Everything Has Changed

Before

Everyone had always said I was incredibly smart. True, I aced all my tests and got perfect scores on SOL's but everyone could do that if they wanted to. Right? But a 14 year old girl doesn't want to hear that she's smart, she wants to hear that she's beautiful and talented. So when my parents made me focus all of my time on studying and schoolwork, I HATED IT! I started rebelling. I would sneak out of the house late at night and wander in the woods to my secret spot near a rock that no one could ever find me at, then slip into my house unnoticed as the morning light broke across the ground. But after a year of that I wanted my parents to notice. I would stay out there hidden among the huge boulder for hours, even days at a time. After staying out there for 3 days my parents finally filed a missing persons case and I came home a day later. They put me on restrictions and put deadbolt locks all around the windows and doors so I couldn't get out of the house. I locked myself in my room after a while of aimlessly wandering around the house. The other day I had found a vent under my bed, barely big enough for me to fit through. So I locked my door, put all my furniture against it, and started clawing at the vent. It wasn't long before my nails were broken and bleeding and my fingers were screaming in protest. I kept clawing and clawing and eventually the rusty old screw came off. So I slipped through and gently placed the vent back on top. And just like that I began my journey as a free woman climbing through the disgusting, rancid tunnel.