Strong

Chapter Five

Darkness.

Suddenly, Maria's phone rings again.

She groans and looks over at the clock. 3:24 AM, shows in bright numbers.

Maria reluctantly grabs her phone and looks at the caller ID.

Unknown.

Confused, Maria answers the call.

At first there is silence, but then, she heard a small voice.

It says, "Mom?"

Maria's eyes widen.

There is silence and then a loud, "NO!"

This was her voice.

On the other end she could hear, "MOM!!!"

"Who is this?!" Maria snaps into her phone.

"PLEASE NO!"

"WHO IS THIS?!?" Maria screams.

Silence.

"Look...up," her voice in the phone whispers.

Maria, shaking, looks up.

Hanging from her fan, is her mother's body.

Maria drops her phone and screams.

She sits up in bed and gasps for breath. It was just a nightmare.

**************************************

It's noon and Maria hasn't moved from her bed. She only slept three hours last night. She had multiple nightmares about her mother, and she remembers every single one of them.

Maria heard the front door open and close. She knows that her dad just left to get drunk. She wishes she could stop him from falling back into old habits.

When her parents met, her father was a drunk, but her mother got him out of it. But now that she isn't here anymore, no one can stop him.

"Except for maybe me," Maria thinks, "but what am I supposed to do?"

Suddenly, Maria hears a ding from her phone. Reluctantly, she sits up in bed and grabs her phone. There is a picture message from Lexi.

"Of course Lexi would be the one to text me during school," Maria thinks.

She wonders if she actually feels like reading it. Before she can change her mind, Maria unlocks her phone and taps on the picture Lexi sent.

It's a picture of a tall, tan, blonde boy with blue eyes. He is wearing a black leather jacket with a white T-shirt and jeans.

There is a text message that Lexi sent with the picture.

It says, "This is the new transfer student, just in case you were...wondering. I know you probably don't care, but the girls thought it might help. I didn't think it would, but it's worth a shot."

Maria frowns, locks her phone, and sets it back down on her small side table by her bed.

Her stomach growls, but she ignores it. Maria doesn't want to eat. Not now, not last night, and most likely, not later.

***************************************

It's been a while now, and Maria's father still isn't home, and she still hasn't eaten or moved from her bed.

School is out for everyone else who went.

Maria isn't necessarily bored, she has something to do, she can cry. But, she feels like she needs to distract herself, so she does her homework from the previous night.

Thirty minutes later, she is done. Maria doesn't want to think about anything she just wants to listen to music, so that's what she does.

She puts her earbuds in and turns her playlist on.

House of the Rising Sun by The Animals is the first song to play. Maria shuts her eyes and let's her mind go blank.