Home Raker

My name is Katie Stone and I'm sixteen. What I do, and have done for the past nine years, is rake leaves. Over and over and over again. No free days or breaks in between, just raking. Let me explain. My home, The Kingdom of Cordelia, has very strict marriage laws that all of its loyal subjects must follow. The first and most important rule is that couples in love who wish to marry each other must pledge their loyalty to each other, and promise that they will be faithful to each other till death parts them. My mother, Scarlet Stone, did not abide by this very important rule. My mother cheated on my step-father with another man and got pregnant with yours truly.

This majorly ticked off the kingdom, and my mother had to be punished. She had to make some decisions. First, she had to choose between my step-father, who she hates and only married because of his wealth, or my biological father. She chose my step-father and to this day is still miserable with him. Second, either be responsible for her actions and take her punishment or force it upon a poor, defenseless unborn baby. She decided that her own happiness was more important than her own daughter's happiness.

That's the reason why I'm trudging through enormous piles of beautiful red, orange and yellow leaves with my hand holding tightly to the wooden handle of my rake. This is just another day of my sad and lonely punishment. Punishment that I did nothing to deserve! However, because of my mother I have never had a real friend, never gone to an actual school, or gone out of the kingdom. There is this wide and deep chasm and a bridge that separates my home kingdom to the next one. Our neighboring kingdom is one big party central, so I have heard. It's where people from my kingdom go to have fun, get drunk, and make stupid decisions, like my mother's. No matter how much I would love to just run away and never take a glance back, I physically cannot cross the border. There is this invisible wall that only stops me. I can't even look at the next kingdom it is just like looking in a mirror. Sometimes when I'm done I just lay on top of the chasm, I can't fall in because it's part of another kingdom, and just stare into the warm sunset dreaming of all the things I would rather be doing. But I have learned to just embrace the fact that I'm a prisoner of my own life.

"Whew," I sigh out. I just finished after a long day of slaving away. I had to get back to my house soon so that the Garbnators don't catch me. They are these pesky little vicious animal that eat anything in sight. They only come out at night, and they eat up all of the leaves I spent raking up. The Garbnators were the ones who originally took care of the hybrid maple trees' leaves. The hybrid maple trees are basically like all four seasons into one. They fall in the day, barren in early night, blossom at midnight, are full in the morning, and then fall back on the ground again constantly.

I roll up the sleeves on my favorite faded sweater. I start making my way to my little house in what I like the call my banishment land.

When I open the door to my house, I see that my mother hasn't left the spot I last saw her. She is sprawled out on the green carpet in the living room. Her eyes are closed and she has a bottle of Bourbon still in her hand. Supposedly she has taken up drinking as a way to help her deal with letting herself ruin my life. I know I should feel resentful toward my mother, but I just feel sad. I step over her carefully, so that I don't to step on her long blonde hair.

Fresh cinnamon hit my nose as I walked into my room. It's kind of small but I can't complain. Warm red walls with a soft white rug that squished between my now bare feet. I had ditched my high knee brown boots at the door along with my sweater. I prop up my rake in the corner and plopped down on my hard bed. There is nothing more enjoyable then just flop onto my bed after a long day.