Softly

My mother hands me a novel and tells me to read it once she is gone. The title makes no sense My Life As A Story, and explained how one day my life would appear as this story. My life isn't a story; far from it actually. I grew up in the small town of Mi-Wuk Village in California with a population of about 941. It's small for California, but we get by.

There is a lot of older people, as well as younger. The age range is mainly in the fourty to fifty age range typically with older children, occasionally we will get people in their late twenties, early thirties with a few smaller children, but other than that it's mainly us older kids.

My best friend Anna is seventeen, like me. We both are from Hawaii and we try to stay true to our heritage but sometimes the pizza shop calls for us. It's nice though, we buy the pineapple pizza with ham. It's super yummy.

Jackson, my younger brother, is fifteen. Like most kids his age, he is trying to fit in. He changes his style every month, so we have twelve designs sitting in his closet. I think he's trying too hard to fit in, but I can't control him.

And me, Arianna. I prefer to be called Ari (pronounced air-ey, if that makes sense). I live for summers. Summer is the one time I get to run around barefoot, in shorts and cute crop tops. Last summer, my mother let me get my belly pierced with a cute little anchor piece. It's rare to see that around here, but like mother like daughter I wanted to stand out.

And so I did. It all statred the summer before my eleventh grade year. I was outside with some friends around the neighbor hood. Anna, Jackson, Hayden and I was sitting around eating icecream and watching the ducks at the local park. Hayden's face furrows and he starts to get up, us being us we decide to follow him. Hayden sighs and turns to look at us.

"I wonder what it's like to be free, like them," he points to the ducks and frowns.

"Hay, dude, we are free." Jackson shakes his head at Hayden and laughs softly.

"You don't understand," a single tear falls out of his eye and instantly I decide to step in.

"Hay, do you wanna go to the swings?" I ask, trying to cheer him up. "It's really close by." He looks back at me and nods. For a moment, his worries are gone and I'm glad for that moment I can help him.

Hayden is abused. He desperately wants out of his home, and most nights he comes to see me when his father is laying passed out on the couch. The poor kid is scared and is longing for the freedom like the ducks, I guess. Hayden, although he is severely abused, sees the beauty in everything. That's what I love the most about him. He seems to know what value life holds and how he can one day change it, and I believe he can.

Hello, this is a non-fanfic story I hope to accomplish soon! This is just a preview that introduces you to the characters and hopefully see some insight into some of their lives. Where I hope to go with this is people will know about it. I hope you all enjoy! My update schedual will be as follows: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday for this story and Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday for my fanfictions. This is JUST A GENERAL IDEA! Please keep in mind, I work all day at a preschool and I have a life outside of wattpad. The reason the stories get 4 days is so it's even. If i miss any days please don't be mad at me.