Jennifer's Nightmare (unfinished)

Chapter 1

I stopped an hid behind a tree while I was trying to catch my breath. I peeked over the side of the tree trunk to see if he was still following me. After I stopped and I heard nothing, I slid with my back against the trunk down to the moist, cold ground. Tears slowly flowed down my face as I proceeded to cover my eyes with my palms. I tried to forget what was happening and hoping I was just dreaming and that soon I would wake up in my nice warm bed, but I knew that was not going to happen once I had heard leaves crunch as if someone had stepped on them. I took in a huge breath as I hopped up and looked behind me. About 20 yards away, there he was, bloody and sweaty. It felt as if he were so close to me, breathing down my neck. I started to run as fast as my legs would move. When I would look back, he would be limping behind me, gesturing that he needed me to help him. I kept on running until I tripped over a snake hole in the ground and my foot had gotten stuck. After I got my foot out, I could barely walk on my twisted ankle. I walked about 5 feet and decided I couldn't walk anymore. I was worn out and my ankle was killing me. I laid down on the ground cuddling with myself in this cold weather. I heard my name being yelled from a distance as leaves cracked under his size 11 shoe. I kept as still and quiet as possible. The sound of leaves crushing kept getting closer and closer until the sound was right behind me. My body cold, but my brain was making me sweat from fear. After a few seconds, the leaves Were not cracking anymore. I saw a hand go over my face. It was so quick, but I lost all sight, hearing, and consciousness. Was I dead?

- 8 Months Earlier -

I was about 6 years old when my mother started getting into drugs and alcohol. Every single one of her relationships, she would be abused. Almost every night she would come home with a new bruise somewhere on her body. I was too little to understand what was really going on, so I believed her when she told me she had fell or somehow hurt herself on accident. All guys took advantage of her as if she were trash and nothing more.

My mother had died on March 24, 2011, two months ago. After all the papers were signed and my uncle Ford was officially my legal guardian, I had to move from where my mom and I were staying for the past few months, in Winnemucca, Nevada, to where he lived in San Francisco, California.

My father was never around in my childhood, and I did not expect him to come in it now. So then, after her death I was forced to live my Uncle Ford, my mother's brother. My uncle wasn't the greatest man, but he took care of me. He lived in a one bedroom apartment in the middle of San Francisco, California. I slept in his living room on his old 1970s plaid printed couch. It wasn't much, but it was something I could sleep on other than his old wooden floor.

With my mother, before she got sick, we were living in her car for about 3 years and we were constantly traveling. I had not gone to school when my mother traveled because she could not afford my books. She could barely even afford the gas money she received from the government. I was lucky when I got a few snacks for dinner, but the way I could get away from it all and forget that I did not have a normal life or a normal home, was with drawing. I had always been able to sketch since I was very little. My mother had always told me that one day my art would end up in an art gallery and I would become rich and famous. I always thought about how one day when I got that money, I could pay to take care of my mother and I.