About three months have passed, and text messages and calls have stopped. It made me feel sad, but at least I knew they had moved on. At least they weren't devoting their lives to worrying about me.
Then one day before work, I had drove to the edge of town to the grocery store. I had paid for all my things, I was leaving when I noticed a bulletin board. It was the ones where missing people were posted. One in particular caught my attention. It was a picture of me from a party, I was all smiles and waving at the camera. Missing: Kodi Hunter. Last seen: **/**/** Hair color: brown. Eye color: brown. Height: 5'1''. Birth Date: February 18th, 1993. If found, please call 1-***-***-****. After I finished looking at the add, I noticed that the "If found" number was not Dad's.
It was Shiloh's.
My heart swelled up, and my throat closed up. I didn't know if I was happy, sad, angry, or scared. I was happy that he was concerned, and that meant he still loved me. I was sad that he was still worried about me. I was angry that he went to all this trouble to drive out here and who knows where else. And I was scared that someone would see this and recognize me. Making sure that no one saw, I quickly ripped off my poster and crumpled it, shoving the wad of paper into my coat pocket.
I left the grocery store, then drove for about fifteen minutes to work again. Snow was covering the sidewalks, and nearly every house had someone shoveling it from their driveway. I got in to the diner, and put on my apron and name tag, waving at Alice who was already there.
"Hey Kodi," she said. I finished tying the knot behind my back.
"Hey," I smiled.
"Merry Christmas!" she beamed. I furrowed my eyebrows.
"It's Christmas?" I asked.
"Well, Christmas Eve, but... How do you not know that?" Alice asked. I shrugged. "Oh... is your family not big on that stuff?" she asked. I just went along with it. "Are you Jewish or something?" she asked, honestly curious.
"No," I shook my head, "They just... my parents are out of town for the holidays, so I wasn't really paying attention to the date..." I said making up a lame excuse. Hopefully she'd buy it.
"Oh..." she said, looking at the ground. Then she perked up and looked at me. "You wanna come to my house for Christmas?" I was speechless.
"Uh, I don't know, Alice..." I said, switching the sign on the door to "open." She stuck out her lower lip.
"Please??" she whined. I sighed. "Please Kodi! It'd be so much fun! You can meet my parents, and my brothers and sister!"
"We'll see," I told her. She grinned hugely and nodded real fast. Then one of the first customers showed up, and the conversation ceased.
The next day was Christmas, and I had excepted Alice's invitation to her family's Christmas get-together. That morning I got ready, and I had originally planned to wear a red blouse. But when I looked at myself in the full-body mirror in the motel, I cringed at what I saw. My stomach was starting to distend. It was just a little, but if you looked at me from the side, you could tell that something was not right. Instead a chose to wear a black sweater, which hung a little more loosely from my body. Though most places are closed on Christmas, the diner is not. It was open in the morning, so we had to work only about three hours for the day. At noon, we closed the diner, and we rode to Alice's house in her car.
"So, my parents, siblings, and grandparents are gonna be there. My sister's name is Caroline, she's thirteen. Barrett is fifteen. And Dustin is eleven. They're ok, I guess. The boys are pretty annoying, but Caroline is nice and quiet," she said as she drove through the falling snow. "What 'bout you? Do you have any siblings?" I shook my head. "Aw, that must be nice sometimes. You get to be alone when you want to. But I bet your parents obsess over every little thing you do."
"Not really," I said. "Dad is pretty much obsessed with his job."
"What about your mother?" Alice asked. I bowed my head.
"She died," I whispered. There was an awkward silence in the car. For a brief moment it reminded me of dinner at my house.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Alice said. I nodded. "If you don't mind me asking," she began, "how'd she die?"
"In a car accident," I told her. "Four years ago. There was a drunk driver, and he swerved towards us while we were out for a walk. She had pushed me out of the way, but he ran her over." We pulled in front of a small house, but even from the outside you could tell it was warm inside. Alice looked at me.
"I'm so sorry Kodi," she said. She looked genuinely hurt, as if she had lived it.
"It's ok," I told her. "It's not your fault." She smiled and got out of the car, and I followed. The sidewalk leading up to the house was freshly shoveled, and the snow was at least seven inches deep at our sides.
As soon as we walked in the door, we were greeted by hellos and laughter. An elderly man hobbled over with a cane and hugged Alice, and pecked her on the cheek.
"Alice, Dear! You're growing into such a beautiful young woman," he said. An elderly lady lined up behind him and hugged her when he was done with his greeting.
"Hello, Dearie," she smiled.
"Hi, Gram. Hi, Gramps. This is my friend, Kodi. She's spending Christmas with us."
"Hello Kodi," they said. I smiled shyly and waved. Alice brought me to the living room, where there was a beautifully decorated tree with gleaming presents underneath it. There were three kids sitting on the couch watching TV. They smiled when we entered the room.
"Guys, this is Kodi," Alice said. There was a boy who looked a little younger than me, with blond spiky hair. "That's Barrett," Alice told me. Then she pointed to a girl who looked almost just like her, only smaller and younger. "That's Caroline." She pointed to a little boy with blond hair that was close to covering his eyes. "And that's Dustin." I waved at them and they all smiled.
"Hi Kodi," they said in unison. Alice grabbed my elbow and directed me to the kitchen where her parents were cooking dinner already.
"Mom, Dad. This is my friend Kodi," Alice said, laughing at the repeated line. They smiled welcomingly.
"Nice to meet you Kodi," her mother said. Her father smiled and waved. Once all the introductions were done, Alice and I watched TV in the living room with her brothers and sister.
"Dinner's ready!" Alice's mother called from the kitchen quite a while later. The whole family and I gathered at the table and sat down. I sat next to Alice, with Caroline at me other side. The family began eating the lovely dinner that had been cooked for us.
"So, Kodi. How long have you lived here?" Alice's mother asked.
"Um, almost four months now," I said.
"That's great. Do you like it here?" I nodded.
"It's nice to live in a small town rather than a big one." The family chuckled lightly.
"Alice told us that you graduated early; Are you going to college soon then?" she asked.
"No," I shook my head. "I can't really afford college right now. For now I'm just working on getting a stable lifestyle." We talked a while longer on colleges, and Alice told me how she was traveling to California in a few weeks to visit a college and see how she likes it.
"I'll be gone for maybe a week," she said. "After seeing the college I'm going to stay with my friend's family for a while. They moved away when I was thirteen, so I don't get to see her much."
"That sounds like fun," I commented. She laughed.
"Yeah. You'll be ok at the diner while I'm gone, right?" she asked. I nodded.
"I'll be fine."
After dinner, the family gathered to open presents. They were passed out to everyone, and one by one a person would open their gift, and be so happy. They'd thank the giver and hug them and hold them, gratitude and generosity filling the living room. Then, when all the gifts were opened, Alice passed a box to me, smiling cleverly. I furrowed my eyebrows.
"Open it," she instructed, laughing lightly. I took off the reflective wrapping paper, and inside was a rectangular box. I opened the box and inside was a picture frame with four squares. One of the squares was a picture of me and Alice. It had been taken by one of the other workers at the diner, Georgie. In the picture Alice and I were both in our diner uniforms and both had an arm across each other's shoulders, with the other arm extended into the air. It looked so strange because Alice is so much taller than me, and in the picture, though I had been on my tip-toes, I was still so much shorter than Alice. I smiled.
"Thank you so much," I said. Alice smiled back.
"You can fill the other blocks with pictures of your other friends," she suggested. "I just thought you could use something to remember me by when I go to California," she grinned.
"Like I could ever forget you," I laughed as I hugged her tight. Alice's parents and grandparents laughed.
Soon, the night was getting late, and Alice's grandparents left.
"It was nice to meet you Kodi," they told me. They patted my head.
"I'll take you home," Alice said. I took my new picture frame that was on the counter and grabbed my coat. I thanked her parents for having me.
"No problem Kodi. Anytime," they said.
We got into Alice's car, after she brushed off all the snow from the windshield and roof. Then we drove through the nearly empty streets. Soon we were near the motel.
"Just turn here," I directed. We pulled into the motel parking lot, and a worried look came over Alice's face.
"Here?" she asked. I nodded. "Bu--..." she couldn't say anything. Neither could I. What could I say? If I told her the truth, I feared that she'd hate me for lying, or maybe she'd tell someone, and then word would get round to someone who had seen my "Missing" poster. But she was my friend. It pained me to lie to her.
So I told her the truth, and lied.
"I don't live with my Dad," I spat out. "A month ago, he got a better job offer in downtown. But... I didn't want to move, so I moved into here. The pay at the diner helps me pay for it, and I'm doing fine."
"Kodi, why didn't you tell me?" she asked.
"It just never came up," I shrugged. I'm sorry," I said.
:You could've just moved in with me, y'know. You don't have to live on your own in some creepy motel room."
"I couldn't do that," I shook my head. "That wouldn't be fair. B'sides, I'm almost an adult now. I'd be living on my own soon anyways."
"Are you sure?" she asked. I nodded.
"Thanks though. And thanks for the gift too. I love it." I hugged her before I got out of the car and went to the motel room, which now seemed more like home than ever. I saw through the curtain as the headlights pulled away and then faded into the darkness. I turned on the lamp in the corner, and the hanging one above the kitchen counter. My footsteps echoed lightly on the tile, then stopped on the carpet as I went to my suitcase at the foot of the couch. I unzipped it and dug through my clothes, which I still had not unpacked, to the bottom of the suitcase until I found what I was looking for.
My photo album.
I pulled out a picture of Shiloh and I first. It had been taken by one of the yearbook members at school just last spring (was it really almost a year ago?!). We were sitting at a picnic table. He was sitting on the table with his feet on the bench. I was sitting on the bench, and my head was rested against his knees. He was bent over hugging me, and both our smiles could probably light up an entire town. I smiled as I pulled it out of the photo album and put it in the slot above the one of me and Alice in my new picture frame.
Next I took one of me and Sicily. It had been from over the summer when we went with her and her brother to the zoo. We were taking a picture in front of the polar bear exhibit. I had my arm around Sicily. Sicily had one hand in her hoodie pocket, and the other one in front of her, making the "peace" symbol. Little did we know when we were taking the picture was the polar bear right behind us, with his ginormous paw against the glass. We had laughed about it afterwards, but we both knew we would've freaked out if we had known.
A tear fell down as I put in Sicily's picture in the slot next to Shiloh's. I stroked their pictures with my finger, and held it close.
"Please forgive me," I said. There was no reply.
Then one day before work, I had drove to the edge of town to the grocery store. I had paid for all my things, I was leaving when I noticed a bulletin board. It was the ones where missing people were posted. One in particular caught my attention. It was a picture of me from a party, I was all smiles and waving at the camera. Missing: Kodi Hunter. Last seen: **/**/** Hair color: brown. Eye color: brown. Height: 5'1''. Birth Date: February 18th, 1993. If found, please call 1-***-***-****. After I finished looking at the add, I noticed that the "If found" number was not Dad's.
It was Shiloh's.
My heart swelled up, and my throat closed up. I didn't know if I was happy, sad, angry, or scared. I was happy that he was concerned, and that meant he still loved me. I was sad that he was still worried about me. I was angry that he went to all this trouble to drive out here and who knows where else. And I was scared that someone would see this and recognize me. Making sure that no one saw, I quickly ripped off my poster and crumpled it, shoving the wad of paper into my coat pocket.
I left the grocery store, then drove for about fifteen minutes to work again. Snow was covering the sidewalks, and nearly every house had someone shoveling it from their driveway. I got in to the diner, and put on my apron and name tag, waving at Alice who was already there.
"Hey Kodi," she said. I finished tying the knot behind my back.
"Hey," I smiled.
"Merry Christmas!" she beamed. I furrowed my eyebrows.
"It's Christmas?" I asked.
"Well, Christmas Eve, but... How do you not know that?" Alice asked. I shrugged. "Oh... is your family not big on that stuff?" she asked. I just went along with it. "Are you Jewish or something?" she asked, honestly curious.
"No," I shook my head, "They just... my parents are out of town for the holidays, so I wasn't really paying attention to the date..." I said making up a lame excuse. Hopefully she'd buy it.
"Oh..." she said, looking at the ground. Then she perked up and looked at me. "You wanna come to my house for Christmas?" I was speechless.
"Uh, I don't know, Alice..." I said, switching the sign on the door to "open." She stuck out her lower lip.
"Please??" she whined. I sighed. "Please Kodi! It'd be so much fun! You can meet my parents, and my brothers and sister!"
"We'll see," I told her. She grinned hugely and nodded real fast. Then one of the first customers showed up, and the conversation ceased.
The next day was Christmas, and I had excepted Alice's invitation to her family's Christmas get-together. That morning I got ready, and I had originally planned to wear a red blouse. But when I looked at myself in the full-body mirror in the motel, I cringed at what I saw. My stomach was starting to distend. It was just a little, but if you looked at me from the side, you could tell that something was not right. Instead a chose to wear a black sweater, which hung a little more loosely from my body. Though most places are closed on Christmas, the diner is not. It was open in the morning, so we had to work only about three hours for the day. At noon, we closed the diner, and we rode to Alice's house in her car.
"So, my parents, siblings, and grandparents are gonna be there. My sister's name is Caroline, she's thirteen. Barrett is fifteen. And Dustin is eleven. They're ok, I guess. The boys are pretty annoying, but Caroline is nice and quiet," she said as she drove through the falling snow. "What 'bout you? Do you have any siblings?" I shook my head. "Aw, that must be nice sometimes. You get to be alone when you want to. But I bet your parents obsess over every little thing you do."
"Not really," I said. "Dad is pretty much obsessed with his job."
"What about your mother?" Alice asked. I bowed my head.
"She died," I whispered. There was an awkward silence in the car. For a brief moment it reminded me of dinner at my house.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Alice said. I nodded. "If you don't mind me asking," she began, "how'd she die?"
"In a car accident," I told her. "Four years ago. There was a drunk driver, and he swerved towards us while we were out for a walk. She had pushed me out of the way, but he ran her over." We pulled in front of a small house, but even from the outside you could tell it was warm inside. Alice looked at me.
"I'm so sorry Kodi," she said. She looked genuinely hurt, as if she had lived it.
"It's ok," I told her. "It's not your fault." She smiled and got out of the car, and I followed. The sidewalk leading up to the house was freshly shoveled, and the snow was at least seven inches deep at our sides.
As soon as we walked in the door, we were greeted by hellos and laughter. An elderly man hobbled over with a cane and hugged Alice, and pecked her on the cheek.
"Alice, Dear! You're growing into such a beautiful young woman," he said. An elderly lady lined up behind him and hugged her when he was done with his greeting.
"Hello, Dearie," she smiled.
"Hi, Gram. Hi, Gramps. This is my friend, Kodi. She's spending Christmas with us."
"Hello Kodi," they said. I smiled shyly and waved. Alice brought me to the living room, where there was a beautifully decorated tree with gleaming presents underneath it. There were three kids sitting on the couch watching TV. They smiled when we entered the room.
"Guys, this is Kodi," Alice said. There was a boy who looked a little younger than me, with blond spiky hair. "That's Barrett," Alice told me. Then she pointed to a girl who looked almost just like her, only smaller and younger. "That's Caroline." She pointed to a little boy with blond hair that was close to covering his eyes. "And that's Dustin." I waved at them and they all smiled.
"Hi Kodi," they said in unison. Alice grabbed my elbow and directed me to the kitchen where her parents were cooking dinner already.
"Mom, Dad. This is my friend Kodi," Alice said, laughing at the repeated line. They smiled welcomingly.
"Nice to meet you Kodi," her mother said. Her father smiled and waved. Once all the introductions were done, Alice and I watched TV in the living room with her brothers and sister.
"Dinner's ready!" Alice's mother called from the kitchen quite a while later. The whole family and I gathered at the table and sat down. I sat next to Alice, with Caroline at me other side. The family began eating the lovely dinner that had been cooked for us.
"So, Kodi. How long have you lived here?" Alice's mother asked.
"Um, almost four months now," I said.
"That's great. Do you like it here?" I nodded.
"It's nice to live in a small town rather than a big one." The family chuckled lightly.
"Alice told us that you graduated early; Are you going to college soon then?" she asked.
"No," I shook my head. "I can't really afford college right now. For now I'm just working on getting a stable lifestyle." We talked a while longer on colleges, and Alice told me how she was traveling to California in a few weeks to visit a college and see how she likes it.
"I'll be gone for maybe a week," she said. "After seeing the college I'm going to stay with my friend's family for a while. They moved away when I was thirteen, so I don't get to see her much."
"That sounds like fun," I commented. She laughed.
"Yeah. You'll be ok at the diner while I'm gone, right?" she asked. I nodded.
"I'll be fine."
After dinner, the family gathered to open presents. They were passed out to everyone, and one by one a person would open their gift, and be so happy. They'd thank the giver and hug them and hold them, gratitude and generosity filling the living room. Then, when all the gifts were opened, Alice passed a box to me, smiling cleverly. I furrowed my eyebrows.
"Open it," she instructed, laughing lightly. I took off the reflective wrapping paper, and inside was a rectangular box. I opened the box and inside was a picture frame with four squares. One of the squares was a picture of me and Alice. It had been taken by one of the other workers at the diner, Georgie. In the picture Alice and I were both in our diner uniforms and both had an arm across each other's shoulders, with the other arm extended into the air. It looked so strange because Alice is so much taller than me, and in the picture, though I had been on my tip-toes, I was still so much shorter than Alice. I smiled.
"Thank you so much," I said. Alice smiled back.
"You can fill the other blocks with pictures of your other friends," she suggested. "I just thought you could use something to remember me by when I go to California," she grinned.
"Like I could ever forget you," I laughed as I hugged her tight. Alice's parents and grandparents laughed.
Soon, the night was getting late, and Alice's grandparents left.
"It was nice to meet you Kodi," they told me. They patted my head.
"I'll take you home," Alice said. I took my new picture frame that was on the counter and grabbed my coat. I thanked her parents for having me.
"No problem Kodi. Anytime," they said.
We got into Alice's car, after she brushed off all the snow from the windshield and roof. Then we drove through the nearly empty streets. Soon we were near the motel.
"Just turn here," I directed. We pulled into the motel parking lot, and a worried look came over Alice's face.
"Here?" she asked. I nodded. "Bu--..." she couldn't say anything. Neither could I. What could I say? If I told her the truth, I feared that she'd hate me for lying, or maybe she'd tell someone, and then word would get round to someone who had seen my "Missing" poster. But she was my friend. It pained me to lie to her.
So I told her the truth, and lied.
"I don't live with my Dad," I spat out. "A month ago, he got a better job offer in downtown. But... I didn't want to move, so I moved into here. The pay at the diner helps me pay for it, and I'm doing fine."
"Kodi, why didn't you tell me?" she asked.
"It just never came up," I shrugged. I'm sorry," I said.
:You could've just moved in with me, y'know. You don't have to live on your own in some creepy motel room."
"I couldn't do that," I shook my head. "That wouldn't be fair. B'sides, I'm almost an adult now. I'd be living on my own soon anyways."
"Are you sure?" she asked. I nodded.
"Thanks though. And thanks for the gift too. I love it." I hugged her before I got out of the car and went to the motel room, which now seemed more like home than ever. I saw through the curtain as the headlights pulled away and then faded into the darkness. I turned on the lamp in the corner, and the hanging one above the kitchen counter. My footsteps echoed lightly on the tile, then stopped on the carpet as I went to my suitcase at the foot of the couch. I unzipped it and dug through my clothes, which I still had not unpacked, to the bottom of the suitcase until I found what I was looking for.
My photo album.
I pulled out a picture of Shiloh and I first. It had been taken by one of the yearbook members at school just last spring (was it really almost a year ago?!). We were sitting at a picnic table. He was sitting on the table with his feet on the bench. I was sitting on the bench, and my head was rested against his knees. He was bent over hugging me, and both our smiles could probably light up an entire town. I smiled as I pulled it out of the photo album and put it in the slot above the one of me and Alice in my new picture frame.
Next I took one of me and Sicily. It had been from over the summer when we went with her and her brother to the zoo. We were taking a picture in front of the polar bear exhibit. I had my arm around Sicily. Sicily had one hand in her hoodie pocket, and the other one in front of her, making the "peace" symbol. Little did we know when we were taking the picture was the polar bear right behind us, with his ginormous paw against the glass. We had laughed about it afterwards, but we both knew we would've freaked out if we had known.
A tear fell down as I put in Sicily's picture in the slot next to Shiloh's. I stroked their pictures with my finger, and held it close.
"Please forgive me," I said. There was no reply.
Memories,
Confusion,
So many thoughts,
The end is near,
The darkness coming,
Now its here,
The show is over,
The lights are off,
We now say goodnight,
Goodbye,
As we begin 2 open the new chapter
It hurts at first,
Will the changes be extreme?
Please, just tell me,
This was only a dream,
I want to go back,
To relive this again,
This high point in life,
It can't end.
The stage lights dimmed,
The leaving spoke,
With happy faces on,
But tears in their eyes,
This show is over,
Now go home.
Confusion,
So many thoughts,
The end is near,
The darkness coming,
Now its here,
The show is over,
The lights are off,
We now say goodnight,
Goodbye,
As we begin 2 open the new chapter
It hurts at first,
Will the changes be extreme?
Please, just tell me,
This was only a dream,
I want to go back,
To relive this again,
This high point in life,
It can't end.
The stage lights dimmed,
The leaving spoke,
With happy faces on,
But tears in their eyes,
This show is over,
Now go home.
She fell to the floor and wept, and the jar shook
The day ended on a cold note for the cold night
He had her heart sealed in a jar, fragile and trapped
Until he had his moment and let go
With little strength, she had saved it and ran
She had ran until the darkness was unbearable,
As she wept, the jar shivered in her arms
Her dark blue eyes were drenched
And her mind was a dark, narrow corridor.
Her heat prolonged in entrapment,
Torturing her unknowingly with each eternity-like moment.
Finally, she ceased her overwhelming emotions,
Now silent and pondering
Distracted, the jar fell, and shattered at her feet
He’s gone. He’s gone! The words danced in her mind.
Her heart was free, and she was free
She got to her feet, no longer stumbling
And the shattered jar crunched under her feet
There was no more pain.
~~~~~~~~
...Yeah, I know it kinda sucks. Like I said, first attempt. :/
The day ended on a cold note for the cold night
He had her heart sealed in a jar, fragile and trapped
Until he had his moment and let go
With little strength, she had saved it and ran
She had ran until the darkness was unbearable,
As she wept, the jar shivered in her arms
Her dark blue eyes were drenched
And her mind was a dark, narrow corridor.
Her heat prolonged in entrapment,
Torturing her unknowingly with each eternity-like moment.
Finally, she ceased her overwhelming emotions,
Now silent and pondering
Distracted, the jar fell, and shattered at her feet
He’s gone. He’s gone! The words danced in her mind.
Her heart was free, and she was free
She got to her feet, no longer stumbling
And the shattered jar crunched under her feet
There was no more pain.
~~~~~~~~
...Yeah, I know it kinda sucks. Like I said, first attempt. :/
Ok, so I just want to write a little summary to my story that I want to write called A Place of Our Own I'm basically writing this to see if people will like it, and if they do, I'll write more. :)
So anyways, it's about a Hollie, 17 year old girl who has an alcoholic mother and a step father who abuses her as well as her 12 year old sister, Amy. Hollie's been in a 3 year on/off relationship with a heroin addicted boyfriend, Danny. When a close call puts Danny in the hospital, he promises Hollie that he'll quit and they'll find a better life. This causes Hollie to realize that she needs to leave home and find help herself.
So yeah, if you liked this, please comment and there WILL be more. Thanks. :)
So anyways, it's about a Hollie, 17 year old girl who has an alcoholic mother and a step father who abuses her as well as her 12 year old sister, Amy. Hollie's been in a 3 year on/off relationship with a heroin addicted boyfriend, Danny. When a close call puts Danny in the hospital, he promises Hollie that he'll quit and they'll find a better life. This causes Hollie to realize that she needs to leave home and find help herself.
So yeah, if you liked this, please comment and there WILL be more. Thanks. :)