Dear Ms. Know-it-all

1

Everything has beauty but not everybody sees it.

If there was a list of the worst days of her life, Amethyst was sure this would be among the top 20, and it was only nine in the morning.

The day had started normally, not that normal was good. She'd been woken before her 6 o'clock alarm by her parents. They were fighting again. The only variation in their morning screaming matches seemed to be the topic. This time it was her mothers, alleged, affair with the next door neighbor. For a while she just lay there and stared at the ceiling. It wasn't their worst fight this week, but it was definitely loud enough for the aforementioned neighbor to hear.

Eventually they got to the stage of their fight where the real marital problems began to appear.

"And why shouldn't I have some fun Richard? It's not like your ever here for me, that is if you could satisfy me in the first place!"

Amethyst couldn't hear her fathers reply over the sound of her own disgusted groan. Why do they feel the need to broadcast their problems to the entire neighborhood? Why can't they see a counselor or just get a divorce? she thought. It wasn't the worst idea, she had even broached the subject once. After that painful experience she never mentioned it again.

Just more stories to share in therapy one day I guess. I can just imagine the busy body old ladies 'discreetly ' gossiping at the town functions.

Eventually she gave up on waiting for them to stop and she crawled out of bed. Her clock read 5:56 AM. Despite the frequency of these fights, she always wondered how they had the energy to row at such an early hour. Though she supposed her mother wasn't wrong. Her father was rarely at home, and when he was he always seemed to be locked away in his study. Obviously, that left few opportunities for their quiet, civilized conversations. *SNORT*

"At least its gives me a good excuse to avoid them this morning," her whispered relief was drowned out by their renewed shouting.

The rest of her morning routine went slowly. Brushing her hair and teeth before grabbing something to wear. Amethyst had no real intrest in being fashionable, but always tried to look nice. So today, like most days, she went with non-ripped jeans, a simple tee-shirt with a pun on it, black sneakers, an incredibly baggy hoodie, and her locket. Her last efforts went to covering her freckles, the mass of tiny, tan dots had always been a major focal point of her mother's ire if they were left uncovered. Amethyst knew leaving her room would be unadvisable unless the "blobs or imperfection" weren't hidden from the world's judgment. And yet, she felt a small part of her heart cry out as she hid this unique part of herself, a pang of loss answered by a much stronger urge to hide herself. Ultimately, she was unremarkable and that's how she liked it, no thrills or frills but she always had a smile. Almost always.

If anybody cared enough to pay attention, maybe they would notice her smile fall. Maybe they would see the sadness shine in her silvery eyes as she peered at her reflection. The way she seemed to droop, allowing her long auburn hair to fall in front of her face. Her parents' screaming was like white noise now. The type that's always there, she could ignore it the same way she ignored the sound of her heart beat, until everything got to quiet.

It was in these moments, that she was reminded of why she smile. She was desperately trying to avoid ending up like that, and if she lost hope for even a moment, she might miss her chance to escape the hell that she called home.

{Time Skip}

After unfortunately being accosted by her mother, who had proceeded to loudly voice her displeasure in today's outfit, Amethyst only just managed to catch the bus. She flashed a 1000-Watt smile at the driver, Jerry, who scowled deeply in return. She was still hoping he would warm up to her, but no cracks had appeared in all the time she had known him.