The Dark Days

The Early Days

I remember sitting on the front porch of our ranch house in Washington. I was so happy back then, before all of this happened. Mama was still happy and dad would always take us to get milkshakes at the diner every Sunday night.

 I was only about nine when things started to change. Dad would come home late every night and mama wouldn't bake cookies every Friday anymore. I noticed, I was changing to. Over the next three years I wasn't the cute little girl that has the nicest manners.

 One night a couple months later was my tenth birthday. I got a play-station. I noticed dad looked weird. His eyes kept glazing over, he wasn't drunk.... was he? 

Then I asked, "Daddy, whats wrong with your eyes?"

  "Its none of your damn business Jade!" He snapped at me which caused me to stare at him in shock.

 Then mama piped in. "Matthew you don't talk to our daughter like that!"  She stood up yelling at him. Then dad stood up and walked over to me. "Or what Ava? What are you going to do?" "Matthew, you are drunk! Just leave her alone!"

 Then I said with tears in my eyes, "Daddy please calm down..."  Then he looked me in the eye, "Shut up you ugly little rat!" I started balling as he walked over to mama. "Now you will learn to keep your mouth shut Ava, I will make you regret everything!" He raised his hand as he growled, but before he could say anything I walked up to him.

 "LEAVE MAMA ALONE!"  Then he spins around and picks me up "Your going to regret that..." Then he throws me into the wall.

 "Jade! No!"   Mom runs over to me as i'm laying unconscious, she held my body in her arms she sobbed. Then dad runs up and speeds off. I wake up in the hospital three days later with my mom crying. I then knew nothing would ever be the same again.

You see, my father is a beloved congress man. He was planning to run for Senator here in Wisconsin next year. He made all the money for our little family, and we would be on the streets without him.

 The next day I am able to go home, as I lay down in my bed I ask where dad is. My mom said he is sleeping in bed. She also told me to act like I fell down the stairs. Nobody could know how my dad really was.

 From that day on I promised myself to never touch alcohol. When I woke up the next day I saw my mom taking medication. I asked what it was for, and she responded, "I just have a little cold my child, don't worry..."  We never did anything as a family anymore, dad was always at work, or when he was home he was drunk. 

Over the next year mom got really sick. One night I asked my father if he knew what was wrong. His words haunted me. "Cancer, she has cancer in both her legs Jade, she is going in for surgery tomorrow." His voice was stone cold, nothing like the warm father I once knew.  After I got home from school the next day I almost passed out. My mom was sitting in a wheel-chair, with just stubs for legs. I began to cry, my mother looked upset as she wheeled towards me, "I am fine darling, I am cancer free now."

 The next morning at school everyone was staring at me. "Hey! It's the girl whose parents are alcoholics, oh.. and her mom has no legs!" That week was when I started cutting myself, yes, I was eleven and cutting myself. I also dyed my curly gorgeous hair purple. I was now the "goth girl" of the school. Half shaved head and all. I looked a little old for my age, I looked about fifteen. My grades slipped and by the time I was thirteen my dad got fired and now works at a paper mill. We now lived in a two bedroom apartment above a little convenience store. My mom now knitted clothes for a few extra dollars. As for the money my dad made from his previous job, well, that he gambled away. I also worked, I swept the floors every day at the market below us, and took out the garbage, for the mere amount of twenty dollars a week. That was the money I used for lunch at the school. I also met a new best friend, her name was KC, for Kathrine Chloe. KC had been through a lot to, a nasty divorce between her parents left her living with a drug addict of a mom, oh, and her dad was in prison for robbery. We would hang out together a lot.

One day at school, the most popular girl in the seventh grade announced there would be a party for the end of the year, all of us were invited. It was at the big barn behind the abandoned farm house at the city borders. My mom had been diagnosed with severe depression recently so in my house nobody cared what I did. My mom was always locked in her room and my dad was off working. So that night I climbed out my window on the second floor of the little apartment building.

In my rebel outfit I ran a mile to the old barn. By the time I got there familiar faces were everywhere. Around the back KC sat smoking, then I noticed the smell, weed. This was the night that would change my life forever.

Thanks for reading the first chapter! The rest of the chapters will be over 2000 words. The story gets much better and in the third chapter it takes a very dark turn. Thanks again for reading! Have a great day/night! (Lol I just started editing this story after almost a year... It's a lot better than it was. Trust me, it get's good!)