Control Me

Chapter 1

Sky grabbed the last box from her stack and unpacked the last of her clothes into the closet in her dorm room while Carol continued to talk on the phone. Probably talking to one of her stuck up friends that she cares more about than her dad anyway. Sigh. I am so ready for her to leave. Don't know why dad told her to come with me anyway. As Sky finished putting her hoodies in the drawer, the door to her room opened and a petite brunette with a pixie hair cut came in with some bags. She looked like a goth chick with thick, black eyeliner under her eyes and wore dark clothes.

"You the new roommate?" she said.

Sky sat up, looked back at her and nodded, "Yes I am. I'm Skylar but you can call me Sky."

"Danni. Don't touch my stuff and we'll be able to live together." With that, Danni put her bags on her side of the room on her bed then left. 

Great. First day of college and I already got a bitchy roommate. Sky shook her head, finished putting away the rest of her belongings, and went to the bathroom. It was very frustrating living like this day to day. People telling her what to do and no one cared about her. Not anymore. Ever since her brother, Chase, died a few months ago, a part of her died as well. No one cared like he did. Always there to bring a smile to her face when her thoughts got dark. He shared her pain of having bipolar depression which made it easier to talk to him about her problems and vice versa. It's not fair and she has been living with this disease for so long that dying doesn't seem so bad anyway. Everyone who cared for Sky died around her anyway. Chase. Mom. What did she have to live for? As dark thoughts continue to consume her, her cellphone rang and saw it was her dear old dad. 

"Hey dad."

"Hey. How's college so far?" he said.

"I finished unpacking and my roommate's an ass. I'm still upset you couldn't come."

He sighed heavily, "I know I know. Work is really trying me. I have all these court cases I couldn't miss. You understand don't you? I'll come by next week to take you out."

It was painful enough having to deal with Carol here and listen to her go on about her successful friends' daughters. It hurt even worse when her dad couldn't even come to help her unpack on her first day of college. It wasn't even her idea to enroll to college in the first place. Dad always worked so hard and barely had time for her, so she tried not to let him not being here affect her. But it did. 

He couldn't know how much it did, so she spoke lowly and bit her lip to hold off the tears, "Alright dad, I'm going to go take a nap and get ready to look around campus."

"Great! That's the spirit. Alright I'll talk to you soon."

"Alright dad. I love you."

"You too. Okay, goodbye." He hung up the phone quickly before she could say anything. She looked at her phone and saw a text from Carol saying she left. The pain in her heart hurt too much to care about the whereabouts of that woman. Sky nodded in acceptance to her dad's lack of acknowledgment about his only daughter's emotions then headed out the bathroom. The heartache she felt was so exposed, she needed to get out of sight. She went to her bed and pulled the covers over her head to silently cry without anyone seeing her. This was her safe place. All she wanted was to feel loved again. To feel needed. Ever since her mom died four years ago from cancer, its like the love from her dad was barely there. Once Chase died, the love was barely existent that it was like a distant shadow. Sky knew her dad loved her, but she couldn't feel it as much as she did when Chase and mom were alive. 

All he could do was try to stay strong for her as time passed and make sure she had everything she needed. Food, water, education; everything but what she really needed, love. Dad remarried a year after mom died to a woman named Carol and Sky despised her ever since she saw her. Dad lived pretty wealthy with his job as a Trial Lawyer and that's exactly why someone as stuck up as Carol would ever marry him. Money. That's all it took and he had loads of it and their beautiful, three-story home with the sweetest maid in the world, Magdalene. It was no assumption that Carol only wanted dad for his money but Sky has yet to prove it. So, she barely tolerated her until she had sufficient evidence to prove her gold digging ways.   

As she laid in her bed, she heard Danni walked in their room again. There was rustling like a bag of chips being opened and the smell of weed traveled to her senses. She smokes too. Great. Sky tried to fall asleep but the strong smell of weed was enhanced once she heard Danni light the end of it. She frustratingly got up from her bed, tossed on her hoodie and sweats with her shoes, and walked out the room with her hood covering her head. A buffy looking guy walked down the hallway and glanced at her.

"Hey red head. Tryna have a good time?" he said with the stench of beer on his breath. Sky ignored him and pulled the hood over her head more. She walked faster while looking down at the ground hearing him once more, "Your loss!" then heard a door open and close.

Not looking where she was going, Sky tripped over someone's foot and fell to the ground rolling over onto her back then fought the air as she huffed. "Great." 

"Oh my gosh, talk about cluts of the year." The girl she tripped on walked over her and laughed with her friends down the hall as she spoke over her shoulder, "The woods is not too far from here! Live there ya cluts!" 

After that embarrassing moment, Sky got up and quickly walked to the girls' bathroom locking herself in a stall and sat on the toilet seat. She rubbed her head in agitation then sighed, "Great start for the first day of college, Skylar."

The girl putting on makeup while looking in the mirror overheard her and spoke out, "You okay in here?"

"Huh? Oh, no but I'll be okay", Sky claimed as she shakenly wiped the tears from her face. Was she a walking target? Did no one think of her as anything but a lifeless person?

"It's okay. Just the first four years of your life. It'll get better." 

"Thanks." Sky didn't believe in the crap people said when they don't really know her. It may be genuine but the last thing she needed was for people to tell her that life will get better. Heard it. Got the t-shirt. She grabbed some toilet paper and blew her nose after sniffing. I need to get some kind of courage if I'm going to last four years in this hellhole. Sky gathered the dignity she had left and walked out the stall still keeping her hood on and washed her hands. 

"There she is! Cheer up. There's a sidewalk where people get fresh air and jog next to campus. Just get some fresh air." 

"Thank you again." Sky said as she give her a small side smile and walked out behind her. Fresh air may be what she needed. Being cooped up in this sex and drug infested college was too much to bare on the first day. As she walked on the sidewalk, she saw a group of girls jogging and giggling. Suddenly, another jogger flew past her with his hood on and almost knocked her over. What the hell? Who was that?  Sky made an annoyed face and continued to walk. This... isn't so bad. She tuned everything out and kept walking while lowly singing the song her mom had sung to her as a kid. Even though she was thrown into so many crappy hoops so far on her first day at college, today might not be so bad. After all, she was finally free from Carol. 

While Sky enjoyed her walk, her phone rang and she groaned. "Speak of the devil." She answered the call, "Hello."

"Hello Skylar. This is your stepmom. Just checking if you got in ok. I didn't get a call from your father." Carol said.

"Yeah Carol I got in. He called he's at a court case." Why in the world would she call me about my dad? This woman gets weirder by the minute. 

"Yes well. He is busy. I'm sure he thought of you, but anyway make sure you attend those classes we're paying for but not too much of the cafeteria food. We don't want you too big," she chuckled. "Briana's mother just said her daughter is already signing up for three clubs."

It took a lot of patience not to go off on her. And you know what? That timer just went off as she said, "Well that's wonderful for Briana but that has nothing to do with me. And I'm not big at all. If I want to eat, I fucking will!" With that, she hung up on a huff and sat down on a nearby bench covering her face. It was no secret Carol knew Sky didn't like her. She was horrible to live with. All she does is have garden parties with her pretentious friends and constantly try to put Sky in her image, but Sky rebelled. Even when her dad tried to plea with her that Carol is a good woman, Sky didn't listen. Who listens to that woman? She's demented! She guessed that's the beauty of going to college. She doesn't have to deal with crappy stepmothers or oblivious fathers. 

Maybe college isn't so bad after all.