Close As Strangers - AFI

Chapter 1

'Leave me Alone!' Sabina cried, as she sped up the stairs to her bedroom. She had been in yet another argument with her mother, who was yelling at her for not wanting to go to college. 

As soon as Sabina reacher her bedroom, which luckily had a lock, she immediately locked the door and crushed down onto her bed, sobbing. 

'Come back downstairs immediately, Sabina.' Her mother yelled, angry at her stubborn daughter. 'As long as you're under my room you have to do as I say, I don't provide food and shelter for ungrateful kids that don't work on their future.' 

'Shut up!' Sabina sobbed, pulling the blankets over her head, hoping to block out the harsh voice of her mother. She could't help not being as perfect as she was, with her perfect husband and her perfect job as a business woman. Sabina didn't know what she wanted to study, she wanted to be a singer and be a free bird in this world, something her mother did not agree with.

'If you don't come back here immediately there will be consequences.' Sabina knew those consequences all too well, something she was not looking forward to. 

As soon as the girl heard the sound of heels on the stairs, she decided to run. Her bedroom was on the first floor, but she'd snuck out of her window before, there was a window below her where she could stand op and a few odd bricks for extra support. 

It was mid October and the weather was chilly, Sabina was only wearing a hoodie and black skinny jeans, but she didn't care, she quickly climbed out of her bedroom window and tried to make her way downstairs. When she landed on the window below her, she was facing the living room. Luckily her mother wasn't there, she was probably knocking angrily on Sabina's bedroom door right now. Her father wasn't home either, he never was. 

In the rush, Sabina slipped and fell to the ground. 'Ouch.' she muttered under her breath, but got up quickly and started running. 

Sabina didn't stop running for at least 20 minutes, until she reached Ben's. A local café owned by a very friendly elder man who let Sabina crash there when she needed to get away from home. Ben didn't know about Sabina's home situation but also didn't care enough to ask any questions, which Sabina appreciated. 

Ben had been a friend of her grandfather's, which is how she knew about the place. Ben was always kind to Sabina as her grandfather had been a special friend to him.

'Hey, Sab!' Ben greeted her, as she walked into his pub. The pub had a nice atmosphere, there were several sofa's placed in the back area, which Sabina regularly crashed on when she ran away from home again. Her mom never cared enough to go looking for her, so she knew she'd be safe here. 

'Hey, Ben.' Sab huffed, she was out of breath for running this whole time. 'Can you please get me a beer?' 

'For sure.' Another nice thing about Ben was that he didn't care that Sabina wasn't 18 yet, she always behaved nicely and he enjoyed her company on a quiet night. 

'Thank you.' Sabina smiled at the old man that reminded her of her grandfather. He would always tell stories about when he and Ben were in the army together. 

Sabina took place on one of the sofa's and started sipping her beer, finally starting to feel a bit at ease again. 

Unfortunately, her peace was quickly disrupted when a group of four very obnoxious boys walked in. 

- 

A/N: So this book is based on my original one which I wrote on @chocolatechipafi when I was 17. I updated it a bit so there might be some changes from the original.