Call of the Horses

Chapter 3

I wake up to a horse neighing in the distance. That's the good thing about living in the country, you don't wake up to the sound of car horns or arguing people,  you wake to the sound of horses and cows, tractors or birds.

My head throbs from dehydration and I lay in bed for a while, waiting for the pain to pass. I decide to get up anyway, bad decision. I sit and rub my temple. I find my drink bottle sitting on my bedside table. I grab it and scull the liquid down. Thankfully, the pain subsides and I'm able to get up.

I walk over to my desk and look into my mirror. Tear streaks cover my cheeks, I must of been crying while I slept. I rub my face with my shirt and open my door. A chicken,lettuce and mayonnaise sandwich is on a plate on the ground before my feet. A note is on top of the sandwich.

I open the note and start to read:

Our dearest Darcy,

Your father and I have felt nothing but love towards you and we will never stop loving you. We wanted so much to tell you that your adopted but by law we could only keep it a secret, until now.

You have grown into a beautiful smart girl who knows what you want in life. We only want the best and nothing less for you. I hope you can forgive us for our mistakes and we can continue being a family.

We love you forever,

Mum.

A tear trickles down my nose and onto the paper, making the ink run. She just made leaving ten times harder. But I have to leave.

I eat the sandwich and tuck the note under my pillow. I can see that dad is in the shed fixing some machine. Mum's in the kitchen probably proparing dinner, it is in fact 6:27pm. Mum must hear that I'm up because she soon calls out "Darcy, dinner!".

I take my time walking to the table. I see that the table is already set, mum must feel really guilty if she's doing my chores for me. I try to smile but it probably turns out to look more like a grimace.

Dad comes in and we eat dinner in silence. I don't feel like much due to the sandwich before. Mum and dad don't ask if I'm ok or if I want to talk about our previous conversation.

"May I be excused?" I ask trying not to sound as if I hate them. My mum nods and dad wipes his mouth with his napkin.

I run up the stairs and into my room. I shut the door and jump onto my bed, crying. What am I about to do? How can I leave them? They haven't done anything wrong. But I don't fit in here anymore.

I force myself up and I grap a backpack from under my bed. I throw in a hair brush, tooth brush and paste, a pair of jeans, boots and an extra shirt and two sets of underclothes. I put my phone and phone charger in the front pocket along with my wallet. I empty out my money box which is very full with cash. I never really opened a bank acount. All together I have over a thousand dollars.

I zip the bag shut and hide it at the back if my closet. I put a blanket on top of it in case it gets cold when I leave. I can't pack my pajamas yet because I don't want them to be suspicious of me sleeping in my everyday clothes.

I get changed and change my alarm to go off at 1:00am and quietly, I don't want them to hear me leave. Before I go to bed, I creep down to my parents bedroom. They're downstairs watching tv. I creep into their ènsuit and open the cupboard under the sink.  It takes me a while but I finally find the blonde hair dye my mum usually uses.

I run into the bathroom and turn on the shower.  They won't suspect anything if they think I'm having a shower. I apply the hair dye and let it set. I quickly wash it out not wanting to waste water. I now look like a blonde with brunette highlites.

I run back to my room, thank god I wasn't caught. I quickly wright a note saying that I needed to find my real parents and that I loved them so much and it wasn't their fault. I ran back down to their room and slip the note in my mother's jewelry box, she'll open it tomorrow morning. I run back to my room and double check that I've got everything.

And with that, I was finally able to crawl into bed. I pulled the sheets up to my chin and I silently cried myself to sleep.