It started about a year ago. School had just gotten out and along came summer. Junior year was over and Calloway was off to summer.
Most people's summers were going to the beach and sleep away camp, but Calloway's was going up to the mountains in Tennessee with her mother and father. There they would relax, read, take boat rides on the lakes, eat picnics, and watch the stars. Some people would find that incredibly boring, but Calloway thought it was the best thing ever.
She wasn't the type of girl who enjoyed hard core partying after school or having 5 boyfriends in the span of a month. She preferred settling down and staying out of sight. She had many friends who agreed with her view of life. Calloway never had a boyfriend or had her first kiss. She didn't drink, smoke, or cuss.
Basically, she was a good girl who stayed quiet. But that summer changed everything for. It changed her rules, her perspectives, even her as a person.
It all began when she discovered the whiskey bottle in the fridge. Her parents, like her, did not drink. They only had a sip of wine on New Year's, but that was it.
Calloway thought for sure that the last people who had rented their cabin had left it behind, but when she addressed her parents about it, they dismissed her.
That was sign number 1.
A few days later, after star gazing, Calloway was in the shower when she heard a bang. She quickly got out of the shower and ran into her parents room. There, she found her two bottles lying on the floor and a hole in the wall. Calloway couldn't find her mom, but saw her dad kicking at a cupboard.
Calloway retreated out of their room into her's where she locked the door and tried to go to sleep. She stayed up the entire night.
That happened every night since. Drinking, kicking, punching, screaming, yelling, repeat.
For a child who had never had a single bad thing in her life, Calloway didn't know what to do. Night after night, Calloway was hardening. She had her own signs. She stopped going outside to star gaze. She stopped leaving her room. She began to eat less.
It was not Calloway's fault for this change in attitude. She couldn't help it. For the first time in her life, Calloway wanted to go home. Not exactly home to her physical house, but home where she could retreat to school everyday.
It was still July when she started sneaking out. Calloway took her car and drove to the nearest store. She knew her parents hated when Calloway snuck off somewhere, but she could care less. She wanted to spite them. She wanted revenge.
Calloway did the same thing everyday for the rest off summer. When she came home, she would find her parents waiting for her on the couch. They would start yelling, but what did Calloway care?
All the yelling and screaming at her had taken the last bit of innocence from Calloway.
On her way back home, Calloway realized that that summer would change her forever.