Alice
The emotions come in waves. They wash over me in swells like a storm on the pale white sand of a beach in Florida, but this isn't Florida, and this isn't a storm that will go away in a few hours.
The lights are dim and there is an old smell about the place. Where the light does shine, dust dances through, letting itself be seen. Upon looking around I see a small couch with stuffing pushing its way into the dirty air, a chair which is broken and sinking in, and a television with a gigantic hole straight through the middle of it, leaving the rest of the glass barely hanging in place. I know this place, and the sad thing is, I know it too well.
Terror spazzes through my brain as I hear glass breaking and grunts off to the right. This is routine, this is normal. I duck into a small ball trying to conceal my face and head with my hands which leaves my back and shoulders exposed. Sharp lashes sting my back and I scream out in pain. I scream out for help. There is none to come and there never will be.
Waking up with a jolt, I sit up in my bed. Upon looking around I see that my sheets are twisted up and they envelop me in a suffocating embrace. To my right, Libby my black and white puppy with multicolored eyes lays curled into a ball.
When we moved here three years ago. I was off to a rocky start. Thinking it would help me, Mom took me to the animal shelter where I first met the beautiful puppy. Her face was split nearly down the middle, half black and half white. On the black side she had a gleaming brown eye, and on the white side she had a crystal blue eye.
I fell in love with her immediately. Maybe it was because she is different, just like me, then again maybe it is because everyone is eerily scared by her. We named her Libby because it means promise of God, and that just seemed right for her.
I look away from her and it seems that my room is shrinking in on me, taking my breath away and absorbing my oxygen. Quickly I rip off my covers without waking up Libby. I go into the kitchen and pour some water. After taking a few sips I have calmed down and my lungs seem to take a full breath that isn't strangled.
Going back to sleep isn't an option, and I have two hours until school will begin. I make the quick decision to go for a run so I head towards my room, looking for my tennis shoes.
I sleep in athletic shorts and a t-shirt so it will be fine to run in my pajamas. When I find my shoes next to the door of my room I tug them onto my feet and head towards the front hallway. Quietly, I open the door so my mother won't wake up. She has a long shift today and needs all of the sleep she can get.
Once I round the corner of the drive, my feet pick up speed, anticipating the run ahead. The perks of living in a small town are pretty great. Everything is nearby, you don't have to worry about going out of your way to pick up some extra milk on your way home. The girls at school talk about how they feel suffocated, like they will never get out, but I love it. The feeling is security.
As I near the end of our road, and am about to turn onto the main street my vision wiggles and shrinks into a small circle of visibilty. My breath sucks in raggedly as I put my hands above my head to circulate my breathing better. Maybe I should have eaten before I came out in the sweltering heat of Arizona.
Once I get back to the house I open the door to my erratic mother swinging a baseball bat down towards me. My lightning reflexes cause me to swerve out of the way so that she barely misses me.
"Mother!" I scream and she drops the weapon to her side.
"Christ!" she swears, making me grimace "Alice Marie why are you outside at four in the morning?"
