Captivated Hearts

Chapter 1

Before the roosters were even able to crow Arya was up and out of bed. Typical maybe for the average 17-year-old who cared way too much about her image, especially the last few weeks of her senior year.

She didn't get that trait from her mom that's for sure. All her mom could possibly care about more than anything was getting drunk every night with her stepdad, Tom.

Arya didn't ever really like Tom. Well, her mom cheating on her dad with what people would call a low life is a pretty good reason. She always tried her hardest to break her mother and Tom up. Not because she wanted her parents to get back together but because she wanted her mom back. Who she was with Tom was way different then she was when she was still married to her father.

Arya and her mom used to do everything together. Her whole life she remembered them being inseparable. They were each other's best friend. They would always go shopping together, see movies, buy new makeup, and even go on vacations just the two of them. But that all changed fast when her dad caught her sneaking around with some guy who worked at a bar. Which turned out to be Tom. Her dad was furious yet, loved her mom so much they tried their hardiest to make it work.

First, they would argue a lot. There were nights Arya laid in bed and would listen to voices raising over a divorce. Not too long after that, they went to therapy. Arya may have only been six at the time but, she was so used to their constant arguing and tension at dinner that she prepared herself for the divorce. And when it finally came, she didn't shed as many tears as her father did.

Her father was so hurt that after the divorce was finalized, he packed his bags and headed to the Outer Banks. When her father said his goodbyes to her, she wished she was able to go with him but, she knew her mother wouldn't allow it no matter what she said to hold something against her dad as if it was his fault.

Her mom always knew that Arya favored her dad more. When her mom was at work all day, her and her dad spent every day waking up to eat chocolate chip waffles with strawberries and bacon, and after that they'd sit around watching movies like Titanic and Sleeping Beauty. After that, they'd get dressed and go out to lunch at Angie's cafe before stopping at different stores for her to buy new clothes as if she didn't have a closet full. They'd try on funny glasses and go for ice cream after before they went back home to do a new craft activity. Her favorite activity that they did together was making a bird house for the neighbors. 

But once her dad moved, everything had changed, and they barely talked anymore. During the summer, Arya would go visit her dad and although he worked a lot, she spent a lot of time going around town shopping and making new friends. She enjoyed being down at the beach and whenever she had to leave, she was heartbroken knowing the reality she had to go back to. Arya missed her dad but, she constantly wondered if he missed her. He never seemed to reach out, just send cards occasionally and gifts for birthdays and holidays. Seeing her dad so little, made her hate Tom even more.

Tom moved in almost instantly after her dad left. Her mom and Tom spent every night going out to the bar and each morning they'd wake up either vomiting or to hungover to care for her.

Tom was your average alcoholic who would spend each night putting his hands on her mother and there was almost always nothing she could do. The last time she got involved, Tom threw Arya to the floor and her mother had blamed Arya because there was no reason for her to get involved in adult problems. So, Arya had to teach taught herself everything she knew now because her mom wouldn't. She taught herself to make her own breakfast and lunch and how to use manners. She taught herself things that her mother or even her father should have taught her. But now that Tom was living with them, she knew nothing would be the same.

Her and Tom always butted heads. He constantly tried acting like he was her father, and she hated that. Tom was always and would always be nobody to her. But Arya had come to except that things wouldn't change. No matter how good of a grade she got in a class or how many times she snuck out, her mom didn't seem to care much. She always seemed to have the same thoughts about her parents in the morning, wondering if there was something she could have done differently that would have kept them together. But she simply just shoved the thoughts away for a rainy day.