A Woman's Flight

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A Woman's Flight

by Ahmad Cox

           She came into the room and she took off her coat. It had been a long day and all she needed was a little rest and relaxation to ease her mind. Unfortunately, today just wasn’t going to be the day. It had been 2 years since she had left her abusive husband, and life had almost begun to maintain some sense of normalcy. She still had nightmares at times, but she had decided not to let him keep her awake or keep her from living any more than he already had. She had barely escaped with her life. If it weren’t for the active support of her local women’s shelter and her friends providing her a safe place to escape and to lay low; she might not have made it as far as she has. Little does she know; that normalcy was about to change.


         She walks into the room and places her coat onto the right hand side on her wooden oak coat rack. She looks around her house to reaffirm that it is real. It’s a beautiful home with red oak floors and paneling, and she has furnished it very nicely. It has taken time, but it is finally her place. Her husband used to always say to her, “This is my house, and in my house I can do what I want and you don’t get to have a god damn say otherwise.” It was very important for her to create a space she could feel was hers and hers alone. She had gotten used to not locking the doors because of the remoteness of the place. Little did she know that decision would come back to haunt her. As if out of a nightmare; she sees him walk down the banister and enter into the bottom floor. “You thought you could get away from me didn’t you.” His face wore that same smirk that he had made a million times after he had done something cruel that he thought was funny.  Her heart sunk. She had replayed this in her mind a thousand times, but never had she imagined that it would actually happen. ”Those b*****s at that center have polluted your mind” They convinced you of things that just aren’t true. You know that I was good to you. I love you. You know how long it took me to find you?"All the while he is saying this, he is inching closer and closer to her as she is backing up. She is speechless, and all she can do is back away and shake her head and try and think how this could have happened and when will this dream end. It’s almost like an illusion. 

        Her mind and spirit were telling her to fight. She had thought that he would never let her be afraid anymore. Her greatest nightmare had come true. She found herself retreating back to the scared little girl that she had become so many times. Finally she was able to wake herself enough from her stupor to ask,"How did you get here?”Her husband looked at her with that pleading smile she had seen a million times and said," That doesn’t matter. What matters is that I am here and we can start all over. You just have to come back to me. You will see. I can make it all better. You don’t belong here in this place. Look at it? Do you really want to spend the rest of your life without someone? Who is going to want some old scarred up woman who can’t even forget her past? Come back with me. I can make it all better. ”In that moment a piece of her shriveled and died. She didn't even know to begin to comprehend or how to respond. There was a part of her that was almost willing to forgive him; that was very close to taking him up on his offer. For a split second, she almost gave in and thought. In her mind, she was thinking how much trouble he must have gone through to find her. In that same moment a clarity came over her. Before, she might have taken him up on it, but she knew better this time. 

        At that moment an anger rose inside of her that she had never felt before and she found herself saying,"No. I am not going with you. This isn’t your home and you don’t have the right to be here. You don’t have the right to talk bad about my friends either. They were good people and if anything they saved me from you. The way I see it, you are the one who was feeding me all of the lies. They were the only people who cared about me when everyone else had given up and they gave me a second chance. Who are you to come here, ”She had only gotten half way through her sentence before his face changed from that indignant smirk to his twisted face of rage and anger that she had seen so many times before, “Who are you to talk to me like that? I think you forget that I am the one in control here. I don’t want to have to hurt you. But if you insist on letting those women pollute your mind with that self- empowerment bullshit then, I might just have to remind you of what happens to uppity women when they disobey their husbands.”It was at the moment that something snapped in her, and all the rage and all the abuse and all the years of torture and humiliation and hurt came welling up in that moment. Before she even knew what she was saying; with tears of frustration and anger streaming down her face she replied, "Go ahead if you are going to. It’s not like you haven’t already done enough to me already. If you are going to hit me hit me. But you are going to take me you are going to have to kill me to make me go back with you. I am happy here. And who are you to take that away from me?” Before she could even think she felt the slap of his hand against her cheek and she felt herself reel back against the weight of his sheer force. In another instant he had her on the floor and began to kick her in the stomach while she was on the ground, knocking the breath out of her and bringing tears to her eyes. “See what you made me do?” If you had just come with me I wouldn’t have had to do this” But you are the one who had to act like you were the big s**t.” You brought this on yourself.” 

         As he tried to pick her up off the floor and drag her back with him, she found a strength she had never found before and began to fight for her life and to squirm and to scream and to bite and to kick and to scratch him until he was forced to let her go. “ Damn woman, stop squirming.” You are just going to make things worst.” Before he could even finish his sentence she had managed to get free and was running for the door and to her neighbors. She was lucky that she had talked with her neighbor about the possibility that something like this might have happened. Her neighbor was also a survivor of spousal abuse, and they had connected through that. She was counting her blessings as she ran out of sheer instinct. Not looking back. Not wanting to see if he was following as her feet carried her there.

          Things hadn’t always been so bad. She could actually remember a time when she actually loved him. There was a time when she thought she had moved past the abuse that she had dealt with at the hands of her father. She had told herself a million times she would never allow herself to let a man dominate her and to abuse her. Just like her father had done to her and just like her father had done to her mother. She had promised herself that she would make a new start for herself. She made herself a promise to her unborn child that she would never have to live in a house of abuse and dysfunction. That she could be the one to break the cycle. She didn’t realize just how much she wanted to believe it.

             Her name was Rebecca Thompson. She has been born into a lower middle class family in Texas. Her family was never really religious, but they would at least go to church on the major holidays. She knew that the people at the church had to know. But they didn’t say anything. They were all too afraid of her father. His name was Richard Thompson. He had worked for one of the local stockyards in the area and did small construction work here and there wherever he could find it. He was a drunk and had an extremely bad temper. When he was younger, his father used to take him out back and beat him until he was raw. Rebecca learned to fear her grandfather very early. He was a mean spiteful man who took out his anger and frustration on his wife and on his kids as well. He could shoot you a venomous look from across the room that could stop you in your tracks. 

        He particularly liked to take out his anger and frustration out on Richard. He used to call him his little whipping boy or his whipping post and would frequently find reasons to punish Richard for no reason other than to have a reason to beat him. His father carried a lot of anger and resentment toward Richard because his mother had been sick when Richard was being born and she almost passed away during the delivery. When Richard was delivered, the doctor asked, "What do you want to name your son?" His father just looked at Richard with this cold and hateful glare and said, " Hell if I care. Ask her. I am leaving.” With that his father stormed out of the room and didn't even look back. At that point his mother looked at him and she began to smile and say, “You are my miracle baby. I might have died, but I am still alive. Don't listen to your father. He was just scared that he might lose me. He isn't actually angry at you." She looked at the doctor and said, " I think I want to name him Richard after my father. Richard seems like a good enough name for a boy." And with that Richard was born into the world. Unfortunately, from that point on Richard's father made it a point to take out his anger and frustation on him in particular. If he saw him struggling with his homework he used to say, " Why are you even trying. You know you are just going to get it wrong anyway. You were always dumb and you are never going to amount to anything. Might as well just give up now and die already." When Richard would do something his father didn't like, he used to take him out back and beat him until he could barely breathe. His other brothers and sisters would even try and intervene, but his father's rage and cutting remarks left their permanent scars on Richard for the rest of his life. When his mother finally passed away; it was almost like any resemblace of grace and humanity his father had left with his mother. 

         After she had passed; his father made it his personal goal to torment and abuse Richard as much as possible. In his father's eyes; he held Richard responsible for her death. He was heartbroken as well. His mother had been the only good thing in his life and his protector. He had thought of her as an angel. Not the she had passed, something broke in Richard. He started to severely hate his father. He would imagine him dying in various gruesome ways and he started acting out more in school and causing trouble in general. Where as before, he used to be somewhat quite and reserved at school and around other people; he began to act out and started to pick fights with the other kids and break things in class. By the time the teachers started to see the switch it was too late. Richard was already gone.

         It almost seemed like overnight he went from the quiet reserved kid in the corner to completely acting out and looking for reasons to fight or to question the teacher's authority. When they tried to bring it up to his father he just looked at them and said, "What do you expect? The boy has always been a little retarded and slow anyway. He is a freak. He is better off in a home far away from me anyway. He has never been normal and the sooner you take him off of my hands the better." When the teachers saw that Richard's father was serious; they started making arrangements for him to be sent to a home for the deliquent. In the meantime Richard's behavior began to digress further and he often began to have rages and panic attacks out of nowhere. He would often lash out at the person or think nearest to him and would throw and break things just to hear them break. Nobody really knew how to deal with his behavior problems; so he ended up sneaking through the cracks. He stayed in the center until he was 18 when he aged out of the system. Without anywhere to go, he ended up on the street for a while until he was finally able to find a job working at the local construction yard. The foreman hired Richard more out of pity than anything else, but at least he was willing to work and he needed an extra hand. It was 6 years later that he met her mom.

         At first he seemed like the most charming man in the world. When she first saw him at the construction yard he has said, 'Hey there pretty lady. Aren't you going to tell me your name?' She gave him a playful smile and said, " Sorry mister, I don't talk to strangers" He stuck out his hand to her and replied, " I am Richard Thompson. Now we aren't strangers anymore."As he was saying this she was pulling out a pen and paper from her purse. With a flirtatious tone in her voice she said. "I guess we aren't. Here is my number. Make sure not to lose it somewhere." She gave him a wink and walked on by. He called her back the next day. From then on they started to see each other on a regular basis. 6 months later they were wed in Tyler, Texas on September 9th, 1981 on a beautiful autumn day. 

      Before she had married him; her official name was Lizzy Olson. Her parents were against her getting married to him from the start. When her mom first heard they were getting engaged she had said, "What do you really know about this man Lizzy? You have only known him for a couple of months. There is no possible way you can know enough about someone in that short of time. You should reconsider or at least put it off. I don't get a good feeling about him. There is something about him that is off. I can't quit put my finger on it, but there is just something about him I don't like. Can't you at least wait to figure out a little bit more about him before you actually get married to this man. If there are problems let me know? Marrying someone never helps to solve the problems, they only make them worst. You should know that better than anyone from my first marriage Lizzy. All I am asking is for you to wait and reconsider. She looked her mom dead in the eye and said, " Mom don't worry. I know what I am doing. I love him. He is nothing like dad. I know the type of man he is and I know what I am getting myself into. Don't worry about it. I know you care and you are trying to help, but things between me and him are just fine. I am not getting any younger or prettier and I want to have a family. I can't just sit around waiting forever. I have to take the opportunity now while it is still available." Her mother just shook her head and said, " I really hope you know what you are doing for the both of us. I wouldn't want to have to go to jail for killing the man who would ever dare lay a finger on my Lizzy. You are too special. Remember that. I love you and if anything goes wrong for a second you just let me know."

        Unfortunately, she would find out all too soon her mother's intuition was right. Looking back, she had often wondered if her life would have been better if her and Richard never met. The positive thing that ever came out of her marriage was Rebecca. After her husband's death; it would be the only thing that ever made sense any more.  It started off well enough. For the first 8 months of the marriage, things seemed to be going well. During the 9th month they were pregnant and by the time they were going into the end of their 2 year together, Rebecca Thomson was born on May 13th 1983. It was a happy occasion among the family and even Lizzy's mother came out to say hi to the new baby. When she first saw Rebecca she wrapped her up in her arms and gave her a big hug and exclaimed, "Isn't she just precious. This one is going to be special. I just know it. She is going to be a figher. Just you wait and see." It was then that Richard's father walked in the room. 

       As soon as her grandfather entered she began to cry and to wail as if she already knew just how cruel and mean he was just by feeling him come through the door. Richard stood up and said, " Who invited you. I thought I told you I didn't want you here. I don't want you ruining my life like you ruined the rest of my brothers and sister. Leave before I have someone throw you out." His father just looked at him with that, cutting, evil, menacing glare as he replied, " She is my granddaughter after all. Have you forgotten that. Show some respect and civility. I see you still have that devil streak in you talking back to your father like that. I should have never come. I just wanted to see her, but I can already tell I am not welcome. He is evil. He will never amount to anything. Just you watch. He is going to be a curse on you and your family. Good riddance. At least it is saving me the trouble of having to consider him even part of my blood. I should have killed you a long time before when I had the chance. Begone demon child. I disown you and your child and everyone else that has anything to do with you." Lizzy's mother was just about to say something before he stormed out and left just as suddenly as he came. 

         After that something in Richard snapped. It was like a piece of his past had been dragged out by his father's visit. Soon after he began to take up drinking. Before, his wife had never seen him drink to excess. He might have a beer here and there, but he had never been the type of person just to drink to get drunk. It was actually one of the traits that first drew her to him. It began with a couple of beers here and there until it got to the point to where he was drinking a 6-pack a day plus buying large bottles of wine and vodka and finishing them off in a week. She wanted to say something. She would always blame herself later on for not saying anything in the beginning when she first saw him start to go downhill. One night in particular she came downstairs and saw that he had opened a flask of vodka and was in the process of finishing it off after they had settled in for the night. She could obviously see that he was already drunk to begin with. Not really knowing what else to say, she went to him and knelt beside him; picking up the flask he had dropped and asking him to come to bed. It was at that moment he snapped. With a wild and angry look in his face he said, " Woman I don't need your pity and I don't need you to pick up my flask. Just go back to bed and mind your own business. I never wanted to marry you anyway, and now you are always stalking around like a mouse with that damned kid. I should have known better but you were the one that wanted a family and now you have one. Aren't you so happy now? Aren't we a happy family? Are we the family you wanted? What about me? I never wanted this and I never wanted you or that kid. Just go away and leave me alone." 

      At that moment he began to break down in tears and sobbing uncontrollably. Lizzy took him in her arms and started rocking him and said, "I am so sorry. I should have said something earlier when I first saw you were hurting yourself. Don't worry. I will take care of you. I promise. I can make it better for you and for us. You will see" What they both didn't realize was that Rebecca had heard the whole conversation. She was already two at that point and old enough to know that something was seriously wrong with her father. She started secretly hating him after that incident. From that moment on it didn't get better. It got much worst. It was almost like something in him snapped. It was like he was becoming a completely different person before their eyes. Before they really knew what was happening; Richard became progressively more angry and abusive. 

            At first it started off with snide and cutting remarks directed at Lizzy and Rebecca until it got to the point where he actually started to beat on Rebecca and her mother for the smallest things. Rebecca started seeing her father as a monster. The thing that made her mad the most was how everyone seemed to just accept it. No one wanted to cross him and her mother was too scared to question or go against him. Rebecca secretly hated seeing her mom that weak and seeing her being reduced to a scared little child or mouse every time her father would attack her. She used to wish that her mother would fight. She used to imagine one day that her mother would get tired of her father and she would have their bags packed one day and they would be on a train to her grandma's house and leave everything behind.

        Rebecca’s mother didn’t really say much. She was so diminutive in every way. Thinking back on those days, Rebecca used to hate her mom for that. Whenever her father used to say anything harsh, she would just shrink away, and just allow her husband to do whatever he wanted. Whenever he would get frustrated and break dishes or hurt her or even Rebecca, her mom used to say,” Your father is a good man. He is just really tired and frustrated you see. He really does love us. He just doesn’t know how to show it. Things will get better Rebecca. Just you wait and see. When thing start to pick up and when he is not as stressed. Thing will get better.”

        Looking back, Rebecca always thought that her mom was trying to convince herself more of this than Rebecca at that time before her father died. Even though her mother cried, there was a part of her that actually smiled. She figured it served him right. It wasn’t until much later that she would start to realize just how much her father had affected her and just how much she carried around the hate and bitterness that could keep her up in the middle of the night. She would stay up some nights just thinking back to those days and wondering why it had to happen to her at all. She even used to wonder sometimes if life was just some cruel joke and she had managed to pull the short end of the stick. She would even wonder sometimes if she might have done something in a previous life to deserve what she had gone through.

          It was about 18 years since her father died when she first met her husband. She had gone through a lot of healing since her father had last passed away. She had started to actually take control of her life and really find her center and who she was. She had managed to meet some amazing friends that really helped her to get through a lot of the anger and bitterness that she had felt for her father. She was even able to get rid of a lot of her negative feelings toward herself, and was starting to come out of her shell and stop blaming herself for everything that had happened to her. She had decided to leave home for college right after she had graduated from high school.

        Her old town just carried too many memories of her father and she knew that she had to leave if she really wanted to move past a lot of the issues that she was still dealing with. She knew early on that she she wanted to recreate herself into a different person and move past a lot of the small town drama and thinking that had plagued her most of her life. She loved Texas, but there were some things that she didn't agree with either. She never liked the way that she had seen her mother and even her grandmother treat other people. She was a strong believer that everyone deserved an equal chance to prove their worth. She also never liked just how stangnant and close minded the community was as a whole and she knew that if she wanted to better herself; she would have to move. Not to mention Tyler carried way too many old memories of her father that she didn't want to remember any more. Rebecca knew she couldn’t do that if she stayed.

       Her mother was against the idea from the start. After Richard has passed away they had actually become closer. At first Rebecca's resentment got in the way, but over time she started to understand why her mother behaved the way she did toward her father when he would start to attack her and Rebecca. They had even gotten to a really open space with each other and had grown stronger together in a lot of ways . She tried to plead with Rebecca to stay, but Rebecca knew that the town was never meant for her. She was a different person than the people that lived there. Rebecca knew she would never be happy there. She wanted to get as far away as possible. She had applied for some colleges in Texas, but something told her to put in some applications for colleges in California as well. Rebecca knew that she would probably end up having to pay higher out of state fees, but something told her to apply anyway. One of the applications she sent in was to Stanford. She never expected to actually hear back. Within a month she had gotten back an acceptance letter from Stanford University in California.  

       She took it as a sign. She was almost so elated by the news that she could hardly contain herself. She knew her mother wouldn’t like the fact that she was going so far, but at the same time she knew that she could get a new start there. She could get the great education she had always wanted, and she could commit herself to growing away from the stifling and almost frustrating conservatism that plagued Texas. She just about yelled in excitement. She didn’t really know how to take the news. She had convinced herself that she was probably never going to leave Texas. She was convinced that she would probably spend the rest of her life feeling stifled. That she would probably never even get accepted anywhere. She had convinced herself that she would probably be living in that God forsaken town until she died. All of a sudden everything had opened up for her. In the first time in Rebecca’s life, she actually felt hope. She actually felt like life was opening up for her. She felt like California would be the land of promise, and that nothing would stop her from achieving her goals.

       Her mom tried to convince her that she should stay. When Rebecca first told her mom, she had said, “Why do you need to go so far? Isn’t everything you need right here anyway? Why would you want to leave your mother here all by herself? You could just stay right here. I could take care of you. We could take care of each other. Why do you want to leave me?” Tears started to stream down her mother’s face. She could see her mom breaking at the thought of losing her only daughter. Rebecca gave her mom a hug and said, “I know it’s a far ways away, but you and I both know that I can’t stay here. I have never been happy here. We both know that. And you should know that more than anyone. I can’t stay here. I am not leaving you. I am leaving here. Just think of the opportunities I could have if I moved out to California, especially if I go to Stanford. I could study law mom. I could help other women who are in the same situation that we had to deal with fight against their husbands and spouses so that they don’t have to feel trapped in their situation. I could do so much good mom. And I can always come and visit.” Rebecca wiped a tear from her mom’s face and gave her mom an extra big hug. Her mom turned to Rebecca and smiled as she said, “When did you get to be so grown?” You really have matured into a beautiful woman. I know you will do well. Just promise to come and visit me ok? Rebecca smiled, “Ok mom. That’s a deal. I don’t think I could stay away from your cooking for too long anyway.”

      When Rebecca finally left, she was certain that she was starting a new life for herself, and that she would never let anyone hurt or harm her again. She was convinced that she would be the strong one of the family. She never wanted to allow herself to be dominated or controlled. More importantly; she wanted to prove she was better than this town and her father. What she didn't know yet was that she would fall into the same situation her mother had found herself in not so many years ago. 

        When Rebecca first made it to Stanford University, she thought it must have been out of a dream. She had seen the brochures, but never did she imagine that she could actually live and learn and grow in a place so beautiful. She fell in love with the campus the moment that she arrived. She felt like her heart was bursting with joy at the new opportunities that this new campus could offer her. She even found herself spinning around and jumping in the air and giggling. She knew that people must have been watching, but she didn’t really care. She just couldn’t wait to meet her new teachers and her dorm mate and to take her first class at a real accredited university. When she had gone through her orientation, they had given her a keycard and the room and the dorm she would be staying in. When she actually saw the dorm room she was going to be staying in her jaw almost dropped. 

      She couldn’t imagine that she would actually be staying in a dorm that looked that beautiful. When she walked into the main courtyard, she could see a large open field that was covered with a luscious green lawn with different types of trees surrounding the perimeter. There was a pavement walkway interrupting the path, and the buildings where constructed out of that old spanish style architecture. There were large open spaces with stucco walls and orange tile roofs, and even a tower with stucco walls and an orange rounded top. It almost looked like something out of a fairytale. When she got to her dorm room, she thought it might have been a little small, but she figured that it would be worth it to get the chance to live on campus. Her roommate hadn’t moved in yet, but she could see that there was an orange tinted door with white walls and a orange wooded bunk bed with an orange wooded step on it. She could also see that there were two orange wooded desks in the room as well. There was one sitting next to the bunk bed and one sitting in front if it. There was also a small orange wooded dresser, and a trash can on each side. The room she was on had a view of the courtyard, and she could see everyone else moving in too. 

        Rebecca wondered where they were all coming from and if they had come from as far away as she had. She wanted to get to know them all, and prove that she could be a different person. Rebecca wanted very badly to make her mark on this campus. She wanted people to know her as a strong, intelligent, and competent young woman who could solve any problem in front of her. She also was really looking forward to meeting her roommate. Rebecca was very sure that she would just love her roommate and she would just love all of her classmates and all her teachers. She was very sure that should do well in her studies as well. She was so busy looking outside and thinking about everything else that she almost didn’t notice her roommate come in.

        Her roommate practically fell into the room. She had so many different bags to try and carry in that she was having difficulty getting them through the door. Rebecca went to go help her, but the girl smacked her hand away and with an indignant smirk, asked, ”Who are you? Are you supposed to be my roommate? You’re not exactly what I had hoped, but I guess you will have to do. And this room is really small too. Do you really think we can both fit in here? You think they could have actually tried to make these rooms bigger considering how much we are paying for them.” Rebecca could already see that things weren’t going to go quite as she planned. Her roommate was about Rebecca’s height, but quite a bit smaller and a lot more blonde. She had on a plaid sweater jacket with a white t-shirt underneath and a plaid skirt with white knee high socks, with plaid tennis shoes to match. She had a gucci bag and was trying to balance her bag while at the same time trying to balance the rest of her luggage that she had carried along as well.

         Rebecca had always secretly hated these type of girls growing up. She wasn’t really big, but she wasn’t slim either. Rebecca was what you would have called curvy. She was about 5’,8”and was about a size 14. She was actually very pretty, but these types of girls had always made her feel like she wasn’t good enough. Now they had to go and move her in with one of them. She almost wanted to curse the universe or God or whatever for her luck, but she figured that she might as well make the best of it. She tried to put on her most cordial southern smile and stuck out her hand and said, ”My name is Rebecca. How about you? When Rebecca stuck out her hand the girl almost looked at it like she had wiped her nose on it first, “My name is Ashley. I really hope you don’t expect me to sleep on the bottom bunk, especially considering a girl of your size. That would just be the end of me.” 

        Rebecca almost slapped the girl in the face, but she knew her mom wouldn’t be happy if she got expelled the very first day for assaulting her roommate. The girl must have seen the look on Rebecca’s face, because she quickly changed the subject. “So where is that accent from anyway?” I don’t think I’ve heard anyone with that type of accent before.” Rebecca was almost just as happy that Ashley had decided to change the subject as well. “I’m from Texas.” Rebecca exclaimed. Even though she had to deal with a lot of conservative people in Texas, she was still very proud of coming from Texas and growing up in Tyler. It wasn’t that she didn’t like living in Texas. It was just mostly the people that she had wanted to get away from. The first remark out of Ashley’s mouth was,” Isn’t that where Bush is from? I don’t like Bush. He’s an idiot. Do all you Texans act like him? I really hope not? I think I would have to kick you out if you started acting as dumb as him.” Rebecca’s mouth dropped. She almost didn’t know how to respond to that level of ignorance coming out of someone’s mouth all at once. The first thing that came out of Rebecca’s mouth was, ”Well us Texans might be a little backward but at least we are not as stuck up and vapid as you seem to be.” I really hope all of you Californians aren’t as ignorant as you or I might just have to kick myself out. ”

         The girl was just about to get in Rebecca’s face, when one of the other girls staying in the dorms replied,” Hello, My name is Alice. We are trying to get a bunch of us girls together to go and have lunch together. Do you guys want to come?” Rebecca was almost glad for the distraction and equally pleased to see that not all Californians were as rude and stuck up as Ashley. Alice had a bright smile with bright green eyes with reddish brownish hair. She was about 2 inches shorter than Rebecca, and you could tell that she also was very eager to be there. Unlike Ashley, Alice just had on a simple pair of jeans and a simple red t-shirt that was a couple sizes too big and glasses that were a little crooked. Somehow Rebecca knew that her and Alice would probably become friends. Glad to be done with her awkward first encounter with her roommate, Rebecca eagerly took the chance to go meet some of her other dorm mates. 

       Rebecca asked Alice,” So where are you from?" Alice pushed up her glasses as she responded,” I come from Oakland, If you can believe that. But I was really born in Switzerland and our family immigrated here when I was 2. I don’t remember much.  There are still some things I do remember sometimes though. I have spent most of my life in California. Alice was just about to ask Rebecca where she was from when Ashley cut in,” So you used to live in Oakland. I hear that Oakland is really poor. You don’t look like you’re poor though. And you definitely don’t look like you used to live in Switzerland. You look like you belong in Ireland or something like that. But I guess you can’t help that you came from Switzerland and that you came from a place as poor as Oakland.” Ashley must have seen that look on Alice’s face, because she changed the subject very quickly, but before Ashley could even start to say something else, Alice said with an almost impeccable Irish accent, ”Well it’s a good thing I don’t have the Irish temper or else you’d be in really big trouble. Us people in Switzerland or more known for being passive than anything else.” Rebecca just had to give a little smirk at that little remark. If she had been able she would have said ”You go girl.” She figured it might not be the most appropriate time to say it though. At least she could see that Alice didn’t mind standing up to these types of girls and putting them in their place. She was starting to like Alice more and more. 

           As they started to leave the dorms and actually head toward the actual dining room. Rebecca was taken aback by the size of the dining area. She had seen it in the brochure, but still didn’t expect it to look as impressive at it did. Her current roommate issues disappeared as she basked in the idea that she was going to be eating in a hall this nice. You could tell even Ashley was impressed, and Alice just looked up with this look of wide eyed wonder as more and more people started to poor in the common dining hall. Rebecca was most impressed by how many different types of people she saw. Some people were identifiably asian, while there were quite a bit of students that looked like they were of middle eastern descent. She could see some black and mexicans here and there, but she was most surprised to see how many asians and middle eastern people there were. 

         She wondered if they had all come from elsewhere or if they had lived in America there whole lives and just transferred in from different parts of California. In her town in Texas, you might see your occasional black person that would come through. Every once in awhile you might see a mexican here or there, but she had never come into contact with so many different types of people in one place. It was overwhelming but wonderful at the same time. She wanted to say hello to all of them. She wanted to know their stories. She wanted to know if they had come from as far as she has. As Rebecca made her way into the actual dining room, Ashley made a high pitch squeal. She almost knocked Rebecca over as she bolted through the dining hall. At the end of the hall was a girl who was a little shorter, just as blonde, and just as thin as Ashley.

Author's Note

This is the revised and edited version. I would love to hear what you guys think of this version so far.

Reviews

[Barbara Walker]

It's difficult to review a piece as long as this one. It's an interesting story, I read the whole thing so you pulled me in nicely. The dialogue rings true in places but in others is a bit stilted. If it were shorter, as in chapters recommended by other reviewers, it would be easier to comment on that. The first thing I would say is that you could delete the word actual and actually out of the story. As in, "As they started to leave the dorms and actually head toward the actual dining room." They left the dorms and headed toward the dining room, would suffice. Then, use a period and begin your next sentence. I strongly suggest chapters. It's a good start, though.

[Ahmad Cox]

Thank you. I will see if I can expand and take it apart and see if I can break each new paragraph into a separate chapter and then just go from there.

[Barbara Walker]

Maybe even two to a chapter?

[Sunny Skye]

It's good. I like it. I agree with Nautili do you should make it into chapters so people can read it at their own time. But of course this is just suggestion. Good Job as always. Thank you.

[Nautili]

It is bit long and thewrefore overwhelming...interesting though, the parts i read. Try breaking it up into shorter chapters for people to read on this ste, because for people like me, they don't have much time in the day. Great theme though, and it seems you have a lot of wisdom on the subject. I am reading a good book about why women are attracted to unhealthy relationships,"Women who love too Much" by Robin Norwood. Rebecca was definitely one but many women are!