Troubled With Tattoos

001: What Life Came To

Troubled With Tattoos

Chapter One:

What Life Came To

I ran for as long as I could without winding myself, and then I walked. It grew dark out, the wind picked up, dark clouds covered the sky and all I had was some change left in my bag from lunch. My sweatshirt wasn't enough to keep me warm, droplets of rain sprinkled out of the sky. I had become too numb to feel anything other than the rain drops.

Deep down I had to have known this day would come. I knew that my mother would have one of her psychotic episodes when my dad wouldn't be there to save me. I had one person to call, one person I knew would always have my back.

I took my phone out of my pocket dialing one of the only numbers I knew by heart. Aunt Sharon.

She picked up on the second ring answering cheerfully. "Violet, I haven't heard from you in a few months. Is everything OK?"

My mouth opened and closed but couldn't come up with anything to say.

"Violet? Are you there hun?" she spoke through the line nervously.

"Yeah, sorry," I snapped out of the mind space I was stuck in. 

"Are you okay? Do you need me to get you?" she asked. Sharon had always been like a motherly figure to me. We grew closer after my mother took the psychotic route.

"Yes," I answered to the second question. I hated hearing "Are you okay?" because it just reminded me that I wasn't. These last few months everyone kept asking if I was okay but none of them actually cared. My friends at school had given me too much space, I now sat alone in the cafeteria and never had a lab partner. When I needed everyone the most, no one was there. I had been there for Janelle when her golden Labrador had died. I was there when she couldn't fall asleep because her bed felt too empty without him. I had been there for Desiree when her father was put in jail for rape. I had been there when she had to tell her story to the entire court room for the hundredth time. But, no one was here for me.

"Where are you sweetheart?" she asked wasting no time. I felt the slightest bit relieved, to have someone. Having no one for so long makes you wonder why you're even here in the first place.

I gave her the street name, telling her I'd wait inside one of the karaoke places we had. She only lived about thirty minutes away. I stepped into the karaoke place, wishing I was one of those teenagers singing terribly off-tune, wishing I could forget how much my life sucked for just one night.

I found my thoughts drifting to my mother. What if I accidentally killed her? What if she really didn't mean to cut my arm? I gasped looking down to see that my sweatshirt was stained at the spot. With my adrenaline running through veins, I had completely forgotten about this cut.

A horn beeped from outside, and I recognized it as the old red car Sharon would always drive. Her windshield wipers were going crazy, swishing the rain away.

I jogged out of the building despite my bruises screaming in pain. I opened her car door plopping down in the passenger seat ignoring my ringing ears and my pounding headache. I let out a big breath of relief, when do you ever really feel safe?

"What happened V?" She asked using the nickname she gave me a long time ago. I shook my head, it's not that I didn't want to tell her, I just didn't know how. She pulled away from the building bringing me to her home.

"My mother..." I began but I didn't know where to start. What do I say? After Ashton's' death, her sister went completely insane and just tried to kill me?