One thing that I've learned in all the fourteen years of being alive, is that life is hard. Some people say that life is like a lottery ticket. You either win big or small. Some can live a amazing life and others not. And so far all I feel is small.

My mom died when I was 4 years old. She died right in front me. Nobody knows what happened to her, they think she ran away, got kidnapped or something. I only know the truth along with my father, if you can even call him that. I can't tell anyone because if I do I'll get hurt.

Most nights I can't sleep and when I do I have nightmares, which is why I'm staring at my clock wishing that time would move faster.

*****

I get out of bed, glad the nights over when my alarm clock finally turns to 6:00 a.m. First day of school as a freshman at Mercy High. Can't be that bad right? I grab a pair of blue skinny jeans, a grey sweater, no-show black socks, white Nike Air Forces, and of course clean underwear and a bra, then head to the shower.

After I finish getting dress, I put makeup on. I cover the now purple bruise on my cheek from where my father slapped me last night. He was drunk as always, and I'm his only target, now that mom's gone. I put on lip gloss that goes with my tan skin complexion and then mascara that make my hazel eyes stand out. I dry my long brown hair then brush it which makes it puffy. I walk out of my room to the dim hallway to get to the kitchen where I struggle to reach the cereal on the top shelf in the pantry across from the kitchen my father is snoring fast asleep surrounded in beer bottles, with some old movie I don't recognize on the tv. When I'm done I put my bowl and spoon in the full sink. And finish getting ready.

I check my phone to see what time it is, it reads 7:30 a.m and school starts at 8:00, but it's a 40 minute walk to get there. I curse under my breath as I grab my backpack and pull out a sticky note and a pen, on it I write, "Going to school, - Adilynne," I stick it on the tv so my father sees it when he wakes up and doesn't think I ran away.