Forbidden

Prologue

She stood there with a stack of papers in her hand. He, quiet and standing still, accepted them. Tears slowly appeared out of the man's eyes. The little girl just sat watching at the edge of the staircase. That little girl was me, Scarlett Miller. At the time I didn't understand, but now as I sit in the back of my father's car, I do. Soon after that day my mother took her stuff and left, not to be seen again. She left my father in agony, in the middle of our Los Angeles apartment, not knowing how to pay the bills.

Now we are leaving our small apartment to move in with our grandmother, who lives in the small town of Oakland, California. It may not be that far away from home but it sure is a long drive.

"Is everything ok back there?" My father called out from the driver's seat.

"Yea I guess." I said hanging my head low.

"Don't worry hun, we will be there soon alright?"

For another hour we just sat there silently waiting for the car ride to end. Honestly it was quite upsetting having to leave everybody behind in Los Angeles. I didn't have many friends, but the ones that I did have were the happiness in my life. Charlie, my best friend, was there for me when my parents got a divorce and she has been by my side since the 4th grade. Alex, my ex-boyfriend, was still in our friend group after we broke up. Our breakup wasn't considered "messy" as you would consider most break ups. After our break up we became closer, better friends.

"We are here" I heard my father say from behind the wheel. As soon as I looked up I saw the small house we were staying in. The outside was colorful with red roses and poinsettias. There was a thin metal gate around the perimeter of it. The house was made out of maroon bricks and metal slacks on the roof.

After sitting there, thinking to myself for a minute, my grandmother quickly ran out of the house ecstatic to see our father. Soon after there was an embracive hug between the two. Through the closed door of the car I could hear her soft voice admiring my father. I couldn't help but laugh to myself thinking of how long it has been since we've seen her. My younger brother, Joseph, quickly got out of the car and ran over to our grandmother, squeezing her tightly. He was closer to her than I was. He was only 6 months old when my mother left so the only female figure he could ever look up to was her. Me on the other hand, I didn't really think about her too much, the last time that I saw her was when I was 12, about 5 years ago.

After about 5 minutes of sitting in the car I decided to step out to see her. She smiled softly and I did the same back before giving her a small hug. There was very little of emotion exchanged between us. I didn't really think that she liked me that much, considering that I was so much like my mother, who she now despised.

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It's about 3 hours after we arrived at our grandmother's house. We completely unpacked the car already and settled into our new rooms. My room was on the second floor and it was the smallest room in the house. Despite its small size it was still big enough for me to put everything inside of it. I had pale white walls and two small windows. One window faced the road and the second one faced the house next door. Both windows had reading nooks so I decided to open the box with my computer in it. I took it out of the box and sat next to one of the windows. I opened it up and started to write. I wrote for hours on end sometimes, depending on my mood. Today was one of those days.

I sat there for another 3 hours just typing away on my laptop. Listening to my fingers hit the keys softly, I wrote about my entire life. Everything up to this moment. The details from the moment I arrived to my grandmother's house, to the moment where I sat here.

I looked at the clock and noticed it was already 11 o'clock at night. I softly closed my computer and decided it was time to go to sleep. As I got up I saw slight movement outside my window. As I looked outside I saw the house next door. Through the window was a young man who looked about my age. He stood there, shirtless. I tried to look away but I couldn't, and quickly he caught me staring. I quickly moved away from the window and shut my curtains. Breathing heavily I turned off my light and got into bed. I just stared at the ceiling hoping he didn't go to my new school.

Soon after the thoughts left my mind and I slowly fell asleep.