*Jasmine's P.O.V.*
The minute she heard her brother walk inside of the house, Jasmine knew she was dead. Once Michael found out that she hid his favorite pair of sneakers underneath the kitchen floorboards, accidentally getting mud on them, Jasmine doubted that she would see the sun rise the next morning. However, Jasmine didn't like to dwell on that thought for long. Instead, she decided that it was time to go for a long run, and hopefully not return until late after dinner. Maybe not even until the day after. Yeah, that sounded good.
Jasmine quickly slid out through the back door and kicked off her old and torn sneakers, running barefoot towards the beach, the wind blowing through her hair. The mixture of grass, gravel, and sand underneath her toes felt so relaxing. As she ran, she tried not to think about what her mother would say once she got caught. Jasmine bet all her money that she would most likely end up grounding her and making her apologize to her brother, but not before she gave her a whole lecture on manners.
Oh, how Jasmine hated that word. Almost everything that she had done revolved around manners. Her mother treated her like she was a dog, waiting for her to be broken in. Jasmine knew her mother thought she was a disappointment. It was clear by the look on her face. Plus, she'd "accidentally" read her mother's diary before, which only confirmed her suspicions. Her mother had written all sorts of things about her in there, some of which she didn't understand, but the worst thing that she had written about her was that she was worthless. Michael always tried to rub the fact that she was worthless into her face. Sure, deep down inside, Jasmine knew she wasn't, but sometimes she felt as if it was true. Michael was obviously her mother's favorite, though she couldn't make it any more obvious. When she had some spare time alone to herself, Jasmine sometimes wondered if her life would have been different if her father was still around. Maybe she wouldn't have been treated so unfairly. Maybe her mother would actually be nice to her. Maybe, for once, she would be someone's favori-
Jasmine quickly shook that thought away from her head. That was impossible. Her father had hated her. Her mother told her so. She was the reason her father had left them the first place. He didn't want her, and then he'd decided he didn't want the rest of the family either. They were more of a burden than they were a blessing. Her mother used to boast about all the fun times that the three of them had spent together, going on cruises, traveling to different worlds, watching movies, etc. But after Jasmine was born, all of that was gone.
There weren't really that many photographs of her father in their house. Jasmine's mother had gotten rid of all of them a long time ago, supposedly even before Jasmine was born. The only thing that her father had seemed to have left behind was his notebook. It was small enough for Jasmine to hide it in her coat pocket, and, for some odd reason, it was completely written in Ancient Greek, though Jasmine didn't know why or how she knew that. She tried asking one of her Greek friends from class to decipher it, but they weren't able to. Apparently the book was much too complicated for them to understand.
While Jasmine ran she could feel the book in the pocket of her jeans. She pulled it out and clutched it as tightly as she could. Just holding it in her hands made her feel as if her father was right next to her the whole time, telling her words of encouragement and smiling at her, like she made him proud. But she knew that he never felt that way towards her. She was just a disappointment to him, her mother, pretty much everyone. Suddenly, the book felt like it was a heavy weight. Jasmine felt like throwing it out of her hands and just leaving it, but she couldn't find herself the strength to do it. She loved her father so much, even though he never loved her back.
Slowly climbing her way out of her thoughts, Jasmine reached the beach. The sun was about to set, and Jasmine stopped in her tracks to take a moment to admire how beautiful the sky looked. It was painted with different colors. Red, yellow, orange, and purple all streaked the sky. There wasn't a cloud to be seen, as if they had all disappeared. Jasmine's mouth hung open as she stared at the view. It looked absolutely perfect.
As she came closer and closer to the water, Jasmine felt as if she was being watched. She looked around cautiously, but didn't see anyone watching her. Everyone seemed to be minding their own business, tanning, swimming, etc. Jasmine started to relax a bit. She inched her way closer to the water, careful not to stand too close to be swallowed by a wave, but close enough for the waves to touch her feet. Jasmine wiggled her toes and felt the wet sand underneath, and tried her best not to giggle.
Why couldn't every day be like this? Jasmine thought.
Jasmine suddenly jumped as she heard the howling of a wolf. No, it definitely was not a wolf. The howl sounded more… humane, if it was possible for them to sound that way. Jasmine felt something pierce her shoulder, but she was too frightened to look back. She started to shiver with fear as she felt something drip down her shoulder. She let out a yelp and swatted her shoulder, turning around to find nothing there. Her shoulder was completely unharmed.
Stop it. Jasmine told herself. You're just being paranoid. Everything will be alright. Just…don't think of it, whatever "it" is.
She tried to draw her attention towards the sun, which was just starting to set, but she still couldn't shake off the feeling that she was being watched. She started to hate that feeling, and as she collected sea shells (and some large rocks and sharp glass in case she needed to defend herself) she thought of different tactics on how to attack a stranger. Her best option was running, though Jasmine wasn't sure how well that might work out. She tried to think of other ideas, but her brain was fried.
About an hour and a half later, the sky was a dark blue color and the moon shined brightly, with the stars scattered all over. Jasmine was exhausted, and decided to look at all the constellations. That was something that she admired about Long Island. Besides the fact that there were many beaches, the stars almost always blanketed the sky, which made Jasmine feel as if she was living in a paradise. Sure, there weren't that many stars tonight and the sky was kind of cloudy, but the night sky still felt magical, and full of endless possibilities.
Jasmine sat down in the sand and looked up at the sky, trying to point out the few constellations that she knew. Sadly, that wasn't a lot. The only constellation that Jasmine could point out was Orion's belt. The three stars were lined up in a row, making them look like a connect-the-dots type of piece, which, if Jasmine could trace with pencil, would make a straight line. Jasmine stared at the center star, Alnilam, she remembered, for some odd reason.
She started to think about what it would be like to live in space, with stars all around you and meteors and comets swirling around the sky. Jasmine always wanted to go to space; it was one of her dreams She always felt like she didn't belong down here, at Earth, with everyone else. It made her feel better just to think about the thought of her living in space, though she doubted that it would ever happen. Her mother wouldn't approve of it, but then again, did Jasmine really care about what her mother would have to say about it? After all, it was Jasmine's life she was living. She could make her own choices, be her own person. Why did it matter what everyone else thought? She knew she was different, but she liked being different. Being like everyone else was something that Jasmine did not plan on doing.
Jasmine was so lost in her thoughts that when she felt someone tap on her shoulder, she almost jumped out of her skin and pelted them with rocks and glass. Thankfully, she didn't, otherwise she would've been in big trouble.
"Oh," a soft voice said, giggling nervously. "I didn't mean to frighten you!"
