Northern Kingston Academy

Chapter 1

Stepping inside Northern Kingston Academy I ignore all the students curious glances as I make my way to the auditorium.

I think about how far I've come in my life. Way farther than what was expected of me. Way farther than anyone else under my circumstances would've gone.

Most of the students here are in this school because they have rich parents who could afford to pay for private tutoring and extra curricular courses. Or maybe they all grew up having to reach such high standards to impress their parents, since they have most likely always been shadowed by their parents success.

That's not the case with me, I never even met my mom. She died the day before I was born. Yes, the day before.

She was 8 months pregnant with me when she got into a car accident. She died at 11:49pm, March 15th. The paramedics pulled me out of her dead body at 12:04am, March 16th. That was 17 years ago.

I don't remember much of my father either, he killed himself when I was 3 due to depression. He left a note saying dealing with his wife's death, and having to take care the baby that was pulled out of his wife's corpse as a reminder was just too much.

I was put into foster care right after, but let's just say my foster parents were the type of people who would open up a bottle of vodka and throw away the cap. Constant physical and emotional abuse was what I had to deal with every day, and neither of them could even be bothered to remember my name.

When I was 6 I was walking home from school alone because my foster parents forgot to come get me. Truthfully now that I think about it they were probably both passed out in a ditch somewhere. I had no sympathy for them, they were terrible people. I treat people the way I want to be treated, and if they don't treat me the same, I treat them how they treat me.

Long story short, I got lost.

I found myself outside a public library on the nicer side of town, a big hint I was going in the total opposite direction of where I lived. I went inside and found a shelf of books that looked pretty interesting, and I started to read.

That was the day I discovered my love for books.

Being able to live in another's person life through their stories, and learning about what different experiences people had amazed me. I lived through them and learnt things I never would've expected to understand without them.

Someone eventually helped me find my way home, but ever since then I would go to the library every single day instead of going to school and I would read.

Yes I was only 6 and already ditching school, rebellious, I know.

When I was 10, I ran away. I had enough of my foster parents, and I wanted to live a better life somewhere else. I was smart enough to know I didn't deserve the life I got, and that I could change that for myself. No one else was going to change it for me. I read all about other people's lives in books, and I wanted to live like them. My foster parents never even reported me missing.

They 'raised' me for seven years and yet it didn't concern them when I just disappeared.

I hiked along the highway for 3 days to get from B.C. to Alaska. I swear for a 10 year old I was determined, those were the longest 3 days of my life. I was homeless for a few days until a convenience store owner generously offered me money to sweep his shop. A few days after that a few family's started to pay me to walk their dogs. I also got a job doing a small paper route and some local coffee shops and restaurants would pay me to sing, since I've always had a beautiful voice.