Chapter 1 Birthday
During one of the hottest heat waves of the century as i’m walking out of school to my mothers car in the pick up line I realize she’s late. While this doesnt suprise me because shes always late so i start my journey home.
After walking for 45 minutes up these massive mountainous hills I stop to take a break. This early summer heat is making this already treacherous journey so much harder then it is in the winter and of course I’ve ran out of water. I start walking again but this time I push myself to walk the last 45 minutes home without stopping, as I rush inside to get a glass of ice cold water to quench my thirst my mother yells. “Melina, is that you?” And I responded yes mom, just got home from school. Why weren’t you at school to pick me up?
Angrily my mother says, “your almost 18 you can figure your own way home, just like you already did. Im tired of your constant complaining, and nagging go to your fucking room.” I sheepishly went to my room and quietly closed the door. I just don’t understand what ive done to make her this mad at me all the time.
My birthday is tomorrow night and we’re supposed to be going out to eat, but i’m not so sure thats even gonna happen. Last year it was like this too, however its so much worse now. Suddenly I hear a car door slam and a random man starts banging on the door yelling my mother’s name…… “Katerina.. Katerina.. open the door I know your in there.” He keeps yelling and repeating himself. Finnaly my mother opens the door and states “ I’ve told you never to show up here my husband will be home in minutes. You need to leave now before we get caught!”
Mind blown, but at the same time a bright idea popped into my mind. Whispering to myself “When dad gets home i’m gonna tell him about this mysterious man that showed up so he can look at the cameras himself and maybe just maybe I will get my birthday dinner after all.”
All of a sudden I hear another set of doors slamming, but this time its my dad and I rush down the winding steps and meet him with a hug. “Dad how was your day? I really missed you!” I said. As he hugged me back with hesitation in his voice he askes “whats the matter love, this isnt your usual greeting!” Stuttering I express to him “can we go somewhere private to talk?” Even more cautious he presses on “yes darling we can go into my office.” As we are walking to his office my mother is on a phone call and hasn’t realized that he was even home yet, and that I snuck out of my room to meet my father. We’re now in my father’s office and he asks “ whats so important you wanted to talk to me privately?” I can feel my heart beating out of my chest and my palms become sweaty. As I tell my self to take a deep breath I began to tell my father about my day. “It all started when school ended mom never came to pick me up so I walked all the way home and she sent me straight to my room. I soon became startled by a car door slamming and a random man I have never met was yelling for mom to open up the door. He was yelling her name, and he said I know your in there let me in. She then opened the door forcing him to leave because she didn’t want you coming home and seeing him.”
My father angrily told me “ you need to stay out of your mother’s business, you will go to bed without any dinner and you will stay there until I say you can come out!” Speechless I reluctantly grabbed for the door and ran to my room.
As I laid in my bed with large tears trailing down my sun kissed cheeks I thought to my self why wasn’t he mad at her she’s obviously cheating on him, why was he so mad at me instead? After crying for what seemed like hours I finally fell asleep, but it didnt last long because I was woken up by a large growl coming from my stomach. As quickly and quietly as I could, I snuck downstairs and into the kitchen to get something to eat. Rushing back up the stairs with a feeling of relief I fell back to sleep.
The sun is peeping through the blinds and I slowly began to wake up. Rubbing my extremely sore eyes my stomach suddenly drops when a loud knock on my door startles me. Oh fuck. Fuck… It’s my birthday I look over to the clock and it’s already 1pm. My father yells “Melina its time to wake up we have somewhere we have to be.” I calmly answer him back “I’m up. I will be out in a minute, just need to get dressed.” So I hurriedly throw on a dress and throw my hair up in a bun while also slipping on some gold wedges that match my dress perfectly. I rush down to meet my father and we get into his matte black suburban. He says absolutely nothing as I can tell he’s still super angry with me. In the corner of my eye I noticed several large duffel bags filled with mysterious objects. After about an hour in the car as he’s speeding through the mountains my father exclaims “why dont you take a nap we still have three hours of driving to go.” Rubbing my sore eyes once again i fall back asleep, after a few hour passed by i’m suddenly awoken by a sudden stop and my car door being yanked open. As im waking up I realize were in the middle of nowhere, no clue where im at and theres no road in sight. My father starts pulling all the duffle bags out of the car and I step out to help him. Once finished he gave me a hug and without saying a single word he gets back in the car and before I could get back in he locked the doors and drove off.
I say to myself out loud “well this definitely tops last years birthday by a landslide. I have no phone and no idea where i’m at and to top it all of I’m completely and utterly alone. Just to put the icing on top of the cake the sun is gonna set soon. FUCK MY LIFE, i’m gonna die out here!!!”
