Different

Chapter 4

After school Milley gets off the bus and walks towards her house. She wonders if her dad would be home or if he went back on the road and hoping that he did. As she takes her time walking down the road she notices that both of her parents cars are gone and she is on her own. “Well at least I don’t have to deal with them just yet” Milley thought. As Milley goes into the house she goes over to the kitchen table and finishes her homework that she wasn’t able to finish on the bus ride home. She then gathers her stuff and shoves it into her backpack and walks to her room. She throws her bag on the floor and heads back to the kitchen. She grabs a piece of paper and begins writing a note to her parents “ Just wanted to let you know I went for a ride on my bike headed to the lake will be back soon” Milley wrote the note letting them know just in case they come home before she returned.

Milley then grabs her bike and heads straight down the road to the lake. When she gets to the lake she rides over to her favorite spot. There is a big oak tree just at the edge of the beach with a branch that lays right beside it. The branch fell off from a few years ago in a bad summer storm. She places her bike against the tree and sits down on the broken branch. She then kicks her shoes off and starts pushing her feet into the sand.

Milley likes to ride her bike to the lake and sit on the beach and let her mind wonder. Something about being by the lake out in nature made Milley so happy and at peace. It was like nature was talking to her. She could feel the energy coming off of everything around her. She knew she was different but it would be awhile before she realized how different she was. Milley got lost in her thoughts and lost track of time before she knew it, it was 6pm.

  Milley has to be home before dark so she rides her bike as fast as she can to get home so she doesn’t get into trouble. Watching the sun drop faster and faster as if she was racing against time. For if she isn’t home before the sun is down it will be a beating for sure. “I sure wish I could stay out there forever” Milley thought “it’s so peaceful with no yelling and fighting”. Coming down the road Milley sees that both cars are still gone. She goes into the house to see if maybe they saw her note. As she walked in she sees the note hasn’t even been touched. This means they hadn’t been home yet. Milley looks over at the clock It’s now 7 o’clock “no dinner tonight for sure” Milley thought “but bedtime is at 8 o’clock regardless”. So Milley hops back on her bike and goes up the street. Just a couple house down is houses that have apple trees. If she stands close enough to fence she can reach them. She picks a couple and stuffs them into her pocket grabs one and eats it. She then hopes back on her bike and heads home. Once she gets home she puts her bike up in the garage and goes inside. “Mom and dad are still not here” Milley thought. So she wonders over to the couch and pulls out the other apples she picked and eats them. Once she is done she gets up and goes takes a shower and heads to bed.

The next morning Milley wakes up both cars are still gone. “Maybe they left for work early this morning” said Milley. Milley looks through the kitchen hoping for something to eat but there was nothing. Milley goes outside to find something to do. “Looks like a storm is coming in better not go to the lake.” Milley thought.  “I will just go out back and play in the creek.” Milley heads in the  house and then out back. She walked out to the back part of her yard and started to chase some tadpoles for about an hour. Just then she is startled by a loud cracking sound of the storm moving in closer. Then it started to rain... Milley quickly jumped out of the creek and ran inside. She sat at the window and watching the rain as it came pouring down. Next thing she knew it was getting close for her to go to bed. Even though her mom and dad were not home Milley did adhere to her routine and went to bed.

The next morning Milley woke up to see her Parents were once again still not home. By that time Milley was extremely hungry so she went into the kitchen to find something to eat. She thoroughly searched the kitchen but couldn’t find anything to eat. Milley put her note back out for her parents and rode to the lake. As she rode her bike to the lake she tried to come up with a way to find something to eat at this point she was really hungry. You could hear her stomach rumble loudly in the cries of hunger.

As Milley sat at the lake, planning a way to get something to eat she drifted off into a day dream. She was sitting at a table that was covered in so much delicious food you could almost smell it. Just then Milley’s stomach made such a loud rumble that it startled her back to reality. She realized it was getting late and headed back home.

When Milley arrived home it was around 6 o’clock. But this time at the bottom of her note was a note from her mom saying “ I will be back soon went to the store to get the rest of the stuff to make dinner”. Milley got excited she sat on the couch and watched TV waiting on her mother to arrive.  She got caught up in a movie and lost all track of time. As Milley’s stomach rumbled once again she look up at the clock “WOW, it’s 8 o’clock and mom is still not home.” thought Milley. “Well mom did say she was going to be back and make dinner I guess I will just wait a little longer”.

A little while later Milley looks back up at the clock once more. The clock shows it’s 9 o’clock and she is still alone. “I don’t care if I get in trouble for staying up I am hungry” Milley thought angrily. Watching the clock the hours just keep going. “If it wasn’t fall break I would have food tomorrow.” Milley ranted “I might actually starve to death!” 1 AM and still her mom was no where in site. “I can’t take it anymore there has to be something to eat in the house.” Milley said as she went to the kitchen.

As Milley searches the fridge she sees nothing but condiments. So she decided to check the freezer “Some meat… don’t know how to cook it… but I will if I have to.” She thought. As Milley checked the cabinets she found some corned beef hash, dad’s favorite. “Corned beef hash will be the absolute last resort, yucky.” She said half gagging.

She continues to go through the cabinets she finds: some flour, sugar, spices and a can of spinach. “That will also be a last resort.” She said.  As Milley is out of options she turns back to the freezer “Well meat it is” Milley says.  Milley walks back over to the freezer and opens it up. She starts digging in the freezer not sure of what she is looking at. She picks up a zip-lock bag of what looks like hamburger meat . She thinks it’s a good choice and closes the freezer.

She walks over to the microwave and opens it up so she can try to cook the meat she had picked out. Inside the microwave sitting there was a plate full of ribs. Milley just stood there frozen not sure what to do. She put her chosen meat back in the freezer and walked back over to the plate of ribs. She begins looking at them in a inquisitive way and then began smelling them.

“Are they cooked?”…..“How long have they been in here?”….. “Is it safe to eat?”….. “Maybe mom cooked them forgot something at the store and stuck them in here till she got back.” Milley’s mind was racing cause not only was it food it was her favorite.

 “I am too hungry I have to eat now!” Milley decided as she grabbed a rib from the plate. She then  soaked it in her favorite BBQ sauce and ate it so fast she didn’t even taste it. She then scarfed down 2 more. Milley then went to bed around 2 o’clock. The next morning mom was home but dad’s truck was still gone. “Dad must be back at work.” Milley thought.