definitely need to stretch and get something in my tummy. My jointly are low- key screaming at me as I rush to the front of the bus, but I don't care. I'm starving.
I jump off the bus step and walk around to find a close restaurant I can eat at. I find an 1950's themed diner and decide to get a booth there.
The air conditioning feels so good against my clammy skin the moment I step inside. The sound of people talking and food cooking buzzes in the air and makes me think about all the past two years I spent as a waitress back at home.
"Hello honey!"
I snap my head from my book to my waitress. She is an older lady, probably in her late forty's with curly hair tied up in a clip. Her sweet smile makes me feel relaxed from the hot day. "What can I get you today?" She asks while fixing her pink poodle 1950's skirt.
"I'll just have a water and the pancakes." I smile at her. I know it is dinner time, but it is never too late in the day for pancakes.
She quickly writes it down and prances away to her next table. I go back to reading my book as I wait for my food that my stomach keeps grumbling for.
I starts to get hard for me to concentrate on the pages when the food from the kitchen drafts over to my nose. I am so hungry I could eat a horse. But, for some reason, something else draws me away from my book, and it is not food this time. It is the feeling of being watched. My hand stands straight up on my neck and I quickly straighten my back.
What if it is Frank? Has he found me? There Is no way he made it here this fast.
I take a big gulp that it hurts my throat and shakily close my book. I am just being paranoid.
I nervously put my hair behind my ear and take a quick scan of the restaurant. No Frank. I sigh in relief and relax my shoulders. I knew I was just being paranoid.
But then who is watching me?
I furrow my eyebrows and get uncomfortable with the feeling of someones eyes on me. I have never felt this way before. It's like someone is staring directly into my soul. Like I am completely vulnerable to them.
I turn completely in my seat and look at everyone around me. It is full of old people, couples, and families in deep conversation or them face deep in their phones. I make a couple awkward eye contact moments with some people when they catch me creepily staring at them. I turn around in my seat quickly when I retrieve a scowl from an old man over his coffee. Oops.
No one is looking at me in the restaurant. By why do I feel like someone is?
"It must be anxiety and the heat getting to my head." I whisper to myself and pull out my book again.
I go to turn the page but stop my hand in its tracks. The window. I turn my head to the side and look out the giant diner window right next to me. How the heck did I miss the window?
I scan the crowd of people in the soft golden glow of the sun setting. They're walking so fast that it seems like they are moving in fast blurs.
But then I see them.
Icy blue eyes.
My breath stops and my palms start to sweat. Across the street, standing in front of a little shop, is a man. The most handsome man I have ever seen in my life. Everyone's conversation that was a buzz in the little diner becomes soft whispers to me as all I can concentrate on is this mans' eyes. He is staring into me so hard that it feels like he knows all about me. All my secrets, my passions, my life, my trauma, and my soul.
He is tall. It seems like he is standing at 6'5. He has short curly dark brown hair that perfectly fits his sculptured face. His shirt is tight against his taunt wide chest, and his arms are covered in veins from how tight he is clutching his fists. Like he is restraining himself from something.
"Pancakes are here, dear." A soft sweet voice snaps me out of my trance. I quickly turn my head to her.
She immediately sees my expression. "Is something wrong?" her tone sounds worried as she sets the plate of pancakes in front of me.
I shake my head softly and force a smile. "Nope! Everything is good. The food smells amazing."
"Okay good! Let me know if I can get you anything else." She says as she walks away.
I quickly turn my head back to look at the blue eyes, but this time I notice bright green ones staring at me as well.
It is the exact same man, but with different colored eyes and blonde hair.
"Twins."