Finding Haven (ON HOLD)

Old Memories of New Friends

Chapter 3

:Sangs POV:

     As I drive through downtown my thoughts wander to old memories and a life I thought I had left behind to be forgotten. I've lived quite a few places in my life; New Jersey, Illinois, South Carolina, Montana, and now Washington. Most people would have been sad to be constantly moving as a child. They'd get someplace, start at a new school, make new friends, all to just leave it behind again. But that wasn't the life I had. Moving didn't bother me because I was never leaving anything behind. At school I was not allowed to make friends (not that anyone liked me enough to try anyways), at home I couldn't leave the house to go anywhere with my family, I couldn't even walk around outside. My life inside the house wasn't great either. It consisted of chores, boredom, fights with my older sister Marie, and long punishments given to me by my mother. The houses we lived in never became homes.

     As a young child I didn't complain, because I thought it was normal. Even when things seemed a little off I never said anything because I trusted my parents, my mother, to know what was best for me. All of that changed in South Carolina, when I made my first ever friends. Ashley Waters high school was a rundown, over-populated, sometimes dangerous school in Charleston and all logic said I should have been terrified to even attend there, yet it was the first place I ever felt alive.

Flashback:

     It's the first day of school and I'm standing in a corner in the foyer, praying I can get through this day. This morning when I woke up I put on a soft gray A-line skirt, a fading pink blouse, and lightly stained pink flats; I had proceeded to the mirror and overall had approved of how I looked. It was obvious my clothes were a little worn, but I didn't look bad, and it was what everyone at my past school in Illinois had worn. I had then proceeded to make my way downstairs and to the bus after leaving some yogurt on my mom's nightstand. That is where my bad decisions started.

     Mother started screaming at me that she was not an invalid, and that even if she was, she wouldn't have wanted yogurt. She said it like it was a dirty word. She then demanded I get her something else before kneeling on the kitchen floor. I hurriedly did what she asked, relieved that she was only making me kneel. The biting pain that shot through my knees when I kneeled was nothing compared to some of her more severe punishments. Ones that would leave me immobile, unable to talk, and physically scarred for the rest of my life. As I knelt I waited to hear slight snores coming from her room so that I could get up and run for the door. The entire time spent hoping I hadn't missed the bus. Of course I had, which led to me practically sprinting to school, so as to not be late. Even though I ran the entire way I was still technically late, though I was not counted tardy due to some student pulling the fire alarm right before first bell. Finally reaching the doors of the school, I excitedly opened one and stepped in only to be met with the faint smell of smoke, yelling teenagers, girls in jeans and tight shirts, and boys in too baggy jeans and sports jerseys. I looked down to my outfit suddenly realizing that I did not fit in here. The other students apparently seemed to think I had been standing there stuck in my thoughts for too long because the next thing I knew I was being shoved to the side so that they could enter.

     That is what led to my standing in the corner all alone at the moment. First bell had just rung and the congregation of students started moving as one ever-changing solid mass to their respective classes; I slowly joined the group and proceeded to homeroom. I did have one advantage, I was so short that no one paid me any attention. It made days easier to survive when I was being constantly overlooked. Finding my way to class proved easier than I expected while moving through the mass of students. Entering homeroom I slid into one of the desks in the back and just sat back to observe. I loved school, since my mother did not allow me out of the house or to have friends, I used my time at school to observe other people, trying to get a grasp on what normal was. Second bell rang and the teacher immediately started taking roll call, explaining his expectations, and overall just going over first day of school requirements. He then allowed us to talk for the rest of the period. When the bell rang everyone was up and out of their seat in seconds, heading to their next class.