All My Sins

A bath

; )

DISCLAIMER: This story contains mature themes and content including: Taboo/Age-gap/Sexual Content/Drug-use/Substance Ab*se/Child Ab*se/Violence. 

Mrs. Vincent had finally gone into labor, unfortunately for her, it happened in her high school classroom.
The classroom of young adults caused a great commotion, all except for one student. One girl who had fallen asleep, with a long mess of curls draped across the desk, remained silent and still.
They all rushed out of the dreary, brown classroom and flooded into the hallway. An ambulance soon arrived and everyone rejoiced, more so for the fact that they would be freed from the reigns of their actual teacher for the rest of the school year.

Later, the sleeping girl, Maureen, was awoken by another classmate.

She pulled her hair away from her face. Drawn up her arms and cheeks were indention lines from her jacket which pressed into her skin while she'd slept.  Maureen pulled her backpack over her shoulder and walked out into the parking lot all alone. Then she drove home.

"Mrs. Vincent went into labor today." She told her mother at the dinner table.

"Oh yeah? Do you know if it is a boy or a girl yet?"

"No, I had fallen asleep when it all happened."

Maureen's mother scowled and gave her a stern look, "What grade do you even have in there now? Every time I hear about this class you tell me you slept-"

"An A." Maureen said affirmatively, and her father smirked from the head of the table.

"Where do you get all of this time to sleep and maintain that?"

"It's a C level class... Mrs. Vincent moves slower for the rest of the class, while I'm ahead."

"You should have let her take the advanced college courses, Jillian." Her father added.

"Just because she does okay in English doesn't mean she should be taking all college courses. Next year she can take advanced, and we'll talk about the college courses."

Maureen sat back and continued to eat while her parents further discussed her  future plans.

"Things are going to be even slower now that Mrs. Vincent is gone, though. I'd rather have her than a sub giving out busy work."

"Well, this will give you a chance to catch up on your reading." Her father, who always tried to keep her from getting too down about things, attempted to console her.

She smiled kindly at him, and a few minutes later she went to wash up for bed.
The water was a little too hot but she dropped a sud bomb into the water. She sat at the edge of the tub and ran her finger tips over the steaming surface, watching it simmer to a fizz and bubble.
Once the entire tub had turned a deep red, she stepped in. It was so hot, her feet and calves burned, but she proceeded to immerse herself into the little pool of crimson water.
She closed her eyes and relaxed her muscles, allowing the toxins of her day to dissipate into the sweltering air.

Beside the tub was a basket filled with books and magazines, she pulled out a copy of The Old Man and the Sea, and began to scan the pages.
At first she was unsure as to whether or not she wanted to delve into another book.
Maureen was a lonely girl. Most days she spoke fewer than a dozen words. She lived in her own soul with all of the characters and imaginary companions that she had ever read about or pulled from the depths of her heart. For the most part she liked it that way, but sometimes it all exhausted her, reading; Taking in more words than she would ever put out.
However, she ended up reading till her eyes had grown weary that night, she'd become so distracted by her task that she had not realized how cold the water had become.
She dried herself off and went to bed.