Ambition; c.d. #wattys2017

Chapter 2

Emma's POV

I stand in the crowd of people as the light chatter starts to fade away once people see that speaker grabbing the microphone. He's about to announce the winner and I have hope that I won.

"Alright now. May I have everyone's attention" he begins to say as his eyes scan the small crowd of people.

The talking fully stops and the people are fully attentive and ready for him to speak.

"Okay so we are about to draw the winners name out, remember, the winner gets a $50 dollar Starbucks gift card and a $1000 dollar prize."

He uses his free hand and reaches into the bowl of paper that has the contestants names written on them.

His hand settled on a piece of paper and he grabs it out of the bowl. He begins to unfold it and opens his mouth to speak.

"The winner is..... Emma Locke!" He exclaims and I can't help but smile.

The crowd starts to clap as I make my way up to the front.

I verify that I am indeed Emma Locke and he gives me the prizes after making me sign some papers. I leave the Starbucks happy that I've won but mostly happy that this is the beginning to a better life.

**********

Later on I go back home to see my mother asleep on the couch without a care in the world. I sigh as  I go up to my room and gather some items into a duffle bag. I throw in any nice clothes that I have, hair items, toothbrush, shoes and everything else I feel like I will need.

I go to the kitchen and look in the almost empty cabinets. I found a granola bar and took it with me. I took a bottle and filled it with water and took that along as well.

I took one last look at my mom. The woman who caused me so much pain. I soon left out the house and closed the door behind me, reminding myself that Its for the best.

**********

I found myself on a bus going to California. It was late in the afternoon now since I had to go from bus to bus, each bus taking a while to arrive at each stop. I used the money that I had won to pay, yet still having enough left.

My eyes were heavy and I was very tired. I started to doze off to sleep despite my lazy efforts to stay awake.

-

"Chino Hills, California. Last stop."

I was awoken my the sound of the driver speaking. I took a sip of my water and made my way off the bus realizing I had no where to go.

I didn't think my plan out at all. I just knew I wanted to leave and I did. Here I am, free... But now what?

I started to just walk. I looked at my watch and saw the time was 11:23 pm.

I held onto my bag as I found myself in a neighborhood with a lot of houses that looked similar to one another.

Feeling as if I was going in a circle, my head started to hurt extremely and I was getting very dizzy. My legs hurt until the gave up on me and I fell and blacked out on the side of the street.

******************

I woke up in a house on a bed. I looked on the floor and saw my bag. I shot up from the bed looking around.

I saw a boy sitting at a desk on a computer, with his back turned. I honestly had no idea how I got here.

"Hello?" I said, slightly afraid.

He turned around and faced me. He had dark brown hair that sticked out a little and he looked around my age.

"Oh um hey. This may seem weird but I saw you passed out in my lawn when I was taking out my trash. I couldn't just leave you there so I took you and your bag inside and put you on my bed."

I fully sat up in my bed and held onto my forehead. It had a bump on it. I must have hit something when I fell.

"Thank you... I'm sorry I passed out on your property I mean I was really tired and I don't remember what happened." I explained to him.

"Oh its okay" he said smiling at me.

"Well I guess i should get going" I said getting out of the bed.

"Do you have anywhere to go?" he asked worriedly.

I picked up my bag.

"No actually..."

"You can stay here? Only if you want to.." he said carefully.

"Really? You don't have to do this I mean I can find a hotel or something" I told him. I don't want to seem like a burden.

"No its okay, I want to. I only live with my aunt so I'm sure she won't mind."

I smiled at him. "Thank you"

"You're welcome. I'm Cameron by the way" he said grinning widely.

"I'm Emma."