Cursed

Chapter I

Chapter I:

I had mastered the art of sneaking out.

Even though the crazy lady had a lock on every window and room in the house, and an alarm system that so much as screamed as soon as I stepped outside of my bedroom, I'd managed to find a way to sneak out of the nearly impenetrable house.

It wasn't easy, and it was a skill that I didn't master until I was thirteen. Until then, the outside world was a mystery to me. I watched from my rooftop as everyone lived their lives as they pleased while I lived mine by three simple rules.

Rule Number 1: NEVER leave the house.

Rule Number 2: NEVER speak to anyone.

Rule Number 3: NEVER show anyone your Mark

To put it plainly, I lived a very simple and extremely boring existence because my mother was the town nut job, who believed that there were people that wanted to take me from her. She never explained who these people were, and because no one has ever interrupted my very uneventful, very boring life, I assumed that the people of our town were correct. My mom is a looney toon.

I loved her more than life itself though—even if she wasn't the brightest Crayola in the pack. She cared for me, and vice versa. We took care of each other.

Still, I knew that she wasn't completely right in the head. She was paranoid that someone—or something was after us. She never told me what she was so frightened of, and eventually I just stopped asking because I knew I wouldn't get a straight answer.

She had a whole life I didn't know about. For as long as I could remember, it has just been her and me. I didn't know who my father was, and that seemed to be another secret from her past life because no matter how many times I asked, she wouldn't crack. I didn't know any of my relatives, and I just assumed her parents were dead because she never spoke of them, and I never received a birthday or Christmas card from them.

Or anyone for that matter. But it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered to me was what I was doing now: escaping.

I put my hand on the skylight and pushed it up. The alarm system wasn't connected to it because it wasn't supposed to be able to come out. Over time the seal around the skylight began to loosen and I kept pushing and pushing it until it finally became loose enough to push all the way open.

It was my escape.

I gripped the edge as pulled myself out onto the roof, grunting as I did so. I had zero upper body strength so doing so wasn't an easy task for me.

The fresh smell of outside hit me, and I smiled.

With the balance of professional gymnast, I silently crept across the roof. My mother wasn't a deep sleeper, and a simple sound would cause her to wake up. She would catch me and my skylight would be sealed, and I would never get a chance to breathe fresh air ever again.

Once I reached the end of my roof, I climbed down the vine and plopped on the ground before looking around.

I hated the plain neighborhood more than anything. For years, the houses was the only piece of the outside world that I had ever seen. It would've been okay if the houses looked different, but nope, all of the houses on my block looked exactly the same.

Humming quietly to myself, I walked into the trees. There was something so beautiful about the forest at night. It never slept. There was some types of critter scurrying across the grassy floors or an owl sitting on a tree branch, watching. It was what I loved about it. I can only leave the house after my mom falls asleep, which can range from 12am to 2am, depending on what time she finishes working, and at that time, no one is awake. No one human anyway.