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This story twists and turns and will keep you wondering what will happen next. This intense fictional drama is based on the life of a girl trying to find her way out of a long rabbit hole. It touches on some family turmoil and an unexpected romantic connection with a man she met through strange circumstances Copyright 2019 Jessica Stetsko. All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permissions of the Author. This is the intellectual property of Jessica Stetsko                                                                                         Prologue I look around quickly trying to scan the crowd. Where is he?! I know he didn´t get away! It´s so dark and the police lights are blinding me. It must be almost midnight by now. How long am I going to have to stand here for, I asked myself? I don´t know how much more of this I can take. I can feel my heart pounding in my throat. I look around again and I meet eyes with Sergeant Adams. ¨Ma´am...Ma´am¨ he yells! Are you listening to me? Yes sir, I quickly respond. I am full of anger and I am tired. I look down at my feet still wearing my black Keds sparkled with bleach stains. I let out a huge sigh, sir can I just go home now? I´ve been here all night and I just want to go. I knew by the look on his face he wasn´t letting me off that easy. He looks up at me and says, ¨I need you to answer a few more questions about what went on here tonight¨. Before he could say another word I quickly interject, No way! No, I have told you over and over what happened and I am not telling you again! That is it I have had enough! I quickly start to shift my body weight to start and turn away and he snarls at me with disbelief, ¨Do you really expect me to believe that story you told¨? He quickly adds, ¨it´s like something right out of the movies¨! My face goes completely expressionless, Well officer welcome to a day in my life.....                                                                                        Chapter 1 Just five more minutes! Please just give me five more minutes I whispered to myself as I laid in my bed awaiting my alarm clock to go off. I squeezed my eyes as tight as I could in hopes I would fall back to sleep. Just then I heard the buzzer go off. Ugh, I moaned as I kicked off my pink comforter. As the alarm continues to sound, my mom comes bursting through the door. ¨For the love of god...turn it off Jade¨ She yelled as she turned to leave the room. I rolled over to reach across my white night stand to turn the alarm off. As I waved my hand around trying to reach the alarm I ended up knocking my retainer cup onto the ground. Finally I reached it! I smashed the button down on the alarm clock as hard as I could in hopes that it may just break. Then I rolled back onto my bed, now with my arms folded across my chest with utter disgust that I have to get up. ¨Why can't it just be summer already¨ I thought to myself. I hated going to school. I am fourteen and still in the eighth grade because my mom held me back a year. It's so embarrassing to be the oldest girl in my class. I am already taller than most of the boys in my school too. It's like adding insult to injury! Thankfully my little sister is there with me to make things a little less awful. Her name is Samantha. She can be a pain, but for the most part she is my best friend.  We do everything together. Our friends always call us the Siamese twins because we are inseparable. She's cool and all, but I have to admit that I have always wanted a little brother. Mom says the two of us are more than enough. It's whatever really. We live with our mom and dad out in the country.  It gets boring sometimes, but I like living here. In the winter months my dad takes us out hunting. He says I have to learn how to live off the land in case one day the world goes to crap. I don't really like going, but it's not like I really have much of a choice. Sometimes my cousin will come along with us when we go. He is pretty cool. Honestly, he is like a big brother to Sammie and I. My mom says one day he will end up moving in since he is always at our house. Whenever he tries to call her Karen, she always insists that he calls her mom. Dad thinks it's unhealthy to have my cousin going back and forth between homes. Of course my dad pretty much does anything my mom wants so she gets her way anyways.  I always think to myself that I hope one day I will find a husband that loves me the way he loves my mom. They´ve been together now for such a long time. She met him when I was just one years old at a friend's babyshower. It wasn't long before they moved in together. He pretty much raised me as his own so I think of him as my real father. My mom says they will be together forever. She even had his name ¨Eric¨ tattooed on her left shoulder with a rose. I always tell her I want a tattoo, but she says I am way too young to be thinking that far ahead. I honestly don't care if I ever get a tattoo as long as I turn out as pretty as she is now. My mom just has this natural beauty that I have always wished I had. Plus, she has fashion sense. She'll come home from a day of shopping with tons of clothes and shoes for us. Once she even bought me a Gucci handbag that I took everywhere. My friends think we are rich because of all the expensive clothes my mom buys us. I know dad doesn't approve and when he questions her spending, she always says things like ''I only buy the best for my girls¨. Honestly, I ́ve got so much stuff I could open my own consignment shop. Literally, my clothes take up all the space in my room. I have so much stuff that I had to start using the guest bedroom to store some of my clothes because there isn't any other place to hang them up. My dad is always telling her she is going to drive us straight into the poor house one of these days with her erratic spending. She spent so much this past year that he had to take on a second job. I am not sure what it is that he does, but he has to wear a suit and tie. Since he is Italian, I always joke with Samantha that he is probably a wise guy. Yeah right, who am I kidding, I chuckled to myself. He has to be the nicest guy on the planet. When you really think about it, my mom and him are such opposites. How they even ended up together is still a mystery. He is so frugal with his spendings and tells me I have to learn how to budget money. When I was ten we went to the bank to open a savings account with my birthday money. Now every year we go down there on my birthday and make a deposit.  I don´t think I could have possibly asked for a better father. He works hard to keep us in a nice house, but rarely does he spend any money on himself. He doesn't believe in going to bars or parties. My mom however, enjoys her Rum and Coke. Anytime you see her she always has a cigarette in her hand. Although we all know she chains smokes, she is constantly trying to hide her empty cigarette packs from him. One time he found an empty carton in my room and she blamed it on me! As if! I would never smoke! Of course he believed her so I was grounded for over a week!  My mom has changed a lot over the past few years. I am not sure why, but she started becoming extremely moody. She yells at us whenever dad isn't home. It is weird though because the minute he walks into the door she turns into the perfect housewife. It kind of makes me sick to watch her pretend to be this wonderful woman. Now don't get me wrong, she is a good person at heart. She has always been loyal to her friends and family. My mom's core belief is that you take care of your family before anything else. As I laid in my bed thinking about how much my mom has changed over the years I heard Sammie whisper to me from across the room.  ¨Jade get up mom's coming¨ I looked over at the alarm clock to see the time. ¨Oh no it´s time to go¨ I shouted as I quickly jumped to my feet. I grabbed my school uniform off the chair and pulled off my pj shirt. I could hear her footsteps getting closer. As I looked up I saw her standing there. The siliutte of her five foot body frame was standing in the doorway. As my eyes focused I could see she was ready to go. She had already straightened her long black hair. She looks absolutely beautiful. My mom gets so much attention when she drops us off. She is the prettiest woman in our town. She might weigh a hundred pounds on a good day and she is so beautiful that you cannot help but stare at her. Oh and all of the dads dropping off their kids love her. They always find some reason to talk to her when we are walking up. ¨Gross¨ I moaned thinking about them. She does not really pay them any attention though. Her big ego keeps her preoccupied with herself most of the time. She became so self absorbed over the years. She often criticizes the way I looked when we are leaving for school. She often says things like, ¨oh you take after your dad with those teeth because you didn't get them from me¨. It hurts my feelings, but I have gotten used to it now.  I felt myself getting upset over the thought of her ridicule and I shook it off. As I looked up I saw mom still standing in the doorway starting to get angry because I am taking to long.  ¨Come on Jade, I don't have all day¨ she shouted at me as I tied my shoe lace. I knew I better hurry and get into the car before she left me. As I jumped into the back seat Sammie was already sitting on the left passenger side. She smiled at me.  ¨Jade I told you to hurry up¨ ¨Mom was going to leave you¨ she giggled.  My mom now in the front seat looked back at me with pure frustration on her face.  ¨Jade, you have to start getting up when the alarm goes off¨ She turned around to start the car. It made a weird clicking sound. She tried again and again, but the car wouldn't start. I could tell she was getting angry so I quickly unbuckled and suggested to my mom that Sammie and I could just ride our bikes to school today. I didn't really want to, but I know what was coming would be much worse. She gets so angry when she is stressed and takes her anger out on us. I would rather not go through that this morning. My mom sat there for a minute, but then agreed it would be best. As she got out of the car to go inside to call our dad, Sammie and I took off on our bikes. We were pedaling so fast that sweat started to roll down my forehead. I started to get anxiety over the thought of showing up to school with sweat marks on my clothes. Sammie looked over and asked me what was wrong. ¨Nothing Sam¨ I said with an annoyed tone in my voice. Then as we pedaled some more I looked over to Samantha and asked her if I looked awful. She just laughed and told me I was a dork. ¨A dork...really Sammie¨ I laughed. She is right I am just being silly.   No one pays me any attention there anyways. I am not really the prettiest girl right now. I am going through a phase my mom says where I have to grow into my looks. The only thing I have going for me right now is my long blonde hair. Mom says I got my hair from my biological father because he had beautiful golden locks. It doesn't matter though because my mom makes me keep it up in a ponytail all the time. I am not sure why, but I just do as she says. Sometimes I will stand in front of the mirror wondering why I couldn't look more like her? I have pasty white skin with the worst acne! My legs are long and skinny and I have knobby knees. I think the only thing I have going for me is my hair, otherwise I would be doomed!  Of course Sammie lucked out and she looks just like my mom. Sometimes when we are riding our bikes after school she likes to joke around and says I was switched at birth because I look so different. I just laugh because honestly she's right. I look more like the mailman´s child than I do my mom or dad´s. I chuckled over the thought. Just then we reached the school. Sammie and I hurried over towards the bike rack and put our bikes in just before Mrs. Sandy could lock up the gate.  ¨Hurry girls the bell is about to ring¨ she shouted as we ran towards our class rooms.  The hall monitors told us to walk, but there is no time for that because if you are late you get detention. I grabbed the door to my homeroom and headed towards my seat. My heart was beating so fast I could hear it in my ears. I sat down trying to catch my breath. I grabbed out my pencil from my backpack along with my note pad. I swiveled back around in my chair just as my teacher began the lesson for this morning. All day I just kept focusing on the clock. It felt like it just dragged. The only time it didn´t drag was when we were in the lunch hall. Boy was thankful because I just wanted to get home.   After school Sammie was in such a hurry to get home that she barely said a word. Her favorite show was coming on so she was hurrying so that she wouldn't miss it. When we came in she asked mom if we could put the television on? Mom was in the middle of curling her hair so she told us yes as long as we leave her alone. We both ran into the living room after kicking off our shoes by the front door. Mom had a little wooden shoe rack that we would place our sneakers on so that it would look nice and neat. She kept the house super clean because dad didn't want to come home to a mess.  When he got home that afternoon we were both sitting on the floor watching our favorite show. Sammie and I had plopped down onto the shaggy brown carpet. I loved the texture of it against my skin. I couldn't help but to rub my feet through it until the fabric would fill up all the spaces inbetween my toes. It was the best feeling ever! The carpet was always so clean just like the rest of the room. My mom never allows us to sit on the couch. I am not sure why, but I could care less. Who really wants to sit on a couch wrapped in plastic anyways? Not me. It makes my legs sweat and always makes that weird sound when you try to get up off of it. Sounded a lot like velcro ripping off the back of my legs. No thank you! I will pass.  As we were watching t.v. I heard my dad messing around outside with his mustang. His car made this loud purr so you always knew it was him coming down the road. It wasn't before long that my dad finally decided to come inside. He walked towards us sitting on the floor. He just stood over me looking down. He was so tall! When I looked up at him our eyes met. I could tell something was wrong! ¨Jade, who told you that you guys could watch television?¨ he snapped.  ¨Ugh...Ugh, mom did¨,  I replied nervously.  I knew I was in trouble because he never let us watch our shows until all our homework was done. Just then my dad yelled out,  ¨Karen! Karen come in here right now!¨  His tan cheeks were so red as he started to get angry. He had a pretty short temper so I knew he was mad. My mom enters the room looking as if she didn't know why we were in there. He asked her if she had told us we could watch tv and she replied ¨no¨ and turned towards us. ̈ ̈Dammit you kids! I told you to stay out of here! ̈ she shouted.  I started to respond, but before I could get the words out I felt the warmth of her palm come across my face. She had smacked me so hard it felt as if she knocked one of my molars loose.  ̈ ̈What did I tell you?! ̈ she screamed.  I couldn't hold the tears back any longer and I began to cry. I couldn't control it, I was just so upset. My face now burning and red from where she slapped me. I touched my cheek. It was swollen and hot. I sat there confused. I couldn ́t understand why she was lying to dad? My mom told us we could turn on the television when we got home. Just then she reached down and grabbed me by my ponytail. She pulled me to my feet. Then she snarled things at me no mother should ever say to their child.  ̈ ̈Stand up! Stand up now! ̈ she yelled. As if I could jump up so quickly! My legs buckled underneath me as I tried, but she wasn't letting go. She began dragging me down the hallway to my bedroom and pushed me down against my twin bed.  ¨Stop crying! ̈ she shouted.  Then angrily she shouted again, ¨I said stop crying before I give you something to cry about!¨  As she turned to exit the room, I couldn't understand why she was so angry at me. She was the one who said we could watch our show. I just can ́t understand how she could lie to dad about us?! I hate that she hit me for no reason! It wasn't fair! That day would be the first of many more traumatic days to come. My mom was changing and no one knew why.  A couple weeks had past and I had hoped to get on my mom's good side. Good side? Like how does a child get on their parents bad side to begin with? The angry outburst began to happen more frequently. I often took most of the blows so that Sammie wouldn't have to. I had so many bruises down my legs and arms that I could no longer wear my sun dresses anymore. My mom began buying me a lot more pants and turtleneck shirts. It wasn't so bad I would tell myself as the sweat would pour down my neck. I had to be the only kid wearing long sleeved shirts and pants in this terrible heat. As time went on, I began to pick up on what triggered her and I would try and avoid doing those things. I did my best to get all A's in school. I never got detention like many of my friends.  As we entered into winter that year my hair grew longer and longer. My mom opted to style my hair in a long braid instead of my trademark ponytail. Things were starting to get better. She would often send us out to run errands while she would cook dinner. We would ride our bikes down to the market or where ever it was she sent us out to. We both had these matching pink bicycles that we would ride all over. Sometimes we would just ride around the neighborhood until curfew. This one day after school we decided to go down to the corner store. We had been hanging down by the creek for a while when we decided to go get something cold to drink. Samantha would always ride so fast! She often would leave me behind. Everything was always a competition with her! This particular day, she was already on her bike before I could even get up off the ground. I barely brushed the sand off my pants as she yelled,  ¨I am going to beat you there¨  ¨No you are not ̈ I replied, while trying to catch my breath!  ¨Slow down Samantha!¨  My legs were going as fast as they could, but I just couldn't catch up to her. You could hear my bike´s chain clicking as I peddled faster and faster. I could barely see her in the distance. The sound of the chain was getting louder and louder so I stopped to see what was wrong. As I was messing with it I looked down at my fingers. They were covered in this black sticky oil that was now all over my hands. ¨Yuck!¨ I shouted. I began looking around to see if I can find something to clean myself up with, when I heard an unfamiliar voice.  ¨Need a napkin?¨ she asked. I looked up from my basket to see this girl peering at me. She looked to be about my age or maybe a little older. She had strawberry blonde hair with freckles that covered her nose. I am pretty sure that I have never seen her before today. I wasn't sure who she was, but I knew I couldn't go into the store with this sticky stuff all over me. ¨Sure, thanks!¨ I responded as I took the napkin from her.  ¨My name is April, do you live around here?¨ she quickly responded after giving me the napkin.  ¨Oh I am Jade and yes we live on the other side of the creek by the old Miller ́s farm ̈ ¨What about you?¨ I asked. ¨I am staying with my aunt while my parents look for a house in the area¨ April said as she turned her bike back towards the road. Just as she started to head off down the road she stopped and shouted, ¨Maybe we could hang out sometime? ̈  ¨Sure!¨ I said excitedly. I was always looking to make new friends. I grabbed my bike and jumped back on so I could try and find Samantha. By the time I caught up with her she was already at the store talking to this boy. I knew him because we were in kindergarten together.  ¨What's up Chapman?¨ he asked.  ¨Nothing much.¨ I said as I rolled my eyes.  He knew I hated being called by my last name.  ¨Oh and it's Jade by the way!¨  He laughed and looked me dead in the eyes and said, ¨ok noted Chapman.¨  Ugh, I hate him! I hate all boys actually! All the boys in my town can do whatever they want and no one says a word! We stayed at the corner store for awhile and talked with Robbie. I am pretty sure Samantha is starting to get a crush on him. Look at her, I said to myself with disgust. She literally laughs at everything he says. As if he is that funny! Ugh, why is she so weird I exclaimed! Just then I heard a voice yell out,  ¨Jade it is time for dinner!¨ I turned to see my cousin Skip coming down the sidewalk.  ¨Oh ok, we will head back now.¨  As we started to head towards home Skip stayed back with Robbie. I wondered what they were talking about? Who cares I told myself as I shrugged it off. He is just a dumb boy. We made it home just in time. Mom was putting the mashed potatoes on the table.  ¨Time to eat!¨ she shouted ¨Girls go wash your hands and hurry up before the food gets cold.¨  We ran down the hall and into the bathroom. Samantha must of been starving the way she snached the soap from my hands.  ¨Calm down Samantha!¨ I growled. ¨It's not really going to get cold you know.¨  She just laughed. ¨Jade what do you think about Robbie?¨ I felt my cheeks get hot. ¨What type of question is that?¨ I asked ¨I think nothing of him! Now lets go before mom gets mad.¨  We sat down at the table. It was just the three of us which I thought was weird. I asked where dad was and she told me he wasn't coming back home ever! I couldn't believe my ears. My parents are getting a divorce?! I just sat there and moved my food around my plate. I was shocked he didn't even say goodbye to us. I knew he wasn't really around much since he started working that new job, but I never thought he would just up and leave!  What a jerk I huffed to myself as I glanced over to the chair where he once sat when we all ate dinner. I took one bite of my meatloaf when my stomach started to churn. I felt sick so I asked my mom to be excused.  ¨Fine Jade!¨ she replied. ¨Make sure you brush your teeth and get to bed. You don't want to be tired for school tomorrow.¨ Ugh, school...don't remind me.  Of course, I woke up late today! Ugh, the one day I needed to get to school early. I was going to meet April before class. Turns out she got her schedule and we take some of the same classes. I was happy! I tried to hurry so I could meet her so we could go over some of the questions for the test in Mr. Carter's class. He is one of the nicer teachers! He always gives us a cheat sheet for the test. Mr. Carter says if you don't pass the test it is because you want him for a teacher next year. Sorry, but no way! I don't think I could take another year in his classroom. It always smells like old gym socks and peppermint patties. ¨Yuck¨!  I made it to class just before the bell rang. April was already sitting in her desk talking with Janet.  ¨Hi guys!¨, I said as I was rustling with the zipper on my backpack.  ¨Hi Jade!¨ April said with a big smile. ¨Where were you?¨ she asked curiously. ¨Don't ask!¨ I replied. I turned around to see Mr. Carter passing out the exam sheets.  ¨Alright class, it's time to begin.¨ he said calmly.  I was nervous, but I am pretty good at science so I knew I would ace it as usual. About thirty minutes later, he let us all head out to the cafeteria so we wouldn't disturb the other kids still taking the test. As I pushed open the big brown heavy doors I saw my cousin Skip. He is a year older than me and he is really smart. We grew up together so we have always been pretty close. I walked over to where he was sitting. I figured I would introduce April to him so I could strike up a conversation about last night.  ¨Hey Skip this is my friend April, she is new here.¨ I moved a little closer as he waved to her.  ¨Hi April!¨ Skip replied. Before he could say another word, I thought now was a good time to figure out what they were discussing last night.  ¨So what were you and Robbie talking about when I left?¨ I asked.  ¨Oh nothing really.¨ He responded. ¨Tomorrow a couple of us are going to go down to the swimming hole, you should come with us.¨ he said. I quickly declined his offer. Not only have I put on a few pounds from all the food mom's been cooking, but I have a fresh bruise the size of a soft ball on my leg. I couldn't let anyone see that my mom hits me. She really doesn't mean to though. It's mainly when she is really stressed out. I told Skip I couldn't because my mom doesn't want me to get sunburned. I knew he would believe me since we both have such fair skin. We actually look a lot a like, but he has reddish blonde hair. He also has gotten so tall this past year. I will say he does have a lot more freckles then I do. Skip understood, but he looked disappointed. Just as I turned to leave he asked me to join them after to ride our bikes.  ̈ ̈Sure Skip ̈ I smiled and ran back over to give him a hug. ¨I will come, but I have to bring Samantha with me.¨ I turned to head back towards the cafeteria doors, ̈I'll see you tomorrow! ̈ I shouted.