"Player, It's time for bed. Take your medicine." Your father speaks calmly. You hate how cold his voice is, no shred of emotion.
"Dad, I have a parent teacher conference tomorrow. Can you come?" You speak, your voice shaking in the slightest, father has a bit of a temper.
"Sure, now take those pills." Your father walks away, his tone of voice wasn't as reassuring as you wanted it to be.
[[Continue]] You have a few minutes before you have to go to bed. What will you do?
[[Talk to your older brother.]]
[[Play with your little sister.]]
[[You're tired, just take your pills and go to bed.]]You walk over to your side table, there stands your bottle of 'medicine.' There is no tag, no name, just a small, see-through, yellow tinted bottle of light pink pills.
You're too tired to grab any water, so you take out one of the light pink pills and plop it into your mouth like candy. You swallow with some struggle and sigh in contention once you've done it.
You grab your nightlight, place it into the cable outlet and flick the little button to turn it on. You are afraid of the dark, like any little 12 year old would be, though your friends did say it was a little bit immature. The yellow light shines and you walk over to turn off the lights. Once you do, you scurry into bed as if something would drag you away.
[[Sleep.]] *+3 disobedience*
You walk into your little sister's room. She doesn't need a crib anymore, but no one has ever removed it. You tip-toe in, looking into the crib, sometimes she sleeps in there and pretends to be a baby again.
You walk into the bathroom, seeing as the light was on. You see your little sister on a stool, brushing her teeth very sloppily. However, beside her, was your father. He glared at you, his eyebrows furrowing and his nostrills flaring. Dad wasn't always this strict and temperamental, but you can't remember when his wasn't like this.
"Why aren't you asleep? Did you take your pills? Did you? Go take them this instant young lady!"
[[Go back to your room and take your pills.]]*+1 sneakiness*
You tip-toe out your room, who knows if dad wants you to sleep early or not. You can't risk him getting mad at you. You knock on your older brother's room, but you were not given any response.
Walking in anyways, you peer through, only to see that your brother is asleep. Of course, you aren't the only one who has school tomorrow.
[[Take your pills and go to bed.]]You enter you room with the same amount of carefulness as when you left.
Walking over to your side table, there stands your bottle of 'medicine.' There is no tag, no name, just a small, see-through, yellow tinted bottle of light pink pills.
You're too tired to grab any water, so you take out one of the light pink pills and plop it into your mouth like candy. You swallow with some struggle and sigh in contendedness once you've done it.
You grab your nightlight, place it into the cable outlet and flick the little button to turn it on. You are afraid of the dark, like any little 12 year old would be, though your friends said it was a bit immature. The yellow light shines and you walk over to turn off the lights. Once you do, you scurry into bed as if something would drag you away.
[[Sleep.]]You walk back into your room, tears welling in your eyes. You hate how much dad gets mad at you, he doesnt treat your brother or sister that way!
You walk over to your side table, there stands your bottle of 'medicine.' There is no tag, no name, just a small, see-through, yellow tinted bottle of light pink pills.
You're too tired to grab any water, so you take out one of the light pink pills and plop it into your mouth like candy. You swallow with some struggle and sigh in contention once you've done it.
You grab your nightlight, place it into the cable outlet and flick the little button to turn it on. You are afraid of the dark, like any little 12 year old would be, though your friends said it was a bit immature. The yellow light shines and you walk over to turn off the lights. Once you do, you scurry into bed as if something would drag you away.
[[Sleep.]] While you sleep, you aren't aware of what could be happening in the world. Nighttime is like a whole different realm. Everything always seems to happen at night, good or bad.
You twitch a few times before finally falling into your subconcious.
[[School lunchtime.]]It's lunch, everyone is enjoying their food, your friends are conversing, and you are silently eating.
You had hope dad would come to the parent teacher conference today, he usually missed everything you did. You grab a pill from your medicine bottle that you had put in a plastic bag to take to school. You eat it, and continue to eat your lunch.
[[Continue..]]"Hey, why do you take those pills?" Your friend asks you.
"huh?" You were unaware of what she was saying, or at least what she meant.
"I mean, there’s no tag or information on what it is, but your dad always makes you take them.”
[["Dad says it's for my own good."]]
[["I don't know what you mean.."]]
[["Mind your own business."]]
"Are you sure? It's a little suspicious... but okay!"
You can feel a tinge of anger tug at your heart. Was she trying to accuse your father of something?
[["What do you mean by that?"]]
[[Continue eating lunch.]]"Well... nevermind..."
You raise an eyebrow at your friend and she smiles innocently at you.
[[Continue eating lunch.]] *+2 rudeness*
"Well sheesh, i'm just trying to look out for you. You don't have to be so mean, Player.."
You glare at your friend, but the rest of your friends glare at you instead. You suddenly want to shrink into a little ball, seeing as you made the wrong choice.
[[Continue eating lunch.]] "Well... it's just that..., ugh, nevermind."
You stare at your friend for a minute and all your other friends watch in awkward silence.
[[Continue eating lunch.]] You continue to chew on your food, what did your friend mean?
It was suspicious, she wasn't wrong. dad never told you what those pills were for. Only that something bad would happen if you didn't take them. You were raised to believe that adults are always correct, so you should trust your dad over a friend at school. Right?
[[Continue.]]Time had passed on, it was now the end of the day. Your friends were either walking home now or inside with their parents for the Parent Teacher Conference.
You wait, and wait, and wait, your head starts to hurt from the lack of sleep you got last night.
Dad still isn't here, but he promised to come to the meeting, your dad isn't a liar, afterall.
[[Wait for dad, he'll come.]]You look around, observing the gate to your school. Dad still isn't here, even after 30 minutes. The school looks very nice and neat, the gate is black with a few rusty spots, showing the red and orange hues that had desperately managed to be hidden with more black paint.
There's a garbage can, and large rocks for decoration. You walk over to the dusty, large, and gray boulder, sitting down as you sigh in contention, your legs finally being able to rest. Your headache has gotten worse. Clinging onto the strap of your backpack as hard as you can, as if that would reduce the pain you felt right now.
Losing hope, you contemplate your options.
[[Wait, maybe he'll come around soon.]]
[[He isn't coming, just walk home.]]
[[Call him to see where he is.]](text-colour:navy)[*+2 Obediance*]
You weren't a patient person, waiting around wasn't your specialty. The only reason you were waiting was because dad promised you he'd come. You could see families leave with smiles on their faces, opening the car doors and driving off.
You were running out of time, and out of hope. Had dad really left you high and dry, again?
(text-colour:red)[*You're sick of this.*]
[[Walk home.]]
(text-colour:red)[*+1 Disobedience*]
Did he even care about you? He never paid attention to you, not unless it had to do with your pills. None of your friends' dad's were like this, it was only you that was stuck with this good-for-nothing, scumbag, of a father.
[[Continue walking home.]]
(text-colour:navy)[*+1 obedience* ]
You call dad, trying to see if he'll answer, you were almost out of time, the confrences were about to end.
Brrrrr....brrrrr.....brrrr....
*The person you are trying to reach is unavaliable, please try again later.*
"I hope you answer. Why wont you ever asnwer me?"
Standing up, you finally gave up, and begin to walk home.
[[Walk home.]] You had tears welling up in your eyes, threatening to fall out, but you couldn't cry, not over someone like your father.
You're sure, your brother hates him, but just acts obedient so dad wont get angry at home. As for your little sister, she was your dad's favourite. It was probably because he didn't want to mess her up, like he messed you and your brother up.
He still attended your brother's events and gatherings, whatever it was. Yet the only thing that dates back in your memory was when your father attended your 3rd grade soccer game.
[[Continue walking.]]As you were walking home, you were too caught up in your own thoughts to actually notice a car pulling up beside you.
It was dad.
"Hey! Why are you leaving? I know I'm late for your meeting or whatever but I'm here now!"
You felt your blood boiling. It was ironic, as soon as you lost all hope and the confrences were over, he decides to show up? Just like that?
[["The confrences are over, you missed it."]]
[["You finally decided to show up?"]]
[["You're the worst father in existence."]] You continue to walk home, eventually making it home. You pull out your house keys and open the door, walking in to the familiar smell of cigars. You slip off one shoe with the help of your other foot, and do th same to the other.
Your footsteps echo through the cold hallway, the old wooden floorboards creaking from time to time.
Inside, you see dad sitting at the dining table, drinking coffe and smoking with a newspaper in his hand.
[["You never came."]]"Oh, did i really? Your brother was asking for help with his homework, he has finals, you know that. I was too busy helping him that I lost track of time."
Everything was always about your sister or your brother. You felt as though you had no one else. You were just an extra child. You wanted to feel that fatherly love he gave your siblings, but he was too busy with them.
[[Why is everything always about my sister or my brother, why do you never think about me?!"]] (text-colour:red)[*+1 Rudeness*]
"Excuse you? Is that any way to talk to your father?"
Dad's voice was as bitter as yours, people had always told you that you were just like your father. They didn't mean anyting rude by it, but it angered you to no end.
"The confrences are over, you missed them." You say, wondering if he can notice the tears in your eyes.
"Well, I tried my best to come, but your sister was feeling sick this morning." That was a reasonable explanation, but why'd it always have to be about her or your brother? Why not you?
[["So what? You should've just taken her to the doctors."]](text-colour:red)[*+5 Rudeness*]
"What?! Did you really just say that?! I was taking care of some business, and i lost track of time! it was an honest mistake! Stop being so susceptible!"
It was never about you. The only things in your father's lives are your sister, brother, and work. You wish you had someone more capable of taking care of you. To actually provide you some sort of familial love and amenity. But you were stuck with a sorry excuse of a father.
"[[You don't even love me, why do you only care about your work?"]]"She's young, and afriad of the doctors. Especially needles."
It was so belittling how he knew everything about your sister and brother, yet he knew nothing about you.
He didn't know your fears, or your needs.
"But dad...!"
"Get in the car, it's time to go home. There's always next time."
You can't argue with your father, that's disrespectful, so your only choice now was to silently get in the car with him without any hostility.
[[Go home.]] "I'm always thinking about you! Don't just assume things like that! You're so
unappreciative and fault-finding!"
Before you could respond, and advance more with this arguement, your father drove off, blowing car smoke in your face.
You knew fully well that dad would just ground you at home, but it was better than staying in the street as people in their houses stared out the window to acertain the commotion.
[[Make it home.]]"I don't, I care about you the most, you're just too selfobsorbed to realize it. Get in the car, we're going home."
You couldn't argue with him, dad always found a way to make himself correct in any situation. He always made sure you knew he had authority over you because he's your father.
[[Get in the car with dad.]]
[[Walk home anyways.]]You walked with droopy and melancholic steps, slumped over on the sidewalk like a drunkard coming back from a tavern.
After a good 20 minute walk, you arrived home, and when you opened the door, your father was there helping your brother with his homework. Before he could yell at you to go to your room, you had already entered and shut the door behind you.
[[Continue....]] "It's okay, there's always next time, right?"
You sat in the shiny black car of your father's. You didn't want to speak to him.
He couldn't just have you wrapped around his finger for the rest of your life, right? He gets to make the decisions and you get to stay behind in the shadow of your family?
''Don't you deserve some recognition, too?''
[[Drive home.]] (text-colour:red)[*+4 Disobedience* ]
"Where are you going?! Get in this car right now! It's too dangerous around this neighbourhood!"
You ignored your father and kept on walking, people walking by looking at the two of you with subjective glances.
"Don't think I'll wait for you, I'll drive right off!"
You continued to walk.
"Fine! have it your way. When you get home, you're grounded."
Your father did as he threatened and drove off, leaving back smoke and the unpleasant smell of petrol.
[[Get home.]] Your dad visibly jumps when he hears your voice suddenly in front of him.
"Don't scare me like that. Your food's in the microwave, go heat it up."
He dodged your question, or he was too engrossed in that dumb newspaper to even answer your question.
[["You didn't answer me."]]
[[Walk away.]]
[[Grab your food in silence.]]
"Oh what was that?" He said.
"You didn't come to my Parent Teacher Confrence."
Your dad perked up and his eyes widened ver so slightly.
"Oh crap! I'm so sorry, can we go now? Is thre still any time?" He said while standing up.
"No." You said vaugely, and then walked into your room.
Your dad called behind you, trying to apologize, but you knew he didn't mean it. He was only speaking so calmly because he was smoking, he was always in a good mood when he smoked.
[[Continue1]] You gave up, you knew you couldn't win an arguement with your father. It was just go nowhere.
You didn't even want food anymore. It may have seemed like a dumb reason to be so upset over, but this wasn't the first time he did this.
You could hear your dad call after you as you didn't grab your food. "Hey! Are you not hungry?"
You didn't answer and closed your door, too afraid to actually slam it.
[[Continue1]]You walked over in silence to the microwave, pushing in the numbers for how long you wanted your food in for.
"Dad, you forgot about my Parent Teacher Conference."
"Did i? I'm sorry. We can go next time."
The microwave beeped at the same time your dad said that last sentence of his.
You snatched your food and stormed over to your room. Why was he so calm about this?
[[Continue1]] You closed your bedroom door silently, you didn't want to make your dad angry.
You were sick of thinking that. He never cared about what you felt, yet you still put in so much care and concern into what you're father felt, it was ironic.
Shouldn't you teach him a lesson? Wasn't it time he realized that it wasn't you who had to care all the time? what would really get him to pay attention to you?
Then you realized.
Your pills.
[[Continue...]] If there was one thing you had under control, it was when you did and when you didn't take your pills.
It was suspicious, your siblings didn't take these. Your dad never explained exactly why you needed to take them, so what was the point? And if something bad really *were* to happen, you would be fine; it was a win-win situation.
You walked over to your bottle of pills, picked them up, and dumped them out into the garbage. You found a bottle of tic-tacs nearby, and filled the bottle with those.
As if speaking of the devil, your father called to you from your room.
"Hey! Player, did you take those pills?!"
[[Lie.]]
[[Tell the truth.]]You got in the car without any further dispute. Your dad was silent the whole time he drove you home, and you didn't speak either.
Once you got home, your little sister immedietly swarmed your father with tears welled up in her eyes. He picked her up silently, and you only grew angrier at the sight. You walked into your bedroom, closed the door, and sat on the floor.
[[Continue....]] While you walked, you felt a lot of anxeity. This neighbourhood was shady,but you didn't want to show your father that you would forgive him so easily. Then again, you contemplated wether you just should've lied and gotten in the car.
You got home about 15 minutes later, you took off your shoes and quickly headed to your room when you didn't see your father in the living room, making your escape as swiftly as you could.
Closing the door behind you, you started to think. It wasn't a normla thread of thoughts, these were deep, meaningful, thoughts.
[[Continue....]] You didn't want to answer your dad, despite him being oddly kind right now. Your dad tried to engage you in meaningless small talk while you drove home, but you didn't say a word.
Once you arrived home, you saw your older brother glance at you both as you entered. You walked straight into your room and slammed the door closed. Suprisingly, your father didn't say anything about your agressive behaivour, you felt an odd dose of relief.
[[Continue....]] You didn't want to let this slide by, like it always did. There was no way you were going to continue letting your father control your life.
Yet, you didn't have much that could show him that you weren't under his spells anymore.
You glanced across your room, now at a loss for what to do, when your eyes finally landed on your pills.
''"Why do you take those pills anyways?" ''
Your friends words rung in your ears.
*'I should take my pills soon..'* You thought.
Wait. Your pills.
[[Continue.....]] You didn't have a lot grub to put up against your father, but if he really cared about you, he would realize when you stopped taking your pills.
You were going to have to lie, but what was the problem with that? It was lying for the sake of a good cause.
You grabbed your pills and shoved the pills inside your pillow case, you had 2 packets of rocket candies on your desk. You grabbed those, and put them in the bottle instead, just for safe measure. He would never notice the difference, he was sloppy.
"Player! Take your pills and go to sleep!"
You visibly shivered at your father's loud and bustling voice.
"O-okay!!" You shoved one of the rocket candies in your mouth and closed your light, putting your night-light in the outlet as you always did.
[[Sleep..]] "I-I did!"
...
"Go to sleep then!"
Your father yelled back as you exhaled the air you had held in your mouth.
You quickly put your bottle of fake pills on the counter and grabbed your night-light, shoving it in the socket before closing the light, and hiding under the covers of your bed as quietly and quickly as you could.
[[Sleep..]] When you slept, you had an odd dream.
"Player........"
"...Player...."
"player..."
"player."
A voice was calling out your name so sweetly, it sounded like a frail voice.
[[Wake up.]] "I didn't!-"
...
"Well then get to it!"
You wanted to open your mouth and tell hi what you had actually done to your pills, it was like an odd sense of guilt that took over you. But why were you scared? After all, it was evil for a righteous cause.
You eventually wimped out and took one of the fake pills, getting yourself ready to sleep instead of telling your father the *whole* truth.
[[Sleep..]] You woke up from the blaring of your alarm, unsure if your dream was a good dream or a nightmare.
So far, you were alive and well.
Nothing was happening, the more you realized that, the angrier you got.
Was your dad lying to you?
You walked into your living room, it was quiet, very quiet.
You suddenly heard footsetps, which was odd. Your little sister was sick, and your brother woke up later than you because he went to a different school than you.
[[Thump thump...]] It seemed to get louder. You weren't ready to face your father again, what if he could tell that you didn't take your 'medicine?'
Thump...Thump...Thump...
It got a bit louder, was the rest of your family not hearing this?
Finally, it stopped when someone marginally familiar stopped in front of you.
[[Was that...? Mom..?]]You were faced with a very tall and dangerously skinny woman. She was wearing a small white shirt tucked into a long, straight, white skirt, with little pieces of some sort of fringe at the ends.
She was incredibly tall and incredibly skinny, you wondered just how long her hair would be on you, since it was this gorgeously, lustrous and long black hair. You couldn't see her face, but she was pale, she had red lips, and perfect white pearls.
You finally got a glimpse of her eyes, black like obsidian.
You couldn't shake off how beautiful she was, despite her skininess. It seemed like the smallest tap of her arm could send her shattering into pieces, like a marrionette who's strings had been cut...
Okay, maybe you were exaggerating that a lot.
[[She moves closer to you.]]"Finally,mydearchild,ifoundyou." She spoke very quickly, she barely took any time to breathe between her words.
"I'vemissedyousomuch,mygoldenchild." Her words only seemed to speed up more and more everytime she spoke.
[["Who are you...?]]
[[Are you....?]]
[[Mom...?]]"Oh!Myownchilddoesn'trememberme. It'sallbecauseof*HIM*isn'tit?"
You remained silent. She meant your father, didn't she?
"Takeaguess, doiseriouslynotseemfamiliar? Whatsoever?"
Her words got faster the more anxious she got, yet she didn't umble up or mess up with any word she said, she just spoke really quickly, with absolute perfection in this habit of hers.
[[I'm guessing, you're my mom..."]]
[[Did you break into my house? who are you?]]
[[Uhh... a strange lady who talks fast?]]"Go...........on........." Her words slowed a lot, which caught you off-guard.
[[My mother..?]]
[[I don't know...]]
"Ah!I'msogladyourememberme,despitebeingundertheinfluenceof-''THAT''-man."
Who did she mean by *that* man? Was she speaking of your father?
"Are you really my mother?" You asked sternly.
The woman seemed familiar, but you couldn't exactly pin-point her to the word "mom."
She shifted around for a moment before smiling widely, showing off her white teeth as if on display.
"Ofcourse!Icamebackhereforyou,mylove."
[["For me? why?"]]
[["What about my siblings?"]]
[["Stop lying..."]]
"Correct! Ohohoho!"
She laughed with joy as she jumped a bit, you were afraid her frail-ish body would snap.
"Why are you here?"
It's as if you were asking her this subconciously, the words just spilled out.
"I'mhereforyou, tosaveyou, ofcourse."
[[Continue......]]"Sweetie, I'vebeenhereallyourlife. Ineverleft,i..neverbrokein,andineverbroke...out."
Your brain felt jumbled, you couldn't even think of second-guessing what she was saying. You believed every single one of her words like the words of a priest.
[["Then why haven't i seen you anywhere?"]]
[["I'll believe you..."]]
"Gah! No,dear! Takethisseriously! Canyoureallynotremember..? Ah! It'sadisastor!"
It was kind of amusing watching her go on rambling, yet it felt sweet too. No one had ever talked to you this way.
[['I'm just kidding, you're my mother, right?"]]
[[Okay, okay, I don't know..]]
"Correct!"
She smiled widely, her eyes closed and her red lips reaching to the sides of her face.
She was really pretty, you wondered if you got any of her features.
[[Continue.......]] "I'myourmothersilly!"
She sped her words even more in that sentence, you flinched at the velocity change.
She did seem familiar, just..different. You couldn't exactly figure out what was different about her. Maybe she wasn't different at all, afterall, you can't even remember what your mother truly looked liked.
[[Continue.......]]"You'refatherisanevilman. He'sthereasoni'mgone."
You knew you never had a mother in your life, but now that she mentioned it, you never actually asked your father why.
"What did he do?"
"Hetookyouawayfromme, Ihadtoescapebeforehe..."
"He what?"
... No reply.
[[Continue.......]] "Theyaren'tmychildren."
You stopped. Did she really just say that you and your siblings were half siblings?
"What?!" You suddenly screamed, covering your mouth before you woke someone up.
Your mom suddenly grew quiet, it seemed she didn't know why you were upset.
"Are you seriously upset?" Her words slowed down.
[["Of course i am!"]]
[["No, not really..."]]
(text-colour:red)[*+2 Rudeness*]
"I'myourmother! Lookatmen,andlookatyou,welookthesame!"
Her voice sped up the more she tried to prove her point.
"Okay, okay, I believe you. But, why are you here?"
There was a long pause, you stared up at her and she stared down at you, her black eyes wide and beady. She seemed to never stop smiling, even when she was angry.
[[Continue.......]] "Whatasmartchildyouare! Ofcourse, you're mine afterall." Her words were slowing, maybe her mouth was moving at speeds that couldn't support her jaw for too long.
"I'myourmother. Weneedtomakeaplantogetyououtofthishellhole."
Why did you need to escape? She was providing information with no context, what was she talking about?
[["Why?"]]
[["Okay."]]"I'm your mother!"
She was speaking so loud yet her voice didn't echo, there was no feedback, and no one even stirred in their rooms. It was only you who had to keep your volume down. Why was that? You questioned but didn't want an answer.
You believed her, afterall, she looked like you. Your hair was silky and black like hers. The exact type and shade.
[["So why are you here?"]] "To save me? What're you talking about?"
Your mother straightened out her back, causing her to look a bit more taller, imagine her in platform shoes....
"It's...your..father."
You were already so used to how she sounded when she talked her her usual speedy voice, it disturbed you everytime she tried to slow her voice down.
[["What about my father?"]]
[["I think I know what you're implying.."]]"Because, you'refathermademeleave. Yetifyouhadjustcalledouttome...andstoppedtakingthose.. ''PILLS''"
You could feel something boil in your chest, it wasn't anger, it was pure fear.
[["What's wrong with my pills...?"]]
[["What have they been doing to me?"]] "That'sagoodgirl, now, Ihaven'tmuchtime, butIneedtotellyouexactlywhyi'mhere."
You didn't respond, everything she was saying was already putting you on edge.
"Thosepills, theyhavedestroyedyou. Theyarethereasonyouhaven'tbeenabletomeetmeforsolong. Youneedtostoptakingthem."
Somehow, what she was saying to you wasn't surprising at all. She had been speaking so quickly, maybe that was the reason you hadn't registered what she was saying.
[["I figured."]]
[["I've already thrown them away."]]
[["Why should i trust you?"]]"Iwontbeataroundthebush, he'sanevilman, thosepillshegivesyou, theytakeyouawayfromme. Throw them away."
She straightened out her back, snapping her neck to the side as a satisfying 'pop!' came from her neck bone.
[["I've already thrown them away."]]
[["Why are you telling me this?"]]"Good, now, whereareyourpills?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"They'lltakeyouawayfromme!"
You were at a loss for words. Not from shock, but mostly from her tone of voice suddenly exceeding the sound barrier of your ears.
"Youhavetothrowthemawaydear! Beforeit'stoolate!"
You were already a step ahead of her at that, you already threw them away yesterday, and instead, your mother has now shown herself. Your father has to be a bad person, especially for driving your mother away from you like that.."Look..."
Your mother looked pretty apprehensive, she wanted to tell you something, that much was obvious, but she was nervous. She fiddled with her nails and cracked her knuckles, you did the same exact thing whenever you were nervous.
"Your father isn't the best person." She suddenly spoke at a ormal pace, though for her, this must've been a very slow pace becase she spoke so swiftly.
"He'sahorridman. Heforcedyoutotakethosepills. Thosepillsarethereasonyoucouldneverseeme, youneedtostoptakingthem."
You were aware, at this point, it didn't surprise you that your father was a bad person.
"The pills?" You said, trying to make it sound more as a statement but coming out as a question.
[["I threw them away already."]]
[["What exactly are the pills doing?"]]
"Youshouldn'tbe! It'sjusthowthecookiecrumbles!"
She did have a good point, it's not like you could truly bring your siblings with you, even if you wanted to. There's just some things that are out of your control, that's how the world works.
"Ihavetoleavenow, buti'llbeback! I'llhelpyouescape, you'llbewithmeforever. Player, I love you."
Her voice was so gentle, so much different than dad. Was it wrong that you didn't feel guilty about leaving anymore?
You tried to say 'i love you' back, but your mother was already out the front door.
[[Go after her.]]
[[Let her leave.]]"Good, you shouldn't."
You didn't speak, you did feel a bit guilty about saying that, but it's just what you felt. You can't deny what your heart feels, as much as you try to change your opinion. Kind of how your least favourite food won't ever really become your favourite, even if you force yourself to like it.
"Idon'thavemuchtime, I'llbeback, Ihavetogonow, sorrysweetie."
Your mother kneeled down to your height, you almost stepped back. Her every move and word was smooth and perfect, there was no fault in this woman. She planted a small kiss on your cheek and patted your head before walking out the front door.
[[Go after her.]]
[[Let her leave.]]"dear, they'repoisonious, they'veblindedyouandsoyouhaven'tbeenabletoseeme."
Father is so evil, why would he do something to cause you so much trouble? Taking your mother away from you, with techniques and remote strategies to get you under his control.
"I've got no time... I'm so tired, I need to be able to protect you. My dear, I need to leave, but remember, ''don't take those pills''."
"I love you."
The thought of someone saying those three words to you again were so off-putting and shocking that you hadn't realized how her voice had slowed and how she had disapeared.
[[Continuee]] "They'reresponsibleforwhyyouhaven'tseenmeallthistime. Theyhidemefromyourgaze!"
How could he? Your father had hidden your mother from you for so long..., and you hadn't been able to meet her for this long. She's so brave for coming all this way for you.
"I'vegottogo, butremember, don'ttakethepills. Iloveyou, don'tworrylove, I'llbebackforyou."
She left a brisk peck on your cheek, she always seemed to be so cold. You had to collect your thoughts so much that you looked around moments later and she was gone. You felt as if something was gone from your head, but something else was added. Like black goo of nothing, but it's there, and it feels different when it's gone. You need the feeling in there, and it seems to have left with your mother. What an aggravating feeling this was, the nothing has left your mind, but you're not happy with that.
[[Continuee]]"Good, sucharemarkableyouare. Sothatmeansyoualreadythrewoutyourpills?"
"yes."
"Goodjob. Now, it'sgettinglatedear. I'vegottoleave.'
...
Please don't.
You wanted to say it, but your throat felt dry, and you couldn't speak out anymore.
"I love you, [player.]" She smiled, turned the corner, and left. You don't know where or how, but she did, and you were all alone again.
[[Continuee]] "Smart. You'remydaughter, Iknewyouwouldfigureitoutwithinduetime."
All this praise made you shuffle in your place awkwardly, you didn't know how to react to such commendation.
Mom started to look around, you did as well. She turned her head left, and you did too, she turned her head right, and you did too.
"Look, trustme, I'llbebackforyou. Youneedtobepatient, don'ttellyourfatheryou'vemetmelikethis. Iloveyou, evenifihavetoleavenow, I'llbebackforyou."
I love you. Simple words, you had long forgotten the meaning. Sure, you knew they expressed affection, she was expressing affection for you, but you didn't exactly ''get'' the definition of 'I love you', because you hadn't heard it for so long.
After being lost in your thoughts, you looked around and realized mother had already left. And now you're alone, and you're sad.
[[Continuee]]
"Ah! Thatmanisevil! He'sbrainwashedyoualready! Mydearchild, pleasebelieveme!"
You couldn't help but feel bad for her, she was getting upset over ''you'', that wasn't something you were used to. You were used to being worried about yourself, and caring for yourself, you never got too tired of it, that was just how it was for you.
Mom cares.
"Dear,.." She placed her freezing cold hand on your cheek, but it was so comforting how cold she was.
"You don't have to scream out for anyone anymore, please, just trust me, and in due time, I'll come get you. You'l be with me and I'll be with you, you won't need someone as evil as your father."
[["Are you sure?"]]"Why? Becausehe'sevil! Thosepillsareruiningyou! Theykeepyoufromme! Youneedtostoptakingthem, and thenI'llsaveyou!"
Her voice sped up with how much she pressured and protested her point. She then took a deep breath, and you couldn't help but notice how cold her breath was as it fanned onto your face.
"Pleasedear, Ihaven'tgottenmuchtime. Butineedyoutolisten. Thisisveryimportant, it'sforyouandme. You and me."
Something clicked in your mind, and it suddenly seemed useless to be fighting and asking such unnecassary questions. She was your mother, you had to listen to her.
Besides,
She loved you.
You looked up and nodded at her. She placed a kiss on your cheek and then wordlessly left through the front door.
[[Continuee]] (text-colour:navy)[*+4 Obediance*]
"Wonderful, mydear, keepthatattitudeup, ifwewantoescapequickly, we'llneedcoaperationlikethatmoreoften."
She patted your head. It didn't seem like the usual way that parents patted the head's of their children. You always saw how your classmates parents pet their head or ruffle their hair when picking them up from school. This didn't seem like that. It seemed more as if she were petting a dog.
But what do you know? Your dad never so much as patted you on the shoulder. He irked away from you as if you were a parasite.
"Oh! Itlookslikeit'stimeformetoleave. Takecaredear, I'llbebacksoon."
She kissed your forehead and began stomping to the front door. And with a few more thumps, she was out the front door.
[[Continuee]] "I'mgonnasaveyou! We'llmakeaplanandthenwe'llescape."
You were unsure if you wanted to do that. Maybe it sounded better, but as much as your father hurt you or made you upset, you still couldn't leave him. Your mother seemed to notice that.
"It'll be alright, you should come with me, I'll give you everything you would ever want."
Her voice was so reassuring, so sweet, her words honeyed with a slow tone. Who couldn't listen to a voice like that? You can't remember how long it has been since someone spoke that softly to you.
[["fine.., I'll do it."]]
[["No, I can't leave dad.."]]"Good. Nowdear,it'sgettinglate, ineedtogo."
She smiled at you, you could just feel the warmth radiating from her smile, even if she felt cold. "Player, I love you."
You smiled at her words, it was a silent moment between the two of you. How long had it been that you heard those words?
"Youmeanthemoonandbacktome."
She smiled widely, so widely you were convinced her cheeks would rip from the sides.
"Goodbye, dear." She waved at you, you were practically starstruck by her words and couldn't move to go after her, and so she left through the front door.
[[Continuee]] "Theytakeyouawayfromme. Youdon'twanttoloseyourmotheragain, doyou?"
The more she spoke with a smile, the more comfortable you felt. And her speedy way of speaking was endearing.
The way she would end over a bit, stare at your face with a kind smile, had you ever felt this kind of kindess before? You were looking up at her like a civillian meeting their favourite celebrity.
You don't want to lose your mother, you can't be stuck with dad forever.
[[Continuee]] "Because, dear, we'lllivetogether. Ijustneedtoformulateaplan."
Living together, with someone who seemed has gentle and caring as her? That sounded truly like a dream. She could tell that you were happy about it, she smiled when you smiled, that was what true parental love was supposed to be like.
Well,
That's what you guessed. You didn't exactly know.
"Do you need any help with this plan?" You said. You wanted to support her in any way possible, so you could live together quicker, it'd be wonderful. "Now, that'sformetoworryabout. Youjustdoasisay."
She tapped the tip of your nose, you got confused from that gesture, why did she do that? No one had ever done that to you before.
"Lookslikemytimeisupfornow. I'llbeback, bye bye my dear."
You looked behind you, she walked out the door.
[[Continuee]] "Good, good, that'sagoodgirl."
Your mother looked around the place, she was hurrying her words even more, she was in quite the hurry to be somewhere, it seemed.
"I don'thavemuchtimeleftsweetie... Iloveyou, pleasedon'tknowworry, I'llbebackforyou."
She placed a hurried and chilling kiss on your cheek and she waved goodbye to you with such a kind smile. She turned and then left through the front door.
You wish you didn't have to be alone again. You want your mom again. She should come back soon..
[[Continuee]] "But, dear!"
She was going to retaliate more, protest you to her side, but then she stopped. She seemed like she knew you were going to come over, she knew you were going to listen to her. And she was right, you had no reason to stay with a man as wretched as your father.
"Fine."
You didn't know why you were agreeing now. Maybe it's because... she has such a nice smile. And she's nice to you.
"Now, I'vegottoleavedear. I'llbeback, youwon'teverhavetofeellonelyagain."
You looked at the dirty floor, it was your brother's turn to sweep, but he never did. No one in the house ever listened except for you.
You looked up, and suddenly your other was gone. But you didn't pay much attention to it. Now it was silent, now it was cold, now it was lonely.
[[Continuee]] You blinked, watching your mother leave. You wanted to go after her, but only blinked.
Blink blink [[blink...]]What was the point of going after her? She'd be back anyways, right?
You suddenly felt ill, and dizzy. Maybe you sprayed on too much perfume on yourslef this morning...
Wait, you put perfume on today? You couldn't even remember.
However, what you could remember now, was school. You were late.
Grabbing your backpack, and skipping breakfast, you sprint out the door and slam it closed- probably waking up your father and sister.
[[Run to school!]]You started running as fast as you could move your legs. You're brain was empty, you could only think of running right now. If dad found out that you were this late...
You tripped a few times but managed to catch yourself before you actually fell. You looked in front of you, it was very warm today.
There was a shortcut to school, however, dad always told you not to go there. It was dangerous and there were drug adicts around ever corner of that shortcut. You shouldn't go that way, right? But why should you listen to dad? He's the one that hid you away from your mother.
[[Take the shortcut.]]
[[Go straight to school.]]Once again, you blink, and suddenly you're outside. You were caught off guard, shaking your head and closing your eyes for a long minute before opening them again. There was no sign of your mother. No steps left in the muddy frontyard you owned, and no sign of a car that had left.
Maybe she just walked quick and precise? No one wants to step in mud...
You stared up at the sun, it got so bright so quickly. It made you wonder how the acient people from centuries back used to check the time by looking at the sun. The sun was directly above you, at the farthest distance, so wouldn't that mean...?
It's 12:00 PM? ... You were super late for school!
[[Run to school!]] You were left all alone with your thoughts, you felt dizzy. You could't figure out what to think, your mind felt light and empty. Why did she show up now? Were you finally going to recieve the love you had been deprived of all your life? You always convinced yourself that you didn't really care about trivial things like "familial love" but you still craved it more than anything.
You stared out the window, the sun was so bright. You were so tired... why were you even up in the first place?
...
Don't you have school today?
You were super late!
[[Run out the door and go to school!]]
[[You didn't feel like going today anyways...]]"Yes, sweetiebelieveme, Ispentsolongwithhim. Iunderstandwhathe'sdoingtoyou, youcan'ttrusthim. Please,I'llbebackforyou."
...
"You are my everything."
She bent down, kissed your cheek, and then she left. You couldn't see where she went, but you could only think of what she had said.
You are her everything. You matter.
What an exhilarating feeling this was.
[[Continuee]] (text-colour:navy)[*+2 Sneakiness*]
It was smart to get out now quickly before dad woke up. You weren't even aware of what the time was, all you did was grab your backpack and slip on your shoes lazily before booking it out the door.
The more you ran, the more air left your lungs. You were never this un-atheletic, so you didn't really know why you were so out of breath right now. You could only think of stopping and standing blankly in te street. You didn't feel like running right now.
After running for a while, you stopped in front of your school. You were sweating and out of breath, your school uniform was all sloppy and unorthordox.
"You know..." someone whispered in your ear, "You don't have to go in there..., you're friends were mad at you afterall..."
The voice was right. Your friends were mad at you...
Wait, a voice? But no one's here...
[[Go inside the school.]]
[[Ditch out in the yard.]]You sat back down on the couch in the living room. You didn't even know what time it was. You had spent so much time talking to your mother, and you were still processing everything she had told you. You should just steer clear of dad for now...
"Hey! [Player...] Are you still here? Why are you still here? I swear to god..., you'll be the end of me."
You physicslly shivered when you heard your father's deep and aggravated voice. He coughed violently as you could hear his thomping down the hallway. He must've fallen asleep smoking again last night...
You looked around and saw the door to one of the many cramped closets you had scattered around your house. You could hear your own breathing, your heart thumped with every stomp your father made as he was progressing down the hallway.
[[Hide.]]
[[Stand where you are.]]With how late you currently were, you were ready to risk whatever was in that small shortcut. You turned the corner instead of walking straight, into the shortcut.
Once you continued running, you spotted a few people laughing out in front of their yards. When they noticed someone that was unfamiliar in their shady neighbourhood they would stop and stare blankly at you.
These stares were unnerving, you couldn't take it. You felt more uncomfortable the more people stared at you, hoping that they would look away. After noticing your breathing getting heavy, you stood at the cross-walk signal, waiting for it to switch colours so you could walk across the street to school.
"Little late to be going to school right now, ain't it?" A man waiting to cross said as he smiled at you, he was very tall but he was wrinkly.
[["I got late.."]]
[["Mhmm.."]]You weren't going to risk going through that shady area. It was annoying how you still listened to your dad's 'advice' even when he wasn't here to stop you from doing whatever you wanted.
"How long are you going to be his puppet? ''She'' wont like that."
You jumped at that deep voice, looking around you but there was no one there. Just you, the sidewalk on which you stand upon, and the breeze.
Were you imagining things?
You shrugged it off and started to run once more, after spotting your school across the street.
[[Enter the school.]](text-colour:navy)[*+3 sneakiness*]
You slithered in through the crack of the opened storage closet as quickly but silently as you could. Once he was gone, you could simply slip out the door and get to school quickly. Or maybe you'll go ask a friend to hide you as a favor.
"Hey, where are you? [Player?]"
Your dad stood in the living room, you were peaking out the dark storage room. Your little sister woke up as well, as she always wakes up whenever your father does, as if their internal clocks were aligned or something.
You realized you had left out your bracelet by your breakfast, you were sure your sister was going to spot it, and that would definetly lead your dad to finding you. If she came a bit closer, you could call out to her and tell her to be quiet.
"Shhh..., don't make a sound, don't want father to find us too."
A tiny hand was placed on your shoulder. You shreaked silently and covered your mouth with your hands.
[[Scream and move the hand off of you.]]
[[Keep quiet as the small voice said.]]You decide to take whatever berating your father planned to throw at you, and stand your ground.
"I knew you were still here! Why the hell aren't you at school?!" You hated how loud his voice was, it was so bustling and startling. You wished just once that someone would speak gently with you, even if they were angry, they insulted you with a calm voice and a kind smile.
"Fine, don't answer me you stupid child. Get in the car, don't think you can just skip the rest of the day because you're late." Your father spat and you could only stand and stare at the ground.
You grabbed your bag and started to walk out the front door, opening the car door and sitting inside. Your father came in with a huff out his nostrils and sitting frustatedly.
[[Drive off.]]
You enetered the school, walking into your classroom awkwardly as the teacher stopped his lesson just to stare at you.
"You're never late, [Player.] Get your books out, quick." The classroom silently stared you down. You huffed and sat in your seat, grabbing your books.
Your teacher continued on with his lesson and wrote things on the board. However, you just couldn't pay much attention. Your head hurts.
You stared out the window, expression and mind completely blank.
"Ahem. Is the window more interesting than my lesson?"
You jumped at your teacher's words.
"Talk back to him, he has no right to be saying that to you." Someone's whispered into your ear.
[["Sorry.."]]
[["Just leave me alone."]](text-colour:red)[*+4 Poor Decision Making*]
You sat out in the yard, behind a tree that no one except you and your friends knew of.
It was already bright out, you were stuck waiting here now. Luckily, your school didn't send out emails or phone calls to your parents whenever you were absent, but if they did, you would've been in deep trouble.
Sitting out on a log, you were starting to get bored. You were dizzy and your head hurt so much. You don't remember if you've had breakfast or not. You were contemplating just heading home now since sitting out here seemed like a bad idea.
Suddenly, someone reached down and pulled you up by your collar.
"All the children were yelling about seeing movement out in the bush and cried it was a snake, i didn't know I'd catch something better." The gym teacher had caught you.
[[Slip out of her hands and run away.]]
[[Follow her inside.]]"Ah, that makes more sense." The man's smile didn't disppear no matter what he or you said. You were reminded of your mother, her fast words and kind smile.
The cross-walk light blinks and flashes and you can cross the road now. You cross the road and see your school up ahead. You look beside you and the man isn't there. You turn to look behind you and he seems to have disappeared.
He probably was in a hurry and left without you knowing.
[[Enter the school.]]"Well? Is there a specific reason for why you're out here so late? You should've just stayed home!" The man's smile never faltered and he continued to stare straight down at you with said smile.
"My dad would get mad if he found me at home..."
You didn't even realize you had been saying your thoughts out-loud. The old man stopped, but his smile never left.
"Your father must be very evil then." You jumped at what he said and threw your head back to look at him. He smiled and pointed at the blinking cross-walk sign, you sighed and started to swiftly walk across the street.
You look behind you once your across the street, the old man's not there anymore.
[[Ditch school.]]
[[Enter the school.]] You reluctantly enter the school, ready for the teacher to embarass you in front of the whole class.
"Ah, you're late? Well that's alright. Take your seat, come on." Your teacher smiled sheepishly, you sat down next to one of your friend's who silently waved at you.
You sat down and suddenly someone else walked in. However, no on else except for you seemed to notice them. They sat down on the chair next to you and just stared at you, smiling. No one else seemed to see them though. Well, it's obvious they probably did but were just ignoring them.
They had the girl's uniform on, so she were a student. However, the teacher wasn't scolding her for not paying attention to class.
You raised an eyebrow at her, she just stared.
[["[Player], pay attention please."]](text-colour:red)[*+2 Poor Decision Making*]
Your father jumped at the shreak you let out. He ran over to the closet and swung it open with wide eyes.
"What?! Why are you still here?! Why did you scream?!"
You had to steer clear of your father, a part of you knew he would know or at least be suspicious if you weren't taking your pills.
[["Something touched me...!"]]
[["I'm sorry."]] You held your mouth with your hands, trying your hardest not to shreak.
Eventually, your father walked off back into his bedroom, and your little sister followed him.
You finally turned around and desperately searched for a light switch to see what had touched you.
"Don't turn on the light! We don't want to disappear!" Another little voice whisper-shouted. There were multiple.
"Calm down, girl! We wont hurt 'ya!" You took slow deep breaths and looked back at the three little girl's behind you. You couldn't see them, but you could feel their hands on you, trying to calm and soothe you.
[["Who are you?"]]
[[Run out the door.]]Your dad began to drive off, making sure you made it to school at least a little early.
"Did you oversleep or something? Either way, don't ever do this again. Foolish child."
You could only mumble and nod, you didn't have enough confidence to talk back to your father. That would just be a recipe for disaster.
You finally arrived at school. Your father didn't say anything or even look at you. You opened the door, mumbled an apology and walked into the building.
[[Get to class.]]You sighed, after hearing all that from the strange old man, you didn't want to go to school. The thought of being in there was scary in itself.
You turned back around and crossed the street again. Finding an old rusty playground, you shoved yourself into the large, circular, yellow, slide and curled yourself up into a ball.
You were okay spending your day in here. You had food in your backpack, and it was actually kind of cozy. There was no one that seemed to come to this playground. Mostly because of how rusty all of the structures were and with the dying leaves shrouded around the area; it looked terrible.
But you were comfortable here.
Tap..Tap..Tap.
You heard a weird tapping noise. It seemed close, and it sounded like someone's long nails tapping against a large hollow structure.
[[Tap, tap, tap.]]You made one swift move and freed yourself from the gym's teacher's grasp. You ran as fast as you could, your legs sprinting away to their full speed.
You looked behind you and saw that the gym teacher was chasing you down. Please always said she was weird and mean and creepy, but you didn't think she was creepy and weird enough to chase you down like a cat and mouse game.
Once you had enough distance form her, you turned the corner and sat in a small alleyway of the unknown neighbourhood you know found yourself in. You hid in the shadows behind a large dumpster, watching as she ran forward. Once she was gone, you turned the corner out the alleyway and tried to find some other place to stay for now.
Looking ahead of yourself, you found an old and seemingly abandoned playground, as well as a turn to a large bustling field you knew of.
[[Go to the abandoned playground.]]
[[Go to the large bustling field.]]You accepted your fate and decided to let her take you in. If only you weren't in uniform, she wouldn't have recognized you as a student.
She led you to the office, and you're punishment was to write and letter and then give it to the office so they'll hand it to your dad. Oh and to top it all off, you were given 3 hours of detention to both write the letter, and to just sit in.
You now sat in detention, the door locked and no other student was inside except for you, suprisingly. Oddly enough, there wasn't even a teacher here to supervise you.
[[Write the letter.]]
[[Slack off.]]
"It's alright, just pay attention."
Your teacher sighed as he turned back to look at the board, and so did you.
"Hey, wanna skip in the bathroom?" A voice whispered to you, you looked beside you and saw a girl with two blonde braids, her hair was very shiny and beautiful.
[[Skip in the bathroom.]]
[[Decline.]](text-colour:red)[*+3 Rudeness*]
"Excuse me?" The teacher asked you condecendingly, turning to face you as you stared daggers into his face.
"Oooo...." The rest of the class whispered amongst each other, shocked that you would actually talk back to your teacher.
"I said, leave me alone. Are you deaf?" The class giggled, and you could see your teacher turning red. It was a bit comical though, he had a receding hairline, so you could see a part of his balding head turn red too.
"Any more of that attitude and you'll be going to detention. I can't believe you would actually say such things, who raised you?"
[["Who caused that receding hairline?"]]
[["alright, I apologize."]]
Your dad turned on the light and there were lots of different objects that were stored away in there. Amongst them, was a fuzzy old cat tower from back when you owned a cat.
"It was probably just that. Or it was this mannequin! Now get out here!" Your dad violently grabbed your arm and dragged you out the room. You knew you heard a little voice speak out to you, how did they disappear?
"Why aren't you in school?! You're going to be the death of me, girl! Get int he car! I'll drive you to school now that you've missed so much, you worthless child."
You were used to dad's harsh words whenever he scoled you, or whenever he was angry with anyone. He had a bit of an uncontrollable temperament, and it was exactly that that scared you from him.
You grabbed your backpack and walked out the door, waiting for your father to get in the car as well.
[[Drive off.]]Your father groaned as he dragged you out the closet.
"whatever, grab your stuff and get in the car, you idiot child. What am I ever going to do with you?"
You held back tears, walking out the door with your backpack over your shoulder.
You opened the car door and sat inside, waiting for your father to take care of your little sister's breakfast so then he could drive you to school. He obviously put her first, and never you. Once he finally sat in the car, he didn't even look at you and simply started the car aggresively.
[[Drive off.]]"We're just a few kids tryna' find a place to stay. We never get hungry, we just need a place to sleep for a while, y'know?" A child with a very thick southern accent spoke up.
"Yeah, we like it in this closet, it's so warm and cozy!" One of the other children, who had a more plummy voice.
"W-we didn't mean any harm..!" The last child spoke, sounding much more brittle and shaky voice, much more high-pitched than the others.
"Well then, you should prolly' get going, don't want your father ctachin' ya' now do ya'? You should come and visit all of us though!" The child with the southern accent said.
You couldn't say anything else, so you nodded, despite the fact that they couldn't see you much as how you couldn't see them in this darkness.
You ran out of the closet, making your way sneakily out the door and running as far as you could from the house. You eventually made your way to school.
[[Go inside.]] You ran out the door without your dad noticing. You ran far away from the house, you were so glad that you could get away from whoever was in there.
You hadn't even realized later that you had arrived in front of your school, maybe you were just so familiar with the path to your school that your startled brain just led you there.
Now, you really had no choice but to walk in.
[[Go inside.]]As you tried your best to silently enter the class, your teacher spotted you and decided to announce your arrival to the whole class.
"Ah! Look who's late, it's alright, it's alright, I'm just teasing. Now, take a seat and grab your books, dear!" You awkwardly sat next to your friend and sighed as she greeted you with just a simple smile.
You were having a hard time paying attention, you would look around the classroom, anywhere except the board. Everytime you would occasionally look at the teacher, she would be looking right at you as she spoke. You knew she had noticed your absence of mind.
Suddenly, the school bell blared and everyone's grabbed their things to leave. You did the same.
[[Leave class.]]You looked around yourself and after a moments realization, it was obvious someone was tapping the slide you were currently curled up in. You couldn't hide yourslef, they obviously knew you were in there.
"Who's there?" You asked suspiciously. A girl wearing the same school uniform as you then bent over and smiled at you. Her straight and medium length hair swung as she cocked her head to the side at you like a cat.
"I didn't expect someone to be in my favourite spot." She had a honeyed voice, you couldn't tell if it was forced or not, either way, she never lost that smile on her face. She then squished herself into the slide with you, not really asking first.
[["What's your name?"]]
You jumped at the teacher's voice. You didn't understand, this random girl was staring at you with a smile first, she wasn't paying attention so why is the teacher only calling you out?
"But she..-"
You pointed beside you but were only met with the class looking at you confused, as well as the teacher. You looked at their perplexed expressions and looked next to you, only to realize that the girl that was sitting in the desk beside you was gone. You awkwardly giggled as the teacher slowly turned back around to face the board. She must've slipped out of her seat when the teacher wasn't looking.
"Can i be excused to the washroom?" You asked with a riased hand. The teacher agreed and you hurried over to the bathroom to organize your thoughts.
[[Go to the bathroom.]]You decided to slip away into the abandoned playground. No one would find you there, so it was better to lay low in case someone from school spotted you or something.
You walked around the rusty structures, trying to find a shady spot you could sit under for a while. You couldn't tell if the gym teacher had left back to school, or if she was still scavangering the area in hopes of finding you again. You've got a marble puzzle game in your backpack, maybe you culd play around with that until you could head off somewhere else. Or you could just sleep under a nice shady tree.
[[Sleep...]]
[[Stay awake.]]You decided to go to the large bustling field. As you turned the corner and began heading there, you could already see children running and making their way to that exact field. It was always so filled with people, especially in the summer time.
When you got there, you were blinded by how the sun shone on the lime green field. You could here a soccer game going on nearby, and there were occasional children running around, almost bumping into you.
You found a corner way across the field, close to a wall of a building and a fence. You sat down, hugging the wall instead of staying in the middle of the field.
You stayed sitting there for so long, you had closed your eyes, letting the sun shine down on them and warm them. You shuffled over to lay down, finally being able to get some sleep, you stared at the clouds. Cloud gazing was always so nice.
[[Continuue.]]You might as well just write the letter, since you're in here for 3 hours and have nothing better to do. You started off your letter, trying to make it sound apologetic enough so that when your father reads it he might show you even just a little mercy.
Your stomach rumbled, and after a long time of writing, your fingers began to ache. You sat back with your pencil still in your hand, that was until the doorknob rattled and someone unlocked the door.
In came a old man you had never seen in the school before. He has a surprisingly thick amount of white-ish blonde hair, which was slicked to the side with lots of gel. You wouldn't be shocked if he was wearing a toupée. He had a sharp gaze, glasses, and a normal shirt with a tie on. He also had this long beige trench coat on, which made him look either like a detetective or a news reporter. No..., now that you really look at him, he looks like a news reporter.
He shuffled all of his belongings onto the desk without so much as looking at you. He sat down and locked his hands together on the table, just like a news reporter would.
[[Continue writing..]]
You were too petty to actually start writing, besides, after being embarassed like that by the gym teacher, you needed to gather your thoughts. You had lots of time to write the letter some other time.
You sat back in your chair with a sigh, until you were scared straight by a rattling noise, it seemed to be someone unlocking the door.
You pretended to write dilegently, glancing up suspiciously every now and then until an old man opened the door.
He has a surprisingly thick amount of white-ish blonde hair, which was slicked to the side with lots of gel. You wouldn't be shocked if he was wearing a toupée. He had a sharp gaze, glasses, and a normal shirt with a tie on. He also had this long beige trench coat on, which made him look either like a detetective or a news reporter. No..., now that you really look at him, he looks like a news reporter.
[[Continue writing..]]It's not like you were enjoying this class anyways. You nodded and asked the teacher to go to the bathroom. They agreed and you walked off to the bathroom, wondering where the other girl who had susgested to skip in the first place went. You looked around and figured they had just chickened out. So much for skipping with someone else.
You sat in a stall, no one else was in the bathroom right now, so you had the whole bathroom to yourself. Yet you still decided to stay in a stall by yourself. You were a bit bummed out, you didn't get to talk to the girl with braids any further.
"Hey, hey, you! Yes, you, the dumb one, yeah!" A voice whispered, sounding very annoyed.
[[Look around.]]
"Ugh, what a bummer you are." The girl whispered as she looked away and you sat in silence.
"For the last time, no more talking!" The teacher finally snapped and scolded you and the girl beside you. You were rendered silent and embarassed. You raised your hand to go to the bathroom, and surprisingly the teacher allowed you to leave. The girl beside you was probably confused, since you had just declined her offer of skipping class together.
You sat in a stall, no one else was in the bathroom right now, it was just you in a stall and a very silent bathroom.
"Hey you, look up here! Yeah, you, just look up idiot!" Someone whisper shouted. No one else had been in the bathroom with you when you first entered, so where was this voice coming from?
[[Look around.]] The class roared into laughter, and some people even clapped. No one liked this teacher, he was so strict and rude, he always needed the secuirty and confirmation that he had control over the class. You hated people who craved control.
"That does it! Detention for you. If the rest of you don't quiet down then it'll be detention for all of you!"
The teacher forced you to get up and decided to lead you to the detention room himself. You were shoved into a cramped seat in the room, no one else was in there, you were just stuck all by yourself.
"Your father will be recieving a phone call young lady." Your teacher practically spat as he said so, and walked out while locking the door behind him. You didn't have many choices to make now, you were sure no one would be checking in on you for a while. You had lots of time to yourslef now.
[[Take a nap.]]
[[Eat some food.]]
[[Stare at the ceiling.]]"That's more like it. Don't talk back to me ever, or any teacher for that fact! You should be glad you didn't have a stricter teacher today because you'd be in detention already."
You were annoyed at your teacher for still going on about something you apologized for. He made it very easy to piss people off, it wasn't your fault.
You sat in class, not really paying attention to what your teacher was saying.
[[Rrrring!]] The bell had rung, and class was over. You walked into the school, suddenly feeling way too annoyed at even being inside the building. You wanted to leave already. This was too much. The air was suddenly suffocating, you tried your best to breathe, but you couldn't. It was so hot.. and humid.. you hated this. You want someone to help, but no one's around. You wish someone would come and help you breathe, but you were trapped.
"Isn't that how it's been for a while now?" Someone said as they bent over to whisper in your ear. You couldn't look behind you because you were too busy trying to get air through to your lungs, but you were aware that someone stood behind you, looming over you, and your thoughts.
"Your life has been nothing short of suffocating all your life. Shouldn't you be used to this feeling by now?" You wanted to push this person away, but you were still desperately gasping for air, so you couldn't do anything about them.
"There is a solution..." They continued, you couldn't tell if this person standing behind you was a female or male, you just needed air right now. "You could accept it..., and find comfort in the feeling of suffocation, or.. you could let yourself choke to death and squirm for air.
[[Accept it.]]
[[Deny it.]]"[Player], would you mind coming over here for a minute?" Your teacher called out to you, and smiled from her desk all the way over to you, it was a reassuring smile.
Your friend looked at you for a minute and then left with the rest of the class, you were disappointed she didn't wait for you.
You walked over to the teacher, making sure you stood right in front of her desk and stared into her eyes.
"You've been acting a bit... off during class, I just wanted to ask, are you.. doing alright, dear?" The word 'dear' echoed in your ears, and you suddenly rememebered your mother.
[["Yeah, I'm fine.."]]
[[Don't answer.]]"Oh, me?" Her smile seemed to grow wider, as if it was possible for it to widen more than it already had.
"My name's not that important. What's the point in always telling each other our names. We humans love to label things, and it's pretty annoying. Like, i can look at a table and know it's a table without calling it a table. The same goes for humans! I can call every girl I ever meet 'girl' and I'll still remember each one of them, I'll recognize their differences without having to label them."
You deadpanned, not quite understanding what this girl was rambling on about.
[["Erm.. Okay."]]
[["But then, you would get confused between people.."]]You headed to the bathroom, trying to see if that girl from earlier was already in here. Unfortunately, she wasn't in there, nor was anyone else. It was just you.
You walked around to the back of the washroom. People usually hung out there, since it was a corner no one could really see, at least not immediately when you enetered the washroom. You walked around the corner, looking at the ground, but were startled when you saw someone's else's feet right by yours.
You yelped and a girl with a cigarette in her mouth. She blew out smoke in your face and you coughed while swatting the air in front of you.
"Keep it down, will ya?"
[["Don't blow smoke in my face.."]]You moved your backpack and placed it on it's side so that you could use it as a pillow. Little shades of light peeked through the leaves, casting down warm territories of light on your body, leaving you feeling very pastoral.
Suddenly, you were woken up by small pokes on your arm. You swatted the feeling away and turned on your side, but the poking only got faster once you had done so. You opened your eyes and you hollered when you saw a pair of big green eyes staring at you. A little girl, suspectedly between the ages of 6-8, was staring at you, as if you were some acient artifact to be studied.
"Oh, you're awake.." Her little voice said to you.
[["Who are you??"]]
You decided it was better to stay awake, especially because that teacher might still be around.
But the more you sat under the shady tree, the more sleepier you got. You woke up early, and slept late, obviously you were tired.
You decided to just rest your eyes, closing them and feeling the tranquility of the world around you. You could stay like this forever.
[[Sleep...]]Suddenly, you heard a familiar voice call out to you.
"Woah, [Player?] Are you okay?" Your friend from the 6th grade, who had switched schools for reasons of their own, someone you had missed so much. He was your best friend; Sahar Gul. You called him sahar, but you remember how much he would talk about the meaning of his name. It meant... Morning flower, you believe?
"Sahar?" You called out and he smiled brightly as he looked down at you. "No way! It's my one and only best friend! What're you doing here? Why aren't you at school?"
You sat up and itched your head, giggling sheepishly. "That's kinda hard to explain.."
He sat down in front of you and smiled. He seemed to be wearing a soccer shirt, with the number 13 on the back. His shoes were a bit muddy, and he was wearing shorts with long knee high socks. It was obvious what he was doing here.
[[Continue2]]You glanced at the old man, he took a deep breath and then started to stare at the wall blankly, as if on a news outlet giving a report as the reporter stared into the camera.
"Good evening, I'm Era Goloss." You looked up as the man spoke.
"NATO forces bomb serbia and Kosovo, on a seperate note, an unidentified man is being held for questioning by the FBI for suspected links to last month's biological virus theft." You raised your eyebrow at him, what was he saying? Non of this has been happening...
"In local News, a dog named Hero, takes the gran prize for-" He stops and pauses, taking off his eye glasses and sighing very melancholically.
[["I wish I could give you more pertinent news.."]]You looked around the place, feeling creeped out that there was a voice calling out to you. It even sounded like a man, a young one, which was more unsettling. Eventually, your eyes drifted up and you saw a shadowy figure crouched down inside what seemed to be a vent-- his gloved fingers were the only things that were visible.
"Whatever that woman tells you, don't listen to her. She's fu-- She's evil! You hear me? Don't listen to her!" they whisper shouted to you, but you didn't understand what they meant. Who was this woman he was warning you so desperately about? He seemed to crawl back and go through the vents.
[[Call out to him.]]
[[Get out of the bathroom.]]You grabbed your stuff, heading out of the classroom. You glanced at your teacher, and he glanced at you. You turned your gaze away from him and walked out the classroom. This was the last class of your day, since you had gotten to school late.
You held onto the strap of your bag and headed out of the school. You felt really.. out of it, but you couldn't exctly tell why.
[[Go home..]]You didn't have anything better to do, so why not sleep? You placed your feet up on another desk in front of you and crossed both your legs and arms, closing your eyes as you leaned back in your chair.
While you slept, you could hear whispering. It was keeping you awake. You couldn't hear what was being said, but you could tell that the whispers were speaking of you. But it was comforting, you weren't scared, because the whispers sounded like warm hands massaging your body.
Suddenly, you snapped your eyes open when you heard the door opening. You had slept through all of detention. The whispering had stopped, which meant it was just an odd dream. You were free to leave now, so you had to head home before you were any later for dinner than you already were.
[[Go home..]]You reached into your bag that was hung on your chair, rummaging through trying to feel your snacks you had brought. You finally felt the plastic bag of potato chips against your fingers, as well as the crumpling noise made from the contact.
You opened the bag and started to eat, a few minutes later, you had finished. You had nothing else left to do, all you could do was stare at the ceiling as you ate.
Suddenly, you heard your empty bag of chips ruffling and crumpling, as if something was touching it. You looked over and saw a rat rummagging into the bag, trying to find some remains of the food that had been in the bag. You screamed and backed away quickly, but once you looked closer, there wasn't actullay anything there. You had pushed your pencil case closer to the bag with your arm unknowingly, that was what was causing the noise. You sighed in relief and sat back down. You heard the door opening, and a teacher said your time in detention was over, and that you should get home now.
[[Go home..]]You decided sleeping and eating wren't very enthralling choices, so you instead decided to stare at the ceiling.
You stared at the ceiling for a while, either looking at the lights until your eyes began to ache, or either training your eyes on the patterns of the ceiling.
The ceiling suddenly began to swirl into shades of purple, orange, blue and pink. You were so mezmerized by the colours, they were truly beautiful. However, when you blinked, they were gone. You figured it was your eyes playing tricks on you after staring at the lights for so long.
An hour or so later, you heard the door jingling as it was unlocked. It seems your detention time was over, and you were free to go home.
[[Go home..]]Pertinent news, what was he saying?
"But we're in a rating system here, and the key factor is: ''Sensationalism''." His voice deepened as he reached the word 'sensationalism.'
You had to admit, what he was saying wasn't incorrect, but he was making no sense. There are no camera's, there are no other people, it felt like he was only giving this speech to you.
"They've got you running in circles- from 9 to 5- and 5 to 9......you're fine." You could hear the desperation increase in his voice.
"I tell you what ''they'' want you to know, and you... consider it the truth!" He smacked his hands down on the desk, which startled you.
"NOBODY IS OPENING THEIR EYES!" He finally started to scream, his shouts were piercing your ears. "Our global economy is depleting the world.. of our lives and natural recources!'
[["AND ARE YOU HAPPY?!"]]The man started to hit the table violently. He shoved off everything on his desk to the floor, causing loud crashes and a nearby vase on his desk to fall on the floor and shatter. You didn't know what to do, you could only stand there looking at him in fear. He barely even seemed to notice you. You were probably just a camera to him.
"I WORK FOR THE SYSTEM!! MY LIFE IS CONTROLLED FOREVER!" The man began to cry. Clear and salty tears fell from his eyes and rolled down some of the wrinkles on his face in a perfect line.
You could help him, or you could run out of the detention room..
[[Calm him down.]]
[[Run out the room.]]You got out of your seat and ran up to him, trying to calm him down.
"Hey, sir...! Please, calm down. No need to get so worked up! Hey, are you listening?"
He was breathing very heavily, and he was looking at you so very pitifully. You could see tears well up in the poor man's eyes. You, however, couldn't feel anything less of disgusted pity for him. Something about watching a grown man break down over something so trivial was quite repulsive. Either way, you still tried your hardest to console him.
He ended up pushing you away, causing you to fall onto the hard marble floor. You rubbed your back that had hit the ground, trying to see where this crazed man had gone. When you looked, he had retreated to a corner of the room, curled up in a ball.
The door was wide open, you could leave right now. This man was inconsoleable. You grabbed your bag and booked it out the room, making it out the building.
[[Go home..]]You saw an opening and ran for it, you didn't know what else that man was going to do, but it was best if you got out of here, because he seemed to have been getting more violent by the second.
You ran out of the school building, it was time to go home anyways, you had just been stuck in detention, so you had no idea.
[[Go home..]]"Hey! Hey wait!" You tried yelling out to the man, but he didn't turn back. You could hear footsteps of a group of girls, they were approaching the bathroom. You had to get out of here before they enetered, or else they might think you're insane or something with the way you screamed out at the vent.
You slipped out of the bathroom just in time, your heart pumping. Though you couldn't tell if it pounding from fear of those girls almost running into you, or because there was a strange man in the vents of the girls washroom.
You didn't like this one bit. You wanted to go home. But you knew they wouldn't let you call your dad, and by 'they', you meant the office staff.
[[Walk down the hallways.]]You ran out of the bathroom, trying to catch your breath. You wondered why this man was trying to warn you. Who was 'she?' Why did he seem to want you to know this information so badly?
You found a water fountain nearby and pressed the button as you bent over to started drinking from it. Once you had calmed down thanks to the water, you huffed in relief of getting out of the bathroom in one piece.
[[Walk down the hallways.]]You accepted that this was your fate. You were going to be out of breath, never fully able to take in all the air you need. The more you fought it, the more difficult it became to breathe. You just had to agree, sometimes life isn't fair.
You fell to the floor, finally being able to breathe. You coughed and watched as students nearby stopped to look at you, of course, they didn't dare come any closer to help you.
You stood up with shaky legs, maybe it was your whole body that was shaking and not just your legs. You scrambled out the gates of the school, like a rabbit running from a wolf.
[[Run.]]You didn't want to accept it. You didn't want to accept something as absurd as this. Were you not deserving of love too? Were you not deserving of human connection too?
"Think deeply about this, don't just deny it so quickly!" The person from behind you spoke once again, their voice becoming louder at your rejection.
"Make the right choice, or this defiant breath will be your last. It's not like you have ever been capable of maintaining a lasting relationship with another human being, no matter who they are. Isn't that pathetic enough to make you give up?"
You hated how right this person was. Companionship and lonliness... you were afraid of both!
[[Accept it?]]"Well..., if you insist, then I'll believe you. Now, run along, the day is over already, can you believe it?" She chuckled sweetly, you couldn't help but smile too.
"Oh, and [Player?] Don't forget, if something ever is bothering you, you can always come to me."
You nodded and held on tighter to the strap of your backpack, turning around and leaving the classroom.
[[Go home..]]"[Player..?]" You stared down at your feet, staring at the different shapes of the shine on your black dress shoes. Were you really okay? Did you not need any help? Or were you willing to deny the fact that you haven't been okay all day.
"[Player?]" Your teacher placed her hand on your shoulder, which finally caught your attention and snapped you out of your dazed thoughts. "Are you feeling okay?"
You smiled and nodded. "I'm fine. Really. Thanks for the concern though." You said to your teacher, hoping that your act would be convincing enough to get her to stop asking how you were feeling. Even if you told her, what would she know anyway? She couldn't do a thing for you, this is real life, not a fairy-tale.
"I believe you. Thanks for answering. Now go along, it's getting late. The day's already over so quickly, am i right?" She spoke with a kind smile, you nodded and left, waving at her as she watched you leave from her office seat.
[[Go home..]]She giggled and tilted her head at you, the smile on her face remaining on her lips.
"Sorry, I think I got ahead of myself. I didn't mean to."
You couldn't think of an answer to her odd words. She was asking and saying such complex things, and you were still too tired to comprehend what she was rambling about.
"So then, why are you in here? If my memory is correct, it's a school day today.." Her sarcastic remarks weren't helping with your headache.
[[Tell her why you're here.]]
[[Don't tell her.]]"Hmm, why do you think that?"
You paused for a moment, trying to think of a way to explain this to her.
"Well, if you were talking about a girl to another girl about another girl, wouldn't you get confused? You wouldn't know who was who, you'd have to explain further, which is just more work. And even if you call them girl 1, girl 2, and girl 3, you'll still be labeling them."
The girl's smile faded, she didn't seem offended, but just surprised momentarily that you explained that so well and proved her incorrect. Finally, she smiled again, and you sighed in relief because you thought you had made her upset.
"Well then, how about we just don't talk about them!" She smiled brightly, but shushed you before you could proceed with this conversation more.
"But enough about that, let me ask, why're you here? This playground is really creepy.."
[[Tell her why you're here.]]
[[Don't tell her.]]"Sheesh, don't be such a buzz-kill."
She puffed out more smoke, this time turning her head the other way instead of blowing nicotine in your face again.
"Are you skipping? You don't look like the type to skip." She seemed much older than you, maybe in grade 9. You coudn't help but think that her age was a bit too young to be smoking.
"Uhh.. I don't know yet." You answered honestly, you didn't know exacty why you had left the classroom, and why you weren't going back yet.
"My name is Maya.., what is your name?" Her words were as you would expect any child's to be.