Like a Moth to a Flame

Chapter 1

"It's down this hall, Daisy," my mother tells me. She's in front of me as we walk down the narrow hall in the dormitory. She's pulling behind her two of my huge suitcases. I was to keep up with her fast pace as I was carrying two huge boxes and pulling behind me another big suitcase. My mother only wanted to make one trip, so I wouldn't consume too much of her time.

My mother stopped abruptly in front of a door to the right of the hall. I almost tripped over her foot, but I caught myself just before I fell on her. "Watch where you're going, Daisy," she snapped at me. "You're so damn clumsy," she said under her breath, but loud enough so I could hear her. "Sorry Ma'am," I apologized to her. She put her hand out so I could hand her the key to the room.

I put all the weight of the boxes in my left hand and arm and dug into my back pocket to get the keys. She huffed impatiently. "Could you be any slower, Daisy?" I finally retrieved the keys and put them in her hands. She snatched them up and put the key in the door, unlocking it. She pushed open the door and walked into my living space for the next 6 years. The dorm opened with a family room area and branched off to a hall on both sides. The hallways looked the same, with two doors in each. A bathroom and room so my roommate and I wouldn't have to share spaces.

To our left was a medium-sized kitchen, complete with a dishwasher, cabinets and a full sink. On the right was a door leading to the laundry room. My mother dumped my suitcases in the family room area and turned to me. "I have to leave now," she told me. "Will you be able to help me unpack?" I asked her, watching my tone. "Did you not hear me? I have to go. You're lucky I carried your stuff here," she told me, angrily. I took a small step back, away from her.

"I'll visit soon if I feel like it," she told me. She walked out, slamming the door behind her. My eyes teared up. Not even a goodbye hug. I don't know why I even expect one. When I was ten years old, my dad passed away in a car crash. He was my best friend. I loved him so much that when he left me, he also left a big aching hole in my heart. My mom got so angry and upset that she took her anger out on me. She met my stepdad a few months after his death.

They got married after eight months of dating. My stepdad, Peter, is rich, like millions rich, so when they married, we automatically moved from our tiny two-story house to his huge mansion. He gave me an unlimited credit card and he and my mom called it quits on parenting. All my friends thought it was so cool having a rich stepdad and an unlimited credit card, but only if they knew what happened behind the scenes.

My mom didn't want in her way anymore, so she sent me to a boarding school for high school to college. So here I am. A 17-year-old attending boarding school. I set the boxes in my hand down and the suitcase down next to the other luggage. I stand up straight and stretch. I take off my backpack and grab my speaker and phone. I set my speaker on the counter and turned on my music playlist and hit shuffle, turning it to full volume.

The first song that plays is As it Was. I dance and get in my happy mood. I open one box and start unpacking everything from the box, laying everything on the ground. A few hours later, the sun had already gone down, and I'm finished unpacking and decorating my room and hallway. I chose the left hallway since it was closer to the kitchen. My music is still at full blast in the kitchen, now playing Dirty Talk by Doja Cat.

I'm excited to meet my roommate. I wonder what she is like. Nice or mean.? Smart or dumb? Do I look presentable enough? I look down at my outfit. I'm wearing white fuzzy socks, black sweatpants, and a light blue Nike sweatshirt. I decided it doesn't matter since we'll be living together and she'll me like this all the time. Maybe she has already moved in. Curiosity gets the best of me, and I go down the right hallway and open the first door I get to. It's the bathroom.

That's so lame. There's only a toothbrush and toothpaste on the counter. The rest of her hygiene products must be underneath the sink in the cabinet. I look and sure enough; it is. I almost closed the door back when something caught my eye. The body soap bottle said men's body wash instead of women's body wash. I brushed it off. Maybe my roommate likes the smell of the soap.

I got up and closed the cabinet and the door back to the bathroom. I walk to the second door and open it. The bed is against the wall and they decorated the whole room in all black except for the dark oak floor to ceiling bookcase filled with books. I go over to the shelf and look at all the books. Right in the middle of the shelf are at least 30 books by the same author.

They all look like they have at least 500 pages in them. They also have dozens of different colored sticky notes popping out of them. I took one book off the shelf. The title of the book is Better Without. I open the page where one of the sticky notes is sticking out. Before I can even read the annotation, a loud voice booms from behind me. "What the hell are you doing in my room?"