Not Dead After All (Tony Perry)

Hell, Hiding, Helping

Claire's POV

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I laid on my bed, curled in a ball. Ms. Hood, the woman who owned the orphanage I stayed in, never believed me. I had told her many times about how the other girls had hit me and called me names and made fun of me but she always snapped at me for making up lies. They all hated me.

I had to live like this. People hating me because of my family. That's why I was in this damned place. Everyone saw me as the child of a very known thief and a woman who committed suicide.

I was looked down upon because everyone thought I would be just like my parents. My father was the most wanted thief in many places. It took the cops 8 years to finally catch him and put him in jail. Yeah, he was that good at hiding. He even taught me a few good tips on how to stay hidden.

And then there's my mom. After my dad had been arrested, she couldn't handle the challenge of parenting a 10 year old daughter by herself. She became depressed and started drinking. Not long after, she ended up hanging herself in her room. That was the night I got put in here. The night I got put in hell.

But tonight is the night I had finally had enough. I spent a couple hours crying and then finally got up. I packed the small bag I had for holding my things if anyone would even adopt me. (Which no one ever did in the 3 years I was here.) It didn't take long to pack because of how few things I had.

3 sets of clothes
A journal
My beanie (I needed it)
A hairbrush
Pens
A kinda small blanket
& my knife

I only had one pair of shoes so I just wore them. And with all of that, I climbed out the window. Mainly because I wasn't willing to go downstairs through the front door because of the risk of being seen. I slowly and quietly made my way down the building, almost falling several times. Once my feet hit the ground, I ran for what seemed like hours.

One month later

Thanks to my father's tips on hiding, I hadn't been found by the police. Or maybe it was because no one bothered to look for me. Either way, I was happy to be gone.

I was currently walking a few yards into the woods. I was lightly using a stick to hit the ground. What? I was bored. Not much to do when you're homeless. I walked a few feet towards the exit of the woods, still playing with the stick.

It didn't take long for me to start hearing people yelling. Not angry or violent yelling. But more like the yelling of kids playing. I look up to see I'm not that far behind the fenced in backyards of a neighborhood. I notice I'm almost directly behind a house with two boys, about the same age as me, playing in their backyard.

The fence was short enough and the boys were tall enough for me to see both of the kids. I watched the boys for a few minutes, probably looking like a creepy stalker. But watching them made me smile at how they were having fun, but also upset that I never had siblings or friends like that. My eyes fell to the ground.

All of the sudden everything went quiet. The boys stopped yelling and I looked up to see what had happened. Although looking up caused me to see a soccer ball flying at me. I wasn't quick enough to react and it hit me straight in the face. The next thing I knew, everything was black.

♦♦♦

I woke up to the feeling of someone shaking me. My first thought was that someone found me on one of my hiding spots. Oh no oh no oh no. I panic and my eyes shoot open. I immediately sit up and look around. That's when I see two boys staring at me with wide eyes.

Oh right. Soccer ball. I remember now.

They both just stare and it starts to make me uncomfortable. "What? Do I have something on my face?" I tease them with a concerned look as I start to feel my face. One of them starts to shake their head rapidly and the other speaks up.

"No no no. There's nothing on your face. We... We were just shocked at how we hit you." I touch my head and wince. "Ow. That's gonna leave a bump."

Both of the their eyes go wide again. "I'm fine. Don't freak out. I've had worse." I smile, trying to make them calm down. The shorter one nods and the other one smiles back. They stand up and the taller one reaches their hand out for me to grab. I take it and he pulls me up.

"I'm Vic." He says. "And this is my brother, Mike." Oh, so they are brothers. Cool. Mike puts his hand up for me to shake and I do. "Claire." I take my hand away and shove it in my pocket and stare at the ground. "Nice to meet you. But what are you doing back here?" I look to Vic. For some reason I feel like I can trust these guys. I don't know what it is. So that's when I tell them. Not everything. But most things. How I was an orphan. How I was bullied. How I ran away. How I was hiding from the world.

And they listened. They both listened to all I had to say. That made me feel so happy. I hadn't been this happy in a while. When I finished they both glanced at each other and nodded. Maybe I shouldn't have told them that much... They are probably going to report me to the police now. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.

"Well, Claire. You're safe with us. I'm sure we could help you out some." Mike said with a huge smile on his face. "Wait... Really?" Vic stepped forward and hugged me. "Yeah. You've been through a lot and we want to help you and be real friends, unlike those girls at your orphanage." I gasped. They cared. I couldn't. I just couldn't believe it. I smiled and hugged him back. "I'd like that." I say and a tear falls from my eye. But unlike all the other times I've cried, these were tears of joy.

Wooooo! First chapter! I feel pretty proud of this. I can't wait to post the second chapter but it's like 1 am and I need sleep soooo.... Hope you enjoyed!