Street Love

Chapter 2

Jenna's POV

I'm shivering and the wind is not doing me any favors. It might be cold but hell will freeze over before I voluntarily go back home. It's only fall right now so we shouldn't get snow for a couple more weeks which is good. I know my parents will call the cops as soon as they find out I'm gone but god forbid their punching bag left the house. Keeping that in mind, I walk as far as a can before the sun comes up, I avoid alleys because I don't need to meet drug dealers and I avoid big roads so one sees me and calls that cops.

My feet are numb and my legs are cold but I refuse to stop walking. If I'm going to get away from my parents and never have to go back then I need to go far far away. It's already been an hour and I still know my surroundings so I'm not far away enough. The city is so beautiful at night when it sleeps. It makes the world look like a place people would want to live but sadly thats not reality, the sad truth is that this world is full of hate, pain and loss. No one chooses the life they are put into and some people have it better then others but I feel like no one would choose this world if they had a choice.

I carry on through the frigid fall air on tired feet, humming songs to keep my mind off my freezing limbs. I keep walking and walking and walking I feel as though I've walked as long as it would take to walk to the moon and back. I start to move to smaller and smaller streets looking for abandon and sheltered alleyways as the sun comes up unfreezing the blood in my veins and giving color to my fingers. After a while I come to a small alley with no one even close and all the buildings around it abandon. Its really small, barely bigger then shoulder width, and only like 20 feet in length.

There's a lot of empty cardboard boxes laying on the ground covered in dirt. I pick up 2 and make a wall so that you can't see that there's a alley from the street and to take shelter from the weather. I then take another 2 card board boxes and make a roof in case of snow. Last I take the rest of them and brush off all the dirt and lay them down on the ground kinda like a floor so that I'm not sleeping in spider territory. I take a step back and admire my new "home". It may not be great but it's better then sharing a home with my parents. I decide I'll stay here awhile. I have food and money so I shouldn't have to leave for a couple days at least.

I'm now starting to feel the exhaustion from my long walk and decide to lie down. I try to sleep but it's like fighting with the wind, you just can't win. I wonder what my parents are thinking right now, have they called the cops yet, has mom gone to work, has dad punched a whole through the wall again. Do the police see all the alcohol bottle across the floor, do they notice, every room is beautifully decorated except one with only one poster of a band on the wall, do they wonder why there's blood on the floor and holes in the wall? Did they not notice or blow it off as nothing? Would they even care if they knew the truth? Probably not, I'm not worth looking for I'm sure they will spend a day or two investigating before they relies I'm better off this way. Somewhere in my thoughts I got lost and drifted into a nightmare-filled slumber.

I'm running but not moving very fast. My father is casing me and gaining speed while I might as well be walking through jello. I pull with all I have but my legs must be chained to the ground for it feels as though I'm trying to win a fight with superglue, which if you've ever tried is next to impossible. I keep trying, fighting a useless battle, one I know I'll never win. I don't know why I do this, why I keep fighting a lost cause. Kinda like my life I keep living even though know one cares and it's not like I'm immoral or something, I will one day die. And now dad's closer than before his screams are deafening and his streps shake the earth. As I'm running a car is parked in the parking lot of my school, and my mom is in the divers seat. Dad grabs the back of my sweater and I'm pulled to a stop, with my sweater against my windpipe stealing my air. I notice a cop car not to far and I try to scream. Nothing comes out, nothing at all. I try again and again each time with more energy but nothing changes. My dad's laughing and moms pulling to curb up now. Tears begin to blur my vision, I can't go back, I won't survive, I-

I'm jolted awake by the warm tears staining my face and my lungs begging to be unleashed and to be fill once again with air. I'm scared and I don't know what to do. It's nighttime again I didn't think I slept that long and theres no light here, I've always been afraid of the dark but tonight's different. Don't get me wrong I'm scared shitless right now but not of the dark. I'm scared of my father finding me and things going back to the way the used to be. I'm scared that I'll never be good enough for anybody. I'm scared I'll die by myself and just as lonely as I feel right now. My silent tears turn into sobs as my whole body shakes with unmeasurable pain and despair.

I pull myself into a ball in the corner, keeping one hand over my mouth as to not wake anyone who could be sleeping, and another over my stomach as a hopeless attempt to ease the storm that's inside. I sit like this for hours just thinking and try to decide if this pain is worth living. Everyone says things will get better, but will they? And when? Will the amount of suffering I must endure ever match up to the happiness I'll shall one day be filled with? What it if better just means more bearable but not happy? What would I do then? I'm starting to feel drowsy again so I decide to take a walk.

I get up and start wondering aimlessly through the abandon buildings around me. They're very intricate with many levels and good places to play hide and go seek. The people that once owned this place must of left in a hurry for there is still many things laying out on the floor covered in so much dust it looks like a mountain made of ash. I laugh at this and decide to play with some of the toys on the ground. I never really had toys as a child But I'm only 16 so I still have time, I guess.