The Teacher's Infatuation

48 - Childhood

7 year old Rebecca watched as the other kids at the birthday party ran around and played. She had no desire to participate, she didn't even want to come, but her mom made her.

Dad wouldn't have made me, She said to herself. God how she missed her dad. He left them just a year ago after arguing a lot with mom.

As she sat there sulking and eating some cake, her mother came up to her, wine glass in hand clearly already inebriated. Rebecca was used to this though, her mom always drinking. To her it was normal. Hearing her scream and curse was normal. Hiding in her room while her mother smashed things around downstairs was normal.

"Why are you sitting here alone? Go play with the other kids what's wrong with you?"

"I'm eating."

"You're always fucking eating," her mom rolled her eyes as she stumbled away.

****

By middle school, Rebecca was completely withdrawn. Barely wanting to associate with classmates, having outbursts towards her family and peers and finding any way possible to get her hands on alcohol. It made her feel free, less restricted by her social anxiety and less angry at the world. It made her understand why her mother still drank so much.

What she didn't understand was why her mother was so cold, treating her as a roommate rather than a daughter. Sometimes it made her wish her dad had stuck around instead of leaving them when he found out her mom had cheated. She didn't even find out until later. As far as she could remember, he was a chill guy. He let her do anything she wanted which probably wasn't responsible. One could even classify what she went through as some type of neglect.

****

One day while drinking in the park alone, a dog approached her in her little tunnel. It was an adorably, friendly Jack Russell terrier. Of course she reached out to pet it and smiled for the first time in a long time as it licked her face. She looked around to see who it belonged to but saw no one in sight.

"I see you've found Ricky."

Rebecca's head snapped around as she was met with beautiful brown eyes. The woman was way taller than her so she had to look up to meet her eyes. "Hi, I'm Karina. What's your name?" Rebecca didn't answer, she just stared.

"I asked you a question," Karina said as she raised an eyebrow.

"Re-Rebecca," she stuttered.

"Well nice to meet you Rebecca. Is Ricky here bothering you," Karina smirked getting down on her knees to pet the dog.

"No, he's really nice actually."

"I'm glad to hear that, means I raised him right."

"I've never seen you in this park before, did you just move here?" Rebecca voiced before she could stop herself.

"I did."

"Oh"

"Yeah I wanted a fresh start. My old town was boring and plain, it was time for a change."

"Cool."

"You're not very vocal are you?"

"Take a guess."

Karina laughed at the young girl's sarcasm.
"How old are you Rebecca?"

Rebecca squinted her eyes at her. "None of your business. Get away before I yell stranger danger."

"Okay relax I'm not here to kidnap you, just curious as to why someone so young seems to have such an old soul."

"You've deduced that just from one conversation?"