Seeing the Light

Chapter 2:

My name's Iris. Iris means Lucky. And luckiness brings happiness. And happiness brings a purpose in life. My name has nothing to do with myself and my hell-like life.

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The loud noises from my parents tore my head apart until I couldn't concentrate. My dad had come home from "work" which obviously meant wandering alleys in search of drugs. My dad, Lewis Roberts, has been on drugs and been drinking for as long as I can remember. He's never been there for my mom and me, but my mom still stayed with him for some stupid reason. She's stupid too. Both of my parents are druggies, and just don't seem to stop. I don't think they've ever tried.

I couldn't focus on the math equation in front of me. I opened my door and screamed. "CAN YOU GUYS STOP?!" Dad looked at me with his groggy eyes. His eyes squinted as he looked at me before glaring. "What did you just say?" he asked. "Did you dare raise your voice at me?!" His voice was getting louder by the second. "DON'T YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT!" he barked. I ran back into my room, quickly locking the crappy door with trembling hands. I felt his heavy footsteps come closer. My hands trembled even more and I fell to the floor near the door. It was a disgusting scene. I was crouched, my trembling arms covering my head, whimpering as I heard my dad trying to open my door. Before long, my mom had convinced him to move away. That scene ended.

They started fighting again. The yelling and arguing got to a point where I couldn't stand it any longer. My ears were ringing, and my nails were digging into my palms. I grabbed my backpack and slung it over my shoulder, before opening my window and jumping out. As I walked down the road, I counted the cash in the bag's front pocket. 68 dollars, and the rest was stashed in my mattress.

I'd been saving up money from my job at Target for a year, and hiding it from my parents. If they found out, they would be taking it all and wasting it on drugs. In two years I could leave this hell hole, and I was going to buy a place of my own.
I heard more yelling as I walked away from my house, and my dad was outside, standing on the rundown front porch, yelling at me to get back to my room. I began to walk faster, looking down and pulling my jacket hood over my head. Soon that speed walk turned into a jog, which became a full-on sprint.

I ended up in front of the ugly movie theater, and headed inside, buying tickets for some soap opera I didn't bother to read the name of. Pushing open the heavy door, my eyes adjusted to the darkness and I found a place to sit. The seat wasn't as bad as the rest; just a couple of tears at the corner, but thankfully no soda stains. I sat down. My torture was over for now. It was like a scene cut. So refreshing.

I rolled my eyes as the commercials came on and took off my jacket impatiently. I bunched it up into a ball and used it as a pillow, stretching my legs across the next two chairs beside me. Sure, I looked like a homeless hobo. But I didn't care. Why waste your time trying to impress people who will never see you as enough? I never will be anyway.

I closed my eyes for a bit, and when I woke up again, people were filing into the theater. I sighed. Great. More people to ruin my peace.

I thought I was safe when a majority of the crowd sat farther down, but then a girl about my age decided to sit down right behind me. She smiled, and I rolled my eyes. Just my luck. I hated fakes that smile at people, pretending to be all nice.

"Heyyyy, I think I've seen you at school a few times?" she whispered. She paused, looking at my face. My reaction? "Eh. I don't go to school. Sorry." She laughed. A really forced laugh that made me cringe. "No, I've definitely seen you around!" she insisted. "Sunset Park High School?" Now she was getting annoying. "No, I said I don't go to school." She was about to disagree again, but stopped. "Oh okay. I'm sorry," she whispered. "I must have mistaken you for someone else." I turned away from her and stared at the big screen again. I should have picked the seat in front of me..