One Summers Day

Two

I get home and nobody's there. It's always been like that. I head upstairs to get changed and feel comfortable again. I put on a blue t-shirt and grey tracksuit bottoms. I tie up my hair and remove all the makeup from my face. I feel lighter and free not having any on. I examine myself closely in the mirror and realise that I didn't even need to tie my hair. I carefully remove what is unnatural and reveal my messy auburn hair. I run my fingers through it and part it to the side to get it away from my eyes. I want to cry but I don't.

I sit at my desk and start my homework. After what seemed like thirty minutes, I stop and take a break. I check the time and realise that it's only been five. You've gotta be kidding me. Suddenly I hear the door open. It's her. I quickly put the wig back on and dress myself to appear more ' feminine ' to avoid the hassle of arguing.

" Julia can you please come down and help me with the groceries?"

" Yeah I'm coming!" I hurry down the stairs and greet her at the door. She takes a good look at me and then turns my head to the mirror.

" What is that?" She asks. I look closely at myself and realise that I didn't put the wig on properly and left a bit of my real hair sticking out on the side.

" Sorry," I say as I fix it.

" Sorry? Sorry?! Is that all you can say?!" She roughly pushes me towards the mirror and it falls and shatters into a thousand pieces. Before I can even think of the seven years of bad luck I'm going to get, she continues to say " What if people were to find out what you really are?! You'd be a disgrace! You'd stain the family name!"

" You're the one who made me like this in the first place so it's not my fault, it's yours!" I shout. She stands there and by the look of her face, I can tell that she's holding back all the anger and the tears; I've grown and learned to just suck it up.

I sweep the shards of glass as she continues to get the bags. There are cuts all over my hands because of me being careless. I think it was better if I died instead. Things would've been easier, and even from a young age I've already known that they're much happier without me in the picture. After cleaning up, I run upstairs. I don't even bother to look at her or talk to her. She never felt like a mother to me from the very beginning. She gave me life, and that's all there was to it.

I take off the wig and get changed back into my shirt and tracksuit bottoms. I lock my door and put some shoes and a black hoodie on. I open the window and a calm breeze blows in. I stick my leg out and hold tightly onto the window ledge. By now I look like I'm hanging off a cliff. Lucky for me, the jump from my window to the shed and to the ground aren't that far apart. I jump down and each time I stand up, my legs ache. I ignore it. All I want to do is get away from this place I call ' home '.

~~~~

I manage to escape. I'm running but I don't know where to run. I only moved here a few days ago so I never really got the chance to explore, and right now isn't exactly a good time. If she realises I'm not in my room, I guess I'll be seeing God or whatever is on the other side.

I somehow end up on an overpass. Thankfully there's not a lot of cars so I wouldn't look weird just standing here but the view of the lights of this town is pretty. I take a deep breath and sit down with my legs dangling through the gaps of the bars.

" Isn't it a bit late for you to be out here?" A voice says beside me. I look up to see Rylie holding a plastic bag and an ice-cream cone.

" Why do you care?"

" Well it's a bit weird seeing some dodgy guy sitting down at an overpass at ten 'o' clock as if he's about to jump," She sits beside me and swings her legs playfully.

" And what are you exactly doing, roaming around at ten? Shouldn't you be in bed?"

" It was too warm so I decided to go out and get some ice-cream. Here take one," we make eye contact and she hands me the ice-cream. She looks at me as if she wants me to say " no " but I take it with no hesitation. I mean, she did offer so how could I refuse?

" Are you sure you want me to have it? Cuz your body tells me yes but your eyes look like I'm about to be decapitated."

" No go ahead take it. I'll probably get fatter since I've already had like seven on the way here."

" Seven? You're kidding."

" Okay maybe eight but I accidentally dropped it cuz I almost tripped."

" You klutz. You wasted a perfectly good ice-cream," I say while biting the last piece of the cone.

" Hey, look at me," she says.

" Why?" I do as I'm told and she grabs my face and pulls it closer towards hers.

" You look exactly like this new girl I met at school today!"

" What?" I panic and take her hands away from my face. I can't let anybody know.

" Yeah you look exactly like this new girl in my class. I forgot her name though, it begins with a J," as she tries to remember the name, I start making excuses in my head and making deductions of the plans I've made up.

Bingo.

" Oh you mean Julia?"

" Yeah that's the one! Are you guys like bro and sis?" Her eyes are filled with excitement.

" Yup, we're twins."

" OH MY GOD THAT'S SO CUTE! I've never met twins before!"

" Well now you have," I say while standing up and stretching.

" Oh you're going now?"

" Yeah, my mom's probably gonna freak if she finds out I'm not in my room."

" Ah so you snuck out too," she laughs.

" Pretty much. Well, I'll see you some other time," I smile and turn around but before I can walk away, she grabs my arm.

" Aren't you coming to school?"

" Uh ... We'll see."

" What do you mean?"

" Goodnight Riley," I say while walking away and waving goodbye.