I always thought my life sucked.

My father abandoned me and my mother when I was just a little baby. Since we couldn't pay for a place of our own, we moved in with my grandma and Mom had to work multiple jobs at once.

Everybody at my middle school basically hated me, excpet for my best friend, Carl. Nobody seemed to care for me and pay me any attention. Over the years, I learned that nobody loved me except for Mom, Grandma, Carl, and a few other people.

But that all changed in my eighth grade year, close to Christmas.

"So it's almost been thirteen years since your dad left you?" Carl asked as we walked home from school.

He asked this every year. I always told him to shut up about it, but he never did. That was one of the things about Carl. He never gave up on stuff.

We turned on Pine Lane, past the gas station. We were next door neighbors, so it wasn't much of a hassle to walk home.

"I don't want to talk about it," I told him, tucking my chin into the collar of my coat.

He quickly shut his mouth. Over our many years of friendship, he'd learned not to push my buttons. Especially when it came to my dad. We walked for a little while, then Carl spoke up again.

"Why do you think he left?" he asked hesitantly, careful not to push the wrong button.

I looked at him. His bangs almost covered his startling gray eyes.

I sighed. "My dad was a jobless, heartless deadbeat who cared about nothing but himself. Let's just leave it at that."

I know it sounds cruel. But that's really how I felt. I mean, who leaves a young woman and her child to fend for themselves? That's just plain wrong. Though, Mom never trashtalked Dad. She always told me how much he loved me and how much he didn't want to leave and blah, blah, blah. I couldn't believe she was lying like that. He never cared about us.

I realized we were in front of my house. It was a cute little house. It was baby blue with two stories, and a garden in the front yard.

Better than Dad could've done., I thought.

I looked at Carl. "See you later."

I walked up to the doorway and unlocked the door with the key Mom had given me. Though, I never knew why I had the key in the first place. Someone was always home and there was nothing much in there that anyone would want to steal. Mom said the key was just incase her or Grandma wasn't home. Though she said "just incase" like she would say "nuclear bomb".

Grandma was in the kitchen making dinner. Her hair was a mix of brown and gray and her blue eyes were always shiny. She called everybody "sweetheart" and was nice to basically everybody.

"Hey, sweetheart," she said. "How was school?"

"Miserable as usual," I told her.

"Now don't say that. You're getting a good education."

I plopped my heavy bag full of books on the table. I rubbed my shoulder. "Education hurts."

Grandma chuckled. "You'll get through it."

I rolled my eyes and dragged my bag upstairs to my room. My room wasn't much. Just a bed, dresser, desk. Nothing fancy. We couldn't afford stuff like computers or anything like that. To save money, I wore some of Mom's old clothes. Some kids made fun of me for wearing her clothes, but they were pretty comfy.

Anger rose in my chest. Everytime I thought about how lucky we were to have a house, a place to call home, my hatred for Dad rose even more. If I ever got a chance to meet him, I would show him a piece of my mind. How could he just leave us like this? The only reason we were able to pay the morgage every month was because some friends of Mom's decided to help us out.

I went on to studying. I began to read the book our english teacher assigned, "Tuck Everlasting." It was about this family who drank from this one spring and it turned then immortal. So they've been hiding out for one hundred some years until this twelve year old girl named Winnie finds them and they have to persuade her to not tell anyone their secret.

The letters started jumbling up on the page. The turned upside down, sideways and everything. I was starting to get dizzy. The letters stopped when they spelled something. It said, "We're coming for you."

I gasped and rubbed my eyes. When I looked back at the book, the page was back to normal. I mustive imagined it. I'd had a long day at school. It was probably nothing.

I heard the door shut downstairs. Mom was home from work. I ran down the stairs and gave her a hug.

My mother was in her mid-30's, though she looked much younger. Her skin had no wrinkles or signs of stress. Her silky brown hair had some golden shine to it. Her bright blue eyes always seemed to light up a room, but they showed a sadness in her, that no one could see. She was in her Dunkin' Donuts uniform and had a box of donuts in her hands.

"I brought home dessert," she said smiling, holding up the box for everyone to see.

"I made dinner," Grandma added.

"And I'll set the table," I finished.

I got the plates and silverwear out of the cupboard and set them on the table. Grandma came in with a big pot of spaghetti and Mom came in with a plate of garlic bread. We all sat down and filled our plates. I packed the noodles on my plate and grabbed a big piece of garlic bread, though I wasn't hungry. For some reason, I couldn't stop thinking about what Carl said. Why did your dad leave you? I mean, I knew it was because he didn't care about us. But Mom never gave me an actual answer. It was driving me crazy.

"Mom, why did Dad leave us?" I asked.

Mom stopped a fork full of spegetti mid-way to her mouth and set it back down. Her expression darkened. "Your father...left us for a certain purpose."

"What kind of purpose?"

Mom tugged on her shirt collar. "It involved his work."

"Is that what he told you?" I asked irritated. "Seriously Mom. Who goes on a business trip for thirteen years?"

"He had to go do something very important."

"More important than family?" I was starting to get angry now. "More important than visiting on birthdays, Christmas, everything!? He left before you two could even get married!"

"There was this big emergency," Mom explained calmly. "And it hasn't subsided. He's not aloud to come home."

"Oh my God! I can't believe you're actually saying this, Mom! He isn't coming back!"

Mom's expression hardened a bit. "Now, I know you're a bit mad at your dad but that doesn't mean..."

"Face it Mom! He never cared about us!"

That did it. Mom's eyes were filling with tears, but I could tell she was mad. She stood up in her chair, and this time, she wasn't afraid to raise her voice. "Maria di Angelo! Your father loved you with all his heart! It tore him to pieces to leave you!"

"How do you know!?", I asked, my voice getting higher. "People lie!"

"I don't want to hear anymore!"

"But Mom.."

"ENOUGH!"

I sat there, stunned. As did Grandma. Mom never yelled at me like that. Never. Her angry expression melted away and a tear went down her cheek.

She pushed her plate away. "I'm not hungry."

She turned and went upstairs to her room.

Grandma looked at me. She looked disappointed. "Go to your roon, Maria."

"But..."

"Go."

I hesitantly got up from my chair and went up to my room. I closed the door and sat on the bed. Then came the tears. I didn't get it. Why would Mom defend the guy who left her alone with her little baby? It didn't make sence. Why would she yell at me like that?

I heard Mom and Grandma talking in the next room. It wasn't like me to eavesdrop, but I had to know what was going on. I put my ear to the wall and listened.

"Don't worry, dear.", Grandma said. "She'll forget about it in the morning."

"I wish I could tell her," Mom said. Her voice cracked, like she'd been crying. "But the council forbade it. Plus, it would put her at risk."

"I know, sweatheart. I know. The last thing we want is to tear this family apart anymore than it already is."

I backed away from the wall. I suddenly felt a little scared. It would put her at risk. Risk of what? Finding out the truth? Whatever it was. And what council was Mom talking about. I felt so confused. I needed to think.

I opened my window and climbed down the rain gutter. I walked down the street. The streetlights were turning on with a dim light, preparing for sunset. Everyone had their garbage cans out on the sidewalk for trash day tomorrow. I walked down to a little playground at the end of the street and sat down on a bench.

I sat there, thinking about what could've possibly happened to make Dad leave us for thirteen years. Who did Mom think she was fooling? Definitely not me. I knew Dad wasn't coming back, and she knew it too. But something was going on.

I watched a few little kids play until my eyelids started to get heavy. Before I knew it, I was asleep.

A/N Sorry it's a bit boring right now. It'll get better, I promise. :)

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