His second chance at a happy life

Her Terrible start

Entry 87,

Life is hard for everyone, some harder than others. For me, it has been literal hell from day one. My mother was not a healthy person, she had problems. Those "problems" had taken her from me when I was ten. It was the worst day of my life. My mother had a serious drug problem for as long as I had known her. We never lived in a real house that she owned, and we were always moving, hopping from place to place. I had been to a lot of places for my age at the time. They were never fancy, shinny, clean places. They were horrible, disgusting, smelly, terrifying sh*tholes, especially when she was high cracked out on anything she could score. It was scary for a little kid, but I would always do my best to do as she asked of me. I would hide when she entertained or run to “play” as she did and sold drugs. By the time I was eight, I had already started to learn the tricks of my small hands and even small statues and I became very good at stealing wallets or food when needed. Every day I wondered what parent would do that to their child.

When she passed away, however, we were in a rundown apartment building that her "friend" owned. It wasn’t the worst place I can remember, but there were bugs and mice living there too. I can't really remember much, even about the days before she passed or even some of the following days anymore, but I can never forget what she looked like. I won't go into detail, but it was haunting, and her face will never be erased from my mind. I remember a cop pulling me out and putting me in a cop's car door open and when the cop- I think it was a lady cop-walked somewhere else I ducked out of the car and to the back of the building. I did not want to be with the police. There was something off about them, I can’t remember what, but I had to leave. A small voice told me to run, so I did. After getting to the back of the apartment unseen, I entered the space next to the one we were in and hopped through the back window I kept open in case I had to get in, in a hurry. In a small closet space in the bedroom, I had left bags with money, clothes and food. I took my bag of clothes, stuffed the money along with as much food as I could in it, then took off. The last thing I heard were cops shouting "Where's the little girl!" After that, I lived on the streets, pick pocketing and stealing. It was hard but nothing new, just one less person to take care of. Don't get me wrong. I loved my mom regardless, but it was hard as a kid. I was out there for about two years until a cop caught me, and I was thrown into foster care. For the first year, I was in six different homes. No one wanted teens, so I was put back into the system every time I was no longer wanted. It was the same thing repeatedly. For three years, this went on, and the last year was the worst. I swear I was going crazy. I started to see things, weird things, things that others couldn't. Then Gigi found me. She was the light of the dark tunnel.

"Samantha Evergreen West, if you do not get your ass down here to eat I swear...." I sighed, saving and closing my tabs.

"Gigi, I told you I only came over to use my old computer to write while mine is in the shop, not to eat." I said as I entered the small kitchen of hers. She lived in the same unit forever. My first time here was terrifying. She has so many trinkets, crystals and such, it's like living with a witch. I smiled, pulling out a chair, “You know me Gigi, I’ll always stop to eat your cooking.”

"You say that, but you never stay around anymore, you look so thin. My girl here extra bacon." I smiled and take my food. My stomach grumbles at the smell of bacon and eggs on the plate she hands me. I pick up a fork and take a bite.

"Thank you, Gigi. " I smile after swallowing my third bite of bacon as she sits across from me, coffee in hand. She smiles back not really saying anything, which is weird for her. I look at my grandmother, she is what other people would consider a weird person. Once, when she was younger, she had the reddest hair on earth, but now it's stricken with a variety of gray within it, her bone beads clank as she moves, her blue eyes look tired and her usual glowing skin seems dull. "All you alright?" I ask. She smiles at me warmly patting my hand.

"I'm fine dear, I had to heighten the wards around here earlier, nothing serious." My shoulders drop.

"You should have had me do it. I am strong enough, you know." She just smiles and takes my empty plate to the sink.

"Don't you have to get to class?" I nodded. She has gotten older, and her powers are getting weak, so the wards must have taken a good amount of energy.

"It starts at three." I am in my third year of college, I live by myself, but I can't do homework on a wet laptop, so I have come here a lot of the last three days. I moved into a nice little apartment close to my workplace about a year ago. The downside, though it's farther from school but Gigi’s place is just down the block from the school, so, I can walk to it today and leave my car. I looked at the clock, I had about two and a half hours till class, but Ellie wanted to meet beforehand. I sigh. "I am going to get going, Ellie is waiting." I take another piece of bacon from the plate she has of them. She is always making too much. She hugs me and kisses my cheek, then pats it.

"Tell Ellie, I say hi." I grabbed my bag.

"Will do." I kissed her cheek and head out.

Ellie has been my best friend since I got to this town when Gigi found me and brought me here. We met on my first day in 9th grade during our community service.

During foster care I was a bit of a "problem child", stealing, fighting, they said I had anger issues and sh*t but honestly, it fights for the fitness in the system. You can't trust no one and no one cares. So, when I heard about Gigi, I also heard that it was only if I, reform who I am and instead of, juvey, I helped clean the high school with other problem kids and until we cleaned a certain number of hours, we were given another chance with a clean sweep, but it was a sh*t ton of hours.

The first day of school had ended, and my community service started. We were pairing together to empty trash and sweep the auditorium. (Note: we worked until 6:30 pm, school ended at 2:45pm. We started at 3:30 after the buses and clubs were all either gone or in their rooms or whatever) Ellie was a rude person. When I met her, it kind of threw me off because she was a short Hispanic girl with long dark brown hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. She didn't really have tan skin, but what else would you think when you lived in Washington? The sun barely pokes through the clouds.

"SO, Is Gigi West REALLY your grandmother?" My eyebrows scrunched. I was the only one who called her Gigi. It was her way of grandma. She said she was too cool to be a grandma. Her name is Silva Markesan Mill-West.

"Um, yeah." I said, hastily opening a trash bag as we walked to the auditorium. She did a small hmm, as we reached the bottom of the stairs she turned.

"We'll walk back to your house when we get done." She smiled at me and said she would do the trash, then went to the closet and get the bin for this floor. I got her the big bag open. She sets the bin up and then waves me away. I blinked and scratched my eyebrows, almost saying something, but thought against it, since I really needed to stay with Gigi, her house was like a peaceful space from the things I saw. I headed into the auditorium and grabbed the broom in the dressing/storage room on the far side of the stage. I start to sweep when a cold breeze brushes against my neck. My hand reflexively reaches up to rub it as I look around. I don't see anything but hesitate before going back to work. It happened again, but it had lingered for a few more seconds, then vanished, it was like every few minutes the cold would return. After about 30 minutes later the scariest thing happened. I looked around when another cold breeze hit me, this time in my chest. I looked up at the windows. It was cloudy again, so it was gloomy as hell when the window rippled like a rain drop in a pond. The clouds almost disappeared in the liquefication of the window. Out of the center was a man, a terrifying, translucent, skinned man with fully colored blue eyes and black pupils. You could almost see through him to his skeleton, his teeth showing through his skin were sharp-deadly-looking daggers. His long white hair tied behind him, not moving even when his head snaps breaking-ly fast my way, his eyes piercing though mine staring me down. My breath gets stuck in my throat as I try to gasp in shock or scream in fear, which ever it was, it wouldn't come out. His eyes focused solely on me, freezing me in place. His lips start to move but no sounds come out, yet they keep moving as he tries to speak. Then, for what felt like an eternity, he just stared at me. It wasn't until Ellie shouted at me and started to cuss at me about how I only did half of my job and that "I don't f*cking pick up after others when they slack off, so tomorrow your white ass better get to moving ‘cause you have a sh*t ton of work." I felt his hold lessen. It was when she had hit me on the arm that she finally pulled me out of my trance with the monster she obviously didn't see. The instant I broke free of his stare, warmth hit me like the sun came and hit me itself. The cold alone was horrible, but now it was like my body was on fire. The feeling of heat made me think I was going to burn into nothing. I fell crying hysterically. She stumbled over her words apologizing, but I shook my head, pointing to the window, she had whispered something and the way she said it haunted me for nights: “The pale man.” Her eyes watered, then, she rushed to my side and rubbed my back, hushing me, telling me it was all going to be okay. I sat there for the rest of our time. For two and a half hours I stood there locked in the pale man's trance. I was able to push it all down as Ellie tells me it's time to leave and that I can sob like a hooker in a wh*re house later in the safety of my own home. That honestly threw me off so much I just stared at her for a second and then wiped my face with my sleeve, got up, fixing my shirt, taking a deep breath and letting out a quivering sigh. She took my hand and the back of my arm, soothing me as she did. When we got back to Gigi's place, we stayed in my room sitting on my bed all night not sleeping a wink. Well, I didn't, but Gigi convinced Ellie to sleep in bed since she refused to leave. While I went to the living room next to the fireplace, she didn't sleep for long, maybe two, three hours, or then came with a blanket of her own and sat next to me on the floor. She started to chat with me, telling me about her family. She has two twin older brothers, Emilio and Jesus, plus two sets of twins, all familial both younger, the 13 years old are one boy and one girl, the youngest set eight years old boys so, it was four boys and three girls total of her family. She admitted how she was lucky not to have a twin. She could just deal with two of her. She laughed, and I smiled softly. They were really a rowdy group of people, it seemed as she talked about them.

It was a long two days and even longer nights nightmares plagued my dreams, but Ellis had stayed. Her brother Emilio came to check on her since we missed school the next day. He was mad at her until he talked with Gigi, and then he left, telling her she had to call their home. I wasn't at school for the next week. Gigi had forced Ellie to go home on day three. She didn’t want Ellie’s mom to worry more than she already was. I didn't leave my room and barely ate. The pale man, as Ellie called him, had seemed to have taken a delight in diving into her dreams and showing so many horrible things that made her wake up in screams, shivering in tears and sweat that had stained her sheet. After school, Ellie would stop by with paperwork and told me she was cheering for me, then would head back to school to do her hours.