Running

Anna runs and runs, not knowing were she’s going. Just trying to leave everything behind. Her parents, her none existing friends, and everything else. Out on the forest, running like the wind between the trees, she goes. She feels truly free, like none of her problems can catch her. Her whole body is burning but she keeps going. Nothing in her life had ever gone right. She remembers where it started. It had been 10 years ago, when she had been 7 years old. Her father had been having an affair with a younger woman. When her mother had found out there had been hell to pay.
(Memory)
“No, I want you out!”, her mother screams at her dad. “But Honey, where am I suppose to go?, her dad asks very calm, like it would all resolve itself. “You figure it out, but I want you out,” her mom says getting very red. “You don’t really mean that.” “It’s over, I want a divorce.” her mom is about to break down, not being able to take it. “Fine,” her dad says coldly, then he walks out the door, slamming it shut. Leaving in his wake, her mom crying.
(Memory)
After that, the divorce papers came with her dad’s signature, and her mom sign them and that was that. After that day, they never heard of her dad again, it was like he had disappeared of the planet. But that was not the end of her problems. After her dad left, her mom blamed her for the divorce and everything that they had to go through since. They had it rough in getting money, because her mom had been a stay at home mom. So it took a while before her mom found a job and we were still tight for money after that. So she blamed her for everything. Her household wasn’t a happy one. Tears leak from her eyes, blinding her way. But it doesn’t stop there. Since she had nobody at home to talk too, she occupied herself in books, reading day in and day out. At school, since she was so quiet, she was easy to make fun off and tease.
(Memory)
“Hey stupid face, what ya doing?”, a boy says taking Anna’s book from her hands. “Hey, give that back, it’s mine!, Anna says but the boy just opens the book, looking inside, before he rips the pages of the book. “What rubbish!” “No! What are you doing? Don’t!”, Anna says crying trying to take the book away from him. The boy keeps the book away from her reach before throwing it away into a nearby puddle of muddy water. Anna runs over to the book but the pages that had been ripped were beyond repair and the pages inside were destroyed. The boy started laughing and so did the rest of the kids at recess. Anna started crying.
(Memory)
Those kids had no right to do that. She was the only one to be picked on in the whole school. She didn’t understand, what made them want to hurt her like that. Was it because of her hand-me down clothes? Or was it because she just looked so small and weak so she was easy prey for them? She’d never know but they made her life at school a living hell. So it made her create a wall around herself so that she wouldn’t feel anything. When she turned 15, she met two girls who seemed very nice, and they became friends. For two years, it had been fun, she had also even got herself a boyfriend named Jack, but she should have known it was to good to last.
(Memory)
Anna had gone to Melissa and Vivian’s houses but their parents told her they weren’t there. She tried to call them on their cell phones but they wouldn’t pick them up. When she tried to call Jack too, he wouldn’t answer either. So she got curious and went to his house. When she got there, she saw that his parents weren’t there, so took out the key that was below the doormat and opened the door. “Jack! Are you here?”, she calls but she doesn’t get an answer. She goes to the back of the house where the rooms are, when she hears a noise come from Jack’s room. She goes and opens the door quietly, just incase he was asleep. But what she saw, she didn’t expect. “What are you doing?”, she screams, when she sees her two best friends in twined with her boyfriend kissing. They immediately snap apart from each other and look at her wide eyed, surprised at being caught. “I’m waiting.” Anna glares at the three, not believing they would do this to her. “We can explain!”, Jack snaps out, Melissa and Vivian just nod rapidly. “Oh, really! Do tell!”, Anna says sarcastically. “Well, I.., We..” Jack stutters not being able to think up anything. “That’s right. You can’t!” Anna turns around to leave, when Jack stands up and holds her arm. “Wait, don’t go!” Jack looks pleadingly at her. Anna just shakes her head at him and storms out.
(Memory)
She couldn’t believe they had done that to her. They were the only people who ever became friends with her and they did this to her. She was much more angry than sad at what happened. Sometimes she just wanted to scream. Goes to show you can’t trust anyone. She tried to control her emotions, to not cry. So she went back home, to her lonely house.
(Memory)
When she got home, the door was wide open. Worried she went in. “Mom?”, she called not knowing if she was alright. Even if her mother had never been good to her, she was still her mother. Looking around the house, she found broken beer bottles. She sighs. Seems she had been at a bar again drinking. She did that frequently now. But still where is she? At the end of the living room was the only bath room of the house, and she could see the light was turned on. Mom?, she calls again, going over and turning the doorknob. When she goes in, the curtain was closed with the blurry view of her mother behind it. “Mom, why wouldn’t you answer?” Her mother doesn’t answer. She opens the curtain and screams. “Oh, my god. Mom…” She stares at her mother, who’s arms had deep cuts going through her veins bleeding profoundly, with glassy eyes staring at her. She was dead.
(Memory)
After finding the body, she just ran. Being dealt two blows in one day, and especially the second one being that. It just was too much for her. Now she was out of breath and was slowing down. Until she just fell to the ground on her knees and just broke down. Over the life she didn’t choose to have, over the friends who betrayed her, over the boyfriend who wasn’t faithful, over the mother who was now dead, and everything else. She cried, and cried, not seeing an end in site. “Are you alright?” Anna’s crying turn into hiccups as she looks up to see a young man, surely her age, looking concerned at her. She just lay on the floor, aching all over. She didn’t know what to say. Nor did she know if she could speak. She wondered how long she ran and where she was. She tried to wipe her tears but her hands were covered with dirt and she just covered her face in dirt. “Hey, let me help you with that.” The young man, walking over, takes out a handkerchief. Kneeling a bit, he cleans her face and helps her stand up. “You look like you need a big cup of coffee.” The boy smiles, holding her up. She finally smiled at him. If it wasn’t for him, she would have fallen to the floor again. She didn’t think, she had any strength left. “Come on, my house is just over those trees.” The young man points to the left and helps her to walk in that direction. She nodded exhausted. “By the way, my name’s Charlie. What’s your’s?” She looked at him and thought it over. “Anna Raven.” She shakes his hand. “Anna Raven, what a beautifull name! I hope we get to be friends.” He smiles wildly at her. Anna blushes red at the compliment. Then they walk out of the forest to his house. Anna smiled. Maybe things will get better.