Never the Same

Prologue

Lucielle Naomi Rodreguiz sat on the steps of her beaten trailer, petting her old beagle. She glanced at the small front yard only to find the sad, abandoned car parked lifelessly as always. Then, a dirty car appeared from a distance. Lucy stood up and impatiently waited. Eventually, the car came to her. A young woman stepped out, her dried tears stained her torn shirt and bruises could be easily seen on her slim body.

"How ya doin Sam?" Lucy asked, walking towards her.

"Get in the car, let's go." The woman replied. She adjusted her messy ponytail and placed a baseball cap on her head.

"Bob's inside if you wanna see him." Lucy told her. The woman tensed up. Then, a man walked out of the trailer.

"Lucille come inside." he demanded.

"I think not Bob Ewell." the woman replied.

"Excuse me Naomi Rodriguez? Oh I just realized that I have custody of Lucille." Mr. Ewell snapped, walking closer to Lucy.

"It's Lucy. That's what she wants to be called, but you don't care do you?" Miss Rodriguez said coldly.

"I-" Mr. Ewell started.

"Lucy chose him or me." Miss Rodriguez cut him off. Lucy shrugged and began to feel her eyes water.

"Lucille inside. You don't want someone like her to take care of you." Mr. Ewell said.

"Lucy, please. We can start over, without him. You know what he did to me right?" Miss Rodriguez requested. Lucy's eyes started to water, she bit her lip anxiously.

"Lucille Ewell. Let's go." Mr Ewell growled.

"It's Lucy Rodriguez." Miss Rodriguez said.

"Lucille let's go." Mr Ewell replied. Miss Rodriguez grabbed Lucy's arm and dragged her into the old jeep. She turned it on and began to back out. Mr Ewell stood there, arms crossed and furrowed brows.

"I will come for you." he said under his breath. Lucy watched as the man became father and farther away, until he was just a speck. She looked to Miss Rodrigues to see tears begin to fall down her dirty cheeks.

"Sam? Are you ok?" Lucy asked. Miss Rodrigues mumbled something as she began sobbing.

"Sam?" Lucy said, placing her hand on Miss Rodriguez's arm to pacify her. Angrily, Miss Rodrigues jerked the steering wheel, and pressed down on the pedal forcefully.

"Sam stop!" Lucy screeched holding onto her armrests.

The car turned abruptly at a high speed. Then, another car came racing towards them. Miss Rodriguez slammed on the brakes, but she was too late. Once the two cars collided, the old jeep flipped in the air and tumbled on the ground with a crash. It all felt like everything was happening in slow motion. Lucy flew around the car, trying to hold on. She found herself laying down in the upside down flaming car. She was having trouble breathing and seeing. And she couldn't move. Literally. A piece of the car landed on her legs making her stuck.

"Sam!" Lucy screamed desperately. No answer. She could hear sirens in the distance. She crawled very slowly out of the car, getting her legs unstuck. Her whole body was cut and bleeding terribly. She pushed her curly blond hair out of her face and squinted her eyes. A figure was laying on the ground not too far away. Lucy made an effort to crawl over there. There laid Miss Rodriguez's lifeless body.

"No..." Lucy cried, grasping Miss Rodriguez's hand tightly. "No...Mom..no."

A shadow hovered over her, helping Lucy stand up. The blue and red flashing lights were behind her, and the sirens made Lucy's eardrums want to explode. Many blurry figures rushed towards her and began talking rapidly. There was so much commotion that Lucy could see many figures come from nearby. They held onto Lucy and escorted her to a car. She jerked out of their grip and took off.