Prolouge and Chapter 01
Prologue It was cold. It was always cold during this time of day and season, but winter seemed to come early this year. I stood here at the top of my long gravel driveway waiting in the cold for the slow yellow bus to appear. I rub my hands together in the futile attempt to warm them up. I had lost my gloves. I always seem to loose them when winter comes around. Summer had only been five months ago. I long for that time, and wish it could have stayed or somehow been extended so I could be closer to my friends. Yet, time can be cruel when your best friends have to leave you for collage. I only had two more years to go. Just my junior and senior years. I don't particularly like being in the 11th grade but I have no choice. It has too many responsibilities that I don't want and much less friends then I like to have. I'd much prefer my freshman year then any other. That was even before the thought of collage came up among my friends. We were all just so happy, doing nothing but lazing around and watching anime all day or having drawing contests. I always lost. My friends Jennifer and Elexia were always better at drawing. Kathryn always wanted to wrestle and roughhouse when everyone was together. I sighed, trying to forget how happy I once was and remember how cold I am. Damn. Where is that bus? It's already ten to eight. Why must the driver do this to me? Grrrrr. I can't wait till I get a car so I can drive myself to school every morning and back. Suddenly a rumbling sound could be heard down the far end of the street. Then a yellow bus came around the corner. I sighed again. Good timing, I'm about to suffer from frostbite. I climbed on the bus and noticed that every single seat was filled to the rim. Damn middle schoolers. They think they own the bus. There are just too many people on this route to hold in this tiny bus. I struggle to get to the back to find a place to sit, no luck. "May I sit here please," I ask calmly to a 7th grader to my left. She looked at me in surprise but instead of moving her stuff to her lap to make room, she just gave a snarl, "Why don't you sit with some other poor person on this bus that would actually care?" I stared at her in shock but made a scowl to match and conquer her rudeness. If there wasn't four little things to hold me back I would of smacked her right then and there for being such an ass and then go to another seat, cursing all the way. One reason is that I'm old enough to be put in jail for hitting a minor. Two this girl's parents were rich enough to sue me and put me in jail. Three I'm on a bus and can't move freely enough to hit her in the face real good and hard to make her scream in pain. Four, she's isn't good enough to be hit for being so rude. I'd rather hit a real ass then hit and mark her as a jackass. I turned to ask the 8th grader to my right. He nods and moves over for enough room. I thankfully take a seat and scowl at the rude girl the entire trip. She'd pay. She will pay. In either in cash or blood I don't know but she will DEFINITLY pay, dearly. It wasn't long till the bus reached the middle school and let all the middle schoolers off. I made sure that the girl tripped and fell on her face on her way off the bus. She never knew what hit her. Now that the bus was practically empty, I was able to get up and move to another seat in front. It only took less then five minutes to get to the high school, which thankfully wasn't that far. As I got of the bus I headed towards the right door into the school. I headed straight for my locker, thankfully yet again that it was a top locker. The last two years that I had in this school my locker had always been bottom, of course it was like that in middle school too. I sighed as I got my needed stuff out of my locker. Time to start another meaningless and boring day at Rockdale High. Wow, what rapture, what fun. 'Yeah right.' At least it's Friday. That brightens my day more, I won't have to go to school tomorrow. It's strange at this school. Except on Mondays and Fridays, I'm able to skip a few classes. Tuesday it's 2nd and 5th. Wednesday it's 3rd and 6th. Thursday it's 4th and 7th. Yet why never 1st period, I guess I'll never know. "Nellie!" came a shout from down the hall. I turned to the sound of my name to see another girl that I truly hated, and for a good reason. The girl had a mess of dyed blond and light brown hair in knots piled on her head that came messily to her shoulders, her green eyes set on something other then myself. "Deveny," I said to her. "What is it?" Try to be polite. Try to be polite. Try to be polite. She ran up to me to where her face was up close to mine. "He said yes!" That caught me off guard. "He who said yes? Deveny, you know you always keep me out of your love interests so how the hell am I suppose to know who you're dating?" Hell you keep me out of your life period. "Steve! You know Steve! Everyone knows Steve!" "No. Everyone does not know Steve. If they did he'd wouldn't want to go out with you, some other person who knows them in this god forsaken school would of." She wasn't fazed a bit. Need to try and stay polite and yet get her away from me. She reeks with cigarettes. Uck! "Well anyways he told me yes this very morning while we were outside! HEHEHEHEHE! He's also going to take me on a date tonight! HHEHEHEHE" Oh God please! I can't take this any more! First I get my ass frozen and insulted by a little 7th grader and now this. Ugh! I can't stand it when she does her donkey laugh. It was true though. I'm not trying to be rude. Deveny had the worst laugh EVER. It sounded in-between a donkey and an inhuman thingy that you would see one the television. And the fact that she smells as if she lives in an ash tray doesn't help. Especially at the fact that I'm allergic to cigarettes. I gag every time. And Deveny knows it! I bet she's doing this on purpose. She was going on in detail on every word her new guy, 'was it Steve?' , had said to her. Only then did I notice the large pink 'P' on her black sweatshirt. I wonder what that stands for? Pretty? No, gag no. Popular. She wishes. Petite, no that can't be it. Power Puff Girls? NO, that is a definite insult. We can't just go around and insult poor old cartoons that failed in my opinion now can we? "AND then..." "Hey Deveny? Just to feed my never ending curiosity. What does that 'P' stand for?" "Oh! Princess! You should have guessed that! You know I'm such a princess. ^.^" Prostitute would be far more fitting. Definitely prostitute. I was saved by the bell when she started to talk about how her life began with her new found boyfriend and life long mate. Meaning that she had already slept with him and that they both had a good time and are going to do it again this weekend. I groaned at the fact that she was once was one of my good friends. I. Hate. Math. Along with everything else that has to deal with this friggin' school. I groaned as I walked to my bus stop, my bookbag carrying my heavy Algebra III book and notebook. I had a real bad day today. I first get my ass frozen off this morning. Get trapped by Deveny. Get Homework and test in nearly every single class. Miss out on lunch. And get my ass freezed off in the afternoon. And why is it so cold? It was this cold last year. It shouldn't be this cold in early December in the state of Georgia! Alright calm down girl. I also missed my daily caffeine rush so that got me even madder. The bus dragged behind another bus and slowly stopped at the bus stop. I was pushed and shoved out of the way of the other students. Now I miss the chance to sit down on the bus, great. After getting off the overly crowed bus I went to my mailbox near by, hoping that three certain people had at least sent me a letter. Empty. Something else to add on to my bad day. I started to walk down the long gravel driveway leading to my house. As I walk I look around at my surroundings. Dead leaves. Dread trees. Dead everything. I hate winter, everything is always so cold and dead. But then again, it wasn't winter. Winter doesn't officially start until the 21st of December, today is only the 7th. I take my house key out of my pocket and slipped it in the keyhole. Before entering I take a quick glance over at my rabbit's cage. Noticing that he had water and food and was indeed alive, I entered my house. I walked across my kitchen floor and set my stuff down near the table and sat down in my old chair. I untied my small, white tennis shoes and set them next to my black bookbag. I then stretched my frozen toes back to life and got up to make myself some hot chocolate. My parents would be home till late tonight, at least that's what Mom said, so I decided to go ahead and start dinner. That chicken casserole sounds good, hopefully Mom kept her promise and got the chicken if not I guess I'll just have to do with the broccoli casserole. I opened the fridge and noted that Mom didn't keep her promise and proceeded to take the ingredients for the broccoli casserole out. I sat on the couch holding the black cordless phone. Mom had just called saying that her and Dad were going to be very late and wont be able to see me till tomorrow night. It had been hours since I had dinner, the casserole had been real good, yet a lonely dinner. I sighed and moved to put the phone back. It's been like this for almost a year. Ever since both my parents got promotions on their jobs, they both worked late hours. Now a days it just seemed as if I had no family what so ever. I use be surrounded by my family 24/7. My grandmother had lived just next door to us, same with my grant aunt. My cousins from my mother's side lived right across the road. But now, Grandmother and my great aunt had both passed away. They couldn't take the summer, the heat got to them. My cousins were no better, they didn't die but instead they had completely ignored us. I wanted to move up to Indiana where I could be with my aunt. She was real kind, living as a piano teacher. Her two daughters were sweet, her eldest just starting middle school while the other finished up her last year in elementary school. My uncle I could care less if he wanted me up there or not. The phone rang loudly. I picked it up on a hurry, wondering who it could be. "Hello?" I greeted. "Hey Nellie!" came a familiar greeting voice from the other line. I smiled, immediately knowing who it was. "Hey Jennifer. How are you? College ok?" "It hasn't killed me yet. I'm still surviving. And how is you junior year going?" "Lonely." "Lonely?" "Yep. With out you girls here it's hard. Plus, I have no protection from Deveny what so ever. And Mary has been sick lately so you can kinda guess. And I got all advanced classes." "Bummer. I sorry. Wish I could be there. But don't worry. I'll be home shortly." "Why?" "Christmas vacation! Remember? Here we get an early vacation." "Yeah. But last year we hardly saw each other. Your father wanted to keep his little girl until it was time to go back to school." "Yeah I know. I'll see if I could change that. Anyways I just called you to tell you that. I don't know when I'll arrive. I promise to when I get there k?" "K." "Well bye." "Bye." She hung up soon after. I sighed again. Lonely. I wondered if I was destined to be lonely and to pray and beg to at least see my friends for just a day. Chapter One > The Beginning "There is a castle on a cloud. I like to go there in my sleep. Aren't any floors for me to sweep. Not in my castle on a cloud. There is a room that's full of toys. There are a hundred boys and girls. Nobody shouts or talks too loud. Not in my castle on a cloud. There is a lady all in white, she holds me and sings a lullaby. She's nice to see and she's soft to touch. She says, ' Cosett, I love you very much.' I know a place where no one's lost. I know a place where no one cries. Crying at all is not allowed. Not in my castle on a cloud. Not in my castle on a cloud. Not in my castle on a cloud." I sat on a stoned bench outside on the top of my mother's office building. I was cold but refused to go inside. The place just didn't seem welcoming to me and seemed even colder inside then out. I sighed as I tugged my thick jacket closer around my body. Know one knew why it was so damn cold this year. I bluntly said that maybe it was a sign that we were all doomed to freeze. Everyone of course just laughed at my "not-so-funny-not-meant-to-be-joke". I sighed again. I wouldn't be surprised if anything solid started to fall from the sky. I started to sing an old chorus practice song that always seemed to take up the time. "Be A Bay. Be E Bee. Be I Bicky. Be O Bo. Bicky Bi Bo. Be U Boo . Bicky Bi Bo Boo." I have always loved it during choral warm-ups. The whole purpose was to teach one the vowel soundings while singing. Yet the song isn't over with until you went trough the entire alphabet. "Ce A Cay. Ce E Cee. Ce I Cicky. Ce O Co. Cicky Ci Co. Ce U Coo . Cicky Ci Co Coo." By making the 'C' a 'kuh/cuh' sound would be right, yet I always seem to make it sound like the 'S' which is to sound like a 'C'. But then here comes the 'D's'. "De A Day. De E Dee. De I Dicky. De O Do. Dicky Di Do. De U Doo . Dicky Di Do Doo." Then the 'G's' with a 'J' sounding. "Ge A Gay..." I. am. so. bored! It had been almost two hours, and I'm still freezing my butt off outside. At least one would think my mom would be concerned enough to come up and see how I was doing and if I wanted to come back and now and maybe have some hot chocolate while I'm at it. But no!!! The only person in the entire building that had the slightest bit of remorse for me was the sticking janitor! Gee, don't I feel loved? A sudden whooshing noise drew me out of my present train of thought. I stood, my legs feeling stiff, and look around at my surroundings. I didn't see anybody, or anything. Yet I still heard that strange whooshing noise and it was getting louder. It almost sounded as if it was above me. On an instinctive pull I looked up. And screamed - "WHAT THE HELL?!" The crash was big, and was loud. When I meant something solid falling I meant snow not metal. The entire block was destroyed and the crater was big. In fact I had to run inside and down the stairs because the shock wave from the...thing had made the building shake and I didn't feel the roof safe anymore. I ran down the stairs at top speed and reached mid level of the building in no time. Dogging people I ran for my mother's office calling for her, hoping that she didn't get her by any heavy falling objects. When I entered her office she was there packing her things in her huge bag that she called her work purse. "Mom!!," I breathed. She turned to me, fear was in her deep, brown eyes. "Nellie! We have to go! NOW!" she half yelled at me. She wasn't mad but she was hiding her fear. She grabbed my arm and yanked me through the twisted hallways of the building, trying to get outside. The building shook again, it was going to fall. We got to base level when it happened. The building started to collapse. Mom had gotten hit in the back by a big piece of it and fell down. Using the wooden wall that was meant for construction, I covered the both of us with it to keep the smaller rocks and stuff off of us. I held on to the wood for dear life, knowing that all the glass and metal that was falling could hurt us even more then a real big chunk of the building. When Mom stood up again, being the strong woman she is, we had began to run for the exit while keeping the wood above us. Outside we ran towards the right near to the subway which is where many people were gathering. We pushed our way through till we got passed the crowd. A huge rumble could be heard outside that shook the ground. But the subway remained intact and the building fell. We were all trapped inside the subway. The track was destroyed so there was not going to be any train comin or going. Mom and I propped ourselves up near a stone column. I didn't know if my Dad had survived or not but I was determined not to cry for him just yet. Mom had been injured badly and she needed my strength, not my tears. But then I heard a familiar shout form behind us. I could recognize it anywhere since I had grown up with it directed at me for more then one occasion. My Dad had found us and had been running towards us. His glasses were dirty and his baseball cape that he always wore was covered in dust. He came over and hugged the both of us, relieved that we were alive and that he finally found us. He wrapped his arm around me and put is lips on Mom's forehead to where is nose was in her black hair. And at that time, I finally realized how much my Dad cared for Mom and I.
