This Sorrowful Life

Chapter 5 - Fear and Memories

(Rachel’s POV)

Remembering my past was of great sadness, my family was very wealthy, but their love for me was completely forgotten. Days and days could go by in that lonely house beside the ocean on the south side of the island, and yet, I could never find happiness there. I was more loving and caring, while my parents could be proud and/or cold. Everything changed once I discovered that my mother, the most praised doctor in the south, was unfaithful to my father, the boring lawyer, resulting in my very existence. My father filed a divorce once he found out, full of rage; he tried to slice my mother’s neck open. With only minor surgery, my mother managed to survive somehow, but resulted to be damaged psychologically and ended up in an asylum for the mentally unstable. My father on the other hand was arrested for attempted murder and ironically was murdered the first day in prison by one of the inmates.

My family collapsed, I had lost everything and was forced to live with my grandparents on the east side of the island. They were my heart and soul and comforted me when I cried until I got stronger, but I couldn’t really escape the sorrows of my past.

 I was nervous to be enrolled in a new school, but was willing to start a new life. I made many new friends, but John Cortez was the one that I could consider my brother. He had very short, dark, sexy hair. John was skinny, but with a bit of muscle, tall and confident. His dark eyes and serious face intimidated me, the seriousness in his voice amused me, and his lack of socialization was one of choice, which I admired. John was a serious and mature 17 year old guy, but I always thought that he was just bored of his life or sick of it. He barely spoke of his past, resulting in a rare change of attitude towards the subject. Beside everything, he always stood there for me and easily became the man I love to this day. I never told John about my feelings since he was with Sammy, but I knew that he had minor feelings for me deep in his heart. Our friendship grew everyday as well did my maturity. I became the strong woman that I am today and I regret nothing from my past or the tragedies in it.

Lying down in the hard, concrete floor of the school bus stop, I look up, facing the blue sky and leaves begin to fall at ease around me. The slight breeze alongside the silence surrounding the school from the first period made a peaceful smile in my face, opening my heart and soul beautifully.

“What are you smiling at, hoe?”

I looked over to a bored Sammy. He smirked, but I instantly slap my hand across his face.

“Call me that again and I will make eating painful for you”

Sammy gave his ‘bitch’ face and smuggled over the right, facing Gabriela and Casty. The elegant fragrance of the dear morning was so peaceful that I had even forgotten they were lying beside me. Gabriela mostly was very social, resulting in her conversation with Casty, while Casty was very annoyed by her talking. “Hey Casty, remember that song I sang yesterday, It’s on the radio right now!!!” said an over enthusiastic Gabriela. While Casty responded, “Uhg, get a life. Oh wait… I love that song”.

Sammy all that time was mostly lost in mere texts, which was better than him being stupid, but now that I think about it, lately I’ve been slowly driving myself apart from those three. I would have unforgettable moments with them, but their lack of maturity irritates me. Calling them my friends would be just a shadow of what they really are to me, but compared to the whole class, they were OK.

I began remembering that in only a few weeks my graduation was due while excitement came over my emotions. “I’m going to college, that literature course will be amazing!!!” I thought. Only then my excitement flew a drift as I remembered, “John still has another year… ” I smiled with pain in my heart and smuggled myself to the left, getting farther from them and dirtying my jeans in the process.