Paradox

Down the Hatch

This is it.

I'm finished with all of this crap I have to deal with because of everyone else.

SLAM. I stomp out of the house as I can still hear my mom screaming my name because of something dad did. Not me. But of course, I get blamed for it. That's how it always goes.

"NORA! NORA! YOU GET YOUR ASS BACK IN THIS HOUSE RIGHT NOW YOU SPOILED LITTLE B*TCH!"

I feel the tears coming but I suck it up and continue walking away.

Sorry. I should start from the beginning and explain myself. My mother is the daughter of a notorious criminal, Mike Winston: the man that ruined my life. My father is an alcoholic with serious issues who can't seem to do anything right. Between those two, my mom has gone crazy and can't wait to throw all the blame on me. So I've always been a problem. This life had made me so miserable that I'm depressed, but no one knows except me.

I broke into a run, thinking about how terrible that woman treats me. If she doesn't love me, then who will? What's the point of being alive anymore? Minutes feel like seconds as I run further and further from that hell hole of a place. My surroundings blur from shades of gray to green. I get so caught up in my thoughts, that I don't notice a tree root sticking out of the ground. First, the ground is five feet away, then it's right next to my face.
***
When I open my eyes, I'm staring at the sky layered with branches. "Ugh", I groan, rolling over and standing up. I look around and take in my surroundings. I'm in the middle of nowhere in a forest that I've never seen before. I turn around to see what I tripped over, but all I can see is the green, mossy floor of the woods. "What the...". There was a tiny glint underneath the moss of the sunset reflecting off- "Metal?", I say, scrambling to peel back the moss that was laying there. Someone had taken moss and laid it on top of this...hatch. Curious, and with nothing better to do, I began working to pry open the hatch. Ten minutes of hard work later, and the metal handle let loose of the many years of rust keeping it shut.

I peered down a dark hole, with a ladder on one side and who knows what on the other. I decided that, with a shrug of my shoulders, and a "What the hell.", I was going to see what was down there.

One foot at a time, I carefully crawled down the seemingly neverending hole. Once I reached the bottom, I pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight. The tunnel around me lit up, illuminating the damp path ahead. I kept walking for about a half a mile until a dark metal door slowly came into view. I felt like I was in a movie and this was the part where the main character finds something that, after seeing, they would never be the same. Honestly, I thought, how could I get any worse. I pocketed my phone and, using all of my strength, I turned the wheel like the ones on vault doors.

The thick door swung open, and I suddenly felt what the movie characters felt.

"Holy sh*t..."