Pieces of Time

Ch 1: The Strange One

Irritated green eyes squinted in the dark as they opened from a deep slumber.  Her eyelids had been crusted shut from the salt of tears she'd cried previously that evening.  She remembered why almost as soon as she came to her senses. 

How her boyfriend had left her home to go and be with people he knew she hated; people she knew would never be good for their future together.  It was hard enough moving out at 18 to live with your boyfriend and his mom.  While she also had to be the one to support them both as a couple while he tries to find a job.  Except he never actually tried..

She felt a lump rise in her throat as she recalled how he left without a second thought, no hug, no affection or consideration.  She tried to roll over on the mattress that was cornered in the floor, but there was a warm body next to her. 

He must have come home sometime after she'd cried herself to sleep.  She rolled back over stiffly, her muscles tensed as if she were ready for another good cry. 

'I shouldn't have to put up with this,' she thought, biting her lip and sat up sharply in bed. 

She'd been having these thoughts for a while, and this night seemed like the straw that broke the camels back.  Broken any desire to stay here with him.  She glared down at him in the dark – his eyes closed, and his expression carefree. 

Because of her, he didn't know a thing about what it was like to struggle.  It made her sick.  She pulled herself off of the bed over him, not caring if it woke him.  She ran her fingers roughly through her tangled blonde hair as she felt around the messy floor in the dark for some clothes.

"Kali?" His voice called to her as she pulled on a pair of red and white plaid pajama pants. 

"What?" she replied coldly, feeling a raging heat beginning to pump through her veins. 

"Where are you going?" he asked, sitting up on one elbow to watch her as she pulled on a black long-sleeved shirt and hoodie. 

"Away from here." she answered, then paused as more words hung on her lips.
"Away from you." And once the words were out, she just couldn't seem to stop, "I can't take this anymore."

There was a long, painful silence as he looked at her, skeptical as he asked, "So where are you going to go?"

"I don't know." she responded with a long sigh, realizing she needed to figure that out for herself.  She didn't have anywhere or anyone to go to.

She took three long strides for the bedroom door and halted in the door frame, letting her fingers linger down the wood as she looked over her shoulder at him.  Tears slipped over her cheeks.  Let him wonder if she'd come running back.  Let him bear the weight of being left behind as he'd done to her so many times before.

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The winter air was frigid, and misty breath bloomed from Kali's mouth.  She shivered violently as she strode past the backyard, across the shallow stream – never stopping to care if her shoes got wet. 

After she'd let that first tear slip, they couldn't be stopped.  Work, school, his behavior, her lack of support - it was all too much.  She didn't want to think about him but couldn't stop.  She couldn't stop thinking about whether or not he went back to sleep, or even stopped to think about keeping her from leaving...Probably not. 

Nobody would stop her from leaving - not her parents, who stopped speaking to her, or her sisters, or the friends her relationship had alienated her from.  She was well and truly on her own.  A sob clawed it's way up her throat, desperate to be free.  She choked it down.