High Waters

Chapter 1: Lindsey's P.O.V

I never thought that Richmond, Virginia would be as exciting as L.A. What with the perfect weather, flawless celebrities, and endless fun amenities, no other city could be better. However, I was wrong, horribly wrong. There is much more to Richmond then I thought. It has what L.A. is lacking.

August 9th

As I walked up to my family's new home I realized that my life was starting anew. This is my chance, I thought to myself, my chance to renew myself for all of the selfish things I've done. I took a deep breath, and marched up the front steps with my suitcase in tow.

"Lindsey," a melodic-sounding voice called. What in the world does Mom want? I dragged my tired body into the kitchen, regretting every step as I slowly became more exhausted. I looked up at my mother, who was unpacking her parents antique wedding china. Her beauty took my breath away, as it does to every pair of eyes that lie on her gorgeous features. She has shoulder-length, jet-black hair, flawless pale skin (just like a movie star), and strange pale green eyes that seem to glow in the dark.

"Hey sweety-pie, do you mind helping me out?" she tilted her head slightly to the left, a quirk of hers that won my dad's heart. I reluctantly agreed and joined her at the kitchen island. "You know what," Mom said as she picked up a beautiful handmade china tea pot. "I believe in you honey. Even if you made bad decisions in the past, that doesn't mean that you will here." I had heard this many times from both of my parents. I didn't want to hear it again.

"I think I'm gonna go take a nap," I said slowly, almost breaking the 100 year old plate I had picked up as I set it back down.

"Alright, Linds, are you okay?" I hate that nickname. Trying not to scream, I walked hurriedly up the stairs to what would be my new bedroom. I plopped down on one of the many boxes that was yet to be unpacked. Burying my face in my hands, I doubted that anything in my life would get better.

7th grade was like a never ending downhill spiral that kept getting out of control. I was one of those kids who holds themselves higher than anyone else. I thought everything of myself and nothing of others. The girls admired me, the boys chased after me. I had good grades and never got in trouble. But something changed that made me lose my focus.

A few months before all this happened, my mother got pregnant with twins. I was so excited to be a big sister and couldn't wait for them to born. Things were going well, until the doctor discovered that one of the twins had an extremely rare lung disease. "This one won't survive," he said at the time.

At first, my family felt defeated and upset, but they soon accepted it and decided to keep going with the other twin.

But then, the other twin died. The doctor had no explanation for the unborn baby's death, and the fact that neither baby would ever be a part of our family took a hard toll on my parents.

They started arguing. Every day it was back and forth between them, usually about nothing in particular.

We had always been a somewhat happy family. We never fought, we always did things together. But this event changed everything. Both of my parents started ignoring me. They didn't pay attention to me anymore, to them it was all about mourning the loss of the twins who were never born.

I get up from the box I was sitting on and start to unpack. However, the box I chose was a bad one to start on. Sitting right on top was a photograph of the lacrosse team at my old middle school. I was the team captain. Through their smiling faces you can tell that my teammates weren't happy to refer to themselves as being on my team. The picture reminds me of the things I lost two years ago.

Not being able to talk to my parents about the effect their behavior had on me made me angry at school. I suddenly hated my friends, hated my teachers. My grades declined, people were avoiding me instead of seeking me out. I accepted that I had lost my popularity, but I still felt angry.

I put aside the photograph. Not wanting to remember any of the people in it. I then start to unpack the rest of the box when something catches my eye.