"Brooklynn!"

I seemed to be standing in a dark room, though I had no idea how I got there. I looked around trying to figure out if I had been imagining the cry.

"Brooklynn!"

Nope, I definitely wasn't imagining it. And this time, I recognized the voice.

"Mom?" I called back, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Hey honey," the voice said behind me. I spun around, and there was my mom standing about a hundred feet from me.

"Mom!" I bolted toward her, tears of joy filling my eyes. She smiled and held her arms out to me.

I wrapped my arms around her, but instead of feeling my mom's arms close around me, I stumbled forward and clutched at nothing, as if she was a ghost.

"Why did you kill me, Brooklynn?" Mom's voice spoke behind me.

I spun around to see her standing behind me.

"What? I didn't kill you! Why would you say that?" I said incredulously.

"Yes, you did, you ungrateful little bitch!" My father yelled right behind me.

I jumped, and looked at my mom, expecting her to defend me. But she crossed over to where my dad was standing, and wrapped her arm around his waist.

"If you hadn't asked me to go with you that day, then we wouldn't have been in that intersection when the driver came through. He wouldn't have crashed into us." My mom said, with a cold light in her eye that I had never come to associate with her.

"You're the reason that I'm dead, Brooklynn. Because you couldn't wait, I had suffer the consequences of your impatience." And with that, my mom and dad turned away from me and walked away.

"Wait!" I screamed. "Don't go! I'm sorry! Please don't leave me!"

I tried to run after them, to catch up to them and tell them how sorry I was for destroying our family. But no matter how hard I ran, they always seemed just out of reach.

I kept running until I stumbled and couldn't get up.

"Mom," I wheezed.

She finally seemed to hear me, and turned her head to look at me.

"I'm not your mom," she said coldly. "And you are no longer my daughter." She turned and kept walking till she and my father disappeared.

Tears stung my eyes at her words. I lay there, looking at the place where my parents had once stood.

Then, the ground beneath me seemed to fade into nothing, and I fell into a pit of nothing.

"Mom!" I screamed as I sat up in bed, sweat dripping down my face, and my heart pounding a million beats a minute.

Once my breathing had calmed down some, I turned to grab my phone to look at the time. 3:30 am.

I flopped back on my bed with a groan. Of course the night Asher brought up my mom, I had nightmares. 

For about an hour afterwards, I tossed and turned, unable to sleep properly.

Finally, though, I was able to drift off into a fitful sleep until I had to get up and start getting ready for the day. 

•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•

"Alright!" Mr. Dashner yelled as he glared at us.  Sometimes I wonder why he even took up a teaching position if he doesn't like kids.

"You'll be having a test on this chapter on Friday." A groan rippled through the classroom. I could sympathize. Dashner's tests are always unnecessarily hard.

"You should know the usual requirements by now," he continued, folding his hand behind his back and pacing back and forth in front of his desk.

Yep, all vocabulary words, key players, major events, etc. This is gonna be one whopper of a test, cuz this chapter was packed full of stuff.

The bell rang, sparing us from any more assignments he might torture us with. I packed my bag, slipped out the door, and headed toward my locker.

"Hey, study session at my house tonight for the test?" I heard Oliver say as I fumbled with my locker combination.

"Sure, I just need the address," Asher replied, opening up his locker next to mine and putting his textbook away.

"What about you, Brooklynn? You up for it?" Oliver asked as I finally got my locker open and put my stuff in.

"Yeah, I'll be there," I said, knowing that I would be able to play on his PS4 afterwards.

"Ok, sounds good!" Asher said with a grin on his face.

"What are we talking about?" Ruben asked, appearing out of nowhere. He draped his arm over Asher's shoulder, scaring the poor guy and making him jump.

"Holy mackerel!" Asher yelped. "Does he do that a lot?"

"Mhm. You'll get used to it," I said as I walked past him and patting his shoulder.

"You guys are crazy!" I heard him complain behind me. I snorted. He has no clue.

•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•

"Oh my gosh, my brain is going to explode!"

We were sitting in Oliver's bedroom going over a study sheet I had put together during lunch. Asher rubbed his head and looked at the material like he was going to be sick.

"Are his tests always this hard?" He asked, waving sheets of notes around.

I nodded gravely.

"Well, I guess that's enough studying for one night. How about we play some video games?" Oliver said as he reached for a controller on the foot of his bed.

"Yes!"I cheered, fist-pumping the air. I had been waiting for this for a long time now. I've always

"Someone's excited," Asher said with a chuckle. I shoved him playfully and grabbed my controller.

"Ok, and the disk is in!" Oliver said as he sat down on the ground next to Asher. I took up my post on the foot of the bed.

A grin spread across my face as the familiar Star Wars theme song began playing. One of my favorite games is Star Wars Battlefront. Most people don't like it, but hey, everyone's entitled to their own opinions even if they're wrong.

"Ok, what do you want to do?" Oliver asked once we reached the menu page.

"Skirmish with the Graveyard Of Giants map." I love that map. One of my top favorites.

"Ok, skirmish, walker assault, and let's go!" Ollie said to himself as he moved through the screens.

My phone lit up with a notification right beside me, and when I looked to see who it was from, my heart kept into my throat.

Where are you? My dad asked. I could almost hear the growl in his voice.

I picked up my phone, and typed out a quick reply. I'm at Oliver's house studying for a test. There's leftover spaghetti in the fridge for dinner.

I set my phone back down and looked back at the TV.

"Oh come on!" I groaned. Of course Oliver would choose Survival on Endor. My least favorite map.

"Here, you play," I said, tapping Asher on the shoulder with my controller. "I don't like this map.

"Ok," he said, taking the controller, and to my enjoyment, completely whooping Oliver's ass.

"What the hell?" Oliver cried out as Asher killed him for the hundredth time in a row. "How are you so good at this?"

Asher shrugged. "My best friend in middle school had a PlayStation, and we would play for hours after school."

"Hey, I need to get home, or else my dad is gonna flip," I said as I look at the time.

"Aight," Ollie said, furiously moving his hands on the controls, trying to get Asher.

"See you tomorrow," Asher said with a smirk as he killed Oliver yet again.

"Come on! Ok, next game! I'm gonna beat you this time," I heard Oliver say as I grabbed my bag and walked downstairs.

"Ok, whatever you say," Asher replied nonchalantly, then a few seconds later, "What the hell, man? How do you keep doing that?" Oliver cried.

I snorted as I walked out the front door and into the cool October night air. I shivered slightly, and pulled my hoodie closer to my body. I started walking, knowing that it would get my blood flowing, and help me warm up even more.

Just a couple minutes after I left Oliver's house, the hair on the back of my neck stood straight up, and I felt like someone was watching me. I whipped around, but saw nothing. I stood there for a couple seconds, waiting. But nothing happened. I slowly turned back around and started walking again, this time slightly more aware of my surroundings. I passed the old fire hydrant that had been knocked over one too many times, and I knew I was getting close to my house.

Then I heard footsteps running behind me. I whipped around, just in time to see a dark figure dart into an alley in between the apartment complexes near my neighborhood. My heart started to pound so hard I could hear it. I started walking backwards for a few steps, then turned around and rammed right into someone.

Before I could react, they pressed a rag to my mouth and nose, and I had no choice but to breathe in the sweet vapors on the rag. I felt my eyes rolling back into my head and my body going limp, and then everything went black.

•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•

When I woke up, I was laying on the ground in a dark alley, with no memory of what happened, and how I got there. 

I pushed myself up and looked around. My bag was laying a few feet away from me, with my jeans on top of it.

Oh god, I thought as soon as I realized what that meant. I had been raped. I struggled to my feet, grabbed my jeans, which thankfully had my underwear in them, and pulled them on. I then grabbed my boots, which had been tossed around the alley, and put those on as well. Once I was done with that, I knelt next to my bag, and started rifling through it.

Everything was there. My phone, my wallet, nothing was missing. I touched my neck, and found that my necklace was still there as well. So these guys had attacked me for the sole purpose of using me for their pleasure. The thought made me sick.

Before I could dwell on it too much, a police officer rolled by on patrol. He evidently saw me, because he stopped and rolled down the window.

"Are you alright?" He asked as I grabbed my bag and stood up.

I nodded my head. "Yeah, I was looking for my phone. I'm on my way home from a study session at a friend's house."

The officer nodded, buying my story. He hadn't seen me lying on the ground, or pulling on my pants and shoes. He had only seen me going through my bag as if looking for something. I breathed out a small sigh of relief.

"Well, can I offer you a ride? It's not safe for young women to be walking out alone at this hour."

No shit, Sherlock, I thought as I shook my head. "I'm not too far from my house, only a couple blocks or so." I said, swinging my bag onto my back.

"Ok," The officer said. "Have a good evening." Then he pulled away.

I continued walking, constantly looking over my shoulder, terrified that I'd see the man coming after me, but no one followed me. When I reached my house, I quickly unlocked the door and let myself in, locking the door behind me. I leaned against the door for a moment, letting myself breathe.
I pushed myself off the door, and made my way to my room. I dumped my bag at my desk then flopped on my bed. My gut was throbbing, a result of getting raped, I guess.

My eyes closed again, and I slipped into a dreamless sleep.

•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•+•

Hey guys! What is up? It is I, ItsMyKale!

So I've always had this plan for this story, and I wanted to show just how strong people can be through these experiences that they face. Now granted, I've never had to go through any of this, losing a parent, having an abusive parent, or getting raped. I don't know what people in these situations are feeling, I just know what I would probably feel. So if you don't agree with something that I have written, then just know that I am going off of my own judgement, and imagination.

Also, please leave your comments and feedback, I love hearing from you guys, and, thank you to everyone who has been reading this from the beginning! It really means a lot.

Do people even read these authors notes?

Anyways, Vote! Comment! Share!

But most importantly, see y'all in the next chapter!