Is There Somewhere? |Daryl Dixon

001| two thousand five hundred and fifty five

Eleven year old Sabrina Rhodes sat in the backseat of her parents pickup truck, staring vacantly out of the window. This was now the third time they've moved this school year. Her father couldn't keep a job to save his life, and rather than put her foot down, her mother followed him wherever. It was always eviction after eviction after eviction. The promise of "this is the last time" always seemed to linger. It was never the last time though.

She knew better than to hold onto that hope though. To her, promises were nothing except things to be broken. So as the truck drove along the bend of the backroads of Georgia, Sabrina Rhodes reminded herself that this was only temporary. They never stayed in one spot too long.

Sooner or later, Sabrina's dad would lose his job again. Then her parents would fight so loud that the house shook, and an hour later Sabrina's mom would come crawling into Sabrina's bed, fresh bruises littering her arms and announce how they were moving somewhere far away. Somewhere even better than here.

That was never the case though and Sabrina learned to hold a lot of resentment towards her parents. Every time they uprooted their entire life, another reason was added to why Sabrina would leave the minute she turned eighteen. As of right now, that was two thousand, five hundred, and fifty five days away.

Today, October 29th was her birthday. Long forgotten to her parents and her birthday present was a new shitty roof over her head. She counted her blessings that at least they were moving into a house this time. Their last place of residence had been a shoddy apartment, where she watched drug deals happen every day after getting off the bus. She'd seen some things at that little apartment she never wanted to see again.

As the chipped pickup truck pulled into their new house, Sabrina took it in. The paint was stained with mildew, and the shutters were nearly falling off of the windows. Still, this was her new place of residence for the time being. She'd have to get used to it. Yet, by the time she did get used to it, they'd probably be moving again.

"Well, it's a bit of a fixer upper!" Sabrina's mother cheered from the front seat, twisting her head around to stare at the small red head in the back. "Whaddya think?"

"Home sweet home." Sabrina mumbled sarcastically. Gripping the door handle so tight her knuckles grew white the girl jumped out of the back seat, taking her only bag of belongings with her.

"I told ya she wouldn't give a shit." Her father mumbled, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. "Ungrateful little bitch."

"Just give her time." Her mother chastised, ultimately though Sabrina knew her mother would always take her father's side. Even if she pretended that she'd take Sabrina's to her face. Even if her father still hit her mother, the woman was too hopped up on different pain killers to even notice."This is a new environment! She'll adjust eventually.

Sabrina pretended not to hear his comment. Instead, she crossed into the thresh hold of the house. It was more spacious than the apartment they shared, yes, but it was a shotgun styled house. She could see the entire thing from where she stood at in the entryway. Her bedroom would be right next to her parents and she'd be able to hear them fighting constantly. Maybe she'd have to scrounge up some change from the couch cushions to take to the nearest dollar general for a pair of ear plugs. Her last pair seemed to disappear in the move. Until then, she'd have to get creative.

Her mattress was already in here. There was no bed frame, she'd never had one so the lonely twin sized bed was set up with old cinderblocks and a piece of plywood holding it up. At least it wasn't on the floor this time.

It smelled musty in the room, likely having been left vacant for who knows how long. There was only one other house in this neighborhood, if you could even call it that. Junk was piled in the drive way next to an old pickup truck much like her families, and a motorcycle. She had seen it earlier and that was the only thing that sparked her interest.