The window was open, just the way she liked it. The soft rustle of the leaves against the windowpane and the low, chill-vibe music that blasted from her stereo were the only sounds that occupied her cozy room. She was doing it again: shutting herself out from the world, with only her laptop in front of her and her earphones around her neck. Normally, on a sunny day like this, she'd actually step outside of her room. But today felt different for seventeen-year old Audrey Gilbert. The feeling of being trapped inside the four walls of the room was enough to make her day.
She was sitting on her bed, cross-legged, her pink shirt hugging her body closely. She was tapping away on her laptop, and constantly switching to her phone, replying to messages she couldn't care less about. It was the routine of the day. Closing Facebook on her laptop, she grabbed her phone and checked for new messages. There were none. Ugh. She was bored, no doubt, but somehow she couldn't pull herself away from her bed.
Her mother, Elena, had left for work. She was always at home, alone, not knowing where her mother was or what she could possibly be up to. All she knew was her mother worked at a small company that paid enough for them to continue living. She never dared to ask for more details. There were, in fact, not what in one would call a "mother and daughter relationship". It was more of a "predator and prey". Not literally. Audrey just felt like her mother cared too much and she just wanted to be left alone. Like a typical teenager, she'd always use as an excuse.
But Audrey wasn't quite typical. And she was about to find out.
"Nothing to do, nothing to do," she sang, dropping the phone back on her bed. She then turned the volume knob of the stereo, making the song completely diminish the sound of the leaves from outside. Sighing, she rose from the bed, into the kitchen, where she poured herself a cup of tea. She smiled, breathing its sweet scent in, allowing its warmth to gently caress her bottom lip.
Audrey walked past the counter and spotted a tiny pink note from her mother. It had the words "WILL BE BACK BEFORE DINNER." written in bold permanent marker. Rolling her eyes, she dropped the note in the waste bin and proceeded to the patio just outside the dining room. There, she plopped herself down on a chair, put her feet up against the coffee table, and continued to sip her tea. She allowed time to pass until her eyelids began to drop.
She was now in the land of dreams, caught in between reality and imagination, where nothing, or no one, could hurt her.