Drowning Desires

one

Maura

Christmas Break

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

"Maura, hurry up we have to go." Lucy screamed at me.

"Nate, please, wake up." A man said desperately from the ground.

I could barely see in front of me, the world was tilting to the side. Too much, too much.

I felt a rough hand grab my arm.

"You are not fucking leaving." The man's voice snarled in my ear.

I had to leave, I needed to leave. I ran after Lucy who was already making her way up the dark alley.

"Fuck you, I'm going to fucking kill you." The man shouted after me.

I ignored him.

——————————

I sat in my car outside of my new school like some pathetic loser. I didn't want to go inside, what if someone recognised me from the newspaper.

I groaned, throwing my head back against the headrest behind me.

I originally lived in New York City a few hours away. I was a party girl, snorting and smoking everything that fell into my hands, hardly caring about an education and pushing away the few people that cared about me.

But two weeks ago, during Christmas break. Oh god; thinking about that night till made my stomach nauseous.

There was a fatal accident that night involving my only friend, Lucy and two guys we met the same night. The story appeared in the newspapers all around the city, I couldn't even go outside without people staring at me as if I was a criminal, and perhaps I was.

My mum held enough power that she was able to remove the story from the papers the next day, yet enough copies had circulated that it may have reached further out of the city.

We knew that I wouldn't be able to complete my senior year in peace if I went back to my old school. So, my mum dropped me off in her hometown, Westwood, Pennsylvania, with a small house and money. Her job in the city was far too important for her to stay here with me.

I was living alone at eighteen, it had it's advantages and I wouldn't mind it except that my mum prefers to cut loose her problems rather than dealing with them.

My mum wanted me to be on my best behaviour, meaning I had to stop making snide remarks everywhere I went and had to at least pretend to like people. Fuck, that would be hard.

I eventually forced myself out of the car and walked behind a group of people through the car park and into the main halls of the school building.

I scanned the halls, worried someone might recognise me, the newspaper may have reached this small town.

When I was certain no one was giving me a strange look I started heading towards the principal's office when I realised I had no idea where I was going.