Normal

Prologue

Anna had never been normal. She had never had a normal life, a normal family, or even a normal brain. Her younger brother, Dylan, had been diagnosed with brain cancer at the age of nine, Anna was only twelve and she already felt like giving up on life.
When Anna was fourteen, her mum and dad split up, and on the fifth of December, Anna's mum found Anna trying to kill herself, she was in the bathroom, with tears pouring down her face onto her trembling hands, which were holding a knife inches away from her stomach.
You might think that Anna just has a really bad case of depression, but that's not how she sees it. "Anna is not depressed!" Anna's mum always argues to her boyfriend. His name is Rick. He doesn't like Anna and Anna doesn't like him. Rick thinks a therapist is the best thing for Anna, he thinks that if she is talked to by a 'professional', Anna will just magically become an ordinary girl, but of course, that's not how it works.
Sometimes, Anna listens to their arguments, "SHE IS MY DAUGHTER AND I KNOW WHAT IS BEST FOR HER" that's what Anna's mum always says. "I don't even know why I love you! You're a psychopath! A PSYCHOPATH!" Anna had heard it so much she was able to mouth what Rick said. The arguments are always the same. Rick brings it up, Anna's mum is quiet, Rick says it again, Anna's mum still ignores him, then Rick shouts it and Anna's mum snaps back at him, then it starts, the argument. "Blah blah blah my daughter blah blah"
"Blah blah therapist blah blah blah"
"Blah blah still my daughter blah blah blah"
"Blah blah psychopath blah blah"
But just then, Anna hears something she had never heard before coming from Rick, "why can't she just be normal? I'm trying to help her." Anna's eyes quickly glazed over with tears. She couldn't feel her legs when she stood up and opened the door that her mum and Rick were in, she walked in the direction of Rick and raised her fist. Rick started to talk to Anna but she didn't listen, Everything just went in one ear and out the other. Then, in one swift movement, Anna punched Rick in the face. The punch hit so hard it broke both Rick's jaw and Anna's hand. Anna screamed at the top of her lungs, not because of how much her hand hurt (she couldn't even feel that), but because of what Rick had said. After the punch, Rick got knocked unconscious, and he was now lying on the floor like some sort of rabbit that had just been shot. Anna continued screaming, she then sat down on the floor and curled up into a ball, all whilst still screaming. She then stopped and started rocking back and forth repeatedly whispering "I'm not normal, I'm not normal, I'm not normal..." Every time she said it she got a bit louder until she was shouting again. "Anna? Anna? Anna sweetheart calm down. Anna calm down your scaring your brother, Anna can you hear me? Anna?" Anna's mum was crouched down next to her, now, Anna had stopped talking altogether she now just had both her hands against her ears and she was staring, wide-eyed at her feet.
"Anna, Anna..." Anna's mum started to cry "Anna you've killed Rick."