Absent Lovers Things // Ryan Ross

Part 3

*8 years later*

Another minute ticked slowly by as my roommate's snores filled the room and kept me awake. It was 4:47 AM. I did get a few hours of sleep in the beginning since I fell asleep before her, but one loud rip at 2:30 had my eyes wide open. I massaged my forehead with my finger tips before throwing my blanket off my body. My bare feet touched the cold tile and I quietly tiptoed around the small room to grab my things. I fit shampoo and soap in my arms and threw a towel around my shoulder before sneaking out of the room, down the hall, and into the showers. I slipped out of my nightgown and let the hot water run a few minutes before emerging myself.

I hated being at boarding school, but it was so much better than the home. At the home, all the boys would shower in one room twice a week, the girls only once a week because they thought we were cleaner. It wasn't like that at first. I mean, I was miserable when my best friend left, but life got even harder about two years after he left, after my 10th birthday. The government cut our funding and the home just went downhill. I spent two years sharing my bed with different little girls. They were easier to adopt than a 10 year old girl. Food was taken away as punishment since we didn't have too much. I spent several nights hungry because I'd get into a fight with someone or talk back. Before I turned 13, the home got shut down for good. I was sent to a boarding school so I wouldn't be homeless and could get an education. Now I'm well into 16 and feeling invisible and unwanted has become part of me. I've now spent at least half of my life unloved. Families didn't want to adopt teenage girls because they're "hard to handle" and not cute anymore. Some girls my age or older got adopted, but I don't think it was because the parents wanted a new family member. It was because they could sell the girl into sex trafficking. I was lucky the home was shut down while I was still young, I could have been somewhere totally different now. Somewhere worse.

I dried myself off with my towel before slipping my nightgown back on and heading back to the room. I sat in my bed and turned on the lamp beside me so I could read my book until breakfast would be served. About an hour later, my roommate woke up.

My roommate was born and raised in Manhattan. She's never worked a day in her life. She tried to bond with me in the beginning by saying that she had an awful relationship with her parents too, and I asked if they gave up on her and put her in a home to be left all alone, but that wasn't her case. Her bad relationship was more, they said they were going to get me a BMW and they got me a Porche instead. She wasn't mean at first, she was just ignorant. Eventually she got sick of my bad attitude (aka me not giving a fuck about her nails or drama) and has taken it upon herself to make sure it's known we're not friends.

"What time is it?" She muttered with her eyes still closed.

"Almost 7." I told her. She groaned and pulled a pillow over her head. It was Saturday so there was no need to get up early, but since I was already awake from the snores and showered, I started my day. I went over to my small closet to take out an old blue sweater and a grey skirt to wear. I changed quickly, slipped on some shoes, and grabbed my bag before heading out to breakfast.

In the dining hall I grabbed a couple pieces of fruit and a muffin before going outside and picking a place to sit in solitude. I laid down flat on my stomach and took out my book before biting into an apple and getting comfortable. I was immersed in my book, halfway through my muffin, when I felt like someone was staring at me. I looked up and I was correct. I don't know if he meant to be staring at me, he was like 50 feet away and I couldn't see him that well. All I knew was that he looked tall and skinny, was wearing all black, and was smoking a cigarette. He stopped looking in my direction when the assistant principal took the cigarette out of his mouth and crushed it on the ground. They both went inside.