Prologue:
Silence.
Silence that roared in my ears.
Silence to the point where every breath in the room could be heard.
Pencils scratched at paper.
Students focused on their essays, pouring concentration and passion into their literary works. The teacher sat at her desk and watched us intently like a gravestone, not moving, not breathing.
Lifeless.
Lifeless as a rock floating in space.
Lifeless just like my mind, only thinking about the torture that comes from The Dark.
The Dark that silently waits in the corner of every room, trailing behind me as a shadow to bring me pain.
A pain that is constant.
A pain that I can no longer take.
A pain that consumes my life and everybody who I love the most.
A pain that makes me cry every night.
A pain that --
Chaos erupted from the students as the school bell rang shrilly in my ears, shattering the silence. The crinkle of paper, the footsteps of students, the grinding of chairs now filled the classroom, bringing it to life. I waited for every other student to leave before I got up and turned my paper in. Sauntering down the school hallways, I stared at my shiny new shoes: a privelage for me to have since nobody in my family cares about me. Nobody loves me.
I pushed open the front doors to the school as stepped outside into the humid air of Florida. A slight drizzle flew down from the sky and lightly touched my face. Not owning an umbrella, I continued to slowly walk into the rain and make my way to the park a few blocks away. My feet made little splashes on the worn down sidewalks as cars whooshed past me on the road. Trees were covered with rain pellets as they loomed over my body, taking my view of the grey sky prisoner and out of sight.
Turning around a corner, the sounds of nature filled me: the pats of rain hitting the ground, the cars churning up rain water on the streets, the occasional bird chirping in the old oak trees that line the roads.
Everything was bliss.
Everything was perfect.
Everything was finally beautiful for once in my life until I got a shove in the back from something.
I stumbled forward a few steps and turned around to see a fist smash right into my face. I welped and collapsed onto the ground. I blinked a few times and looked back up to see a group of boys from my school surround me. Confused and scared I tried to stand up, but they kicked me back down. I looked to my left and saw the rusty park bench that I always sit on. That park bench is my sanctuary.
Nervous and scared, I quickly got onto my feet and ran, breaking through the group of conversing boys and ran to the park, I ran for my safe haven.
Sprinting blindly into the street, I turned around and saw that my attackers stopped in their tracks from chasing after me. And before I could do anything, headlights shone in on my tearing eyes and --
Life.
Life just ran away.
Life just kept on running to my safe haven, leaving my body and never coming back.
Life just ran and never looked back. It never looked back on the poor boys' crumpled body that lied on the wet, black pavement. It never looked back at the crushed car hood and broken windshield and the flashing hazard lights. It never looked back at the driver who was crying... Crying and calling 911. It never looked back at the boys who stood there and said nothing in shock. It never looked back on anything, because life only had one objective:
