Prologue
August 22nd, 2000. There was a motorway crash on the early evening of that British summer's day. Three cars collided after a drunk driver passed out at the wheel. He was a father of two and was going through a divorce - so opted to drink himself into oblivion down the pub; to then make the decision to drive home. He made it to the hospital entrance before flatlining.
An older woman, with not the sharpest of reactions, smacked into the back of the man's truck. It was told that she died on impact: leaving behind a loving husband of three decades.
If it wasn't for the oil that was gushing out of the drunk drivers truck, the last car would have been able to avoid the collision. However, the family of four wasn't that lucky. The Cuban couple had two young children- two twin girls, Alice and Thomasina, who were on their second year of life- and adored them greatly. The parents had just recently migrated to England to provide the two little ones a better, more fulfilled life. Having met at an orphanage, the two parents grew up together, being inseparable. Their innocent friendship soon blossomed into more. When Alicia (the mother) turned 18, she found out that she and Omar (the father) was expecting.
They were finally part of a family.
Only one survived.
Thomasina Light was rushed to hospital unconscious with deep cuts to her body; she was taken in for emergency surgery, while her twin, Alice Light, was fighting for her life down the hall.
Alicia Garcia and Omar Light also died on impact.
No-one was expecting the girls to survive, Alice having been predicted with a better chance of survival. But when Thomasina got out of surgery, it was told that the gashes sliced on her body were not as life-threatening as they first thought and just cut the skin deep enough to cause permanent scarring and hitting no major arteries; meaning she was going to live but with horrendous, ugly scars that would mar her legs, body, arms, neck and a couple of small ones that were pasted on her face like little leech. Everyone was ecstatic that the child had survived the horrific accident...but then saddened that her twin did not, dying of heart failure just hours after.
Thomasina spent four months in hospital, having to miss out on the official funeral of her family, but had one in her hospital room with the doctors and nurses. She was showing fast signs of recovery, having bandages wrapped and then replaced, having stitches taken out and then having Counselling. Doctors stopped worrying about her injuries and became more concerned about her mental health. Thomasina rarely smiled, rarely laughed, but also never cried, never complained- she was becoming a shell of a body.
She was finally out and put into foster care by December the 21st 2000, having her third birthday in hospital on November the 17th 2000. She stayed with her foster family until the age of seven, where the fosters put her back into the system after she started to show concerning rebellious behaviour. From then on she went from home to home and school to school after numerous fights and cautions. She was known to as 'Scarface' by the age of thirteen, her broken skin and cold aura was a perfect excuse for bullying- the jagged lines that lingered on her brown skin scared the children, they didn't want to be her friend or even be near her.
The bullying carried on for years and years, Thomasina grew up with no one to lean on and no one to socialize with. She was lonely and depressed but soon found friends at the beginning of her teenage years - friends that were of bad influence. They stayed out late and caused havoc around the town: starting fires, shoplifting, smoking, drinking and starting fights.
One day, after coming back from the police station at the age of fourteen, Thomasina found her foster dad's cigarettes lying around. She had watched numerous times over the years, that the adults always had one when stressed; she was curious, her friends smoked but she never had the guts, but now she did. So she made sure no one was home and spontaneously lit one of the little white sticks and took a deep breath, the foggy smoke going smoothly down her throat before slowly releasing it. For some reason- she loved it. So for months after, she stole more and more until they just weren't enough. She knew of a girl in the older years that smoked something different to what she and her friends did, so she found her and asked for some, she took a breath- and she loved it.
And then started the vicious cycle. After the simple drug just wasn't enough, she turned to pills, after pills weren't enough, she turned to heroin. She became an influence, her friends becoming curious and trying everything Thomasina brought. By the age of sixteen, she was known as an addict at school and was caught by her recent foster parents after they found out that their 'missing money' was going towards Thomasina's drug habit. She was put into rehab with severe drug addiction and a mile long criminal record full of petty crimes.
Now she has a chance to start again.
This is her story.
