"Catch me if you can"
Matilda Colombo had been running her entire life, until it all came to a crashing ending. Being caught was not her thing, and everyone knew it, or so they thought that they did. Living in the unsafe outskirts of Los Angeles, w...
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| Third Person POV |
10 years ago - Matilda Colombo
Sitting on the side of a street, huddled into the curb of the road, was a young girl, dressed in a school uniform of sorts, with a soaked school bag in her hand. She had walked down the few streets, as for the first time, her mother had offered to walk the girl home. It was one of those moments of sweetness the two shared.
But, Matilda should have known the bleak moment of happiness they had shared this morning, was not going to be one of those times that it actually extended outside of the house. Matilda knew, that she would have been home over an hour ago, and that dark was beginning to fall, but she didn't dare move. The 6 year old held hope that her mother would come pick her up.
She had convinced herself, time and time again, that her mother was coming. But that false hope, was starting to fall the longer she sat there, getting colder by the second. It was becoming more and more unenjoyable the longer she sat in the rain, feeling a cold coming on. She didn't dare cry, even as her heart shattered into a million pieces, when a car ran through a puddle right in front of her, soaking her to the bone.
The little girl shivered, but she knew it would be worse if she went home. If she went home without her mother. All she wanted was for her mother to extend a hand, and apologize profusely for being late, but she knew there was no chance her mother would ever do such a thing. For the first time today, the little girl had been told that her mother didn't hate her.
Her entire life, her mother had told her how much she hated her, but for the first time, she had told her she liked her. Not that she loved her, just liked her. Tolerated her, was the word Matilda thought fitted best, which she had learnt over the summer. The teacher had then yelled at her for knowing such a big word, before she was forced to sit outside for the rest of the day.
'It's so the others can catch up' were the words she was told, by her Principal. She was too far ahead, so she had to sit and listen to the other kids advance without her. To learn and be better than she was. Only to then have her life stripped from her by more adults when she walked home, then to be met with her disgruntled mother.
It was a never ending cycle for the little girl. Every single adult she had come across, hated her, and she never knew why. She didn't get it. The young girl was unsure how she was supposed to understand such complex emotions like she could understand complex words that adults spoke to one another without a problem.
"No, father, I am not drunk, and no, I did not give away all that money! You did it yourself" the little girl practically jumped out of her skin at the two new voices, as the rest of the road was deserted. Not to be confused with the word desert, like the rest of the kids in her class had gotten confused with today.
She knew what it was like to see people drunk. She saw it in their eyes, their words, their actions, and even the stench of the person. She knew the signs. She had seen it from a very young age, and knew that she would stay away from it at all costs. It was life or death, to the little girl, seeing people drunk.
