How It All Began

Chapter 1- Same bus with him?!

"Happy Birthday, Sweetie!" My eyes fluttered open to see both mom and dad holding a plate of waffles with candles on it. A huge grin formed on my lips as I sat up. They started singing the 'happy birthday' song. "Make a wish." Dad mused as they finished singing. I closed my eyes and wished for nothing more than for it to stay like this. I was happy and content with my life, especially since my parents were always by my side. I blew out the candles and they set the plate down on my lap so I could dig in.

This was nice. As I started eating my waffles, my mom let out a sigh and placed a hand on my shoulder. Something felt off. I looked up at mom. She was smiling, but it was a sad smile. Her eyes watered and I stared at her confused. "Mom.. Why are you crying?" I glanced at my dad and he had the same expression as her.

"Sweetie.. it's time for you to wake up." She said softly.

"What?" They weren't making any sense. I'm already awake.

Mom pressed her hand on my cheek and caressed it before placing a kiss on my forehead. She pulled it away and it looked like she was talking, but I couldn't understand her. It was almost like she was on mute but I could hear another. From the corner of my eyes, I could see a bright light, heading towards our direction. I turned my head, looking at the window and my eyes widened when a car crashed inside, heading straight towards us. I screamed at the top of my lungs, the car kept beeping as it got closer and closer. Everything was happening in slow motion and then--

Beep.. Beep.. Beep. I sat up quickly, gasping for air. "It was just a dream." I breathed out. I glanced at my phone and saw the my alarm went on snooze. Sighing, I dismissed it and laid back down. Of course it was a dream.

I stayed laying there for a few more minutes before finally getting up. Time to get ready. It is the first day of my senior year. Am I excited? I just want to get high school over with. People say high school will be one of the best years of your life. Haha, I call bull. It's hell so all you incoming freshmen-- I wish you luck.

Heading to the bathroom, I looked in the mirror and scowled at my appearance. I envy those who looked good in the morning. I mean seriously? I want to look as good as those people in movies and commercials but let's be realistic here, that's not going to happen.

I took a quick shower and blow-dried my hair. It looked pretty nice outside, which is pretty rare considering the town I live in. It's not called fog-city for no reason. We rarely get sunny days but when we do, I take advantage of it. I decided to wear shorts, a white v-neck shirt and my favorite white chucks. Putting my hair up in a pony tail, I looked at my reflection and nodded in approval. Not bad. Plain, but not bad. I gathered my things and headed downstairs to the kitchen since I was pretty hungry.

Worst mistake ever. My dad was there, making his coffee. He looked pretty hungover which wasn't a surprise to me since he was always like that. He always came home late after work, drunk off his ass and the next morning's just hell. My dad owns a bar and he made a lot of money considering there are only four bars in this pathetic town. He never used to get drunk all the time. This only started happening ever since mom passed away.

Three years ago, mom, dad, and I got into a car accident. Mom was the one driving since dad was already pretty tipsy. Everything was a blur when it happened and I was in a coma for six weeks. I missed my mom's funeral which was even worse. Pathetic, right? I woke up with stitches above my right eye which left a scar on my eyebrow. I also had a couple broken ribs and my right arm was broken too.

I was discharged from the hospital a few weeks after and that's when everything went from bad to worse. My dad began drinking more and when he came home drunk or just home drunk, he would start yelling mom's name. When I tried to calm him down he would begin to blame me for her death. Which I understand, it was practically my fault. The reason why that accident happened was because I couldn't even take care of myself. Sometimes he'd blame himself, so I learned to just leave him be. He was mourning so I understood. But I knew he'd changed because even when he's sober he was always angry. I began to question if this really was something that would happen if you loved someone too much.