Dreamer

Chapter Thirteen: Not Broken

Morning comes and life moves on

But when it changed

You didn't know where you belonged

drip… drip… drip…

I was suddenly awakened by the sound of rain dripping down on my windowpane. I shifted from my uncomfortable sleep position, and immediately regret it. Everything ached. I really just wanted to curl myself up again and never wake up. Obviously that wasn’t going to happen, though.

I sighed and picked myself up. My head really ached, and my eyes felt crusted and puffy. I glanced around and spotted the empty bag once more. So it wasn’t just an awful dream. Tears welled up in my eyes, but I forced them back. I wouldn’t cry again. Not if I would be targeted at school, or if was in pain, or even over the fact that Vince basically owned me.

Because the truth was, bad things would inevitably happen. You could run from them, avoid them with all your might… but they would eventually catch up with you in the end. If we just cried over every little thing that went wrong, what would it do? Cause a flood maybe, but nothing useful comes out of crying. It was a stupid and weak reaction no matter the situation.

If anyone wanted to get anywhere in this world, they had to be tough, adaptive, and not let setbacks get to them.

Even though the money wasn’t in my possession, it still belonged to me, and Vince was well aware of that. He was using it to get to me—I hated to admit, but it was working—but surely he didn’t plan on taking it away from me, right?

Maybe if I just listened to him, he would lay off. Yes… then I would take my money, and run… I had to swallow my pride, but so be it. It would be worth it in the end.

Despite that, I still didn’t feel much better. I shook my head and looked at the time. It was nearly seven—I’d had to get a move on if I wanted to get to school on time.

I rushed into my morning routine and managed to be done in about ten minutes. I gathered my books and bag, and headed down to the restaurant/bar area. It was strange that there was a proper restaurant, but that place was something else—the talk of the town. It was very exclusive, and catered to mainly the rich and extravagant. To a normal person, it would seem odd that such a seemingly high-end place was in the ‘bad’ part of town. It was, however, obvious to anyone who knew better, that illegal things went on here. Of course, tons of illegal things went on down in the east… most situations went on, overlooked by the law. It was because of that negligence that this establishment was able to keep on running. Sure it wasn’t right, but what was?

I grabbed some assorted fruit from the buffet table. If there was one thing I liked about this place, was the free food. Well, ‘free’ at the cost of my morals anyway.

“Good morning, Didi!”

I turned around to find Maria smiling at me. With a face as welcoming as hers, I couldn’t help but smile as well.

“Morning, Maria.” I smiled slightly. I gratefully took the paper bag that she handed to me. “Thanks,”

She frowned slightly at me. “You do not look so well. Are you feeling ill? I make you a soup that—”

“No, no, I’m fine, just tired.”

“If you are sure…” She looked at me thoughtfully. “You want to hear strange story? Gio told me of funny man with red hair knocking at the door, talking of a girl that lives in our home. He says he keep repeating the name ‘Desirée’… it is your name, no?”

“Yeah, that is strange…” I trailed off when I saw her suspicious expression. I sighed.

“Okay, Maria, I’m sorry… but I may have told a friend once that I lived at your house. He… he wanted to give me a ride home, and wouldn’t take no for an answer.” I expected to see her expression change to anger, but I was surprised when she laughed.