Death

Chapter 2

      The day started just like any other. She woke up, threw on some jeans and her favorite hoodie and went to the kitchen to eat breakfast. Her mom was sitting at their kitchen table in a robe drinking coffee and reading the newspaper.
Hmm.. that's funny. Mom is never here when I wake up.
  "Mom! What are you doing here?" Clara asked.
"Huh?", her mom replied.
Clara was used to these types of responses from her mom. Getting her to talk is like pulling teeth, thought Clara.
"You were supposed to leave for work an hour ago. Why are you still here?" Clara asked, clearly confused.
"Oh, I'm not working today." her mom replied. Her head fell to the ground and she drank her coffee quietly, Clara noticed the weird way her mom was acting.
Shit mom, not again.
"Mom... did— did you get... fired?"
"No honey", she replied, "just taking a day off... You better hurry and get to school before you're late."
      Clara knew her mom was lying but she didn't have time to stay and try to get the truth out of her mom, she had to leave for school. Clara grabbed a granola bar from their bare cupboard, better stop at the store later, she thought, and started off for school.
                             • • •
       It was a pretty long walk, about three miles, but she had to walk it everyday for a long time now and her legs had gotten used to it. She passed all the familiar houses of her neighborhood. She let her body guide her while she got lost in her thoughts, she didn't need to think about where she was going, she knew the route by heart. She loved these walks because she could spend time thinking, she couldn't do that anywhere else.
Clara didn't know her old neighborhood very well because she was barely ever outside. She would sit inside and watch TV or a movie with Alissa, swim in their pool, which was outside but it was surrounded by a privacy fence so she never saw much of her neighbors. Or she would go in the basement and get in the hottub. Her old house was wonderful. Everything she needed or would ever need was there, it was nothing like her house now.

When Clara got to Pinewood Street she looked at the time on the street corner clock. It was 7:15 a.m. There was no way she would make it to school if she took the route her mother told her to take. Clara smiled to herself as she turned away from the road and walked across the grass disappearing into the soft green leaves. She would had to take the shortcut, through the woods.

She found the trail hidden behind the bushes and she started running. She loved taking the trial. It made her feel alive, finally she didn't have to listen to anyone, no one could yell at her because no one could see her. She was alone in the woods, even more alone than her normal route. She didn't have to worry about anyone seeing her or giving her dirty looks. As much as I hate school, thought Clara, I do enjoy the walk there and back everyday.

She ran out of the woods and was in the backyard of the school. Panting, she tried the door, it was locked, so she went over to the little maple tree by the nearest window and got the key from its usual spot, and unlocked the door. The janitor knew she liked to go in through the back and he 'hid' the key in that tree one day, knowing Clara would see him do it. It was the least he could do for her.
Clara hurried to her locker. She always felt safer when she went in the back door, there were never any people back there. Nobody used the backdoor, except for her and the janitors. She ran to her locker and that's when things took a wrong turn.
Alissa and her friends were waiting for her and were just about to leave and go to class when they saw her across the hall.

"Hey loser!," said Heather.

Clara turned to go the other way but Kaitlyn stopped her.

"Where do you think your going?" Kaitlyn spat.

"I'm trying to get to my locker. If you would move, please." Clara whispered.

She walked over to Alissa to give her her lunch money, but instead she gave her a knuckle sandwich which knocked Alissa to the ground.

"I'M TIRED OF THIS!" Clara yelled, "YOU NEED TO LEAVE ME ALONE."

Heather, Kaitlyn, and Lauren all ran over to see if Alissa was okay.

"Go away! You're so stupid. YOU RUINED HER MAKE UP!" yelled Lauren.

Clara turned and bolted fast as her legs could carry her all the way to her first period class. The bell would ring any second now and she was going to be late again. She was almost always late and her teacher said if it continues she's going to have to start giving her detention.
She got in the room just seconds before the bell rang and sat down in the very back. She not only hated the teacher and wanted to be as far away from her as possible, all of the kids hated Clara and she wanted to be far away from the kids as well. She took out her homework and hastily tried to finish it before the teacher collected it. She only finished eight of them in class yesterday and had forgotten all about it. When the teacher got to her desk she had completed ten out of eighteen questions. At least its not an zero, she thought. The teacher gave her a disapproving glance and picked up the paper.