I looked at my blue camouflage plastic watch, it read 3:59. My mother was late picking me up. She has never showed up to anything on time in her life, and I am truly a fool for thinking she would start now when I so desperately needed her. School got out at 3 o'clock.

I had missed the school bus, I know the prick saw me in his rearview mirror trying to flag him down. He took off without me though because he did not want to stop. When I had called her on the Janitors phone 40 minutes ago, she said she would be here around 3:30. She must have ran into a familiar face and stopped to talk until her car ran out of gas.

As the wind blew across my face, my body shook with a chill, it felt like it was getting colder. I'm an idiot for not putting on a thicker coat this morning! I seem to regularly make ignorant choices, and even the wrong simple choices come back to bite me in the ass. Why in the world did I decide to wear a dress in winter…yet again, another "smart" choice?

I debated on whether or not I should start walking. It is only about six miles to my house, give or take. I might not have to walk all the way. There is always the possibility of hitch-hiking. Then the idea of being kidnapped and raped ran through my mind. Maybe not such a good idea after all. I would take the chance, but there are too many creeps and convicted felons in my town. I could no longer feel my feet, and decided to walk so they could warm up along the way.

It started to snow harder. I tried to pick up my pace but that didn't seem to help. With the luck I have the snow just seemed to get worse. I could no longer see where the sidewalk led. I was stuck in a blizzard alone, wearing a dress. There is no greater humiliation that I can possibly think of. The situation would not have been that bad if mother had not of picked out a dress for me to wear on picture day. I stopped to look behind me as a way to judge my progress. I could still see the school standing behind me, almost mocking me in a way.

The sky was a nice icy blue with a strong wind swirling snow down upon me. It seemed that someone had given a child a snow globe, and the child was trying to shake every particle of snow off the roof and trees. I wished to myself that he or she would stop shaking the globe so that I could see where I was going. If I could find the child I would of beat him silly, because they began to shake it even harder.

I almost walked right into a tree, as I turned away from it, two bright head lights were heading straight towards me. The lights slid to my side, just missing their target. A rather short figure got out of the car and said in a familiar voice, "Are you okay?", then followed with, "Do you need a ride?"

"Yes, and thank-you for not running me over", I replied.

I wonder who my savior was, maybe an older kid I got high with at the park. Hopefully not a teacher or one of my mother's coworkers.

As I got closer to the vehicle, I realized it was my Mother. I hopped in the car and buckled up out of instinct, even though our family never believed in using a seatbelt or that the police don't give a fuck. I thought to myself, hopefully she won't talk to me because that would make my day. I just want to go straight home to eat, warm up, and sleep the night away.

Music played in the car that should cause a person to want to jump up and dance. This genre surly didn't fit the atmosphere in this car. I could feel the tension tightening around me, no suffocating me. I glanced over at the speedometer, it read 41mph. I considered my options. How bad would it hurt to jump out at 40mph? It couldn't be that bad with all the snow on the ground! On the other hand I couldn't be sure of what was under the snow, giant rocks or maybe a car bumper. The idea of it all intrigued me.

I know I should not have such negative thoughts. I should just be grateful that I am alive after everything that happens in this world. My life could be so much worse. Again, the thought of jumping struck me. Should I? Can't I? Why not, no-one is stopping you? I could be free from all my troubles in just a few short seconds. Then as if she felt my inner struggle, my Mother broke my thoughts with, "How was your day"?

I irritably replied, "if you don't count being shoved in a locker for two periods, and the janitor springing you just as your bus is pulling away good, then I had a fabulous day!".

It was dead silent. Then she responded, "So, yours was better than mine". For the first time since getting into the car I looked over at her. She had a black eye and a cut on her lower right cheek. I immediately felt guilty for snapping at her. She had obviously had a much worse day than I had. She hadn't even led on, or complained. She had been deeply hurt, not by my comment, but by whatever had happened to her. Her demeanor was always one of control and confidence. I knew, even if she didn't want me to, something bad had happened.

I hate my father with a burning passion! He can burn in hell for all I care. If my poor mother did not love that asshole so much I would have killed the man myself, then the world truly would be a better place. I keep telling myself that I am capable of murder, but am I really? I have fantasied of running away like any teenager probably has. But I could never leave my mother behind no matter much she irritates the hell out of me.

She quietly burst into tears, and then sobs arose in the stillness of the moment. I was afraid she might flood the car and drowned us both. I tried rolling down the window, but it was locked. My whole body seemed to tremble from within; the thickness of the air seemed to squeeze the last bit of strength from me, pushing the tears from my heart out and over my cheeks. The salt from them stung my cheeks. Just then a car behind us started to honk their horn. My mother must have stopped in the middle of the road. She punched the gas and sped up. As the car gained speed it started to slide across the black ice, just missing an electric pole, but heading straight towards a mature buck. His eyes shined as he stared as if he were mesmerized into the headlights. He froze, and so did we. My mother and I gave each other one last glance, each of us had a smile on our face like this was something we had both been waiting for. Everything went black….