Nadia was born and raised in a town where nothing really happened. She was the first everything - first daughter, first granddaughter, first niece - you name it. 

From the outside looking in, her childhood was perfect. Her parents were lawyers, and soon enough, she had made a name for herself after excelling academically. Little did most people know - she was dreadfully unhappy with her life. Everything in it, too, except one thing - her best friend, Anders. 

In her early teen years, Nadia's father was a tyrant in their home. He never hit her or her mother but aimed words at them like daggers. Contrary to popular belief, there is nothing in this world that hurts more than bitter words.

Nadia's father was well-respected and dignified in their community. His peers didn't know that he had an unpredictable temper with his family and flew into crazy rages in a split second. He was nothing short of a narcissist and a down-right bully.

Canada, August 2014.

Nadia was ecstatic to see Canada in all its wonder and glory. Two weeks into her family's bi-annual vacation, she figured that she could even live there one day. She was just fourteen years old, but that was when everything went downhill. 

One afternoon, in particular, had changed Nadia's perception of everything.

On her and her parents' way back to their hotel from a wild trip to Niagara Falls, they went off route via her father's counsel. He had refused to follow the map and decided to take matters into his own hands - leading them to endure a longer journey than the first. It was his first time in Canada, too, but as far as he was concerned, he knew a lot more about how to get around than anyone else.

It was around five o'clock. The train station was deserted, and the three of them sat on a lone bench. They were moving in circles. Nadia had never been one to keep quiet - she always said what was on her mind as soon as it came.

"We're going the wrong way," she said, seated next to her mother, "We're even -"

"Shut up! Just shut up, huh! You're getting out of hand!" Nadia's father flew to his feet and yelled at her face. 

Her mouth dropped wide open, and she paused. She glanced shortly at her mother, who simply sat with her lips pursed together, as usual, not stepping in. Nadia's gut burned with hurt. She stood, walked away, and sat on the other side of the train station. She gazed longingly at the train tracks, desperate for some form of escape. A loud, blaring noise sounded in the distance. A train was approaching.

Nadia clenched her fists tightly, and her upper lip twitched with hot anger.

"If I do this," she thought, "My blood will be on his filthy hands. And for the rest of his damn life."

Nadia shot up and marched toward the train tracks as the train got closer. Her eyes swam with crazed lust - the strong breeze whipped her dress in all different directions as she held out her arms to her sides. The train horn grew louder, nearer. 

It would be an act of impulse so haunting and insane - yet to Nadia, it was so long overdue.

It would be the final straw.

"I'll do this," she tip-toed on the edge of the platform, trying to time everything.

The train moved at such a rapid pace - there was no way it could stop in time. Like a sudden strike of lightning, it would take her away from the life that she knew.

She leaned slightly forward, ready to lose her balance when - 

WHOOSH!

"What are you doing!" her father grabbed her forcefully, just as the train rushed past them.

He threw her to the ground, and she burst into tears.

Choo-choo!

The train kept going by - its roaring sounds covering up Nadia's cries.

"Are you an idiot?" her father's voice shouted over the noise.

She slowly pried herself off the ground and got to her feet. She sobbed loudly now. Her mother just watched from the bench.

"Stand there and cry! Like a fool!" He spat those vile words at Nadia. 

At heart, Nadia was tender-hearted and emotional. She'd been open to love - to give it and receive it. However, after that and after years of being shut down, Nadia learnt to mask her emotions. She adopted feminist ideologies and the hatred that she felt toward her father emanated from her every time a man tried to approach her. Especially if they were another black man. She couldn't see anyone but him in their eyes.  

Imagine the total confusion in their home the night Nadia announced she wouldn't pursue tertiary education, despite being a top student at her high school. When Nadia was fifteen years old, Anders had introduced her to a pretty blonde who'd become her partner in crime and sister by choice, one year later.

At seventeen years old, at the end of Highschool, Nadia left her parents' home. Her father hadn't much to say about that, and her spineless mother was tongue-tied also. Nadia didn't look back. She resented her mother for never protecting her against her father's temper tantrums. It was a painful pill to swallow. She swallowed it anyway - with a tall glass of pride and moved on.

Luckily for Nadia, the one good deed her mother had done was teaching her how to care for natural hair. She scored an average job at a hair salon downtown, four hours away from where she grew up. She lived as a nomad for a bit after that. At nineteen, she reconnected with Anders and the blonde - Brooke - and their teenage dream re-ignited. To make matters better, their circle grew as they met more like-minded people... people who just wanted an escape. Their people. 

After moving from town to town, they finally came across an apartment complex. It was in a quiet, forgotten neighborhood and an hour away from the best stretch of diners, motels, and bars they'd ever been to.

Nadia would create her own life and forget the disaster that happened before it. It wasn't the first time she'd re-created herself, and it definitely wouldn't be the last.

It was her life, after all, and for the first time in twenty years, Nadia was sure that she wanted to own it.