Sandstorm {Discontinued}{Rewritten}

Interlude #1

Sometimes Anita hated her mother. She felt awful thinking it, but it was the truth. The woman spent years crying over how much her life sucked, as if her family wasn't good enough. As if she wasn't good enough. Then, one night she just leaves all together without so much as a goodbye. And she wondered why Anita and her brother Daren had chosen to live with their father?

Anita rolled her eyes, slamming the thick math book shut. She'd been trying to study for the test next week for the last three hours without prevail. Trying to continue would be utterly useless, when her mind was in such a foggy state. The only thing she could focus on was how her mother had just vanished earlier that night. Besides, it was well past one in the morning anyways. She was tired and beyond moody.

Anita pushed herself out of the chair she'd been sitting in for the last thirty minutes, flopping down on her bed a moment later. But when she closed her eyes, she couldn't sleep, her mind swarming with all sort of thoughts. Her dad had given her some lame excuse about her mom going traveling with a group of people to 'find herself.' But Anita didn't believe any of it. She thought her mother was just trying to get away from the rest of them.

She had never cared about any of them. Clearly. Otherwise, why else would she keep pushing them away? Why would she be so depressed, if they had actually meant something to her?

She sighed, rubbing her eyes and groaning softly, exhausted beyond belief. It had been ages since she'd stayed up this late. Anita was generally considered a good kid. She didn't stay up past ten, if she could help it, and she always did well in school. No matter what. Failure to get an A was not an option! Unlike her brother.

Daren was constantly goofing off. He never took anything seriously, and he never turned anything in on time, despite Anita constantly telling him he needed to do well in school if he wanted to go anywhere in life. (It wasn't like their mother was going to do it, was she?) He was lucky if he passed any of his classes with a C. He was such a goofy child, Anita wasn't sure how the heck he'd survive the real world.

Anita buried her head in the pillow, climbing under the covers. Her head was pounding from the stress of it all. She just wanted to run away, forget about it. Just like her mom had. Not forever, of course. She did have plans for herself, after all. All she wanted was a small break to get her head on straight. Little did she know that she would get the chance to do just that the very next day...

{~}

The trouble started during the  fifth period history class. Anita was sitting lazily at her desk, head in her hands. She yawned, just barely able to focus on the lecture Mr. Key was giving on the Aztecs.

School had been especially dull all day, and this class had been dragging on for twenty minutes, now. Normally, she would have been more focused and attentive, but since her mother's latest suicide attempt Anita hadn't much felt like paying attention. All she could think was why?

Why was she never good enough? She only ever tried to do her best. To make her mother proud of her, to make her happy. But it was never good enough. She was always discontent. Anita could never figure out what she was doing wrong, and she hated it. Was she too uptight? Was she not care free enough for her? Did she not do good enough in school? Was it something she'd said? Something she'd done?

Well, Anita thought bitterly. I guess I'll never find out.

She'd just run off...hardly saying anything to anyone. All she left was some bullshit text about how she'd been planning to off herself. That was the last Anita had ever really heard of her mother. The last thing she'd heard her say. (Or text.)