Her skin felt warm sitting on the second-story roof outside her bedroom window. Dawn had just broke and the sky had filled with a mixture of orange and yellow hues, much like the flame from her lighter that she used to light her second cigarette. Cancer was at the bottom of her list of worries for today.
Today was the first day of another school year. Senior year that would continue the pattern of unwanted responsibilities and an image to uphold, not only at school but also in the small town of Charming, California. Madeline Hayes didn't always call this place home. It had barely been six months since the move from San Francisco where she was born and raised the majority of her life. To say that she was born to privilege would be an understatement.
The Hayes family was what some would call 'country club set.' Richard Hayes was the head CEO of a software company based in the Bay area while his wife Elizabeth was a financial management consultant in Sacramento. Because both of Madeline's parents constantly traveled for work, she was able to have times like these to herself. Granted, she still had to get her nicotine high out on her roof as to not have the house reek of smoke.
She took another drag from the stick that settled loosely between her thin fingers. She watched as more ash gathered at the end of it. She didn't want to leave the spot that she was currently occupying. It was peaceful, she was at peace, everything was… good.
A slight breeze started, which was a rarity this time of year, blowing some blonde strands in her face that she didn't bother to brush away. Madeline finished off her cigarette, scrapping it out on one of the roofs shingles and flicking it into the gutter with the other hundreds from previous nights like these.
'Yeah,' she thought to herself, 'I'm really going to have to clean these soon.'
And with a sigh she stood up, dusted the back of her night bottoms and crawled back through her bedroom window. She needed to get ready. She needed to act the role she was so used to playing and others were so used to seeing. She needed to be Madeline Hayes, California sweetheart that had everything. She needed to play the part for her parents. She needed to plaster on the fake smile.
"I just need to get through this," she said looking at herself in her vanity mirror, "I just need to get through today."
