Chapter 2
I should have been gasping for air, lightheaded from dehydration. I should have fallen down from exhaustion long ago. But instead I wasn't even sweating, panting, and I must have run 400 miles. It only took half an hour. All this shouldn't even be possible.
I should not have even existed, let alone 15 years.
The voice I heard sounded familiar… I couldn't explain it. It was like I heard it in a dream, but it also brought terrible memories with it. I'd have to find some other way to kill myself or bring on homicide.
My stomach grumbled, followed by a sharp pain in my abdomen. I doubled over, clutching my stomach, and moaned.
After two aching minutes, the pain ebbed away. I slowly stood up and looked up.
Having grown up in the stifling-hot deserts in California/Nevada, I was used to it being very hot. But because I grew up in a cellar all my life, it was always cold. During the day the sun would come through the window, just the slightest bit, but I would sit there and do my work. I enjoyed it.
Now, everything was green or covered in parasites. Green moss and grass and green trees quite literally blocked my view of everything. And it was cold. I tugged my shirt closer to my body and shivered. Off in the distance, I could hear cars and smell the nasty stench they gave off. It was disgusting; like some fumes of burning rubber plus... old, dirty money? I didn't know how else to explain it.
I stifled a gag. I pulled my tattered blue shirt that was several men's sizes bigger than me over my nose (which wasn't that hard to do) and then I sneezed. I give up, I said to myself. I jogged through the forest toward the pavement and when it was within view, I ran along the sides and followed it north. Eventually, after a couple half-hours, I stood in front of a sign that said, "Now Entering Washington." I kept going.
That must have been the highway I was following, because now it was a one-lane-this-way and one-lane-that-way kind of road. I wasn't sure what it was called… But I saw all sorts of stores: supermarkets, barber shops, a café, diners…
My stomach growled desperately in my abdomen. I sucked in a breath, trying to keep myself from crawling into a fetal position because of this pain, but I continued walking.
Eventually I realized that I didn't have money, never would have, and probably was going to have to live on dumpsters. Oh well. It was still food, right?
I crept behind a Dunking Doughnuts and noticed the dumpster in back of it. I sprinted over to it and just started grabbing random stuff. When my hands were full, I ran away and sat beneath a nice, secluded tree. I had grabbed about various seven half eaten or else stale doughnuts and bagels. I also grabbed three empty drink bottles, a few eating utensils, and several used napkins. I shoved the usable food down my throat and ignored the hard time peristalsis was having. I stood up and walked toward a public restroom.
All the stalls were empty, but that's not what I needed. No one seemed to even be here. I washed my hands first, and then cupped them under the water. I drank about ten cups of water. My stomach was uncomfortable, or else happy to be doing something.
Then I looked at the mirror.
I looked like a homeless eighteen year old. My hair was able elbow-length, and fell in very gentle curls down my back and sides, but it was covered with knots and had some leaves in it. I picked the pieces out with my hands, set them in the garbage, and set at smoothening it out. My hair was burgundy at middle to bottom, but the top of my hair was darker: auburn. It might've looked pretty if I wasn't wearing such ugly clothes and my face not covered in grime. I washed that too, and I looked worse. Dark circles stood out, and my green eyes were a forest green on the outside, with a lighter green filling up the inside. Somehow, my eyes looked like liquid…
My complexion is normally pale but I was in dire need of a bath. I had several scratches and cuts on my face, and when I touched them, they stinged very badly. So my face looked extremely red.
After a while I knew I had to leave. I couldn't just sit there and waste time. I left and tried to look as much like a human as I could.
People gave me strange looks. They didn't like how I looked. Children huddled closer to their mothers and they gave me narrowed eyes. Men looked at me from head to toe, eyes bulging, but when I made eye contact with them I could hear their hearts sputter and they would walk faster away from me.
I hung my head, ashamed.
