Title in the works

I hope to turn this into a book, but for right now it is just the first page of the beginning.

I awoke to the sun peaking through my blinds. It had been a late night, again. I felt exhausted after only a few hours of sleep and my head was pounding where I had been hit.

I slowly sat up and managed to pull myself out of bed, if you could call an old, dirty mattress on the floor a bed. I put an old t-shirt on that was too big, and a pair of jeans that had tears in the knees.

I went downstairs to find the kitchen in disarray after last night's argument with my Aunt Trish. She had once again come home at one in the morning, drunk after working her shift at the diner. I had been telling her to stop wasting the rent money on cheap vodka, by which she responded by attempting to smash the vodka bottle on my head. Her drunken aim and a quick duck had kept the bottle from hitting me square in the face, but the thick glass managed to clip me on the forehead.

I walked into the living room to find her passed out on the old, ripped sofa. She reeked of alcohol and sweat. I definitely didn't want to be there when she woke up, so I left to go to the park.

The day was warm and the sun felt nice on my skin. Summer had arrived.

I had graduated high school the day before and was contemplating what I would do the rest of my life. College seemed out of the question. It wasn't that I was stupid or not good at anything; I was your regular mostly-B's-and -a-few-A's student, and I was actually really good at writing. The problem was Aunt Trish. She would never let me go. If it wasn't for the fact that I worked two jobs, we would be living in the street instead of our tiny apartment, especially since she drank half the money away.

I knew if my parents were still alive, they would be encouraging me to follow my writing dreams. They were writers too. They traveled the world and wrote about all the places they went and the cultures they got to experience. It was what I hoped to one day do myself. Sadly, that dream was on hold indefinitely.

I found a bench in the park and waited for my friend Merrick to show up. We met in third grade after he moved to Washington DC. I didn't really have friends then because I was too shy, and Eric being the new kid was avoided by the others. I was the only one who would talk to him. We've been best friends since.

Just then, Merrick came strolling up to the bench.

"Hey Nolan . How did last night go?" he asked.

He was really the only person I ever talked to about Aunt Trish.

"It was bad. She hit me in the head with a bottle," I replied.

"Damn. Are you ok?"

"Yeah I'll be fine. She was too drunk to get me bad."

"So what do you have planned for your birthday tomorrow?" he asked, quickly moving on to another topic, knowing that talking about my aunt too much would get me worked up.

"Eh, probably nothing."

"But it's your eighteenth birthday! You only turn eighteen once man."  

Reviews

[Trevor Boot]

I like how this is starting. If you ever wrote more of this one I would love to read it.

[Natalia]

Thank you! I will hopefully write more of it in the future :)

[Trevor Boot]

I look forward to it! =D