Song: Breakaway
Artist: Kelly Clarkson
(Luke's POV)
I stared out of the window, my eyes tracing a tear- shaped raindrop down the glass. The grey Virginia sky painted the perfect backdrop for my feelings. I was stuck in my old, chipping house with my baking-addicted, crazy mother. Daydreams of different lives, happier lives, painted wonderful pictures in my mind. I'd look out the window as images of laughter and love and joy filled my head.
But then I'd turn around, and there was mother, there was my house, there was my life.
I wondered if I'd ever end up happy and content. Or would I end up desolate and zany like my mother? Would I end up disappearing from this earth, like my father?
Bitterness rolled around like acid in my stomach at the thought of my father. He was a flake, a wimp. And I hated him. He'd never tried to reach out, to actually acknowledge me as his son. For all I knew, my mother had me by herself.
I wanted to belong here, but something always felt wrong. Like I shouldn't be playing dodge ball or hopscotch or four-square with the neighborhood kids. Like this wasn't the life I was supposed to be living.
Sometimes I just wanted to drop it all. I wanted to give up, to run away. It would be so much easier than dealing with it.
"Luke?" My mother asked in her sweet voice. "Luke, would you like some—"
A startled cry pierced through the house. I cringed and covered my ears, but there was no mistaking the raspy voice my mother periodically produced.
"Luke!" My mother cried out in that scary tone, but she was no longer my mother. "My boy… my boy!"
She kept wailing, and I kept staring intently at the storm clouds, wishing for it to go away.
And suddenly, I made up my mind.
I was going to leave.
I got up from my place by the window and ran out the door, without a second glance. As I emerged from the house, I felt so alive. The rain harshly pelted my face, but it felt like caressing feathers.
I had no idea where I was going, but I didn't care. I've never felt so free.