❦Chapter Two - Neglected and Alone❦

Would you chose to stay in the dark or find a way out? What if you were too scared to leave?

❦Chapter Two - Neglected and Alone❦

There’s a famous saying, “go where the road takes you”. Sometimes it is adventurous, -going one way and never knowing quite where you’ll end up. But the chances of getting lost on that road are high too. There will always be factors, even if the line is straight ahead. At times, decisions need to be made. There could be a fork in the road, a misled trail, and sometimes that road fades out completely.

This can be said about the weary traveler, but also for an ordinary person going about their day. Things happen, and life's greatest mysteries can sneak up on you at any time. The most important thing to remember is, everyone gets lost eventually, and that road will eventually end.

It’s your choice whether you make it to the light or stay in the forest.

***

“I like this game too, but it can be frustrating. Do you play board games or computer games? Personally, I’d go with an Xbox because I don’t have to remember all the keys and their commands, there are so many to remember, you know? Music is good too. I love music. All kinds actually, rock, rap, classical, even jazz music, though I don’t really like the saxophone too much it’s still nice to listen to. As for games, I like to play minecraft a lot, it’s like legos, but for your PC. Even though I have the Xbox version, I still prefer to play on the P-”

“Shut the hell up!”

The girls went silent as the boy, who dressed in black, turned beat red with absolute frustration.

“Holy s**t, do you ever stop?” Kalen was sitting as far from the girls as he possibly could, yet they were still on top of him like pomas.

Mia jumped at his sudden swearing and hid behind Sophia a bit more. It was all the girl with chestnut hairs idea to get closer to the mysterious boy. She had a feeling there was more to him than just his sudden new personality. It was like he was hiding something. And whatever it was, she needed to find out.

They sat in art class beside Kalen. It was in the back of the room since that was his basic hiding area. At the sound of his booming voice many heads turned to see what the sudden outburst was over. Kalen was as far from them as possible, pushing into the cabinets that held all the art supplies.

“Kalen, Mia and Sophia, no yelling during drawing time. Both of you get back to your seats” The substitute teacher, a rather fat old woman, demanded of them.

As the girls went back to their seats, Kalen relaxed and sat normally in his seat. “You as well, young man. I don’t know if you're teacher lets you sit there, but you should sit at your seat”

Kalen only glared at the woman, ignored her, and began drawing again. The sub angrily walked over to him, putting two large hands on her hips. “What did I just say?”

“I dunno” He replied. “I can’t hear you over the fatness of your a*s”

The students in the room snickered at his comment, however, the teacher did not share the same humor. “What did you just say?” He put the pencil down and stared up at her, opening his mouth to say something, then closed it upon seeing the figure in the doorway. “I would appreciate it if you keep those comments to yourself”

The figure in the doorway, a tall man dressed in a business suit, waved over at the teacher. “Hello, can I help you?” She asked, quickly running over to him. Kalen watched, keeping the smart comments to himself, but allowing them to play in his head.

“Yes, I need to talk to Kalen” The man told her. The teachers smile faded as she turned to Kalen, who ignored them in his chair. “Kalen, may I have a word?” Kalen ignored him. “Kalen. Hallway. Now”

“No can do. I’m drawing something now so it’ll have to wait”

The man was not assumed. He walked into the classroom, hovering above him with a stern eye. “Get your a*s in the hallway”

None of the students recognized him, especially Sophia, though she figured he was the principal or something. “Who is that?” She dared to ask Mia.

The redhead looked just as confused as everyone else. “I don’t know”

“Isn’t he the principal?”

“Our principal’s a woman”

“Then who is that?”

“I...really don't know. I’ve never seen that guy before in my life”

They looked back over to the man, Kalen said nothing to him as he silently yelled at him about all sorts of things. “Get up or I’ll drag you out”

“Do whatever the f**k you want, Andy” Kalen challenged.

The substitute frowned at them. “Please don’t make a scene. Just go, Kalen”

The man, Andy, agreed with the words of the old woman. “We have to go”

“Why? So you can take me back to that place and make sure everything is ‘alright’?” Kalen hissed, then remained composed once seeing the audience of confused faces. “Fine. Lets go” He put the pencil down, ignoring the strange looks given to him by the others, and left the room.

“What the heck was that about?” Sophia thought out loud.

Mia shook her head. “No clue”

They looked back at their papers, trying to ignore the ordeal they had just witnessed. But that became harder and harder as the minutes grew longer. It seemed that Kalen would never return from the hallway with the strange man named Andy, until they came through the door again. This time, he seemed different. Very different.

Kalen’s eyes were puffed and red, his expression void of all emotion aside from the eternal emptiness he felt within him. The others, once laughing and giggling, looked at him with a whole new perspective. As if they could feel his sadness, they became silent and looked away from him as he sat in the corner of the art room.

He picked up the notepad he was drawing in before. His hand shakily made it’s way to the page with a pen in hand, paused, then met the white paper with the tip. In that moment, he let the ink blob the white into a messy goap. Taking his hand up in a fist, he smeared it across the page over the picture he was drawing before. No one was looking at him, but they could feel something emanating from him. Hate. Regret. Sadness. The question of why. But no one had a chance to figure it out before he threw the pad of paper across the room into a storage locker.

The students around him jolted up from their seats, even the teacher in the front of the room. He cupped his hands, letting them cover his face as he screamed a muffled cry. Before the only adult in the room could yell at him, he stood up, kicking the notepad further into the locker, picking up objects and throwing them every which way.

“Enough!” The teacher called.

Kalen stopped his attack, looking around at the new horrified faces. Even Sophia looked a bit alarmed at the scene he was making. He took a deep breath, straightening out himself and picking up the paper and pen.

“What is wrong with you?” The teacher dared to ask.

He said nothing, just looked at her with a fine glare. “What’s wrong with you? You're just a substitute for the other dumb broad teaching this useless class. I’m leaving, do whatever you want with my attendance” And he left.

“Who does he think he is!” Mia grinned as they sat in the cafeteria of the school.

Around them circled new rumors about the mysterious boy in black and the new mysterious man in the suit. No one knew who he was or what he talked to Kalen about, but one thing was for sure. It was not good.

The girls sat across from each other, intrested in this new discovery. “I wonder” Sophia dazed into her food with new formulating questions. It was a mystery, yes. And she seemed to have found a clue. “You know how he said ‘that place’. What did he mean?”

“Huh?” Mia swallowed the food in her mouth and looked back over at Sophia who hadn’t eaten a bite. “I don’t know, but if you keep praying he’ll just go after you next”

“After me?”

“Yup. Last girl to go digging for the truth did not have a great find”

Sophia straightened out, looking at her with realization. “You mean, she figured it out?”

“According to her best friend, Lydia Marks. The girls name was Jenny. She called Lydia to tell her that she figured it out, but she couldn’t stop crying. Lydia said that she couldn’t even understand Jenny with all her crying, so it’s likely that Lydia doesn’t know”

“So...where’s Jenny?”

“Gone. Her family moved shortly after that, but she refused to tell anyone about what she found. She wouldn’t even tell Lydia what it was”

“What did Kalen do?”

“Rumor has it he’s the one that told her to keep her mouth shut. Some say he threatened her while others say it was more of a cruel verbal exchange. Doesn’t matter though, Lydia doesn’t know so the lead ends there”

Sophia thought a moment. If it was possible for someone to figure it out, it must be possible for her to figure out. But just as she plotted a plan Mia cut her off short. “I suggest you don’t look for an answer. Jenny seemed pretty shaken up about it. Whatever it is, it had her scared for a while”

“Mia” The girls looked up at another smiling face, Yuu. “Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out later”

A group of football players laughed in the background. It wasn’t too difficult to notice this was over the rumor spread about her. As long as they asked her, Mia would have sex with any guy.

Mia put her head down, shameful of the rumor. “Uh, no...That’s okay”

But the group of spectators would not give up. They whistled at him to continue, ask again, it was a request. “Just for a night. It’ll be fun, promise”

A few tears formed in her eyes. The rumors were not true, she knew that, yet, somehow she let herself believe it. Almost like if she said no, she’d only be brought back into that circle, called a liar and ignored. Maybe it wasn’t the kind of attention she wanted, but it was better than never being acknowledged at all.

“Fun for who? You or her?” Sophia countered back. 99%.

Yuu looked over at the new voice, unaware that she was even there. “What are you talking about? I was just joking. I’m not going to have sex with her”

The tears dropped from her face, falling into her lap with hands that shook. “Sophia, it’s okay” Fight though the pain and she can be recognized. That’s what she told herself over and over again until she forced herself to believe it as truth. Eventually, to her at least, it became that 1%. “Maybe some other time, kay?” Giving him a seductive look passed with a force smile. Anything to keep from being ignored. That’s all she wanted. Someone to see that she existed.

“Mia. Don’t take that kind of crap from them”

She shook her head. “No, it’s alright. I don’t mind”

“Alright, maybe another time then” Yuu said nervously before turning back to the others. They laughed at him, calling him playful names and patting his shoulder.

Sophia looked back at the little redhead. It became nearly impossible to hold back the tears. All the lies she heard, the rumors and harassment she got. As long as she was acknowledged, it didn’t matter. Even so, she was still lost in the lies she heard. “You can’t let them use you like that”

“What other choice do I have? It’s too far for them to think of me as normal. I can’t erase it” Mia replied, the tears trailing down her pale cheeks, her voice becoming sharp with the pain. “If I can’t get it here, I’ll never get it. I just want someone to look at me. I want them to see that I’m here”

“But...you don’t have to do that with these rumors”

“What do you know?” Mia wiped the tears from her face, looking away from her gaze.

Sophia knew a lot, more than Mia thought she did. In fact, the girl with chestnut brown hair was probably the only one who understood. “Mia...why do you let them believe that rumor?”

“What rumor?” She laughed. “The fact that I’ll sleep with anyone? Believable isn’t it? Of course if the social hierarchy thinks it, it must be true”

“99%” She explained, receiving a confused look from the redhead. “Only 1% of rumors are true. You don’t sleep with anyone”

Mia looked away. “Of course not”

A calm smile went across Sophia’s face. “Then don’t let them think that”

“You just don’t get it, do you?”

The day passed and school let out. At the bell, Mia knew what was to come. Yelling. Neglect. Pain. All of it would show it’s colors once she walked through the doors of her new life. It wasn’t very long since she was happy and laughing along with everyone else. Just recently did she recognize the pain and cruelty in the world. But she hadn’t expected it to come from someone she trusted.

That was a mistake.

“Will you set the table already? Damn, it’s like all you do is stare at the wall all day long” Her older brother grumbled, gathering a few forks from the drawer and throwing them onto the table. “There, see, was that complicated?”

Mia shook her head. Her younger brother, Nikki, cowered behind her away from their towering brother. Since the disappearance of their parents, the two orphans were forced to live with their older half brother who was not thrilled when his father remarried the two’s mother. Even though it made sense to share, John never made an attempt to acknowledge they shared the same blood.

“Here” Their older brother threw a frozen TV dinner on the table, knocking over the food onto the table. “I’m going out with Lucy tonight and won't be back for a while. Go to bed whenever and clean up around here, it’s a pigsty” And with that, he slammed the door, leaving the two to pick up the food and eat in silence.

They both knew better than to talk. If they did, they would only get yelled at. If they ran, they would get yelled at. If they even moved from place to place without permission, they would get yelled at. Even without the one to yell at them gone, they couldn’t risk speaking a single thing. Until Nikki got up his own courage to ask something in a low whisper. It was so low that even Mia, just a few inches away from him, could barely hear his words.

“Where are mommy and daddy?”

She had no idea where to even begin with that question. One day they were there, together and as a family. The next, two very important people were missing from their lives. They couldn’t even have closure. The whereabouts of the two, mother and father, remained a mystery. What could she say? She didn’t know? The police and investigators had no idea? No one knew.

“They’ll come back” A hope spoken in the same soft words as her brother did. “Just wait”

Nikki was too impatient. “I don’t like it here, Mia. He’s mean. I want mommy back and daddy too”

It was probably the tone in his voice, the sense of sadness, that got her wishing the same thing. Her opinion was shared with her younger brother. John was mean to them, cruel even. It just wasn’t fair that they were put in hell after losing two people who meant so much to them. Not fair at all.

Mia rose from her seat, wrapping her arms around her younger brother and offering him the most comfort she could, as any mother would. He was too young, only six years old. He probably wouldn’t even have a vivid memory of their parents. “It’ll be okay, Nikki” It was the only thing she could say, but not even she knew if it was true.

The pair of siblings cried for a moment, letting their tears fall onto the wood until they found the time. It was late, far past their bedtime, and well into the night. Their older brother would return soon, so the two made sure to clean the rooms as best they could and fall into their room.

It wasn’t glamorous, but that was to be expected by only two children who barely had any time. Within that time, they could not shower or finish their meals. They simply went to bed hungry and sweating. The next day, they would be ignored again. Told to do everyday household chores to earn their keep, and wonder when their parents would come to rescue them.

If at all.

Not long after they went to bed did they hear the door slam open. The sound of hiccups and muffled laughter could be heard from the kitchen as objects toppled over. After the from door was shut, the hiccups got louder as the person walked further down the hallway. “Useless kids” He slurred. “You two would be better off -hic- in the trash”

Mia held Nikki closer to her, the little boy just barely understood the situation. “Why did he say that?” Nikki asked shyly. His sister quickly hissed at him. But it was too late. They were heard.

“Wha- was that?” The drunk stormed in, grabbing the younger child and dropping him to the floor. “Wanna say that again -hic- huh?”

The boy curled into a ball on the floor, petrified at the man standing above him. His leg started to hurt, but he knew better than to cry out in pain. “Thas wha I thought. Hush up and go to sle-hic-ep”

Once the shadow of their brother was gone, Nikki crawled over to his sister, whimpering as softly as he could. “Mia...my leg hurts”

“Shh, its okay, Nikki. We’ll go to a doctor tomorrow” She promised.

But Nikki understood the situation better than his own sister. “If we do that, won't he yell at us?”

Her eyes watered at the thought. She knew they would get yelled at. She knew the consequences of going behind their brothers back. If she brought him to a doctor, they would wonder how he got the injury.

“Hah-owie” Nikki curled up, clutching at his leg.

She shook her head, taking a deep breath. “We’re going. Despite what he’s says. Tomorrow we’ll skip school. We’ll go to a doctor and get it looked at”

“We don’t have any money”

Mia held him to her chest, thinking about it. She knew someone who had money, but the two had just met. It wouldn’t be fair to take money from a friend like that. But, without it her brother might continue to suffer. She instead decided to beg for it, to ask politely of Sophia to lend her some.

After all, Sophia’s family was rich.

Author's Note

Let me know what you think!! All thoughts are greatly appreciated > Suggestions, comments, likes, anything and all. ^=^