See I was on the verge of breaking down
Sometimes silence can seem so loud
There are miracles in life I must achieve
But first I know it starts inside of me, oh
If I can see it, then I can be it
If I just believe it, there's nothing to it

I believe I can fly
I believe I can touch the sky
I think about it every night and day
Spread my wings and fly away
I believe I can soar
I see me running through that open door
I believe I can fly
I believe I can fly
I believe I can fly

She intertwined the colored string in her fingers and knotted it, the beautiful bracelet was taking form as she quickly worked.

She noticed how her hair fell in front of her face and some pieces stuck to the edges of her pure skin. Beads or swear glistened on her forehead from the sunlight pouring into the room.

She hears the garage door open and a screeching car backing out. Brooke knew at once that this was her mother leaving again for one of her "jobs" or "errands". She often had a strange feeling that someday her mom wouldn't return.

You see so many commercials where they're telling the parents to know where there kids are and what the hell they're doing,

But what about what the parents are doing?

Brooke remembers when she was a young child, she would always ask, "where are you going, mommy?"

"Oh I have to go to the store hunny." She mom would answer with a flat tone. Brooke could always she the dark circles under her moms' eyes and how her face would always look sad and tired. She often wondered if her mom slept at night.

Brooke's mom was normally a very beautiful lady with dark brown hair, just like Brooke, but now she hardly wore makeup and her hair was sometimes not brushed, this was now her normal look.

"Can I come with you?" a young Brooke would always ask with tears in her eyes, hanging on for dear life to her mothers waist.

"No, hunny, you have to stay here." Her mom would always say while prying the child's arms off her waist. And she would leave, with nothing else being said.

Now, for all Brooke knew, her parents could be dealing fuckin' drugs and she could come home one day from school with a house surrounded by police cars and cops leading the ashamed parents out in handcuffs.

What would happen then? Where would Brooke go?

She knows that she always must walk on needles, because there's never any telling what's going to happen next...

There's no telling what Lucas might say to her in a house when he calls. There's no telling if her mom remembered to get groceries this week so she could feed herself tonight, only to throw it back up again.

"Shit" she said softly as she missed a string, causing the pattern to discontinue. She cut the string off and threw it in her 'care bears' trashcan that she got at the mall with Peyton when she was 11.

She didn't want to see her bracelet that she had made a mistake on and messed it up, reminding her once again she wasn't good enough for even herself. She wasn't good enough for anyone. She wanted so bad to hop up off her bed, sit down on the floor, and just cry. Cry her soul out. Cry so hard blood would start flowing from her eyes because there would be no more tears left.

She knew that no matter what she did, it wasn't good enough for anyone. She didn't deserve this; she didn't deserve nice clothes or a family, even if it was never there for her.

But she was convinced of one thing- she did deserve to feel alone, yet she wouldn't even wish that feeling on her worst enemy.

She snatched the green lighter off her bedside table. She flicked it on and flung herself back. She landed on her throw pillows that were neatly organized on her bed. She watched the flame as it moved and danced. she watched as the colors alternated and faded in and out.

To her, she was like a flame, slowly fading out.