Aren't you scared of becoming a slave to freedom?
As a 17 year old girl whose mother abused her, Naomi has never known what freedom is, only dreamt of it. But now it's her only constant thought. For her, freedom slowly becomes a drug, something she...
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"Raphael." I call out. "Raphael, can you let go now? You're practically dragging me to the community center and you're going way too fast." I say, exhausted by all the speed walking I've been doing.
Raphael continues walking, my hand still firmly in his, as if I didn't say anything at all. Is he testing me right now? Ha, a small burst of frustration flows through me. Then I should make sure I get a perfect score.
I plant my feet firmly into the ground and yank my hand out of his. His head spins around to look back at me with a confused expression on his face. Then almost as if in slow motion, I see him lose his footing and fall towards me. My eyes widen and I flinch and close my eyes, bracing for the impact.
We both fall to the snow covered ground, Raphael on top of me. I wait for the heavy weight of his body to crush mine but it never comes. I slowly peek open my eyes and find myself looking at a mesh of curly rose gold locks. The mesh moves out of my view and is replaced by a pair of piercing green eyes, staring at me intensely.
What? Why is he looking at me like that? I shift my gaze to the side, feeling overwhelmed by his stare. I look and let out a soft gasp. Beyond Raphael's elbows, which are what's been keeping his body from touching mine, there's a man standing there looking at us with an unreadable expression. He's wearing an all sage green outfit and has a fully grown ginger beard, clearly not one of the other teens.
I look back at Raphael to see if he also saw the man but I'm met by the same piercing eyes. Raphael opens his mouth about to say something but I beat him to it. "Raphael, please get off me. We have company." I say, my voice barely a whisper, tingles running through blood at great speeds.
Raphael's head immediately whips to the side and after seeing the man, he scrambles to get up and once up, he helps me up too. We stand there looking at the man, unmoving. Agh, this is awkward. Why does it feel like we're in trouble?
I look up at the man. He looks like he's in his forties and might be pretty buff. "Young man, young lady. I'd suggest you head to the community center immediately. Tardiness and such inappropriate behavior will not be tolerated." He says in a gruff and scolding voice. He looks Raphael up and down and gives me a somewhat disgusted look and walks off.
I let out a sigh and start dusting off all the snow. Why does it seem like nearly everyone is disgusted or annoyed by me? When most of the snow is off, I let my hands fall to my sides while a tired and irritated sound escapes my lips. I feel like a disgusting bug. I understand being unwanted by my own mother, maybe she had fallen pregnant by mistake or something weird like that but being unwanted by people who literally bought you? Why the fudge did they even waste their money then?
I look up at the dark sky and start trying to count the number of stars I could see. The feeling of my heart being pricked by a needle, all too real. It shouldn't sting but it does. Is every place on earth going to treat me like this?
Suddenly a boy's face pops into my view. I look at Raphael and focus on his features. He's got good looks, charm and gets along well with everyone. Is it horrible of me to want that too?
