Vanished

one

I'm all alone. I have no family or friends, and little money. I have nothing. I needed to get away, away from everything and everyone. And I did. But now I'm alone. Sure, I'll be fine, it's just hard.

I take the keycard to the hotel room where I'm staying until I can get something bigger and open it up. My body immediately warms up. It's kind of cozy in here. Maybe this won't be so bad after all.

After my life in America went to shit, and I mean absolute shit, I ran away to Italy without telling anyone. Most people probably won't even care or notice. My parents disowned me after I started doing drugs. My friends said I was a bad person and needed help, so they stopped talking. If you think someone needs help, wouldn't you think to help them?

The only people who care about me, or not me, but my money, are the drug dealers I owe money to. They are mostly the reason I fled the country. I don't have the money to pay them back, and if I can't pay them, they would do something really bad, like murder me or something.

Now, in Italy, nobody has to know my past. I can just be plain old Victoria from America, who came to live in Italy for the experience.

I currently only own five outfits, two bras, and like six pairs of underwear. Also, one pair of shoes. They are kind of worn out, I need to get new ones when I can, of course.

I go into the bathroom, turn on the shower, and take off my clothes. Then, I get in the shower and let the warm water run over my tired body. I was on a plane for thirteen hours with layovers, so my body is very sore.

I use the hotel-provided shampoo and conditioner, even though it's not good for my hair. It's all I have right now. I also use the bar of soap to clean my body. It's not the best, but it works for now. After washing up, I get out of the shower, feeling the coldness from the sudden loss of hot water.

I grab a towel and wrap it around my body. I go into the main room and grab an oversized T-shirt. It's black with some sort of car on it. I've had it since I was sixteen, and my twenty-year-old body still fits into it. I did lose a lot of weight once I started doing drugs, so that's probably why. I need to gain it back and get to a healthy weight so I can live a healthy life.

I dry my hair a little bit before climbing into bed. I grab the remote and turn on the TV. I immediately recognize the movie that's on. It was my favorite movie growing up, and it still kind of is, I guess. The Cat in the Hat. I lightly smile, feeling some sort of comfort in the movie.

I switch off the light and get under the covers. I feel so cozy right now. Better than the plane. Better than the beds at rehab. And definitely better than any couches that the trap houses I used to stay at had. I fall asleep in the warmth of my bed and the sound of the movie from my childhood.

I wake up, stretch, and sit up in bed. I stare at the wall, not really thinking about anything. I get out of bed and head to the restroom where I brush my teeth, hair and pull it back into a ponytail. I put on an outfit and some mascara I found at the bottom of my worn-out duffle bag.

I need to find a job, fast. I need money for my hotel and food. I go to the hotel lobby and eat breakfast. There is a lady here with her three kids, a few old people, and some others sitting alone. I eat a serving of cereal and an apple, and drink a cup of coffee.

Now, I am on my way to find some place to work. I don't know my way around here, but it's nice to walk and get some fresh air. I get a few job applications from two coffee shops, a grocery store, and a soap store that sells different soaps and skincare products. I give them the number of the phone I got when I first got to Italy.

They all say I should hear back in the next couple of days. I decide to go back to my hotel as I don't quite know what there is to do for fun in Italy since I've never been here and I know nobody here. I just watch TV for a while.

I do get hungry with time, but there's no food. The hotel only provides breakfast, not lunch or dinner. I'm used to not eating, so it doesn't bother me. When you're off your shit half the time, you don't remember to do basic things such as eat.

I can't wait until I get a job and can afford to eat three meals a day. I don't think I have ever eaten three meals a day. Growing up, my parents weren't exactly parents of the year. They hated me and would hit me a lot. One time, my dad hit me with a curtain rod. As I got older and started going to school, they didn't want people to see the marks on me, so they would use other methods of "punishment", such as starving me, making me take freezing cold showers or leaving me outside all night.

I had a rough childhood, which is why I started using drugs in the first place. I didn't want to be home so I started hanging out with a bad crowd that stayed out at night and did drugs. At first, I didn't want to, then I thought "who the hell cares? it's better than being abused". So I took the drugs. At first, it started out as some weed. Then I started drinking. And before I knew it, I was doing acid and shooting heroin.

It's not my proudest moments. I'm glad I'm doing better now. I am going to try my very hardest to stay clean forever.

I don't want to live that kind of life again. I just want to forget all about it.

I don't know how, but I end up falling asleep.

______

It's a few days later now, and I've kind of gotten the hang of stuff.

I wake up, get ready, head down to the lobby, and eat breakfast. I learned to grab extra food for later on in the day.

I got an interview for two of the jobs I applied for, one at the coffee shop and the other at the skincare shop.

I hope I get one of them.

And I kind of made friends with an old lady that lives a few rooms down from me. Her name is Etta, and she has a cat named Olive.

We have breakfast together, and she invites me into her room for a chat sometimes. It's nice to talk to someone.

I love everyone's Italian accents too.

I hear a ping from my phone, so I check it.

"Congratulations, Victoria Montgomery! You are now a member of Lucias Skincare. You start in one week!"

I read the rest of the message and then scream into my pillow in excitement.

Life is going well.

______

hii so i hope y'all liked the first chapter! it's not the best but it'll get better i promise!

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