The Ballerina

Chapter 2

~Present Day~

"Dylan is that you," Mrs. Parker called from the kitchen.
"Yeah," I said, closing the door behind me.
"So how was school," she asked, leaning against the door frame with flour all over her hands.
I shrug. "Good, I guess."
"You didn't get into any fights now did you," she asked.
"No, ma'am," I say, ignoring the fact that she was staring at me like some experiment.
Mrs. Parker sighed. "We adopted you three years ago, when will start calling me anything different than ma'am or Mrs. Parker?"
I shrugged. I didn't want to talk to her, I just wanted to up to my room and avoid them like I always do.
She huffed. "I can only hope," she muttered under her breath.
I pretended not to hear her. "I'm going up to my room," I say and head up the stairs.
I tossed my book bag on the floor before locking my door. My room was a dark gray, there was a hole where I punched the wall. The room was big, at first I didn't like it but I've gotten used to it. In the corner, my boxing bag hangs swaying a little back and forth. I looked down at my knuckles, which were scabbed and scarred from punching that bag so many times a day. I had a reason for doing so, not that anyone will ever know except for the Parkers. I tensed, the memory always filled me with rage and sadness.
I punched the bag several times with my bare hands, my knuckles a bit bloody, but I didn't care.
I unzip my book bag, getting out the six pack Charlie snuck out of Speedway. I popped open a bottle and sat on my bed, it was going to be a long night anyway.
I was debating on breaking the bottle once I was done with it, so then I could slice my skin. I decided against it, not after getting caught the last time. The last time Mr. Parker found me on the bathroom floor with a razor in my hand, my forearm gushing blood. They took me to go get stitches at the emergency room. I was forced to go to a psychiatrist every day for a whole two months. During those two months the Parkers wouldn't let me out of their sight. I was expected to come home straight after school and I wasn't allowed to leave the living room until I wanted to go to bed and my bedroom door had to be open, it was so annoying. By now I was on my third bottle of beer and already getting buzzed. I thought about the bottle of pills I always secretly keep in my bag just in case I wanted to end it.
My mind raced back to that night, that awful accident. It was a dreary night. The skies a dark gray, lightning flashed through the sky. Rain poured down hard, the windshield wipers going as fast as they could. I couldn't remember much of that night, it was a blurred image in my mind. All I remember was the screams of the two most important people in my life. I remember the screeching of the tires against the pavement. I remember hitting my head and everything going black. I remember waking up with blood near my hairline. I remember hearing the sirens in the background. Most of all, I remembered that I was behind the wheel.
I woke up drenched in sweat, my hands were balled into fist, cluching the sheet tightly to the point my knuckles were white. My heart raced in my chest and I felt an odd feeling of claustrophobia, even though there was no one else in the room. The walls felt like they were caving in like they would close in and collapse. I walked out of my room, leaving the door wide open. I ran down the stairs to get a glass of water. When I went back upstairs I glanced at my clock, it was four in the morning. I still had two hours until I had to get up for school.
I sighed and laid back down in hopes I would soon fall asleep. I tossed and turned. Though sleep never came. My alarm went off and I still lay in the bed wide eyed.
I kicked off the covers and went into the bathroom to brush my teeth. I tugged on a black tee shirt and dark jeans. I didn't bother doing anything with my hair, I didn't feel like doing much today and was debating on whether just skip school today amd just hang out at the skate park. I decided against it, deciding it would be best to spare Mrs. Parker another panic attack. I took out the beers and hid them in the closet, knowing that they would never check in there. I grabbed my book bag and slung it over my shoulder before slipping on a pair of gray sneakers.
I ran down the stairs and grabbed my skate board, which was right beside the door, almost making it out without a single word being spoken to me.
"Do you need a ride, Dylan," Mr. Parker offered. "Or you can always use Ava's car and drive to school you know."
"Nope, I'm good," I hesitated before adding, "thanks for the offer though."
"Anytime son."
A lump formed in my throat. Unsure of what to say, I ignored him and left the house.
I got on my skate board. The breeze making the morning a bit chillier than it usually is though I didn't care. The wind blew my hair out of my face and I could feel it flapping in the air. I was at the school in less than five minutes and met up with Vincent.
"Hey bro," Vincent said.
I nodded in response.
"Haven't seen you around in a while. Where have you been?"
"I've decided to give the Parkers a break. But let me go put this away, I'll meet up with you after," I said.
"I can come the you, I don't got amything else to do," he responsed.
"Alright."
We walked to my locker and I stuck my skate board inside, keeping my book bag with me. I walked with Vincent through the hallway. "So that party on Sat-" I started, lookimg directly at Vincent.
I ended up ramming into some girl and knocking her over and making her drop all of her belongings. "I am so sorry-" I began.
The girl shook her head. "No, no, it's fine. It's my fault, I wasn't paying attention," she said, meeting my eyes.
Her eyes were like caramel with brown flecks in them, every feature of her body complimenting another. She was gorgeous. I stared at her amazed by her. I shook my head as soon as I realized it, knowing she must know think I'm some kind of creep. I offered her a hand and helped her pick up all of her books.
"Thanks," she said, smiling kindly before walking away.
I watched as she walked away, amazed by her beauty, but it wasn't just that, it was something else that I found intriguing about her, I just couldn't put my finger on it. She was different from all of the rest of the girls. She hardly wore any makeup and she didn't seem frightened and scared or throw herself at me like most girls did, in fact she didn't seem to care about me at all. She was like a puzzle that I could put together piece by piece and something inside of me wanted to complete her puzzle.