Puzzled Minds

Chapter One: One hill On A Tree

Tears were not the only thing she had shed that day.

That fateful day that life as she knew it tainted forever. The day that the normal that everyone knew was replaced with the need and will to survive.

The day started like they had for the last week. Her father, his best friend and older brothers had left to go on a two-week-long hunting term on the outskirts of Atlanta. Her brothers had always insisted that that was where they would catch the most meat.

Adeline would always hate when they would leave for a long time but she hated the fact that they would be killing defenceless animals that were just trying to exist.

She knew that them going hunting would save them a good chunk of money that would've been spent on meat at the local grocery store. Daryl would always insist that the stores would pump the animals full of hormones and keep them crammed in cages before they would kill them, leaving Adeline to assume that her family's way was far more merciful.

They would still buy what they needed from the store such as eggs, butter and milk that came from animals but it was the only way they could get it.

Adeline had learned how to make butter in middle school, it was far more easy than she had originally thought. So when Daryl would forget to pick it up on his grocery runs, as he always would, she would have to make it herself.

Speaking of milk, she had just remembered that he had forgotten to grab it before he had left. This caused Adeline to have to figure out what else she was going to make because she really wasn't a fan of dry cereal.

The homework she had been assigned was proven to be much harder than she had originally expected, leaving the teen's growing mind exhausted from being overworked.

A headache was brewing, just as she knew it would and with a huff she yanked her headphones from her ears before roughly placing them on the four-chair dining table. It wasn't used much as the siblings would usually eat in front of the TV because they knew how agitated their sister would get at the sound of chewing, plus Watching TV never killed anybody. The times it was used though, was only in the mornings when the Dixon's would actually eat breakfast, well on the days Adeline was with them.

Sometimes when her father was sober she was demanded to come 'home'. In fear of disobeying her father, she would but after a day or two her father would angrily drop her back off when he had, had enough of her presence.

Daryl had always been waiting at the door to help her with her bags as if he had predicted her father's actions, and after a while, Adeline did too. Her father was very predictable.

Then soon the visits would start to dwindle from once a month to once a year when he remembered that to have a child in his presence meant he actually had to take care of them.

At first, the rejection of her father would leave her in a sobbing mess but now she felt nothing. Apart of her was glad that her father wouldn't be there to hassle her any long and that she could go on with her life by staying with her brothers.

But then another part of her craved for her father's love and affection. She longed to be accepted by him for him to be proud of her. She knew Daryl was proud of her achievements even though he never voiced it, she could see the way his eyes sparkled when he saw a good grade on her report card but then he would look sad like the last thing he wanted for her was to do well.

It left her conflicted about her brother's feelings, but she would rather her father feel saddened by her accomplishments like Daryl did than feel nothing at all.

She pulled herself up from the wooden chair with a creak before she moved towards the kitchen, 'Mickey' was still softly blaring from her pink iPod as she rummaged through her kitchen cabinets.