isle nome - book one

chapter one

I wasn't exactly sure how to react at first. I had just been kicked out of my family because I attempted to murder my sister and was the cause for my mother's death, and everyone hated me. What would a normal person do? I sure as hell wouldn't know. And I am pretty fucking sure there isn't a telephone support line for this. And so, I did what only I would do. I visited a park. I stopped at Victorian Park and sat on one of the abandoned benches off to the side of the park that no one except rowdy skateboarders went to. Victorian Park was known for having lush gardens and beautiful paths to walk through, but it was also known for the gangs that usually stalked through and sold drugs. But there were two sides to the park, one side with the gardens, filled with happy families feeding ducks and old men reading newspapers and joggers listening to their music. That was the North side. And then there was the side of the drugs that got passed between silent hands, and fistfights. I ended up at the drugs side, and eventually willed myself to get up, and started walking through the crowds of teens with skateboards in one hand and cigars in the other. Here was the South. I had been to this side of the park before, but it had been years. I walked up to a guy in a artfully ripped grey t-shirt with a logo of a triangle with a rainbow crossing through it. It was obvious that he was one of the drug sellers, and his bright blue hair made him stand out even more. His back was turned to me. I silently whispered in his ear. Without turning around, he held out his hand behind him. I grabbed a couple bucks I found stuffed in my pocket and handed it to him. He passed me a couple cigarettes and I walked away. I hadn't smoked before, just once when Felix offered me one when I was 15, but that's Felix and he had been smoking since he was 12. I tried it then, but just ended up coughing for an hour and Circe chastising me for trying it. I figured now was a pretty good time to start smoking, seeing my current condition. Eve Viper, the princess, was homeless, with nothing except for the cigarettes in her hands and the clothes on her back. I went to some teen there and touched the end of my unlit cigarette onto his and took a bit of his fire. He smiled, a drunken smile, and then it occurred to me that he was probably flat out drunk. As were the rest of these people. I took in a long drag of the cigarette and held in my instinct to cough my lungs out. I breathed slower and took a couple more long breaths of the cigarette until it felt normal and I felt the mind numbing effect of the it and it calmed me. I turned on my heel and walked out of the small crowd of teens, shoving the other cigarettes inside my pocket. I groped in my pocket for my phone and frowned. I had left that on my night stand, but it was probably for the better. That way they couldn't track me. I wasn't sure what that made me feel. They were my family, the people I trusted my life to. The people I trusted most in the world, my friends, my life. And they forced me out. I sat on the ground, I didn't care how many people stared at me with disapproval. I took another long drag of the cigarette and closed my eyes as I blew it out. I replayed the events of the day in my mind, trying to process through the haze of the drugs what happened and why.

10:00 a.m.

Nathan storms into my room. I groan and flip over to check the time on my desk. 10:00. I wince and bury my face deep inside my pillow.

"Why up so early?" I groan again, and cover my face with the pillow.

"Shut the fuck up, Eve. I could've woken you up much more violently."

"I don't doubt you," I say, continuing to cover my face with the pillow and wondering how exactly I would rip off Nathan's head in his sleep.

"You want to kill me, don't you?"

"I don't want to kill you. I just want to severely injure you to the point of no recovery."

I toss the covers off and get up.

"Nathan, just leave," I grumble, my morning breath hitting me hard.

"No, Evangeline. Not until you tell me what the fuck your problem is with us. Why can't you just go back to being suicidal? I don't even understand why we stopped you."