Forgotten
My name is Arianne. I am fourteen. I have long black hair, brown glasses, and blue eyes. I also have very light skin, and freckles covering my entire face, though they are very faint. I have a single mom with two jobs, a dad who I only see a week out of a year, and a sister who is currently homeless and on drugs. All the people at school hate me. I have no friends, no one to help me when I need it, no one to comfort me when I'm sad. My mom tries to help, but honestly it just makes it worse. I can see the stress and exhaustion in her eyes, and it hurts to know that I can't help her. People tell me that it will get better, but it never does. As soon as I think life will get better, something terrible happens.
I still remember the day my only friend moved away. I woke up, and realizing it was Sunday, started getting ready for church. Suddenly, I heard my mom knock at the door. "Arianne, are you in there?" "Yes." I replied. My mom walked into my room. "Listen, um, I just got off the phone, and your friend Kyleigh moved away, and is attending a different church." I was shocked, I couldn't believe this was happening. The first thing I did was sit down on my bed and started crying. I couldn't help it, this was just too much for me to handle. I wouldn't stop crying, even though my mom was trying to comfort me. I eventually moved on, but I will never forget my friend. At that time, she was the only friend I had.
Anyway, now that you know everything you should know about me, I should probably tell you about life recently. I now have two friends, Ryan Stevenson and Elissa Baker. Ryan is fifteen, has spiked black hair, gentle brown eyes, is average height, and he loves music. He even makes music and posts it on the internet. It's mostly dubstep, but occasionally he'll make some other random song. Elissa is fourteen, has long brown hair, which she usually wears down, a few freckles, soft blue eyes, and she loves animals. She has two cats, one dog, a hamster, a turtle, and a few fish. Then there's my enemies, Gwen and Michelle. For some reason, they hate me. I don't know what I ever did to them, but whenever they make fun of me they're relentless. For instance, today they were especially cruel. "Hey Arianne, I like your shoes. Where did you get them, the thrift store?" Gwen said. I actually did get them from the thrift store, but I wasn't going to tell her that. "No." I said calmly. I try not to make a scene, because that just makes her happier and will draw more attention to my stupid thrift store shoes. All of a sudden, Michelle walks up next to Gwen. "Then where did you get them?" Michelle asked "Did your dad buy them for you? Oh wait, I forgot, you don't have a dad!" "I do have a dad!" I responded furiously "He just doesn't live with me!" At this point, a bunch of people were staring at me. So we fought, and I ended up admitting I did buy them from the thrift store, and even though most people didn't care, Gwen and Michelle thought it was the biggest deal in the world, but eventually we stopped fighting and everyone went to their next class. I decided to hang out with Ryan and Elissa after school at the park. When I got there, Elissa and Ryan were sitting on a park bench waiting for me. "Hey guys!" I said. "What's up?" "Oh, you know, just the usual, making music, hanging with you guys, and failing math." Ryan said. "Oh, you're not that bad." Elissa responded with a little chuckle. "Well, if you say so." Ryan said smiling. I loved my friends, they were funny, kind, and they really understood what I had been through. Ryan's mom had died of leukemia when he was twelve, and Elissa had to deal with an abusive father who was constantly drunk until her mom divorced him. My friends and I walked through the park watching kids play and talking about school and life at home. It started getting dark, so I decided to head home. When I got home, I heard my mom crying in her room. I immediately dropped my book bag and ran to her room. I could tell she had just gotten off the phone, because it was on set on the bed right next to her. "What's wrong?" I asked concerned "I just got off the phone with your dad, and he's in the hospital with cancer." I didn't know what to say, mostly because I almost passed out after hearing her say that, but I managed to gain my balance and sit down. I started crying with her, and we didn't stop for what seemed like an hour. After a while, I stopped crying and decided to find out more. "What stage is it?" I asked barely audible. "It's stage four." My mom could barely talk and she had to choke out the words. I started crying all over again. "What kind of cancer is it?" "Lung cancer." I couldn't do it. I ran to my room, slammed the door shut, collapsed on the bed, and screamed into my pillow. I started thinking about everything that was bad about my life. My homeless sister, my exhausted mom, my dad and his girlfriend that I never see, my miserable life at school, my depressed friends, financial struggle, my grades that won't stop going down, and now this. I knew what I had to do. I walked out of my room and to my mom who was still sitting on her bed. "Hey mom, are you ok?" "Yes, I'm fine, but I'm more worried about you. Are you going to be alright?" "Yeah, I'll be fine, but can we go visit dad tomorrow?" "Well, we aren't going to be busy tomorrow so I guess it's ok." I smiled at her. She smiled back, but her eyes were still teary.
After school the next day, my mom and I immediately got into the car to go to the hospital. It was about a forty minute drive since my dad lived a while off. When we got there, the receptionists told us that he was in room 243 on the second floor. My mom and I walked in, and I was suddenly reminded of all the wrong things in my life. My dad looked pathetic in the hospital bed, coughing and sick. "Hi dad." I said. "Arianna! What are you doing here?" "I just wanted to visit before…um…" I couldn't finish my sentence. "Before I'm gone forever." My dad finished for me. "It's ok, you can say it. I'm going to die." I was shocked that my dad would say something like that. "Bryan! You know that you have a chance, you just have to keep fighting!" "What if I don't want to fight?" My cried. The scene made me want to cry, but I knew I had to be strong. "Bryan…" my mom started crying. "It hurts to fight, and I don't want pain to be the last thing I experience before I'm gone." When I heard those words I realized something. I felt the same way. I, like my dad, didn't want pain to be the last thing I remembered. My dad calmed down, and my mom decided it would be best if we left. The ride home was completely silent. As soon as we got home, I went to bed without eating dinner.
The next morning I decided I would try my best to have a good day. When I got to school Ryan, Elissa, and I talked about life recently. I told them about my dad, and they were almost as shocked as I was. "That's terrible!" Elissa said, almost crying. She had lost her favorite aunt to cancer. "Are you alright? I know what it's like to lose someone you love, but a parent? That's even worse!" Ryan commented. "I'm fine." I whispered, even though I didn't mean it. After school, I visited my favorite park. I sat on the swing and watched children play. They were so happy, and so innocent. Afterwards, I started walking home. I started thinking about everything. I thought about how terrible everything was. Sure Elissa and Ryan tried to help, but they didn't really understand. They didn't go through the same pain I did. I looked up, and noticed it was dark. There was a bridge in the park, just above a cliff. I stared at it. The railing was high, but I was sure I could climb it. I walked over to it, and put my hands against the metal. The metallic surface was cold, but felt smooth in my hands. I put my foot on top of another bar, and started climbing. When I reached the top I looked down. This was what I had to do. I took a half step, and then I jumped. I didn't survive the fall, but the pain was over. My loved ones were depressed, but eventually they moved on. My family and friends didn't actually forget me, but they never talked about me again. So I was forgotten, and so was my pain.