Stars

Chapter One

The darkness surrounded me and I walked forward slowly as I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

I stopped and looked up at the night sky blanketed with stars. The night breeze brushed through my hair gently. My body slowly relaxed.

Voices yelled from my house and the tension returned to my shoulders. They were always fighting. Always dragging me into it.

My aunt and uncle were never perfect. But they weren't always like this. They were good. Loving. Now all they could do was pick fights with me and each other. I doubted they even noticed that I was no longer in the room.

"Oh, enough of that!" Aunt Viv screamed. "Farryn was supposed to clean the truck this time, but she's a teenager! She doesn't listen!"

"You were supposed to tell her!" Dave yelled back. "But now she's probably sulking in her room!"

I wasn't sulking in my room. Not that Dave would care.

Moments later, a door slammed and all went silent.

I sat on the damp grass and leaned back against the fence as I took another deep breath.

The fights started becoming unbearable to the point I just needed to get out. But since we were in a tiny neighborhood and we were miles from anything, I couldn't go anywhere else.

So I sat outside and soaked in the fresh air of the night. After a time, I went into the dark house and went to bed.

Tomorrow was another day.

* * *

Viv stopped the car in front of the school and I pulled my bag over my shoulder.

"Have a good day, Farryn."

I tried offering a smile. "Yeah, you too. See you tonight." I climbed out and she pulled away.

Viv was the better of the two, so I tried staying on her side as much as possible. The fights were still a common occurrence.

I trudged into the school, wishing I could just graduate already. It was only the middle of October, so there was still too much of the school year left.

"Farryn, Farryn, Farryn!" Lisa was suddenly in front of me bouncing excitedly. Her pixie cut copper hair bounced with her movement. Today she wore her blue rimmed glasses.

"What, what, what?"

"I get to decorate the gym for the Halloween party!" She grinned. "Isn't that awesome?!"

I smiled. "Yeah, that's great, Lisa."

"I know. I finally get to show off my skill. Interior design, look out." She hooked her arm through mine. "So how was your weekend?"

I shrugged it off. "Boring." I checked the time. "Hey, say hi to Ricky for me. I need to get a book for English."

"Oh. Okay, see you at lunch!" Lisa skipped off.

I made my way to the library, trying to block out the noise around me. Why was my life so noisy?

A tall body suddenly stumbled back into me, shoving me hard into the wall.

I rubbed my head and glared at said tall person. I froze as I saw what was going on.

A large crowd of students surrounded two boys that seemed ready to fight it out. The taller one had stumbled into me. And I was in the middle of this fight ring.

"Hey, watch it, Travis." He growled angrily. "You just made me trample someone."

Oh shit.