Alone (On Hold!)

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Hope! Come on! It's time to go!" my mom yelled from the bottom of the stairs.  "Your father is waiting!" 

"I'm coming!"  I swung my bag over my back and grabbed another bag filled with clothes before running down the stairs as quickly as I could.  Oh how I wish my car wasn't in the shop.  If I had my car things would be so much easier, I wouldn't have to live on my parent's time and I didn't have to rely on anyone for a ride.  

As I reached the front door, I found my dad tapping his foot impatiently. "Finally, I don't have all day, you know?"

"I'm sorry, I just..."  Once again I wish I had my car.  I hated that my dad needed to see my mom; I knew it made him uncomfortable and I still left him waiting.  

"It doesn't matter, let's go," he said, cutting me off.  He grabbed my two bags and we made our way down to his car.  "So how is school?"  he asked as he sped down the highway towards his house. 

"It's fine, still have straight A's."

"Just like Beth."

Of course everything I do is just like Beth, was I ever going to have my own accomplishments?  Beth, my older sister, is three years older than me and goes to Harvard.  Like me, she was at the top of her class, but the only difference between her straight A's and mine were that hers were all AP classes and only four of mine are APs. "Ya, just like Beth." 

"So what are you going to be doing tonight?" my dad asked me. 

"I don't know, I already finished my homework so I thought I'd go out with Jaymie."  Jaymie was my best friend and she was taking me to a party tonight just like every other night. 

"Sure, that sounds nice, I hope you have fun.  Do you want me to drop you off at her house later?" 

"No, she's going to pick me up." 

"Okay," he nodded before turning the radio on to ensure there would be no silence between us. 

I stared straight out the window at the houses that blurred past us.  They were all the same, the same color, the same style, and the same suburban green grass lawns.  It was like everyone wanted to be the same.  But why in the world would someone want to do that?  Wouldn't you want to be someone different and stand out? 

As we slowed down and exited the highway, the houses grew bigger and bigger, symbolizing that we were almost at my dad's house.  Great, usually I get to feel alone in a slightly smaller house, but with my dad I got to be alone in a gigantic house. 

"Hi Hope!" my dad's fiancée, Arielle, said cheerfully.

"Hi," I said, quickly retreating into my room.  It's not like Arielle was a horrible person, I just didn't feel like talking to her about her pregnancy or something else I really didn't care about. 

I went through my room and straight into my huge walk-in closet, my sanctuary away from everything.  Even though it was so secluded, it was in my closet where I felt least alone.  I was surrounded by clothes, shoes, purses, and the hundreds of smiling faces of me and my friends.  Faces that symbolized the good times we spent together.  The pictures were memories of better times, times where I pretended everything was alright. 

I dumped the clothes I brought from my mom's onto the floor of the closet and hang them up.  Even though I have a bunch of clothes at both my parents houses I like to keep a select few with me at all times. 

After hanging everything up, I picked out the dress I was going to wear to the party tonight and threw it in my bag along with a few black bangle-type bracelets.  As I searched for a pair of heals to wear today, I stumbled upon a small knife I had hidden away a few years earlier before I landed myself in the hospital.  I sat at the center of my closet and lightly ran the blade along my old scars.  Just as I was about to apply more pressure, I heard my dad burst through my bedroom door and I quickly threw the knife aside as he came through my closet door.