The Mind Thieves

Chapter 2

     Sam burst through the school doors breathing a sigh of relief as she felt the cool breeze brush her hot cheeks. She felt like she could finally breathe.

    The atmosphere inside the school created a stifling tension, seemingly choking the life out of her. Although gray, wispy clouds hugged the sky like thin blanket outside, and brown dirt took the place of what use to be vibrant green grass, at least it was an open space undisturbed by the unspoken thoughts of those around her.

    She walked along the side of the gray, desolite road, enjoying the sting of winter air on her bare arms. A black hoodie was folded lazily over one arm, but Sam had no intention of putting it on.

    The sound of her shoes scruffing against the gravel road beneath her lulled her thoughts away and Sam found herself thinking about her family and how they, along with everything else had changed.

    Sam had always considered her mom to be one of her best friends, and although some may have pitied the thought, to Sam, her mom had always been her rock, the one she talked to, laughed with, and didn't have to hide her weirdness from because she had inherited it from her. But in recent months, her mom had become more reserved. Always looking over her shoulder like someone was watching, and looking at everyone around her with mistrust.

    The worst part was when she looked at her like that, with something close to fright in her eyes. Her eyes that had once been so alive with fun and mischief now looked at her as if she were made of glass. As if she would break with one word.

    Her dad was no better. He followed her mom with longing, trying to regain the woman he had married, and in the process he had neglected to remember that he had a kid.

     Distracted in her thoughts, Sam drifted towards the middle of the road to cross the street. A screech sounded from directly behind her and instinctively Sam threw herself to the side of the road, landing hard on her knees.. She felt the pull of the car as it skidded past her, missing her by less than a foot.

    Expletives were thrown out the window at her as the car sped off leaving a cloud of dust in its wake.

    Sam stood up shaking from where she had tumbled to her knees. A new hole had been added to one knee of her jeans, but she thought nothing of it; half her closet consisted of worn, holey items. She shook her head at her own stupidity and this time looked carefully down the hazy road before making her way across it, the forming scabs on her knees pulling apart and tightening again with every step.

    Imagine if she had been hit. That would have been the perfect way to draw unwanted attention to herself.

    Sam eventually found herself climbing the rickety porch steps to her house. Her mom and her dad had bought the tiny house when they found out they were pregnant with her. It was small and falling apart in a lot of areas, but before the disease, this neighborhood had been thriving and full of friends, enough to make her family stick around.

    Sam jiggled the door knob a little bit and the door eventually swung open, groaning on its rusty hinges. Her parents were still at work, so she had the place to herself for a few hours.

    Grabbing a snack of Oreos and orange juice, Sam plopped herself down on the couch and pulled out her phone. Pulling up facetime, she called the one person she could actually talk to, someone she looked forward to seeing towards the end of everyday.

    When Sam was in the fourth grade her teacher had assigned everyone in the class a “pen pal”. Every week they would write a letter to their own pal, and every week they would receive one in return. Back then, Sam had been so excited to have a “mysterious” friend to talk to.