The Downcasted

... I wake up to my alarm beeping telling me to get up and to get ready for school, I’m a senior in Highschool. I sit up with my red hair tangled together behind my head. I swing my legs over the side of the bed and slide on my fox slippers, I get up and walk out of my room, down the hall, and into the bathroom. When I see my reflection in the mirror, it makes me cringe, with my hair in knots behind my head and my bright green eyes, above my freckles, looking crummy. I wipe my eyes and continue with my schedule.

... When I am done I pull my disaster, my hair, into a bun for now. I walk back out of the bathroom and into my room. I rummage through my dresser before finding my striped flow out dress and my nude colored tights. I get dressed and walk over to my mirror that is perched on the wall. I unravel my bun and separate my hair into two sections so it is easier to brush. I grab my brush off of my night stand and brush it out, almost getting the brush stuck in my thick hair. I push my unknotted hair behind my head and feel it flow down to my thighs. I pull it into a side fishtail braid. I slide on my black wedges and slap on some mascara, showing off my long eyelashes. I grab my book-bag and phone before leaving my room and make sure my door is shut, so Fri doesn’t get in.

... I walk down the stairs and into the kitchen to find my mom making coffee and Fri lying under the table. When Fri sees me he pads to me with his tongue sticking out and flopping around his face. Fri is a black German Shepard with bright blue eyes, my father gave him to me before he was sent to the war. He jumps up on me with his front paws on my shoulders, him being my height when on his back legs and I am 5’6. “Morning mom.” I say while petting Fri. “Morning Layla, How did you sleep?” she asks with her brown eyes shining from the morning light. “Like the dead.” I reply pushing Fri off of me. I hear a honk outside knowing it is my best-friend Beatrice. “Bye, mom gotta go.” I say kissing my mom’s cheek. “Love ya,” Mom says with her red hair swinging when she turns to look at me. “Love you too.” I say before walking out the door and wipe the fur off of me before getting into the car.

... “Morning, Bea.” I say looking over at my best friend. “Morning Lay.” Bea says with her blonde curls bouncing when she turns her head, her hazel eyes big and defined. I click my seatbelt on and turn up the radio. She drives off heading towards our only girl school. It doesn’t really help with being at an all-girls school if there is an all-boys school only three blocks away. I have known Bea since freshman year and we have been close ever since, yes we have had some bumps in the road, but who hasn’t?

... When we get to the school she parks as far she can from the school. She hates people so she parks super far away every day, at least it is good exercise. We both unclick our seatbelts and get out of her car. When I get a full look at her I see that she is wearing a blue shirt with a rose in the right corner of it she paired it with black leggings and her black Timberlands. We start to walk up to the school when we see the so-called “popular” girl. She was my friend in elementary school but once we got to high school she started to hang out with all the seniors and acting fake towards me. Her name is Petra, her family is rich and like to show off to many people.

... We walk into the building and to our lockers, them being right next to each other. “Did you do the English homework?” Bea asks. “Of course, you know that is my favorite subject.” I say looking up at her. She just smiles and we continue on to our first hour, Science. We walk into Mrs. Young’s room and sit in our assigned seats. Only Polly and Jack were already here and in their seats reading the bellwork on the board. We grab out our notebooks and start the bellwork our self after plugging in our headphones.

... Everyone starts to crowd in as the bell rings and scurries to their seats. I turn off my music and stuff my headphones into my pocket along with my phone. Mrs. Young starts to take attendance as the rest of the students sit down. As the time passes my day flies by in an instant. The day only feeling like it took an hour to get over. I put my stuff in my locker and meet Bea at the car. We get in and she drops me off at the house before driving off.

... I rummage through my book-bag looking for my house keys, I don’t find them anywhere. I walk around the house looking to see if any of our windows are unlocked, none. But when I look up to my balcony I see that the latch was still unlocked. I throw my book bag up onto the balcony before getting up on my back porch railing and using my hands to pull myself all the way up and over the balcony railing. Thank god for cheerleading and dad’s training. I grab my bag and slide open my balcony door. I put my book bag on the bed and rush down the stairs to let Fri outside. I see him on the couch with his paw hanging off of the edge. Guard dog psh. I clear my throat and he pops up, his eyes looking worried. “Busted.” I say giving him a glare. He jumps off the couch and towards the back door. I look out the door to make sure the gate is locked before unlocking the doggy door. He goes throughout into the backyard.

... I check the time to see I still have two hours until cheer practice. I walk back up the stairs and grab out a pair of joggers, stretchy shirt, and socks. I quickly change and slide on my sneakers. I pull on a black headband to hold my hair away from my face. I grab my cheer bag with my pom poms in it. My team is the Pirates, our colors are red, black, and white. I carry my things downstairs and set it under the coat rack. I walk into the kitchen and grab an apple from the fridge before pouring me a glass of sweet tea. I take my treats into the living room with me. Fri now laying on the rug in front of the coffee table. I grab the TV remote and click it on. I grab my phone out of my bra and check through my social media. I take a bite of my apple and a sip of my tea. I look up to see that a replay episode of South Park is on. I shrug my shoulders, why not.

... I watch an episode until my mom walks in through the door with her keys in her hands. “Hey, how was work?” I ask as she places her purse on the coffee table. “Had a lot of stuff to do, stupid case.” she replies. My mom is a detective and my dad a soldier. My dad is out at war right now, he writes to me all of the time. “Hungry?” I ask. “I could eat something.” she replies. “I’ll make you a grilled cheese.” I say as I get up from the couch and into the kitchen taking my tea and apple core with me. I place my tea on the counter, throw the core away, and gather all of the ingredients. I start to butter the bread after turning on the burner under the pan. I place the buttered bread onto the pan and then the cheese and another buttered bread. I look through the drawers and grabbing out the spatula. I flip the grilled cheese and hear it sizzle. I flip it again and let it sit while I pour her some coffee and add the things she likes. I scoop the sandwich and place it on a plate before starting the next. I also made me some too, once they’re done I slide them onto the plate along with the other one.

... I turn the stove off before carrying the plate and the cups to the living room and place them on the coffee table. “Here we go.” I say before sitting down. Fri comes up to the couch with his ears back and his puppy eyes showing, he’s trying to get on the couch with us. “Fine.” we say patting the cushion. He jumps up onto the couch and I feel the cushion sink in as he gets comfortable. We sit there eating and socializing for the next hour.

... After my phone alarm goes off telling me it’s time for practice. I get up from the couch and stretch my body out before taking out my side braid and pulling it into a high ponytail and fixing the headband. I walk into the kitchen and up to the fridge, before grabbing my water bottle, that I put in there yesterday, out of the freezer. My mom has the keys in her hands by the front door, ready to take me to practice. I grab my cheer bag and my charger before heading out the door. We get into my mom’s truck and click our seat belts on before driving off. My team is in a League so we don’t have a sports team to cheer for.

... My mom parks the car in front of the cheer building. I hug her goodbye and walk into the cheer building with my cheer bag in hand. I sign in at the front desk and walk through the hallway till I find the gym. I push the big heavy door until I am finally in the room. I see Ben and Helen talking by the mats, I have cheered with them for the past three years, we are pretty close. I walk over and scare them by pouncing on their shoulders. “Really.!.!” screeches Helen. Ben just tried to punch me but I caught his hand. “Reflexes, haha.” I say with a silly face looking at him. He just sends a glare as a response.

... I place my bag on the ground and plug my charger into the outlet before plugging in my phone. I look out at the mat and see that the girls are ready to stretch. I run out onto the mat and wait for Captain Teresa. Teresa walks up onto the mat and stand in front of us all and starts the stretches. We all count aloud as we do the stretches until we are finally done and have to do our laps around the mat. Once we are done I walk over to my cheer bag and grab my water bottle out of the pocket. I flip up the straw piece and take a gulp, before shutting it and putting it back into the pocket.

... After a few minutes for break Teresa calls us back the mat and we all gather. “We are going to start from the beginning, go to the corner of the mat. We all follow her to the back of the mat forming the assigned line. As the coach introduces us we walk onto the mat and into our assigned spots in the lineup. Once we are all in our spots Teresa calls the cheer and we all start doing the cheer accordingly. Once that is finished we switch to our one-minute routine line up and get ready for the music to start. As the music begins we all do the routine as the coaches taught us as they observe it.

... After the one minute routine, we do a chant then get into the lineup for the two minute and start that. When the music ends in a gunshot we all fall to the floor making it seem like we were dead. We get back up and get another small drink before we practice that for a half hour. After the routine, we work on jumps using the trampolines that are lined up next to each other. After jumps, we end the day with tumbling and a team meeting to talk about the upcoming competition. After the meeting they let us go, I grab my things and grab my phone to call my mom. She tells me that she is on her way and will be here in a minute.

... I walk out to the parking lot and wait for my mom to pull in. After a few minutes of playing on my phone and socializing with Trey, one of the guy cheerleaders on the team, I see my mom pull into the driveway. I say goodbye to Trey and watch as she pulls up before getting into the car with my cheer bag hanging from my shoulder. I sit down in the passenger seat and throw my cheer bag in the back seat. “How was practice?” asks Mom. “The usual, is dinner done?” I ask. “Almost, it should be done by the time we get there.” She replies before driving out the parking lot and towards the house.

... Once we get there she parks the car and we both get out, I grab my cheer bag from the backseat and carry it into the house with me, once my mom unlocks the door. Fri wags his tail and looks up at us with his tongue hanging out. Like always. I pat his head before shutting the door behind me. I put my cheer bag by the stairs and unlock his doggie door to the backyard. I walk into the kitchen and fill Fri’s bowl with dog food. I walk out the kitchen and grab my water bottle from my cheer bag and fill it up before putting it into the fridge. I walk back out of the kitchen and grab my cheer bag as I walk up the stairs. I go into my room and set the bag on my bed where my book bag is also. I pull out some undergarments, socks, a pair of denim jeans, and a grey short sleeve shirt.

... I leave the clothes on my nightstand and grab a towel off the hanger. I take out my ponytail and my headband off. I go into the bathroom and hop into the shower with my towel sitting on the counter. I scrub my hair with my pineapple scented shampoo and conditioner before scrubbing my body with the bar soap and rinsing it down the drain. I shut off the water and get out wrapping a towel around myself. I dry my body and wrap the towel around me again and walk to my room. I unravel the towel and get dressed in the outfit. For jewelry, I put some silver hoops and across ear cuff in. For shoes, I put on my black and white high tops.

... I dry off the end of my hair that is still dripping wet. I place the wet towel back onto the hanger and grab my book bag from my bed before heading downstairs. I walk into the kitchen to see my mom cooking steak for dinner. I sit down at the table and open my bookbag getting my homework out. I only have a few worksheets of homework before I have to start my essay for English on my laptop. Before starting my work I plug in my headphones and start my music. I start with my Social Studies homework, then my math, and finally end my paperwork with Sociology. I then start to do research for my essay before typing it into the essay format, this only takes me 10 minutes.

... Once I am done my mom places a plate of food in front of me with the steak taking up most of the space, surrounded by mashed potatoes and corn. I place all my stuff back into my book bag before zipping it up and giving my full attention to my food. “Thank you, I’m starving.” I say looking at her as she sits down across from me. We sit there talking about how our days went and eating the food in front of us.

... After eating I wash our dishes and we proceed to the living room. Once we get in there I turn on the Xbox 1 and start up a two player game. I hand her one of the controllers and grab one for myself, we sit and wait for the game to load. After it’s done loading we start to play, we are playing Gears of War. As the first horde ends we find out that I got more kills than she did. We play this for a few more rounds then move to another game. This time only me playing so that my mom could do some detective work on her case. I start to play when I remember that I have a test and need to study, it is only 9 pm so I have a lot of time.

... I walk up the stairs and down the hall walking into my room. I unzip my book bag and take out the notes we took in Spanish class today. I study them for about an hour and put it away after. I grab my phone and headphones, getting ready to watch Netflix on my phone before I get a message. I see that it is an unknown number, so I open it to read “Did you miss me?” Who is this? Could it be him? ‘Who is this?’ I reply. “Don’t act like you don’t know.” ‘Seriously, who is this?’ It can’t be him, he was sent to prison. “It’s Kyle. Don’t think I forgot what you did to me.” He is crazy if he thinks I did something to him. ‘I thought you were in prison still.’ “I was let out earlier for good behavior.” ‘I did nothing to you, I was the victim not you.’ “According to who?” ‘I have always been the victim. Leave me alone, I am moving on from it.’ “I don’t think so honey.” I rush to delete our conversation and block the number.

... I rush down the stairs and into my mom’s office, “Mom, he texted me.” I say as I walk in. She looks up with her eyes widened. She opens her arms wide letting me know to give her a hug, I walk up to her in her work chair and hug her. She then asks “What number did he use? I can track it.” I take my phone out and go through the deleted numbers to find the certain one and show it to her. She opens her laptop and does a bunch of stuff that looks like hacking before finding where the text had come from. It was coming from one of the houses down the street.

... I hear the front door come open and my mom looks up from the laptop. She gets up from the chair with her hand on the gun in its holster. “Get into that closet.” she whispers to me while pointing to the closet. I open the closet door and move the stuff that is in there over so I can get in. I sit in the back before pushing everything in front of me so that if anyone comes into the room they can’t find me. She closes the door after saying “I love you, now stay put.” I grab my phone from my pocket and look try to call the police.

... I hear footsteps and hang up the call and turn the screen off so if it’s the intruder then he won’t see the light. The steps are heavy and slow, letting me know that it is Kyle. I cover my mouth with my hand so he doesn’t hear me breathing and try to calm my heartbeat. Tears start to trickle down my face as I remember everything that he did to me, the scars on my arms and legs start to ache, my hair almost strangling me with it all in front of my face. Soon the footsteps are gone and then I hear a gunshot. My heart drops and tears start to fall from my eyes before hearing the heavy footsteps leaving the house.

... I stand up and open the closet door, poking my head out to check if anyone is out there. I walk out of the closet, flipping my hair away from my face, and put it into a ponytail. I walk out of the room and into the hall, I look down both ways before going towards the living room. I tippy-toe to the living room making sure that no one is in here other than me or mom. I hope she is ok. When I get into the living room and see what is on the floor I stop like a statue. On the floor of the living room is my mom laying with blood surrounding her with Fri whining by her head. Tears start to pour out of my eyes as I run to her.

... I get on my knees, take my shirt off, and push it onto the wound to stop the bleeding. I say “Fri come here and lay your head here.” I say pointing at the wound. I start looking for her radio. It wasn’t on her, so I got up and say“Fri stay there,” before heading back to my mom’s office. I see that her radio is on her desk and grab it before I feel the tears starting to get bigger as they fall. I click the button of the radio and say into it “This is agent Kim’s daughter, my mom has been shot please send an ambulance!” “How did this happen?” a voice says through the radio. “Someone came into the house and she went to check it out, she had her gun with her and when the person caught her. *sob* He shot her.” I reply with tears pouring down my face like a waterfall.

... I hear the ambulance now on our street, so I put on a shirt from my mom’s closet before running into the kitchen and out of the front door with Fri still with mom, I wave my hands so they know which house. They stop once they see me and come running with all of their equipment. I show them where and they get her onto the gurney and into the ambulance. Fri and I get into the ambulance and head to the hospital, my hand in hers the entire time with Fri laying on my lap with blood on his chin and now on my pants. One of the paramedics are back here and changed the rag before holding a towel against the bullet wound like before. “You did a good job keeping pressure on the wound. But she did lose a lot of blood, how long ago did you find her?” he asks with his green eyes looking at me. “A few minutes before I called it in, I couldn’t find the radio at first. So I had Fri hold the wound while I looked.” I say gesturing to Fri. “That is one smart dog.” he replies. “His dad was my dad’s war partner. So when he died my dad started to train him, to protect us.” I say with tears running down my face.